1. What is this confusing feeling?

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Grumbling to myself, I reached a hand up to massage my aching head. Whatever caused it, sure wasn’t alcohol. It’s more like, say, a thousand elephants took the liberty to trample all over you, kind of pain. Have you ever felt such pain you wished you were in a coma instead? Yeah, add another shovel of pain to that. Then multiply that by two, you will know the reason soon enough, I guess.

So, I touched my head, only to feel a weird sensation upon doing so. I wasn’t sure what to make of the confusing signals coming from my headache addled brain. It was like you had double vision, only with touch.

This was weird, I mused to myself.

Either I’m full of drugs, or I was more delirious than I thought. Not that I have any idea how one feels on drugs, but I was sure it felt something akin to this sensation. I tried to remember what happened the day before this, only to come up with a blank spot at the moment. All I know, I was going to bed that night completely normal, then nothing upon entering my bedroom.

Now, I really don’t know how to describe feeling two things at once, but even trying to do so wasn’t helping my poor head. I was a whimpering mess, I must confess. My tears felt weird too, now that I think about it. It felt like the Nile river running through Egypt. You know, with the different forks going into the Mediterranean Sea. Only more confusing than that, if you can believe me on that. Like only one stream, but kinda two. Come on, how would you describe something like that?

Rubbing my sore eyes, I lifted my hands, ready for anything.

Upon opening my eyes, I was met with two perspectives of two different hands hovering above me. From the corner of my eyes, I could make out another hand hovering in the air. Both of them were right hands.

Now, if you think I just held up both of my hands, one of them having been replaced with a right hand, you would be wrong. My left hand was still at my side in the dirt I was lying on. Overhead a curious bird watched from a branch on the tree. I sent it a glare, seeing it kinda in double vision. Not because I was drunk, though. Or because I was wearing one of these funny glasses that let you experience what it was like to be drunk, without being drunk. That sentence made a lot more sense if you knew what I was talking about.

Oh-ho-ho, no!

I wished it was that easy, I really did. But here I was, lying in the dirt with no idea how I got here, with some memories missing as if a child scribbled all over them with a permanent marker. Then added some cutesy sticker faces all over them for good measure.

It was because I now had two bodies, lying next to each other. This was way too much in my delirium, my brain working hard to make sense out of the situation. Or brains, I guess. Sitting up, my bodies tried to sit in a way that allowed me to look at my other body. Only for me to stare at the back of my other head. This was going to take a while, so I will spare you most of the detail of the embarrassing part on righting ourselves like clumsy chickens.

Looking at my counterpart, we both oggled each other. Confused gaze met a confused gaze.

Before me sat a young woman and a young man. Well, considering on what perspective I was focusing on. I studied each of them, taking in all the features of the male or the female sitting in front of me. Us. We. Whatever.

“Man, this is weird.”

Both voices overlapped themselves, perfectly in synch. This was so confusing, looking at my body from the perspective of my other body. In some way, one could describe it as an out of body experience, only with me being conscious.

Well, I guessed it was my body since I was moving them. Us. Something like that. I could tell that even my male body was different. I mean, I was scrawny before, but now I looked like a stick in the landscape.

Moving was insanely perplexing too, judging from the experience of sitting up and trying to turn around to face myself.

Obviously, I managed to do that, as I was currently ogling my other body. It was frustrating, though. I had to hold one body down with my arm, while my female self tried to hold down the air. If someone was observing me, they would think me mad. Us. We. Ourselves. Gah! This just left me with a bigger headache than before!

My female self had long brilliant red hair and green eyes, a few freckles around the nose. Soft lips and a petite chin. You could mistake her for a Weasley, seriously. The only thing missing was the red and gold scarf and black robe. Harry Potter fantasies aside, she was also slender in measurements.

My male self had strikingly blond hair and blue eyes, having none of the freckles that my female counterpart spotted. But he had a kinda cool looking goatee. I always wanted something like that, but everything I got previously was short stubble. Well, at least something good came out of it. And I was freakishly thin, as I mentioned.

Both of us wore a black shirt and a hoodie jacket. The zipper was red on my female half while being blue on my male half. Somewhere in my mind a little voice childishly objected to being subjected to generic gender colors. We both wore white pants with the respective coloring for accents, ending with shoes also being completely blue or red.

“If this is some kind of twisted joke by some god playing with me, why me?”

It was as if someone decided to rip my body in half to see what would happen. Just yesterday I was getting ready for bed after a relaxing day of reading a book one of my friends published. If it weren’t for the headache, I would dismiss this as some kind of weird dream. I wish I remembered what happened after entering my damn bedroom. Well, it seemed I would’ve to live with that for a while. Doesn’t stop me complaining, though.

Getting a bit sore from sitting on the uneven ground, I heaved myself up. Only to bump our heads together from doing the same thing simultaneously. Crying out, I closed both sets of eyes from the renewed pain of the headache, holding my hands to my heads.

This really needed some careful coordination, if I had to watch out for both bodies while moving. Wouldn’t do to let one body miss the door of a house, while the other ignorantly went through the door, now would I? As funny as it would be to see some other poor sods do that to themselves, I wasn’t up to that level of embarrassment. Not that this wasn’t equally as awkward as that would be.

Trying to stand up a second time went off without any problems. Probably because we heald each other on the shoulders to prevent a repeat performance. Dusting myself off on my bodies was a weird feeling, I tell you. Feeling twice as much as normally was a jarring experience. I certainly hoped this was only a temporary condition, but something told me I wouldn’t be that lucky.

For better or worse, I would have to get used to this.

Looking around, we spotted two bags, lying a bit further away from us. Guess what color they were in? Picking them up, we rifled through them, finding the things I usually had packed in my bag for university. Some blank notebooks, writing utensils, a lunch box (sadly empty) and a thermos can (also empty). In the side pocket I found my phone and charger, finding both of them out of energy. In another pocket I found a flashlight, luckily with some full batteries. At least small miracles happen. Here's to hoping they won’t die in the middle of the night, I don’t think staying here would be a good idea.

Closing the bags, I slipped them over my shoulders while taking a look around the dense foliage around me. Us. You know what I mean. Just pretend that me means us and we are good to go. Or don’t, it’s your choice. You know, that thought train led to me giving myself a goofy grin. Humor in all situations helps to lift one's mood for a while. I was in desperate need for some happy thoughts, after all.

While it seemed a little shady, it wasn’t too dark to see around. The thing about me waking up and getting accustomed to being two people at once left me close tonight, though. And it was getting darker by the minute very fast, so I took the flashlights into my right hands. Waddling carefully around the vegetation, I began to take a look around this forest. It seemed a bit gloomy, with all the trees having a gnarly appearance. As if it was some kind of witchwood or something.

“Oh God, I hope I didn’t wake up in some kind of horror movie cliché.”

I really wished I had some tape to stop the double dialog there. Stupid bag with useless things. At least the flashlight would come in handy.

Five minutes after wandering in as straight a line as possible, it began to rain. Lucky me. Couldn’t have awoken with a rain jacket, could I? Well, most of it landed on the leaves up above, but you know how disgusting that feeling was of big droplets hitting your head and neck from the trees? Yeah, with two heads it’s even harder to avoid that.

A slight shiver went through us as we looked around fearfully in the darkening forest with the stretching shadows caused by our flashlights. It really didn’t help the atmosphere here. Stepping around roots in the dark was a hard thing with one body alone, but a pain in the behind with two bodies. At least it taught me how to better control two bodies at the same time.

Let me tell you, wandering around a dark forest isn’t the kindest thing to subject your feet to. Slight cramps made this thing into a whole exercise on its own. Add to that the uneven ground and a light drizzle of rain, and you wished for a reprieve. Then add a whole bunch of hills to the mix and you know torture. Coupled that with a headache, it could only get worse from there. I wondered if I could’ve avoided this by pulling an all-nighter reading that book. I don’t even remember what it was about anymore. I wish it was in my bag, though.

Heaving breaths from exhaustion, we both trudged forth through the steady rain. I could already tell that I would get a cold after this. And I wasn’t looking forward to it with two bodies to experience it. And not the one-day cold either, more like the ‘Oh-god-why’ kind that wreaks havoc on your body for longer than a week. The last time I had one of these, I could barely breathe with swollen lips and aching lungs from coughing your lungs out. Yeah, it wasn’t on my priority to experience again.

Holding low hanging branches away was also a pain in the behind because getting smacked by it in the face on the body walking slightly behind the other, wasn’t my idea of fun. Coordinating your arms with two bodies to avoid that wasn’t easy, and half the time the blasted things would slip through the wet noodles I called fingers either way.

The feeling of hunger from both my female and male body began to weigh on me after half an hour, and I didn’t trust myself with finding something edible in the night. Or at all, really. For all I know, I could find something that would kill me within minutes.

“Really should’ve taken those survival courses.”

Kinda wish I had a tent in that bag, it wasn’t like I could’ve packed beforehand for this. I started cursing the deity that found it funny to dump me into this forest as it started to thunder on top of all this. You know, maybe I should stop tempting Murphy.

“Just great.”

At least I wouldn’t get a dry mouth, I guessed. Count your blessings, right? My soggy feet seemed to disagree, though. As would the rest of my clothing. I hoped I could find a cave in this mess, but that was just wishful thinking on my part. It doesn’t seem Lady Luck was paying attention to me all this time. Why would she, anyway? Wasn’t like she owed me any favors, damn it.

Around that time it got even worse. Unbelievable, right? Well, I wish it was like that, but you know me by that point. My luck for the day was majorly absent. The howl that ripped through the forest like a rocket launch wasn’t anything I wanted to hear today. Or ever, for that matter. At least I knew I was somewhere where there werewolves. Hopefully they wouldn’t see me on their menu. Or find me.

But alas, find me they did. Rustling from all corners unnerved me, causing me to be a jittery mess. I wasn’t so sure anymore I would survive this night. All I would do tonight would be to die without even remembering my friggin’ name in time for that to happen. The biggest things to forget, right?

The green glowing lights in the darkness didn’t help my anxiety much, floating there in pairs like leering eyes salivating at their prey. Sadly that prey was me. Adding to that, I didn’t trust myself to run for my life with two bodies, and I didn’t want to find out what would happen if one of them dies while running around in the dark being hunted by predators.

Making myself as big as I could to prove myself too big a hassle to attack wasn't the right survival trick against wolves, right? I think that was something you did while facing a bear. What did you in case of a sudden wolf attack? Wolves were pack hunters, after all, they would attack anything as long as they didn’t suffer too many losses, right? Oh gosh, what do I do?

Climb a tree? Well, that could work I guess, but getting both of me up there would complicate that. By that time I would be dog food. Running even though it was next to impossible to escape with two bodies tripping over each other? Yeah, well that was equally as bad. But what other choice did I have?

Grabbing onto each other’s hands, I made a run for it. The noise of twigs snapping around me told me the chase was on. Did wolves tire their prey out before striking? I wasn’t so sure about that. It sounded like they were about to surround us to make our escape all that much harder. I guess they were trap hunters, or whatever you called that tactic for predators. It seemed a bit surreal that animals would do that kind of thing, though.

Desperately praying to all deities I could remember vaguely, I hoped to find a way out of this. Narrow passages helped get away from predators, right?

That was my deciding factor as I came upon a more rockier area of the forest with big boulders and passages between cliffs a bit higher than if both of me stood on each other. Hopefully, they couldn’t get through here. But there I was sadly out of luck as something seemingly made out of wood and moss chased after us. At least it couldn’t go as fast through here as I could with my slender build on both of my bodies. Oh man, this was crazy.

“What kind of hell-spawn are you?!”

It certainly looked intimidating and I wasn’t in the mood to be the intended meal for that monstrosity. It was something out of a fairy tale, all right. The old school fairy tale, not the cutesy everything is rainbow barf kind of fairy tale. I really wished it was the case, though. I would take Care Bears over this nightmare abomination.

The sharp gnashing teeth of that thing oozed some kind of sap stinking to the high heavens, while some sickly fungus grew on the back of that thing. The claws looked sharp enough to rend limbs in half with one swipe. And the unearthly eyes glowing like Will O’Wisp in these sunken eye sockets gave me shivers in terror. The rattling breath from the beast didn’t sound healthy at all, either. Good God, in what kind of nightmarish land was I?

Running through the passages between the rocky cliffs was hard with only the flashes of my flashlights helping me go through this in some kind of imitation to a haunted house ride. I would like to see you try not to wet yourself in terror in this kind of scenario, being a hair length away from the maw of the tree dog. It seemed my bladder was empty to begin with, though. It didn’t stop my body from trying to do so, anyway.

Have you ever felt something like the terror where you were sick in your empty stomach and just wished it would end already? Well, it was like that and it didn’t help that I felt it twofold. I’m pretty sure the cuts and bruises would get infected if I managed to somehow come out of this alive, but my adrenalin-filled blood vessels kept my pain tolerance on a god-like level.

Fear is a superpower, after all.

I hoped it would keep me alive this night, too. The only thing missing is a blood moon to make this even more scarier. If only this was just a nightmare and I would wake up in the safety of my own home. But the stinging cold was telling me other things. This was real. That monster was real. My situation... was real. Death was waiting with bated breath, but I would be damned if I didn’t fight until the end!

Crying out as I slipped with both bodies down a tight slope, I heard a yelp of the beast chasing me as it tumbled after me on the drenched downwards slide into the darkened water ride. There go the flashlights, damn it. The ride was bumpy as heck, as we crashed against the walls, the water dragging us deeper into an underground cavern. Glowing fungus flashed by us, as we tried to keep our heads from getting smashed like a fat melon falling from a skyscraper for a science experiment.

From the sound of it, the abomination of a child between a wolf and a tree, paired with a zombie for good measure, fared worse than us. The snapping of twigs heralded a sigh of relief as it was ripped to kindling as we rolled to a stop on the wet ground. The glowing fungus on the walls showed a deep crack going through the head of the beast, having rolled between us. It really was an ugly thing to behold. The glowing light of the eyes were gone, giving a pitiful glance with its hollow eye sockets. The leaf of a tongue looked dried out like the rest of the body, as it began to crumble away. After a few minutes of frightening breathing and fascinated terror of watching it decay in rapid time, I got hold of our frantically beating hearts.

“Oh gosh...”

Relief washed over me like an overused drug, thanking my lucky stars for this turn of events. Hopefully, none of the other wolves would find their way here. I could do without a life-threatening chase for the next eternity. With the threat over, the adrenalin was slowly going away. But with that gone, other things let themselves be known in my bodies. First and foremost of all, the cuts and bruises burned with a vengeance like a ten-year-old ripping paper to shreds in a tantrum.

Not to say I could handle that, but coupled with everything else that happened recently? Yeah, I passed out as soon as the pain flared like a roaring bonfire doused in gasoline.

Now, I wished I could have gone with a dreamless sleep to recuperate from the abuse my bodies went through in the short time I had before taking this forceful nap, but that wasn’t the case. No, it wasn’t even just a weird dream-like having a screw with yourself after being in two genders at the same time. It was a friggin’ nightmare of the abominations hot on my heels. Running from their snapping jaws, tripping in the forest and getting dragged away as soon as I landed on my faces, almost drowning in the water of the river I took a ride in, trying desperately to climb a tree in time and so forth were the images I was assaulted with.

Nightmare after another, with no end.

This was interrupted by a drop of water hitting my face in the uncomfortable way of getting the water in my open mouth. God, was that disgusting. In the end, it rescued me from my nightmare induced sleep, though. That was at least something for the weird taste in my mouth now.

The migraine was on a manageable level, thankfully. So I sat my bodies up, working the kinks out of my spine while I was at it. It was dark, but not so dark that I couldn't see my hands in front of me. The dim light of the glowing vegetation gave a somewhat mystical atmosphere to the cave.

Inspecting my surroundings, I saw many stalactites and stalagmites with the echoing sounds of water droplets falling down all over the place. It was kinda slimy on the ground, too. I would have to be careful of getting out of here. Looking behind me, I saw the way we came in from.

Yeah, I don’t think I can climb back out that way. It’s a wonder I came out of this alive without broken bones. My wrist hurt like a hot iron burning its way through, though. Okay, I didn’t come unscathed out of this as I first thought. On my female body the ankle wasn’t faring better and the left arm was hanging out of its socket.

Fuck man, this was going to hurt.

Positioning ourselves in a way that I could get it back in, I counted mentally to the number ten and randomly pushed it back in with a cry worthy of a banshee. Counting really didn’t help since I was doing it myself, I guess.

The burning pain helped to differentiate between the feelings of my bodies and I was slowly getting the hang of moving independently on my bodies. It was a massive effort though and needed all of my attention to accomplish at the moment. At least it told me it was possible for me to move without doing the same on both bodies. It would take practice though.

The next days would surely prove to be a pain in the behind because of that.

For now, I just limped my way through the slippery cave, holding my sides in pain. I guess I did break something after all. Gosh, I hoped I would heal alright and find another way out of this hole. I don’t think the glowing mushrooms are something that I could digest and I didn’t fancy starving to death after surviving being chased by the beasts out of leafy hell.

So, stumbling through the dimly lit cave wasn’t nice at all, but it was favorable to being mauled and eaten. You know, hooray and stuff.

A light in the distance coming around the bend gave my heart a flutter in hope. A slight breeze gave me the determination to fight through my pain to see the sunlight once more. With that in mind, we... I mean me in my different bodies... found ourselves in a circular chamber. From above a ray of sunlight streamed down on a pedestal carved out of the ground. Runes dotted the base in some archaic way that gave it a foreboding quality. Around the walls were pillars carved in the way not unlike the pedestal in the middle.

But the interesting part was what was embedded there, shining in the light of the sun.

A sword sunken halfway in made out of some white metal stood proudly in all its glory. The ground was covered in some mosaic of a stylized sun and next to it was a black bow without a string, also up to its half in the ground. Around the bow was a mosaic of a stylized moon. I stared at the weapons embedded in the ground as if it was some cheap imitation of the legend of Excalibur thought up by a child having no better idea of how their hero was to come upon their favorite creation.

You know, I had half the mind to turn around and just try my luck with climbing out the way I came in from.

This had the tell-tale sign of some kind of Chosen One fantasy book if I didn’t know better. Sure the sword looked like it could be actually useful in defending myself from any other horror I would stumble upon while trying to find my way out of this forsaken forest, but the bow? What use would it be without the string and at least some arrows?

Just as I was about to turn around, the ground shook, causing me to fall on my back in the process. Cursing to myself, I rubbed my abused butt as I saw a heavy stone door lower itself, closing the way I came in from into the chamber.

“Oh, to all things holy, why?!”

Crying out, I tried to get up fast enough to escape the trap. The stone door just went down its merry way, regardless of my wishes for a normal day for once. Sadly, I was to slow to get back to the door, leaving me here with no way out. Just my luck.

Sighing out of my nose in barely suppressed anger, I turned my gaze on the two weapons in the middle of the room. You know what, why the heck not? Isn’t like I have anything better to do, right? Friggin’ teenagers with their friggin’ hero fantasies. I’m no hero, damn it!

Grumbling to myself, I positioned my bodies with all my willpower to stand at each weapon. I was sure I couldn’t get them out of the ground, but if it was the only way out, I would take it! It took a bit of effort, but at last, I stood beside them with my female self at the black bow, while my male self stood before the white sword.

You know, this really has a theme of gender roles, doesn’t it? I’m pretty sure there was a goddess of the night with her counterpart being a god of the sun. Too bad both my bodies looked more the part of a sun than they resembled the night.

“You better not turn me into some sort of demi-god, damn it...”

We both muttered at our respective weapons before us. Hesitantly reaching out with our right hands, we gripped the weapon so we could get this stupid game over us.

Upon touching them, the runes on the pillars and the base of the pedestal lit up in white ghostly light. Trying to loosen my grips on the weapons didn’t work out as I hoped it would. It was like they were glued to my hands.

“Friggin’ shit! What the heck do you need me for?!” we both shouted at the weapons.

The light of the pedestal traveled down the mosaic of both the sun and the moon, leaving them glowing in a kind of ghostly beauty if you liked that kind of thing. I really wished the gods would stop playing with me like some kind of Barbie doll with the world as their puppet house.

The light traveled on, going up the bow and the sword as if drawing it in. It was turning into a yellow glow on the sword while turning into a pale blue on the bow. Mere centimeters away from my glued on hands now. It seemed they didn’t take my plea seriously to stop. I wished I stayed away and starved to death instead, I don’t want to become some kind of hero!

Light traveled up and touched my hands, rushing up my arm with a speed unlike the slow crawl from before, as if accepting their new owner. Crying out in fear didn’t seem to stop it, though.

“Are you sure this will work?” a voice echoed through the chamber, as if from a forgotten memory of days gone past.

“I’m sure. They will seek out their wielders in time, Celestia. Only those of a unity between them like you and your sister may raise them off the platform,” a male voice answered the female one.

The echoing quality of the voices was creeping me out, man! Stop this, please! I beg of you! I don’t want this! My tears fell in fear of the future. Would I have to stop some kind of evil just because it was expected of me? What kind of sicko thrusts these responsibilities on some stranger?

“But, Starswirl, what if they aren’t ready for this?” another female asked from the memory imprint of the chamber.

“Nonsense, dear Luna, I’m sure anyone seeking them out must be ready and willing enough to find their way here. Do not fret, my dear,” the male voice answered, a see-through ghost appearing between us with two young women standing at his side. They certainly didn’t react to my pleading for this to stop, so I guess there wasn’t any help coming from them.

The man raised his hand, a glow coming from his fingernails as his white and grey beard began to whip around as if from some wind coming from nowhere. The pink hair of the taller woman ghost... apparition, whatever, also began to whip around her face the same as the shorter one's blue hair.

“Sword of Might, and Bow of Light, one the same as the other in mind, only worthy of the right shall bring forth their might!” the man incanted, binding the weapons from the memory to the stone below. Well, it helped me none, you old cheap Gandalf imitation! Stop this, please!

The memory shuddered to a standstill as the light of the respective weapons engulfed my bodies. Searing pain wracked through me as I fell limply to my knees. Why was I so stupid to do this, why didn’t I stop myself and thought this more calmly through, rather than letting my anger at my situation blind me to this mistake?!

Panting from pain, I felt my wrists be engulfed in flames and cold, my broken ribs snap painfully back to their rightful place as all my cuts and bruises washed away under the pain of a thousand suns and the cold of deep space.

I clattered to the ground, panting with tears in my eyes as it finally stopped. The weapons free from their prisons at my sides. I stared up through the hole in the ceiling in delirium. Was it over? It seemed so.

My eyelids twitched as I laughed in my craze, not knowing how to let out all my abused emotions in any other way. This was stupid. So stupid. I can’t believe I did that. What was I thinking? Becoming some kind of hero? Why fate, why?

An hour passed quietly away, as I came to grips with what just happened. Did I see this coming before I stepped up to the weapons? Sure. Why did I do this then? Because fuck fairy tales! Fuck these teenage hero worship stories! I will show them! This just couldn’t end up like that. So, did it end up like that? Yes...

I whimpered, as I thought of what would happen next. Could I just leave these weapons behind for some other poor sods to find? Sure I could do that, but what would they do with them? Better to watch over these things so no one could abuse these. But it didn’t mean I would have to like it.

At least I could defend myself with the sword, right? Right?

I don’t even know how to wield a blade, let alone how to fire a bow. A bow without string, so it was kind of useless right now. Oh, gosh. How did I end up here in this mess...

No sense in crying over spilled milk, I guess. This whole thing with two bodies was bad enough to get used to, what was one more thing going to change?

Groaning, I sat up and stared bewildered at my other-self. My male body had some kind of armor on that weighed next to nothing, now that I took notice of it. It shimmered in some kind of radiance like it was reflecting the light of the sun even while standing nowhere near sunlight. It was silver with gold trimming, leaving the joints uncovered for more maneuverability while still being covered in some kind of white fabric that was very tough to the touch.

My female half was cloaked in a black cloak sucking in the light, leaving her covered in shadows with a flexible leather-like armor around the upper body, the forearms and the legs with silver trimmings.

The weapons themselves felt like they were an extension of myself, like a lost companion being reunited with their owner. Around our wrist were some bracelets with the stylized sun and moon on a red metal for my female self and blue metal for my male side.

Curiously touching them, a flash blinded both of me, leaving me blind for a second. Looking back at each other, I saw ourselves back in our original clothes, as ripped up as they were. The sword and bow were also gone with the armor.

“Huh, at least some small blessing,” we said at the same time like every time I spoke. I would make that a priority to learn to differentiate which mouth I was using. It would make it easier to hold a conversation if I found my way out of this damnable chamber and back to civilization. Multitasking should be easier with access to two brains, right? It probably came down to practicing for hours, though. Not looking forward to that.

Standing up, the ground began to rumble again. Groaning in desperation, I got ready for some kind of new surprise. Only to finally smile at the sight of a staircase going up around the pedestal. Oh, sweet freedom, how I yearn for ye! Once the shaking earth around me settled down, I was ready to get back up to our feet from being knocked over once more. I mentally added balance training to my to-do list. But for now, the sunlight was calling to me!

Climbing the stairs carefully, I reached the hole in the ceiling, coming out in some kind of courtyard of a long-abandoned ruin of a castle. Well, with these kinda creatures running around this forest, I don’t blame them for ditching this place.

Looking up, I saw the sun on its way to high noon. Well, it seems like I wasted half the day in there. At least I was back on the surface again. Behind us, the ground sealed up and build itself in a way that looked like a well from the outside. I guess it looked like that for the purpose of blending in, then.

Shrugging, I made my way into the ruin, looking around curiously. Wonder how old this thing is, it really looked decrepit with all kind of vegetation taking back the land. The wood of most of these doors in here was already crumbling down from one touch alone, letting me freely explore without being blocked by a locked door.

The throne room had seen better days, I’m sure, but it still looked magnificent. The theme here stuck to the day and night idolization I came upon in the chamber below, and man, did they have a fetish for gold here. A wonder no one looted this place, I couldn’t fathom how much money went into this place. These people must be as gold fanatic as the old civilizations on Earth. Not that the modern civilization isn’t as gold fanatic, I guess. I mean, I’m pretty sure some people build their bathrooms out of gold just because. If you have the money, why not.

Murals and carpets on the wall proudly show their history in the artistic style you would come across in old cathedrals, telling the reader of the blessings of some kind of winged horse upon the people of this land, allowing them to cast what seemed to be magic, grow plants and lift tons like it was nothing and fly through the air on mystic wings from their backs. It was fascinating to behold. Even though I’m pretty sure some of the stuff is exaggerated.

Living shadow I can somewhat understand, seeing the cloak of my female half kinda draws the light out of the room, but this thing is way beyond that. The green and red eyes peer over some kind of crystal kingdom of some sort and both the women I saw in the memory replay stood there, looking upon their foe in the distance hovering above the kingdom like some specter.

The next mural was equally as bewildering, showing some kind of mismatched creature sitting on a black throne on a hill with what seemed to be pink clouds in the background, the two women once more at the scene with some crystals floating around them. The being on the throne had this mocking look that sent a shiver down my spines just from looking at the red and yellow eyes.

Another mural depicted a centaur wrecking havoc on the land, while a demonic ram seemed to raise the dead on the other side. In the middle the women seemed to be locked in a battle with their minions, showing a hill of dead comrades in arms. The woman with the pink hair wielded a long lance with a small golden shield on her other arm, white iridescent wings holding her in the air. The woman with the blue hair held two sorts of weapons in each of her hands that reminded me of the warglaives from World of Warcraft.

A slight pang went through my heart that I wouldn’t probably ever get to play my favorite game anymore.

Either way, she seemed to rend the risen soldiers to shreds without abandon, her blue wings shimmering on her back. They fought the enemies on all sides it seemed, the demonic creatures being summoned from the centaur seemed to fight a losing battle though, while more and more pressured the shorter woman to fight more ferociously.

The last mural, though... it was heartbreaking to look at. There, on her knees, was the taller woman with a rainbow of colors as her hair, crying her heart out. In the background above her hovered her screaming sister as she was dragged away by chains made of rainbow light, to the lonesome place of the moon. The golden crown lying forgotten at the side of the crying woman. The eyes of the other one, her sister I presume, were full of malice, though. I wonder what led to that, they seemed like thick and thin before that.

A tear rolled down our cheeks.

Sighing, I made my way through the rubble, being mindful to not fall on my face again. This place all of a sudden got more depressing. I would pack my things too if something like that happened to me. I’m pretty sure my bodies couldn’t bring themselves to kill each other, even if I wanted to. I would be killing myself, after all.

My sympathy went out to both of these sisters. It was hard to lose family, and I don’t remember much from the blank spot in my memory. Small things seemed to be returning though if I could remember my favorite game already. Here’s to hoping the other memories follow.

Coming upon a still-standing tower, I made my way up in hopes of getting a better view of the surrounding forest. Up and up I went, the spiraling staircase being chipped away at some places, making it a challenge to get higher up. But at last, I came upon a large room at the top, with a massive telescope for stargazing. Probably the property of the smaller woman I have seen a lot of.

Seeing the sun on its descent to retire for the day, I looked over the vast landscape full of these dark gnarly trees, mountains in the distance and clouds dotting the sky. It was a very serene picture, bringing a small smile upon my faces.

I kinda see the appeal to live in such a place now, although it was still absurdly insane someone would put up with these monsters out there in the forest. The room of this observatory was littered with old yellowing papers of star charts and the like. The ceiling was supported on a few pillars, leaving the gaps with dirtying broken glass panes, allowing for an all-around view of the land the tower stood on.

Another tower on the other side of the castle seemed to have fallen over from the battle that most likely happened between the two sisters before the one was forced to banish the other.

I sat on the bed by one of the windows. This bed was likely the one belonging to the younger one, I surmised. I felt bad for her, but I would still like to hear the reason for her apparent rebellion. The mattress of the bed was still in working condition, as were the bedsheets. It felt really fluffy, but I guess royalty had the advantage of getting some seriously good beds. Although, I would have guessed that these would have already been subjected to time as was the case with the rest of the castle. Maybe there actually was more to this magic thing than just old Gandalf binding some weapons to stone.

So, Celestia and Luna, huh? Sounds so cheesy, but I guess this was a custom back in their day. Would’ve been nice to meet them.

“And I still don’t remember my name...” we mumble under our breath. Shouldn’t something like one's own name be easy to remember? I have no idea. Wailing on this wouldn’t make me remember it faster, though. As nice as it would be to put a name to my face again. Or faces, as it is.

Now, there’s a thought. It would be very awkward to introduce myself to someone with only my male part having a name.

That was depressing, really. I mean, both of my halves felt like me. Or I felt like them. Gosh, this is confusing. Would a unisex name work? Is there even such a thing like that? Even though it would be a funny joke to introduce myself as Gandalf, it would be a hallow one. After all, I didn’t look like the old man and my female side would be stuck with a weird name.

“Oh, hello! My name is Gandalf, and it’s totally not weird!” I said, the voice of my female body ringing softly in my right ear, while the somewhat baritone voice of my male body rang in my left ear. Well, on their respective bodies. I still wasn’t used to thinking of myself as two persons at once.

We laughed and giggled at what we said. Outside, the sun finally hid behind the mountains, while the moon made the appearance behind a village in the distance.

Wait... Looking back, I spotted the lights of the village in the distance coming to life. Wow, I must’ve missed it as I looked over the forest earlier. To be fair, the rooftops just barely poked above the treeline. The light made it easier to spot now.

Hopefully I could make it there the next day without almost dying again. The pangs in my stomach protested the lack of sustenance. A bright and early start the next day should make it possible for me to get there in no time, I hoped.

So, another night of dreams of failure plaguing my mind. The hero’s death making its appearance more often than not, making my bodies start to sweat. Time after time, I seemed to disappoint some perceived fate thrust upon me, ending with me at the clutches of the villains I saw on the mural down below in the castle’s hallways. Having to fight myself, as the demonic goat ram thing raised one of my bodies into undeath. Banshee wails grated on my nerves as my male half dodged arrow after arrow. Gosh, my female self really made for a believable Sylvanas clone.

Another time, my male body got possessed, while I tried to dodge the sword swings of his swords, fumbling around with my arrows. The hellish distortions of my male body growled in a demonic language as I desperately tried to survive. If you imagined the goat legs and wings, my male body would have made a pretty good impression as Illidan Stormrage, if he wasn’t trying to kill me.

This kinda back and forth continued, until I woke up cold and shivering. My clothes could do with a bit more padding to keep me warm. So, yeah, it wasn’t a kind awakening, but at least my back wasn’t screaming at me this time.

As practice, I tried combing the long red hair with a discarded comb that I found in the night table next to the bed. Without moving my other body, that is. It was hard, trying to stop the urge to throw the comb out the window, as my female body tried to comb the air while my male body worked on her hair.

It really took some effort, but I managed to somewhat stop the movement with the other body. It was left as a twitching mess, though. It was funny to watch, if it weren’t so frustrating. Small steps, I guess.

2. My name is... I mean my names are...

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So, after combing the hair of the twitching body of my female half, we stood ready for the starting day. If only there wasn’t the forest in the way to the village in the distance.

Here’s to hoping we won’t die a horrible death being eaten by a monster after leaving the safety of the castle. Well, relative safety, seeing as it was a crumbling ruin.

So, after waking up in two bodies at the same time in a clearing within the forest just before night, getting a faceful of dirt every few steps I made and being hunted by some kind of wooden zombie wolves reeking out of their mouth, falling down into a cavern because of the rainfall and, you know, running for my life, landing in a heap with the wooden abomination dead at my feet, finding myself inside a closed trap room with destiny in form of some Chosen One weapons, I feel this day can only get better!

Hopefully.

Getting down the staircase from the observatory was easier with the better control I flimsily had over my two bodies, I found myself back in the lavishly decorated hallways of the castle that avoided all kinds of looting for some reason. Probably because of the forest that wants to kill you just on the doorsteps outside. Not that that would stop a dedicated explorer from doing so. And get half their entourage killed in the process. Because profit and relics, bitch!

Staring at the glass cases with some shiny bling in it, I really couldn’t help myself. Ourself. Somewhat between that. Just ignore these ramblings and you’ll be just fine.

I just couldn’t resist lifting the case.

Seriously, have you seen these things in here? Gosh, you would be drooling all over this place. What got my attention though, were the two necklaces on a gold and silver chain respectively. One had the sun symbol I have seen all over this place like no one’s business, while the other had the symbol of the moon that was equally as present in this ruin.

So, of course, I took them. I promptly got shocked by electricity for that. I chalked it up to some build-up static on my part and admired these beauties.

I would give them back, promise! Not like anyone needed them anymore. Some museums would probably cry and fuss about it, but I want to see them try to get here. Well, my hunger addled mind is mostly speaking here, hoarding shinies for the opportunity to get some money for food. Although, I’m not sure if I would part with these if I’m being honest here. Whatever, you can judge me all you want, they’re mine! Somewhere in the back of my mind I sat there as a drooling mess jabbering about ‘My precious’, but to do that would be over the top. It was a funny picture though.

Now that I think about it, this whole world seemed way too much like a fantasy novel, bordering on Lord of the Rings. Only with zombie wood wolves thrown in for good measure. And if Gandalf had a pointy hat decorated with bells. You know what, I had half a mind to beg all the known deities to just dump me there instead. Then at least I had a choice in the matter.

“Okay, nom noms first, then existential crisis," we said in our distinctive voices. Still hadn’t the hang to speak with only one mouth. I was like one of these puppet toys you could wind up that got broken some twenty-odd years ago with how erratic my bodies behaved if I wasn’t completely in synch.

Slowly, on the way out, an idea formed in my mind on how to solve that particular problem. So, after leaving out of the entrance hall and looking over the massive gorge not so far away with a rickety bridge that looked like it sweetly invited you to step on it, only to break apart once you got far enough and kill you in a horrible way in the misty abyss, I started singing a song at random.

Practice makes perfect, after all. And how to get better practice on trying to speak with only one mouth, while trying to get over a bridge that screamed practically ‘I’m made with the planks for your coffin!’? You’re right, by screaming frightened to death any song that came to mind while trying not to die.

It was a slow process, the creaking boards groaning in protest under my legs, trying to ignore the howl of the wind that the gorge underneath me made. It didn’t help at all. Creepy forest of death, man. At least my lungs got good exercise...

I was lucky that nothing majorly stupid happened while I went over the bridge, I wouldn’t have liked to test out what would happen if one of my bodies died. Looking back to the bridge behind me, I saw a board fall into the abyss and decidedly ignored my twitching eyelids. It wasn’t mocking me, it wasn’t mocking me, it wasn’t mocking me!

Reciting my new mantra for a whole ten minutes instead of singing, I followed a small path that led to the general direction the town was supposed to be. That bridge thing was just a coincidence, I’m sure. The talking with two different mouths was sometimes garbled, as I tried to suppress the urge to use both my bodies for talking. It seemed to be working at least, even though half the things ended in incomprehensible garbage.

Okay, it was pretty bad, but still a step forward!

Wandering around here in the day wasn’t that bad, and once you learned how to avoid the stinking announcement of bad breath wolves, you could definitely get around here danger-free. Well, somewhat. I still tripped pretty often over some roots I overlooked.

I was glad I didn’t trip over any stumps while being chased by a pack of wolves. Small wonders, and that. Gandalf would still hear some choice words from me if he ever crossed my path. Which would never happen, I’m sure, but damn was I angry for the whole Chosen One thing.

All other heroes were stupid for not running away the first chance they got. Maybe I could just pretend I didn’t know anything about that and live my decidedly weird life in peace. As long as no one mentioned the damn things on my wrists. And knew about them, to begin with. And had the authority to haul my ass into a hero training camp.

Yeah, I just knew someone would.

But that wasn’t yet the case, so a little hope was in order. Just sit back, hope no one notices, and everything would be great. How hard could that be, right? Fuck you, Murphy, in advance!

While it was still dark during the day in this forest, the ambiance was a lot friendlier with birdsong and the random squirrels going up the trees. If I didn’t know better, I would have said the forest was pretty nice. I’m sure it just wanted to lull me into a false sense of security.

This forest just can’t be nice, I knew it. I felt it in my left pinky. Both of them.

“Paranoia is unbecoming unless justified. Then it’s very becoming,” I mumbled to myself. Huh, I actually used only one mouth this time! Trying to do it again, though, was a fruitless effort. Well, a fluke like that is still a win in my book.

It wasn’t long until I got a full kick of fight or flight instinct running through me, that the hairs on the back of my necks stood all up in alarm. A shiver went through me. Nothing good would come of this. I was already jittery enough, thank you very much! Just for safety's sake, I touched my bracelets on the emblems. The telltale flash of light heralded my new gear and came to face with another monstrosity.

“You know, that’s something different, alright."

Before me stood some kind of lion bat thing with shaggy fur in a sickly pale yellow and bright red mane. I could see the ribs poking out through the fur on the hungry beast’s sides. Oh yeah, a totally normal thing to find in a forest. Oh, who am I kidding? Whimpering, I held my sword in front of me, wobbling slightly in my shaky grip. I didn’t even know how to wield this thing, man!

This couldn’t get better, could it? Sighing, I tried to look for an escape. Climbing the cliff would be foolish, not just because it got friggin’ wings, but to do so would need all my concentration to get both bodies up. Yeah, that flew out of the window fast. Running? Hah, good luck with that! So, charge it for the sake of confusing it enough? Ah, well... that would’ve been a nice idea... if it hadn’t that massive stinger for a tail.

This day couldn’t have gone by quietly, huh? My body a hungry mess with a hungry mess right in front of me. Just how I like it. So, I turned tail and ran as fast as my cowardly behind could haul me. With two bodies, it wasn’t easy.

Chasing after me, the lumbering beast bellowed a mighty roar, spurting me to run even faster. If I don’t have muscles of a champion after this, I swear! Friggin’ thing almost nipped me with the huge as fuck claws a few times. If I wasn’t just this tiny little bit faster than that thing, I would be dead by now, I’m sure. Once again I found the adrenalin pumping through me without abandon, giving me the slight boost I need to stay out of reach of that thing, whatever it was called. I think it was something from Greek myths. Now that I think about it, wasn’t there something similar in World of Warcraft?

Gah, better not let my mind wander, I’m kinda in a chase here! Pumping my legs as hard as I could, I found a series of stones just tall enough to use them as stepping stones to get up the cliff face. Only one thing. If I miss a step with either one of my bodies, I die. The missing step would lead to me falling even further because of a cliff going also very far down on the other side. Lucky, right?

Well, either that or get eaten by a foaming mouth of the second nightmarish beast I have come across. It really came to show how much my life hated me in this forest. Taking the first step, everything went down as expected. The second followed with a short leap, forcing me to leap to the next one or risk slowing down and not make the jump. By some stroke of luck, my female body just hit the steps right after the male without having to slow down either. The beast flapped its comparatively tiny wings just enough to make a bigger leap after us.

I jumped to the next stone, almost slipping up. My other body nearly did too, her stance more steady. Next leap, next stone, the beast still behind us. Five more leaps and I would be on a narrow pass leading to the last two leaps. Come on! I grunted with both my bodies, the first leap of the five went by without a hitch. Second leap, my male body almost overstepped. Third one down in the bag, two more to go!

The beast roared behind us once more, still hot on our heels. If we can get to the narrow pass on the side of the cliff, we could gain some distance again.

Second last step, the stone almost broke off before my second body could make it. My tunnel vision helped me make the last leap to the pass, but then...

Then it went all wrong.

Crying out from the scratch on my back from the beasts claw, the monstrosity slid down the cliffside with its claws buried in the rock making desperate leaps up with the wings on its back.

My body went sailing from the last leap to the passage. Fingers desperately stretched out in a last-ditch effort to somehow make it to the edge.

A second went by, my scream echoing full of fear through the valley below me. I know how Lara Croft must feel, making these unbelievable jumps in the games now. Even with another recovered memory, it didn’t help the terror I got in that little moment.

People say dying is accompanied by your life flashing by, right? Well, I had none of that at that moment, but I was certain I wouldn’t make it. Maybe that was because of the missing memories, but I really wished I could see anything but the sheer drop right there and then.

It was as if the real height from the drop stretched even further down, making it look like I was far higher up than I actually was. I guess that’s what it is like to have a fear of height, right? The stretching ground beneath you, mocking you, telling you you wouldn’t make it out of this situation, no matter how much you prayed to a deity to help you at that moment.

The ground down below that meant your death just sat there, impatient, for its victim. Gravity pulled, eager to introduce me to my demise. Everything went by in a really slow motion. That feeling you get, that tells you, let go, but you don’t want to believe it. Your cry of desperation, begging for a miracle to happen, because you wanted to do so much more with your life, other than just sitting at home reading a good story or watching a movie of your favorite adventurer that always got out in the nick of time.

I wished I was someone like that.

That sense of adventure you would get by accomplishing something you thought was previously impossible.

Well, you know what they say about that word, that word that told anyone that said it:

I’m possible.

And that was the only hope I had at that very moment, terror running through my veins, mixing with that particular feeling that gave you the freedom to do what you always wanted to do. The hope and the terror, clawing at your heart trying to tide you over to one side over the other.

That was what I accomplished in the end. Hope lost, terror running rampant, and yet... there was that spark. The last flicker, just as I was about to accept my doom.

Hope was always the last thing to go.

Crashing against the rocky wall, my fingertips found a small ledge to hold onto and said: Well done, girl! You did it. The spark of hope was the only thing left to set the bonfire in my soul alight. This was a chance to take, and by God the Allmighty, I would take it.

My male body reached down in the adrenalin induced haze, allowing for free movement between my bodies for the very first time since this happened to me, and clasped my hand tightly from the ledge. Heaving myself upwards, we watched the beast loose purchase on the rocks. It snapped its wings out and glided with a growl to the ground below.

It stayed there.

That was it. That one moment, nothing but a memory anymore. That was life to the fullest, my heart in my chests beat like a drum.

Bumm, bumm, bumm, bumm.

A sigh escaped my lips, closing my eyes, letting me relax for the moment. It was over now, no worries anymore. I let out the breath I was holding again, taking one once more. Peace was all I sought right now. All I needed, for the moment.

Clutching the necklace of the moon in my hands, I was attributing everything good that happened in that moment alone to the little trinket. I smiled at the warm touch to it, most likely because my body was akin to an overworked furnace right now.

I could do with a tea right about now, though. Wishing for all that is holy, that I won’t ever have to experience that again, I sat there in the embrace of my male body. This, was really... stressful. I let out a laugh, letting it take over my body. Oh, man. Here I was, in two bodies, and I pulled a Lara Croft. Too bad I had nothing to record this on video. But that didn’t matter, I made it!

Me, the coward that I was. Did something I thought impossible. Was this courage? This feeling of relief after doing something that scared me to death? I guess it was. Something for me to remember for eternity, because this moment, this memory, would stay with me forever.

It would be probably the only time I would ever accomplish something like the impossible jump in my life, but once was enough already.

I held the necklace around my neck in a death grip, having found my lucky charm. I felt renewed in a sense, more alive than I ever was. My hearts calmed down, at last, relaxing there with the view of the castle in the distance, the morning sun just a bit over it, casting a long shadow making it look majestic in all the glory it possessed with that state of disrepair.

Just thinking about it gave me a smile. I made quite the distance in the past hour and escaped another beast spawned from hell, survived a jump against all odds and get to live to tell the tale.

Getting up from our position we fell back in a semi synchronicity, the adrenalin boost gone, and with it, the brief moment of truly independent movement. But I was positive I could manage something like that with time. I would take all the small miracles I could get.

Making my way on the passage, we made short work of the last two leaps. One step closer to civilization! And hopefully, something to eat. The fatigue was setting back in, no more adrenalin there to help me get through this, so I made haste. It wouldn’t be far from here on. One last look to the tower of the castle overlooking the whole forest, I entered the foliage.

Feeling that there would be no danger, I banished the armor back into the bracelets. No need to draw more attention with a glowing walking stick and a cold breeze coming from the light sucking cloak, right? One would think they would cancel each other out, but that sadly wasn’t the case.

The half garble coming from me trying to sing again was a welcome sound after the terror from the chase before. I decidedly tried to ignore the fact that it would make me easier to find by another predator, but I needed this. This bit of lighthearted singing. It was getting easier too, at least. My female voice sounded angelic most of the time, as long as I didn’t mess up. I wasn’t that experienced in singing, but I thought I did pretty well, if I do say so myself.

Glancing at the necklaces, I rubbed a finger affectionately over them, glad I found them. The sun and the light of the moon, it certainly had a ring to it.

Sol and Lux. Now, there were some pretty good names, the Latin translations for sun and light. Short, easy and they fit the theme here. I grinned, yes they were indeed perfect names. I’ll let you guess which body got which name, it was kind of very obvious.

Now then, let’s see here. Coming upon the treeline, at last, I was already struggling to stay conscious by the time I got there. A path led to a small town that I saw last night from the tower in the castle and some people were going about their day.

Well, that was a curious thing right there.

Not the thing about the people going about their day, but the literal rainbow of colors of their hair. Seriously, either I was dreaming, or I got dumped in a world where people had an accident with one too many paint buckets.

Blonde hair? Sure, pretty normal. Blue hair? Well, if you like dying your hair. Green, orange (and I mean really friggin’ bright orange with that), violet, pastel yellow and so much more? On every person? Sometimes even multiple colors? Yeah, that was weird, man.

Shrugging I made my way to the town a short walk away, with some strange houses you wouldn’t even know how to describe. Seriously, what was that hat shaped thing supposed to be?

A few more meters and I could rest somewhere, hopefully. Well, that was the plan at least, but you already know how my plans turn out in the end. The darkening edges around my vision and the spots flittering all over it didn’t help my already bad balance at all. My overworked body protested every step that I took.

So... face met dirt and all that.

“Oh my!” a voice said before my bodies passed out from too much exhaustion and lack of nutrition. And probably a lack of fluids, now that I think on it. Or maybe the claws of that monster were poisonous? I couldn’t tell.

What I could tell, though, was that I at least made it to safety. With a bit of a catch for my dreaming mind, though.

The delirious sleep I ended up in, left me in some kind of weird Wonderland, all the things around me were in weird proportions, not even beginning on the odd animals running around. Sure, the winged pigs were kinda cute, but when the buffalo decide to dance around you, wearing the pinkest dresses you have ever seen, it began to unnerve even me.

So yeah, I kinda wished I wasn’t in the capital city of drug abuse, but what could you do about dreams like that, huh? Say no and not give a crap? Yeah well, I thought that too. Turning around to say ‘Nope!’ to this shit, I was met with the latest nightmarish creature I had met that day.

And promptly got pierced by its massive stinger, beginning another fitful sleep the third time in a row. You know, I was getting tired of this. Get it, tired? Yeah, okay that was a bad one, but anyway. I found myself once more fighting against all kinds of threats.

More often than not, it ended with me falling down a cliff.

Not a pleasant experience, let me tell you. And if I was somehow able to save myself from that, I got eaten by the big kitty cat. Sometime after my tenth experience of the same thing ending more or less the same way, I was left floating in a calm black abyss and finally found some rest.

Although, someone stroking my forehead was probably another hallucination, but it kinda felt nice. So I slept there to the humming of a somewhat familiar voice. I couldn’t quite place it. It was soothing, though. That was all I was concerned with, so time passed by quickly for me.

A few days later (I just assumed it were a few days, based on the stiffness), my eyes cracked open to a stark white ceiling, a constant beeping of a heart monitor at my sides.

I lay there for a moment, trying to remember how I got here. Please, don’t tell me I lost more memories? Groaning, I turned my head to see more of the room around me. It was as if modern-day met the Hogwarts infirmary, then got lost in the eighties and learned about the twenty-first century.

“Am I in a hospital?” I croaked out, my mouth feeling like I took a dive into a sea of sand. Otherwise known as dry as a desert.

On the other bed rested my male body, still out cold as it seemed. Well, that was new. Not that I was complaining, but why wasn’t Sol also awake? One half of my vision was black, while I was still able to completely see around. It was weird going back to only two eyes after getting used to the double vision kind of thing.

I slowly sat up, hissing as my hand flared up in pain from putting pressure on it. Looking down on it, I saw a needle sticking out the back of my hand. I grimaced, having half a mind to rip it out. Following the tubing to the IV bag hanging above, I sighed. Yeah, ripping it off wouldn’t do any good.

Lucky I got here then, eh? Grumbling, I let myself fall back against the pillow, feeling absolutely exhausted.

“I really could go for some water..," I croaked tiredly. Fumbling around the bed, I found a call button. Pressing it without further ado, I began waiting for someone to come by.

Not a minute later, the door opened to our room, a woman with pink hair wearing a cap entering. She gave me a smile, seeing that I was awake at last.

“Hello, Sweetheart. I take it you must have a sore throat? It was quite a long time you slept,” she said, coming over with a glass of water. Passing it over to me, I immediately began to guzzle the drink down, ending in a coughing fit.

“Slow down, take it easy,” the nurse said, taking the glass from me. “Now, there we go.”

I nodded thankful, taking slower sips after I got my breathing back in control. It was a bit embarrassing being fed the water like a small child, though. Guess I brought this upon myself.

“There, that should help it. Feeling better?” she asked me and I gave her a small yes, barely loud enough for her to hear it. She gave a satisfied smile, placing the now empty glass on the nightstand beside a vase full of flowers. “Now then, before I let you rest again, I just need some information, is that okay?”

Seeing my nod, the nurse went and took out a clipboard at the end of the bed. Flicking out a pen from the pocket on her white shirt, she sat down beside my legs giving them a reassuring rub. I guess I had nothing broken there, the. Or this would have hurt like a friggin’ banana taking a fall from near orbit.

“Can you tell me your name?” her eyes looked to me, her voice carrying a bit of authority in it.

“Lux,” I mumbled. It was kind of awkward with giving her a name I just gave my female body on a whim.

“Sorry, could you repeat that a bit louder?”

“My name is Lux. That there is Sol,” I said getting over my nerves. Might get this over with as soon as possible. No need to be childish about it.

“Okay. You’re brother and sister, right?” she asked. I gave a small nod, not so sure about how to answer that one. It would sound kind of crazy if I claimed that this was only half of my conscious body, that the male one was the other part. Now that I think about that, I should probably never ever mention that to anyone. One never knows what might come of it.

“Okay. Any diseases running through the family?”

“None that I know of,” I answer, not that I would remember anyway.

“Have you taken any medicine, drugs, or alcohol in recent times?” she asked, making it known to me that these were only routine questions. They needed that information for my personal files anyway. So I gave a negative, answering any following questions that pertained to the status of my health, at the same time telling her the same would also be true for Sol. Man, it was weird to speak of myself as if I were another person.

“Well, that would be all. Just one last question and you can go back to sleep, dearie,” Nurse Redheart said, as I found out was her name. I nodded waiting on her question.

And boy, how should I answer that one. Why was it that I came in with malnutrition from not eating since I popped up into this world.

So I told her the tale of me and my ‘brother’ going out camping in the forest and losing our food and tent to the wooden wolves, Timber Wolves as she told me, go figure. She seemed to accept the reason well enough and warned me to not go wandering into the Everfree Forest, the name of that dastardly place, again.

Not because of the monsters or anything, but it was actually off-limits by royal order since one thousand years ago. Well, that was a thing, then. No wonder the castle wasn’t looted senseless. Apparently a witch also lived in there in some kind of hut. Glad I didn’t stumble upon any gingerbread houses then. Not that I would be stupid enough to go into one. A shudder went down my spine for some reason.

“That’s everything then. Have a good rest then,” Nurse Redheart said, taking the clipboard with her, closing the door behind her. Groaning, I really felt like sleeping for another week again.

Not shortly after that I was back to floating in the void of my conscience. It was relaxing for once to not have to worry about the next nightmare around the corner. I still worried a bit about what would happen next, what with me having no house to call my own, and certainly no job to pay for food or anything.

The next day came faster than I liked to admit. This time I awoke with both bodies again. And I wasn’t really alone in the room, either.

A tall woman with violet hair was sitting in a chair reading a magazine about fashion. I oggled her for a bit, a slight blush coming to my faces at seeing her there. She really was quite a beauty to behold.

Well, the serene picture was disrupted by my male body having a coughing fit. That was some dumb luck, damn it. The woman looked up, getting a glass quickly and coming over after filling it up with water.

I gratefully thanked her as I took a sip, feeling a headache already trying to give me a hard time. Well, at least I had some luck, seeing that my other body didn’t mirror my movements. It was easier to differentiate, now that I spent yesterday only awake with Lux. Moving at the same time, in the same way, seemed easier than doing two different movements, but staying still with one body while moving on the other one was easy compared to that. At least something came of that.

“Thanks,” I said with Sol. She gave a nod taking a seat on the chair between our two beds.

“Think nothing of it, my dear,” she replied. “You both gave me quite a fright collapsing in the middle of the street, though.”

“Sorry,” I said both with Sol and Lux. You know, I thought I had gotten a hang for this, but a slip in concentration set me back so synchronicity again.

“You need not apologize for that, my dears,” she said, shaking her head with her ladylike smile. It just made me blush more, damn it. “My name is Rarity, by the way.”

“Lux,” my female self stated, while my male side said, “Sol.”

“Quite nice to make your acquaintance, dears,” Rarity said shaking each of our hands. “My, you’re feeling quite hot. Should I get the Doctor over?”

“Please,” I nodded, feeling like my insides were ready to burst out while having a coughing fit. God, why did I have to get that type of cold again?! I wheezed a bit, feeling the soreness in my throat already hard at work to make my life miserable.

What felt like an eternity later, a man in a white coat came in, coming to a stop at Sol’s bedside. He took out a small flashlight, looking into my mouth, testing the reaction of my eyes and holding his hand to my throat, feeling for the swelling already making itself know. He pulled out a stethoscope to hear for my heartbeat and the noise of my lung while breathing. You know, the standard check any house doctor does to earn their keep.

He repeated the whole process on Lux, making me go red-faced in embarrassment while he listened to my heart and breathing on that side of myself.

“Well, Mister Sol got the short end of the stick, it seems. While Miss Lux only has a minor cold, you Mister, got the full brunt of the bacterial infection. I would ask that You stay at least for the week, your sister should be fine after a day, two at most,” he told us, Rarity having taken a seat again. She gave me a look of pity, so I gave her a small smile telling her it would be alright. On the inside I cried in despair, not looking forward to having to feel sick for that long again.

“Thanks, Doctor Heartrate,” we mumbled, not really grateful for the news, but it wasn’t like it was his fault.

He left us after that, while Rarity also made her leave, promising to come back the next day.

That left me lying here with high fever on Sol and only a full nose on Lux, sniffling hard at times. Gosh, I felt jealous of myself, I admitted. Not that it would change a thing which one got the full brunt of this. It seemed Lux had a better immune system than Sol. Lucky her. Or me, in that case. Still sucked, though.

I stuck out my tongue at my male body in a fit of childishness. I smiled with both after that. God, laughter really is the best medicine. Unless everything hurts because of it. Like, right now. I shouldn’t have done that, I groused.

The next day was even worse on Sol, which left my solely focusing on Lux. This sickness at least taught me the necessary control to move independently of the bodies. Multitasking was my new superpower, bitch! Would’ve helped in the damn forest, in hindsight. Not that it wasn’t easy to learn in the first place. Had I stayed in the clearing where I woke up, I would be dead now if I decided to learn multitasking on a whole new level, I guess.

So, what did I do? Have a conversation with myself, of course! I freaked the nurse out a bit while continuing my sentences after every word by the next body. It was kinda hilarious.

Around noon, the violet haired goddess entered my room, waving us a heartfelt hello. Lux gave one back readily while Sol was interrupted in a coughing fit that left me wishing I would be dead instead. Yeah, it was really fucking bad.

“Hello...” Lux said to her.

“How...” Sol followed after being done with almost dying.

“Are...” Lux followed up.

“You...” Sol said after her.

“Doing...” I said back on Lux, enjoying this too much.

“Today?” Sol said, ending the sentence on his abused voice. It sounded quite pitiful if you asked me.

“Ah...” Rarity looked at us as if I grew two heads. Which I kinda did, in a sense. Wow, talk about taking a figure of speech seriously. I gave a hearty laugh on Lux, cracking a smile on Sol, too. I’m officially a lunatic.

“At least you have your humor still intact, my dears,” Rarity said after a moment, showing a small smile. Her eyes picked an interest in the necklace Lux was wearing again, having changed back into my cleaned, if somewhat torn, clothes. Curiously, on both of my wrists the bracelets were still present, not having been taken off.

“Quite an interesting necklace you have there, my dear. May I see it?” Rarity asked while I took it hesitantly off. My lucky charm has grown on me quite a bit. She inspected the chain and the crescent moon shaped gem with barely suppressed awe. “My, is that star-steel?”

I gave a shrug, not knowing what that metal was supposed to be, but it apparently was something really rare, judging by her reaction. I took the sun-shaped one out of the drawer with Lux and showed it to her too.

“My, oh, my. Wherever did you get these, darlings?” Rarity asked, fascinated.

I paused before speaking. I shouldn’t mention I stole these from the castle in the murder forest, so what do I say. Oh, I can’t just say I bought them somewhere, she would want to know where. And by the fact that it was such a rare thing to obtain, it would presumably be worth thousands. If not even a million. Fucking what did I get myself into with these?

“Um... they were a family heirloom?” I said unsure, but thankfully she didn’t seem to have heard my obvious lie. It was also a good one if I had to admit it. Celestia and Luna were kinda partly responsible for getting me into this mess with these weapons, so they shouldn’t complain if I claimed them as my own.

“Oh, really?” Rarity asked, intrigued. “Were your parents good friends with Princess Celestia?”

“Uh... I guess?” I answered, not really knowing how to respond to that. What did she mean, my parents could’ve been friends with her? Well, obviously I knew that I really didn’t have my parents here on this planet... or dimension, wherever this was. What I meant, though, how could they have been friends with a woman that lived over a thousand years ago, judging on the state of their castle?

It would be absurd if they were immortal, right? Oh god, please, tell me that isn’t the case. My eyelid started twitching. Thinking on how Rarity mentioned Celestia as if she was well known, duh she’s a princess, it was either that, or it was a descendant of the Celestia I saw around that castle, using the same name.

Something told me it wasn’t the latter case.

I really wanted to go find that woman and give her a piece of my mind right now. That would mean exposing myself as this stupid kind of hero to her, though. Ugh, this really sucked.

It wasn’t like it wasn’t entirely her fault. More like old man Gandalf, that bastard (and mine, for going along with the stupid idea of grabbing these weapons in the first place). That grisly old man had no common sense (me neither, but don’t tell anyone), I doubted he was also immortal in this case. Or he wouldn’t have become that old in the first place.

Now I wished I had a Tardis to go back and kick his butt to the moon and back.

This hero business could wait, I swore to myself. Let them search for another one. They didn’t need one for the past thousand years, so why now.

It wasn’t like I was in the apocalypse, there was no pressure for this hero thing.

You know, I noticed how Rarity didn’t even say something like if my parents knew Luna, or Princess Luna, gosh darn it, whatever. Did that mean... Oh God, was Luna still trapped on the moon? For a fucking thousand years? What did she do to deserve that kind of punishment?!

My eyelid started to twitch again.

Okay, calm down. Rarity is still preoccupied with these necklaces, no need to freak her out with my mental raging. Next chance I get, I would search the friggin’ library for some history books to get a bigger picture.

Fuck, I can’t believe Celestia would do something like that to her own sister! I deflated a bit, as I remembered the mural in the castle of her crying her heart out. Something must have happened that I don’t know anything about.

Okay, I would probably have to look for myths too, while I’m at it. Something that old would most likely be hidden behind some crappy fairy tale. I should be good to go with Lux around the afternoon. Only a runny nose, I don’t see no problem why I shouldn’t be able to get out of hospital with only that. Once I have Lux out, I can check the library. If this town has one...

“Say, Rarity?” I asked her, putting on a smile. “Does this town have a library?”

“Hmm?” she answered, giving me back the necklaces. “Why certainly. Ponyville has one called Golden Oaks, do you wish to go there?”

I nodded putting my lunar necklace on while depositing the one for Sol back into the nightstand. I saw Rarity bite her lip, watching as she struggled to put her words in the right way.

“You... may encounter a problem with that, dear. There has been no librarian employed for quite a long time, now. I’m not sure if you can get the mayor to give you the keys before the Summer Sun Celebration next week. There was talk about someone coming here for that, but I’m not sure,” she explained, giving me a pat on the hand, expressing her sorrow to me.

“Well, I might be able to convince her. I have no place to stay, my parents... passed away last month and my uncle kicked us out for ‘leeching like little parasites’,” I lied through my teeth. Well, considering I don’t know if my parents are alive back home, it had some small amount of truth in it. If you squinted really hard. And used a magnifying glass.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry, my dear. I should’ve known, what with you having these heirlooms,” she gave me her condolences, getting angry at the so-called uncle of mine. I don’t even know if I have one, to be honest. “Well, if anything else, you could stay with me if that doesn’t work out. Have you worked in a library before?”

Well, actually, yes. That I remember, considering my flat was atop my own library back home. I gave her a nod, no need to lie this time. I was kinda excited about the prospect of working around books again. Back home, people got more of the electronic kind, which left me with only other students coming by my library anymore. Friggin’ computers, man. For all the good they did, they kinda ruined my job.

Well, I was glad for more of the snippets of the memories I was getting back, but I kinda wished the bad ones stayed forgotten. Like the crappy prank a student pulled in my third semester, half my library was covered in foam that day. I don’t even remember what I studied, but that memory was just after coming home and opening the library for the day.

It wasn’t a big one, but I loved it dearly.

Well, maybe I could make myself a home here, after all. With a bit of luck, that librarian coming over wouldn’t mind co-owning the Golden Oaks Library. As long as they didn’t set the library on fire, everything would be fine on my part.

In the time between that Celebration coming up and now, I would have plenty of time to read up on this world.

“Nerd,” my male self said, grinning a bit after having a coughing fit wreck my body one more time. I couldn’t wait for me to get healthy again, man.

“Geek,” I said back with Lux. It continued for a while, Rarity watching me in amusement. This gave the whole talking to myself a new meaning, it was pretty fun to do. That was also a great way to bounce ideas around.

After the midday meal, I was ready to get out of this hospital. Well, with Lux anyway. I would have to suffer with Sol for the rest of the week, but I should be out and about before the Summer Sun Celebration starts. Plenty of time to get more practice in to make moving both bodies smoother.

“Shall we go, my dear?” Rarity asked, seeing that I stuffed my face in a dainty kind of way and was done. I was a fast eater, but not a messy one, thank you very much.

“Yes, let’s,” I replied, throwing on my hoodie jacket, still ripped up in places. I would’ve to stitch these seams again too, it looked like I would have my hands full for the foreseeable time.

“Whatever happened to your attire, dear?” Rarity asked aghast. I looked at it, seeing the rip the manticore made, the tears from the run in the night and the tumble down to the cave, while I barely escaped.

“Camping trip gone bad,” I replied sticking to the somewhat true story. If you turned the story sideways a bit and added a tent to the mix, it could’ve been just that.

Fucking murder forest.

“Oh, this won’t do. Not at all!” Rarity proclaimed, getting the rest of the ripped clothes from Sol into a bag while dragging me along too.

“Have fun!” Sol said using my sarcastic side as the outlet. Gosh, I was actually mocking myself, how low could one sink.

“You too,” I grinned, hearing Sol hack his lungs up again. I really should stop this, before it got out of hand. It was fun, though. And it had the added bonus of not making me look suspicious. Yay, and all that.

I’m glad that at least half of me gets outta here.

My sanity wouldn’t have survived otherwise. No telling how long it would have taken for me to try to strangle myself out of boredom. A morbid thought, that. I actually could do that to myself, if I was stupid enough to want to die.

Which I am not. Most days, at least. So long as my common sense was working, I should add. Looking at you, Gandalf!

Rarity led me down to the reception, where I filed the necessary paperwork with the nurse behind the desk.

I was free, at last.

Too bad that the sun shone right into my eyes as I got out and looked up in relief. Lucky me.

3. Of Magic and Gods. And Fashion, I guess.

View Online

Out and about in the noon sun, I breathed out a content sigh. My eyes would never forgive me for what happened a few moments ago, but it was refreshing nonetheless. I’m still seeing spots, wherever I look.

Smiling, I spun a little and turned around to see Rarity standing next to me. She gave a small titter at my exuberant state, taking the lead with me falling behind.

It was nice having such a nice lady being my guide after all the crap I went through to get out of the Everfree Forest. Finding out that the damn thing was off-limits by royal order was at least a small relief, but I was sure I would somehow get roped into going in there again at some point. I just knew it.

Boy, was I glad I got out of there alive, being chased by two kinds of nightmarish monsters is enough for a lifetime. Barely clinging on to a ledge with however far of a drop wasn’t my idea of fun either. But it left me more alive than ever, and a small part of me longed for that feeling again.

I was sure I could do without, though.

After getting out and finding a town full of skittles colored hair, I barely made it into the town limits and passed out. And that left me here, the hospital behind me getting further into the distance with my male half still lying sick to death in the bed.

I touched my necklace again, feeling the comfortable weight around my neck. The lucky charm was a thing I took with me on my last day in the forest while staying at the castle there. I had two of them for my respective bodies, Sol and Lux.

The moon on the star-steel chain was the one I was currently holding in my hand with Lux. Sol had a sun pendant on his necklace. But enough with the recap, I had to admit, I was a bit jealous of Rarity’s figure.

Yeah, it didn’t help that I, as a former only male, had now also a female body. The best I could describe having two bodies is like... playing a two-player co-op game on your lonesome, trying to manage two characters at once. It was the most difficult thing to accomplish. Well, not counting the genius prodigy cases out there. They had an unfair advantage, but they also didn’t have two bodies, so there is that.

Managing to move both independently was getting easier, though. Lying still with the other body helped me concentrate on the other better. If I tried to do two different things at the same time, though, it ended almost always up with failure. But differentiating between Lux and Sol got super easy, what with one being to sick to stand.

Admittedly, the town looked nice in its rural design. If you get used to people having weird mixes of hair colors. What I noticed though, were the cars that seemed to be few and far between to encounter here. Most people still used horses around here to pull their stuff around. Although, I think I saw a guy carrying a sofa on his shoulders. That strength, man. I wouldn’t ever try to beat him in an arm-wrestling match.

So, technology, huh? It seemed only the truly rich had the really advanced stuff I was used to seeing daily on the streets. What a weird world I ended up in.

I guess assembly lines haven’t gotten invented here yet, then. That would be a thing to look into, but for now new clothes sounded more of a priority.

Following Rarity’s hypnotizing gait into her boutique, I apparently had passed out in front of some days ago, I took a look around all the fancy dresses. You know, I was actually impressed with the sheer quality of those. And she even told me she hadn’t had her break yet, what the heck man.

Were that genuine gems on that one?

Shaking my head, I got led to a spacious workroom cluttered with all kinds of tools and fabrics, sheets of papers with designs on them, and half-assembled clothes. Most of them were a bright and shiny color, some had that exotic dark shimmery look that I couldn’t help myself, but to marvel at.

These fabrics had to have cost a fortune. The first thing I would do was earn enough money to repay her for her kindness and generosity. And maybe get some of that fancy clothing, these fabrics looked and felt really comfortable.

A small image of Lux in a cute dress popped up into my head at that thought. I wasn’t sure if I could go with something as cutsie as what I imagined, but swallowing my pride for something a bit less over the top feminine? That I could possibly manage. It wouldn’t be strange, right? I mean, I was technically a girl now, too.

My face was tomato red for the next minute or two.

For now, a simple repair of my current clothing would have to do until I could get the necessary money. This town was in need of a librarian, I can feel it. And no one would get out of a late turn-in, mwa-ha-ha-ha! Evil cackling aside, I was looking forward to convincing the mayor of this small town to allow me to work there.

After all, managing a library was always easier with someone else to help. The Golden Oaks Library even had an apartment on the upper floors, I’m sure we could split the rooms to our needs, once that librarian got here on the Summer Sun Celebration.

“Could you take your clothes off, so we can get started, my dear?” Rarity’s voice snapped me out of my musings, leaving me with a red face both on Lux and Sol in the hospital. Gosh, the poor nurse thought something was wrong with me.

“Sure,” I hesitantly said, taking the hoodie jacket off first, slipping the shirt over my head afterward. I set my shoes to the side and pulled the white pants off, leaving me standing there in my underwear. I didn’t even notice until now that I had a black bra on. It was way too soft to be real, I tell you. The strips going over my shoulders holding the cups didn’t bite into my skin in any way, these were of some good quality.

A measuring band flitted across the room in a blue aura, making me follow it with my eyes. Magic, man. This would take some time to get used to, but after being subjected to some kind of ritual for the next Chosen One, it didn’t surprise me much anymore.

Scribbling on paper got my attention, as a notepad began to float around Rarity, taking notes of the numbers she got from the tape. She had some really cute glasses on, making me blush once more. Come on, body! Get yourself together. Having a crush on someone older than you was nice and good, I don’t judge, but my situation would just complicate things.

Not even mentioning the debacle of telling her that Sol and Lux were one and the same person, the fact that she would be in a relationship with two people, in this case, would get too much attention on top of it.

That I wasn’t worthy of such a beautiful woman was tempting to overlook, admittedly.

Standing still for a few minutes wasn’t that hard, and with a goddess like her seeing me half-naked, I really couldn’t complain. After that, I was left to sit on a stool, while she worked on the ripped clothing and making it look good as new.

She had some serious talent there, man.

“That’s an interesting talent mark you’ve got there, dear,” she said after a while of silent working, making me wonder what she meant by that. What in the nine rings of hell was a talent mark?

Looking in the big mirror on the wall behind me over my shoulder, I saw what she meant, but didn’t understand how they got there in the first place. Or what they were for, if they have this fancy name. Obviously, it had something to do with talents, duh.

On my shoulders was a blotch of black with a crescent moon on it, overlayed on top of it was the bow I got from the chamber under the castle. I really should’ve starved to death in that chamber instead of taking these damn weapons, man. If I squinted really hard, I could make twinkling stars out in the splotch.

That tattoo was animated, holy shit. Magic, tell this humble mortal all ye secrets, I beg of ye! There was no doubt that they were just that, magical.

Silently in the hospital, I looked at my shoulders there. Sol had the stylized sun with the sword going diagonally over it. Did these weapons come with free tattoos, or what? What kind of talent would they even represent? I sure as heck wasn’t good swinging around that sword, even if it weight absolutely nothing. Archery wasn’t my forte either, now that I thought on it.

“I guess,” I answered, focusing back on Lux. Hopefully none would see that as confirmation that I was this Chosen One that took one thousand years to find, because old Gandalf was bat shit crazy.

“What does it mean?” Rarity asked in that nonchalant way, all the while concentrating on her work with the clothes of Sol and Lux.

I had to think about that question for a moment. What does it mean, indeed... The sarcastic side of me wanted to make it out as a joke that I was the destined savior of mankind and didn’t want the responsibility. The rational part of me beat the shit out of my sarcastic part. There was no need to risk getting exposed over a stupid joke.

I didn’t want this, and if crazy Gandalf couldn’t put a warning sign at the damn entrance of the chamber, then I didn’t feel like I should put up with that crap either.

“I don’t know, really,” I answered, not having come up with anything better than my sarcastic reply I would’ve gone with if I hadn’t had the restraint to prevent that.

“Oh you poor dear, not knowing what your talent mark means must be awful. Why, I couldn’t imagine if I didn’t know what mine meant,” she said showing me a patch of three diamonds sewn into her blouse.

If it means you’re an absolute beauty, I totally agree.

She gave me back my shirt after she finished repairing it, beginning her work on my pants. We chatted idly about this and that, getting to know each other more. I kinda admitted to her that I lost over half of my memories in that forest. It was also true, I suppose.

That led to her smothering me against her chest like an overprotective mother being reunited with her long lost child. Yeah, it didn’t help my blush in any way. It was a nice feeling though, being cared for like that. She was nice to hug, that much I can say. I wondered how it could be that she still waited on her breakthrough in the fashion world, someone like her should be showered in praise, man.

Once she finished her work, we got on our way to the town hall. Glad that I had such a nice tour guide, we ended up in a companionable silence greeting the townsfolk with waves as we passed by. The air was really crisp here, making me enjoy the fresh smell all around me. This kind of air was long lost to Earth, I guess. At least around cities and such.

The thatched roofs of most of these houses certainly added to the atmosphere. The patchwork style houses reminded me a bit about old classic houses in Germany, that you would see everywhere in older parts of cities and in most rural towns there. Just without the straw on top of them.

Seeing most signs on the various shops following a theme of cute stylized ponies, gave this town a unique touch to it you wouldn’t be able to find on Earth. I wasn’t sure how the rest of this land did in regard to these things, but I’m sure it would be similar to this here. I mean, this town is called Ponyville and no one seemed to mind. It left me wondering what the names of the other cities around here were.

Probably also puns of the equine kind.

It was understandable, though, what with their creator deity being a winged unicorn. Although, why they wouldn’t be ponies themselves in that case, I didn’t know. Maybe Horse God found humanity after they already started playing with fire around here. Suddenly the myths and lore book became all the more interesting to get my fingers on.

This world was a little girls dream come true.

The townsfolk were nice and it seemed like everyone knew each other, which was a stark contrast to the city I grew up in. I don’t remember the name at the moment, but I certainly know it wasn’t on this much of a friendly basis around people that I was seeing right here. A family-friendly environment for sure.

I wouldn’t mind living the rest of my life here.

Sure, I was sad I wouldn’t ever get to see my own library, friends, and family, even though I don’t remember that much, but this? This was a place you would be proud to call home. The people talking to each other and haggling at stalls selling produce just found a spot in my heart. Even if they had weird hair color.

On our way, Rarity made a few purchases at a few stalls while we were at it and I offered to carry her bag for her. She gave me a grateful smile for that, so I was happy about that. She took the time out of her day to help me, it was a small thing to do to repay her kindness. It wasn’t like it was heavy, and it was nice to hold onto something with my fidgeting fingers.

I was a tiny bit nervous about talking with the mayor.

If I didn’t make a good impression and good arguments, my daydream of working the local library wouldn’t even have a chance to get off the ground, so to speak. I was afraid my dream would come crashing down in a fiery blaze like a phoenix forgetting how to fly.

The town hall was a round building with a small terrace going around it under a roof held up by wooden beams, easily the tallest structure around the town. Well, maybe, I wasn’t sure how tall the clock tower was that I saw in the distance.

Rarity held the door open for me as we made our way in, coming into the room taking up the majority of the ground level with a small stage at the far end and a small balcony overlooking the floor up above. Probably for the really big announcements.

A small part of me wanted to get up there and announce the end of the world.

Finding a small reception area with a bored employee playing with pencils, I introduced myself and asked to see the mayor of the town with a request to talk about the library and got asked to wait for a moment in the lounge through one door. Sadly, Rarity excused herself at that point saying she had to get her sister from the local school.

You know, if this didn’t work out, I could still ask if I could go teach there. I wasn’t half bad with maths and chemistry, even though I doubted that was something they taught to little children here. At least maths could work, and on the level needed here, it would be easy as pie.

I couldn’t go mad scientist on little children, sadly. Even if they would find it funny, but I digress. The receptionist came back and escorted me up to the first floor into an office.

On the walls were the typical folder cabinets and these ring binders you would see in any office, a few plants, some chairs and a desk in the middle of the room, an old computer that looked like the equivalent of the ones out of the eighties on Earth on top of it. Only not old in this case. Still massive leaps behind from what I’m used to.

It was certainly well made in the craftsmanship kind of sense, though. Not like the cheap rickety plastic garbage some people tried to sell you back on Earth, no this looked like a lot of time went into this little machine.

The desk itself was made of hardwood with a nice glossy finish. Also, there were a few imprints of dried coffee where someone wasn’t that careful with their cup, evidently. Who doesn’t know how fast something like that could happen, man.

Behind it was your typical office desk chair everyone played around with at least once in their life and hurt themselves in the process of being silly. I took a seat on one of the cushiony chairs that stood in front of the desk while a somewhat middle-aged woman entered through a door behind the desk to the left.

Man, she ended up with the short stick, if she already got grey hair like that. How old was she? Based on her appearance, barely forty. That wouldn’t lead to grey hair, right? So she either dyed it for some reason or she was really unlucky in that department. Poor woman. Although, it gave her that kinda sexy mature look, that promised you pain if you said the wrong word to her.

“Hello, I’m Mayor Madam, how may I help you, Miss?” she introduced herself offering me a handshake. Was that really her name? Seriously, her parents must’ve hated her or something.

“Lux, ma’am. I’m here hoping to ask if it were okay for me and my brother to work the local library,” I reciprocated her handshake, giving a smile. “We know that a new librarian is rumored to arrive with the Summer Sun Celebration, but we would like to know if it were possible to share the responsibility?”

“I don’t know about that, the Princess specifically requested for the apartment to be ready for her student coming to overlook the festivities with a possible continued stay,” Mayor Madam answered, pulling on a small frown on her face. Ah, crap, this was already getting out of hand. I need an argument and fast. Think! Think! Think!

“Well, I could perhaps clean up in the meantime and we could see from there?” I asked, knowing it was kind of a pathetic argument, but I needed more time.

“Pinkie Pie could always use a bit of help setting up for her welcoming party, certainly, but this isn’t that good of an argument to allow me to request a change of agreements with Princess Celestia and her protégé,” she kindly informed me, and I get it, she wanted to let me down gently, but I wasn’t done fighting. Not yet!

“Okay, I guess that would be a valid point. But perhaps I could at least work there part-time to sort and tidy up the bookshelves?” I requested, and this time I was certain that I made a quite good argument. It would mean that I would have to look for another thing to do, but there was always the school I could hit up next.

“That would be easily manageable, I would still like to have a word with the princess, of course, but I could present your case to her if you have experience with working around a library,” Mayor Madam said, showing a small smile this time. Okay, now I could go in for the hit and bring up how working together is always easier, and maybe I would get a permanent stay there!

“Oh, absolutely. I operated a small library back home on my own and I always found it easier if someone was there to help. Working together would doubtlessly lessen the workload the student of Celestia would have, wouldn’t you agree, ma’am?” I said, grinning in victory because arguing against that would be hard. Hah, take that!

“I see where you’re coming from. It would keep the stress down, and from what I heard about Twilight Sparkle, that would no doubt be invaluable. So long as you don’t fall into any disagreements?” she asked, raising her eyebrow. Well, she got me there. Would I get along with a complete stranger living in the same building day by day? I saw no problems, as long as we don’t try to rip each other apart while doing so.

“I would see no problems there, I’m sure we will get along splendidly,” I said, not sure if it was the complete truth, but I needed a job. Preferably one I did well in.

“Alright, I will send a letter this day up to Canterlot and see where we go from there. In the meantime, how about you get started cleaning up a bit?” she asked me with a friendly smile, glad that we came to an agreement. I returned it readily, nodding my head.

“Then that is settled. I’m guessing you recently moved here with your brother?” she asked me. Well, moving here is a bit of a stretch, seeing that I had no choice in the matter. But it would be best if I went with that.

“Yes, from Manhattan. We planned a bit of a camping trip and got lost in the forest just outside of town while we looked for something more permanent. Our uncle threw us out after our parents died,” I said, sticking close to the story I spun explaining my whereabouts here.

“From Manehattan? Must be quite a change of scenery coming from a big city like that,” she said surprised. I thought back on what I said and mentally facepalmed. This could’ve gone so wrong, mentioning a city from Earth, damn it! I need to be more careful, but at least a city like that existed here in this world. I remember a few times where I was actually there, so it was the first thing that came to mind.

“Yes, and sadly we lost most of our things in the forest in the process. We barely came out alive as it is, and my brother is held up with a nasty cold in the hospital, so I took the liberty of arranging our stay here,” I said, while my male half sat there groaning in bed with a book in his hands. You know, multitasking was kind of neat in that regard.

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, dear,” Mayor Madam said with a sympathetic smile. “I take it you lost your identification?”

“Erm, yes,” I muttered and tried to appear as embarrassed as I could. The one thing that I could have really needed in these damn bags, man. They wouldn’t have worked here, though. Most likely.

“I take it you’re eighteen years old?” she asked me, pulling out a few files. Now that I think about it, how old are these bodies anyway? I trusted her estimation on that, going along with it. It would only be a few years of difference, anyway.

“Okay, and you moved here from Manehattan. Parents deceased, Uncle not wanting to further take care of you both...” she muttered as she filled in our files to make us once more a legal citizen. Hopefully they wouldn’t search through the archives of... wait, was that Mane-hattan? Aww, how cute. Either way, I could do without getting accused of forging government documents, but maybe I should place some there for good measure. It was that or having to answer for false identity.

She asked me a few more questions and I also answered on behalf of my male half, seeing that he wasn’t here for it. After we got through with every question, she gave me the keys to the Golden Oaks Library and bid me a good day.

Smiling, I made my way out of the town hall, relieved that I could at least get a start on cleaning up the disused library, even if it was only on a temporary home until word got back from the capital.

I found Rarity on her way back from school with her sister in tow. The shorthead had some interesting hair colors, but not the weirdest I have seen yet. It could be mistaken for candy, man. She looked cute in her own way, though, but with a goddess of a sister like that, I guess it ran in the family.

“How did it go, darling?” Rarity smiled as I jingled the keys, happy for me that it worked out. I told her that it was for the time being only temporary, but that I had a pretty good feeling that it would get more permanent.

So, she told me how to find my way to the tree library, I kid you not, and went on her merry way with her sister, Sweetie Belle, as I found out. The little girl going on about finding her talent mark the whole way as they got out of earshot.

I guess it was a coming of age thing, then. Magic tattoos, gosh this was ridiculous.

It wasn’t long before I found myself in front of a majestic sight, indeed. It was glorious in a way that any child wanting a treehouse would be jelly of, and it was mine to live in! Well, temporary. But it was mine! God, I would fight to the death for this glorious house and then some. This was a dream come true for any fantasy fan.

It was a house in a tree, and it was a library! I think I let out a squeal at that as I raced to the door like an impatient calf getting to drink for the first time in their life.

Opening the door, I was hit by the dusty smell of well-used books. And I stood there breathing happily while daydreaming about scenes of popular movies and games where books flapped their way around you to and from bookshelves and so on.

It was like I was standing in the grand library of Dalaran in World of Warcraft, only it was made out of living wood. You could feel the arcane might vibrate your very skin in a pleasant greeting. I wondered what it would be like to cast magic yourself, and if it felt as nice as this, I couldn’t wait to find a book about it!

This place felt like it was the home meant for me in the universe. Well, I would have to share, but that wasn’t my concern right now.

Right now, I needed to clean this majestic beauty up.

The floor was showing footprints in the dust that had accumulated from however many years that no one worked here. Shaking my head, I thought about it with grim determination. This wouldn’t do, oh no! No, this wouldn’t do at all. Finding a closet with a broom, some buckets and brushes, I sought out a way to get some water.

Well, the kitchen didn’t look good either, but at least there was a working water pump connected to a basin. I would need to get someone in to get this a bit more modernized, but first all this filth must go.

I brushed the dirty dust into a pile in the middle of the room, working from the edges to the middle and shoveling everything into a bag to get disposed of later. Scrubbing water over the floor to get it fully clean was the next step. My knees would love me for this, I sadly realized. So much ground to cover with a small brush in each of my hands.

It took me an hour to get the main lobby almost squeaky clean, putting a smile on my now dirty face. A shower could come later, I guess.

The shelves were next, with the books stacked up on the reading table in the middle of the room. At least they seemed as good as new, magic the most likely reason for that. There must be some kind of limit on how far magic could go, man.

Once I got all the cobwebs away and scrubbed every corner clean of the bookshelves, I started sorting the books by the Dewey decimal system. I was a bit stumped on where to put the magic tomes but decided to dedicate a whole wall for that alone. There were just that many kinds of magic.

Abjuration, Conjuration, Transfiguration, Defense, Offense, Charms, and so forth, which reminded me very much of the wizarding system from Harry Potter, but these all had categories on what kind of magic you were using at the time, too.

Divine magic, opposite to unholy magic, light and dark in layman’s terms with varying degrees of power classed in tiers, arcane magic with its opposite in destructive magic, nature magic with the opposite being necromancy and pure undilated raw magical might, or just called unaligned magic. None of them were inherently evil, as the stigma of necromancy was oftentimes portrayed. Everything had its uses in the magic of this land.

Necromancy for example could be used to set bones forcefully, while nature magic would increase the rate it would heal. Holy magic could empower you with more energy, but also burn down your foe. Or yourself if you weren’t careful, I suppose.

Destructive magic could be used to light a fire while you could vanish it with arcane magic. There was no good or evil in the magic system of this world, only the user that cast the magic.

Casting magic wasn’t a thing of imagination either, you actually had to study spell formulae and before you even could begin to even get a spark out of your fingertips, you had to study the ley lines of your surroundings.

If you didn’t properly study the ley lines you were drawing mana from, the energy most often used to power spells, you would be next to useless in a different part of the world.

Things like levitation drew power from ambient magic, so you wouldn’t have to worry about something like that for small spells that anyone could learn in a few minutes. If you knew the layout of the ley lines, though, you had next to no limit on what you could levitate off the ground. As long as you could draw the energy fast enough to power your spell.

Bigger mass, more energy to lift. So even if it were theoretically possible to lift mountains with magic, it would leave your body a withered husk as you slowly got more and more dependant on magic. Most people weren’t able to draw that much magic in, though. It all depended on how strong your willpower is, and in what condition your body was while doing so.

But you could still get addicted to the torrents of magic flowing through your body for taking too much, too fast, too often. Yeah, that’s a lot of too much’s.

I put the tomes in their rightful places while looking through a few, reading while working. It really helped that multitasking problem of mine.

You know how fast computers can send signals? Or how fast you could turn a light on and off with one, so fast you wouldn’t see a difference. Multitasking between bodies was somewhat like that, only you would have to learn how fast you could switch between yourselves, without sending the signals to the wrong body or falling into synchronicity with sending them to both. The more one learned to do that, the faster you could switch back and forth. Still, I was lightyears away from getting as fast as a computer would be able to accomplish, even though the brain is a miraculous thing in that regard.

Once every book found its place, I went to work on the other rooms. There were a few that held more books in locked cases, giving me the impression that I stumbled upon the restricted access of the library. Stuff like powerful magic that you really needed a specialization in or you would end up doing more harm than good.

It was a slow progress to clean everything up to a workable condition, and the cold on Sol wasn’t helping my mood at the time either. Even a majestic library such as this one could only do so much, I guess.

Done with the main part of the library, I decided to get the apartment above ready and clean up before nightfall came in. Up above there were four main rooms, two of those were bedrooms while one was a living room connecting all of them, the other was one a study leading out on a balcony with a grand view over the local park.

It was quite a serene view, not unlike the view from the tower at the castle. I smiled and decided a small break was in order. So, I cleaned myself a bit up with a rag I found and grabbed one of the tomes from the main part of the library, I settled down on the balcony by the study and decided to read up more on the fascinating workings of magic.

While some kinds of magic were more susceptible to corruption, any kind could, in fact, corrupt you, if you didn’t know what you were doing. Most books strongly advised to learn under a master to avoid mistakes of that kind.

Emotions oftentimes also decided the outcome of your spell. Miscasting a spell could have fatal consequences, like wrongly teleporting could lead to you not taking your whole body with you. I believe in the Harry Potter books it was called splinching or something like that. You can imagine how painful that would be. If you were, for example, feeling something like hatred while trying a healing spell, you would instead cause something like decaying and not mending.

There were different ways to go about to cast your spells. While runic circles would be a great way to ensure the magic stayed nearly permanently there, it wouldn’t help you in a hurry. Rhyming and singing were fast and easy ways to cast some spells, but you would’ve to be really specific on what you wanted to accomplish. If not, any number of effects could pop up, causing more often than not something similar to chaos magic.

Chaos magic was a forbidden art for a good reason and would actually land you in prison if you did that intentionally. Not because it was necessarily harmful, but because dispelling these effects were next to impossible. You want to heal something like a cut on your nose? Yeah, well... you could end up sprouting a second one, then the next and so forth, because it had a mind of its own.

On the opposite, order magic was also heavily restricted for the very same reason. Order magic would try to make everything be the same as to what you originally intended to do, ending in very bad ways.

Trying to play magnet with both order and chaos magic could result in something like the big bang, and for that very reason it warranted the death sentence. Yeah, this land wasn’t all magic and rainbows. Playing with god-level tier magic was something that could literally unmake you.

Magic had rules. And if you didn’t obey them, it would lead to your death. It was a bit like playing with fire. For that reason alone most people content with doing small feats of magic like levitation. True archmages would take decades of studying to get to their level of power, which was the reason why most were depicted as old grisly men in fiction. Only people with a natural talent for magic got to that level with only a decade instead.

I was half sure the protégé of the princess was an old lady like Minerva McGonagall from Hogwarts. What kind of name was Twilight Sparkle anyway?

Back on track, though, I was getting hungry, so I left the book with a sad glance on the shelf and got out the front door, locking up. Wouldn’t do for someone to try to steal from the library, would it?

Thinking of Rarity, I thought that maybe she could help me out a bit with my food problem, seeing that I had no pay yet to buy something myself. Maybe we could work something out.

Waving at the people on my way to the boutique with a friendly smile, I knocked on her front door. It took only a few seconds before I came face to face with her younger sister, looking up at me with a sparkle in her eyes.

“Heya, Lux! Here to see Rarity?” she asked me with her squeaky voice that left me a quivering puddle of goo on the inside. There was a thing like too much cute in one person, and Sweetie Belle exemplified that trait to a ridiculous degree. Her smile could cause diabetes, man.

“Yes, please. I would like to discuss something with her,” I said to her and she let me in without fuss. Not a minute later she came back down with Rarity in tow, excusing herself afterward.

“Why, hello, dear!” Rarity smiled seeing me being back here the second time of the day. I greeted her back and began explaining my little problem with having no food, nor the money to buy any.

“So, I was thinking...” I said once she got the gist of it. “Could I perhaps model for you for some pocket money?”

Yeah, it wasn’t my brightest idea to get at money in the short term, but if I had to swallow my dignity for some food, I would gladly do so and wear a dress. Goodbye, half of my man card... Hello, new female card!

As long as I stayed to the female body for attire like that, nothing could go wrong. No way would I wear a dress with the male body, though.

“Oh, darling! Of course we can arrange something like that if you’re in need of bits,” she said, and I knew what she meant with bits. They were the local currency, and a pun to boot. Go figure. After all I helped her around the market earlier that day.

Over dinner we made an agreement for me to come over when she needed someone to wear an outfit she was making and offered me a few bits in exchange and a meal if I was in need of food at the time. It was a generous offer and I readily agreed to help her out whenever she needed me.

And with that, I ended up once more on a pedestal standing still while she adjusted a few pins. If I dare say so of myself, I was a very good pincushion. Probably because I made Rarity laugh a few times too many while we talked with her working on the green dress.

Red hair and green dress was a great color combination, I say. And to be honest? I kinda... enjoyed wearing it. The freedom of movement it allowed was like wearing a cloud in fabric form.

I told her of the progress I made with the library and she gave me an address to get someone in for more modern facilities in the kitchen and bathroom. She told me I could bill that to the town funds, which was kinda nice. It was after all an official property of the town. Yay for that.

As long as I let the mayor know what I was doing with the money, so I couldn’t go overboard.

Sad, I know.

I decided to hit up the mayor the following morning just for that and go to that address right after I was done there if I got the permission to go ahead with it. And with a bit of luck she would have a reply from the capital, too.

Thanking Rarity for the small bag with a few bits in it that would tide me over for the next day food-wise, I made my way back to the library at sunset. Lighting was another issue I would have to look into, I guess. But for now, the bed was calling to me, so I made my way up into one of the bedrooms.

It was the one next to the study having two beds for one person each with an empty shelf in between functioning as a room divider. I liked it, it had a distinctive feel to it. Setting my red bag at the foot of the bed, I stripped down to my underwear and got in the bed with a tired yawn.

Six more days to go and my other body could get out of that hospital. I looked forward to not feeling miserable anymore.

With that, I ended up back in the dreamless void, glad no nightmares would plague me this night. But with the void came the feeling of being caressed once more in the form of someone petting my head and what felt like a wing as a blanket. My eyes opened as I floated there as if I was underwater, but without the pressure or lack of imaginative air.

A wing was actually draped over me. Huh.

Turning my head I saw something which I had seen at the castle on the murals depicting the people working in harmony with their different traits, be it magic, flight, or strength. The white wing squeezed me in reassurance as I stared at her, lying there next to my bodies on an invisible surface. She gave me a smile as I looked at her, with eyes full of awe.

It was like the iris was replaced by a galaxy only limited by her pupil and sclera. The magnificent horn spiraling upwards from her forehead. Her fur was white like her wings, is tinted with a bit of red. The mane flowed like a river around in a non-existing current only felt be her. It changed from color to color, never staying with one more than a few moments.

She was perfection in pony form. Every feature of her was immaculate as if sculpted by a master artisan.

No words were said.

It felt like your mother was watching over you, ready to ward off any danger that dared to lay their claws on you. But her presence reminded you of the fact of why she was also there in the first place.

She showed me what could be if she wasn’t there to drive my doubts away. What could happen, were I to stay there and ignore them, if I decided to never go away from her embrace or what would not happen if I stayed like this. The wonders left unseen, the tales untold, the people never met and so much more.

The serenity had a price and my nightmares were the punishment if I failed.

But she gave me the reassurance with the embrace that she would be guiding me along the way. Being proud of what I could accomplish and disappointed if I failed to meet her expectations. Crying with me in joy or despair, laughing with me or at me if I did something particularly stupid in her view, cheering me on if I needed it and comforting me in times of need. She would watch over me along my way.

All this she told me with her gaze and I relaxed against her, feeling her nuzzle me lovingly. I would have time, she conveyed with that gesture. Time to get ready and face the things head-on.

For nightmares in the waking world were on their way.

Things were happening to the world she had taken an interest in and I was going to be her champion, whether I wanted to or not. Still, that didn’t have to mean I needed to come out as a Chosen One, right? Working from the shadows would be acceptable, I’m sure. There were many ways to accomplish something, after all. I wouldn’t look forward to it, though.

She gave a titter and hugged me at that, smiling in a way that gave the impression someone was fond of your antics. Her laugh had the quality of the most beautiful sound you could imagine and left anyone in a relaxed state hearing it.

That was how I spend my night listening to her hum a melody of her own making, lulling me slowly into a deeper sleep. The song promised one thing to me. A simple reassuring thought.

Everything would work out in the end.

4. Dream little, nightmare high.

View Online

The next morning I awoke feeling great with Lux and totally more miserable than before on Sol. Just great.

That’s what you get when you run yourself ragged in a dark forest while being chased during a storm, having to go through malnutrition and passing out in the middle of the street.

I groaned my dismay to the heavens, while the nurse checked up on my half in the hospital. Meanwhile, I got up with Lux in the library I’d gotten access to, due to my being successful in argumenting with the mayor of the town the last day.

Picking up the little bag from my reward at modeling for Rarity, I made my way to the ground level, trying to remember what I dreamed of last night. You know what they say, dreams are like sand and once you try to remember them upon awakening, they slip through your fingers. One feeling remained, though.

I felt everything would work out just great.

Going about the busy morning rush in the market, I bought myself some fruit for breakfast. Taking note of a little café, I tried to remember the location for the afternoon to get myself some tea and something to eat for that time. Greeting the people with a smile, I skipped with a little hop through the streets. Time for some major things to get done!

The doors of the town hall opened just as I was about to push them open, I almost collided with the woman I was seeking right now. Said woman was carrying a few scrolls under her arms, likely on the way to the post office to get them delivered to their respective receivers.

“Oh, hello there, Lux!” she said, holding a hand to her frantically beating heart. “Almost ran right into you, young lady.”

“I’m sorry about giving you a fright. I was hoping I could have a word with you?” I said apologetically, offering to carry the scrolls for her as a second thought. The least I could do to make up for that.

“Well, if you need to. We need to do that on the walk, though. As long as it isn’t something confidential?” Mayor Madam answered me as we made our way through the town.

“No, it isn’t. It’s about some funding to get the library a bit more up to speed on the modern times with plumbing and so forth,” I told her, being mindful to sidestep some people on the way to her destination. It actually was the post office, as I had thought.

“Yes, that was actually something I asked Pinkie to look into a few weeks ago. Where’s the young lady, actually?” she grumbled, looking around in search of the person she was talking about. The mayor spotted something out of the corner of her eye and turned around to wave a dark pink haired girl over.

“Hello, mayor Mayor Madam!” said girl greeted her. The bubbly girl giggled as she bounced up to us. Before she could land back on her feet, something truly weird and terrifying happened.

She stopped in midair.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up in record time as my eyelid twitched. There was a girl about a year younger than me, hanging in the air with a face splitting smile working its way on her face.

I felt incredibly small in the presence of the aura this girl emitted. She was on a whole new level of eldritch horror, so great that I was rooted there on the spot in fear. I just knew getting on the bad side of this person was the worst mistake one could ever make in their life and the following afterlife. There would be no escape from her wrath, I felt it in my bones.

She also smelled oddly of popcorn and cotton candy.

“Are you new here?!” the girl screamed in glee, making me very afraid for my continued health. Her feet landed back on the ground as if gravity got a reminder that nothing should be able to avoid its grasp. There is no way that this being had no relation to a god of some kind. She just couldn’t be a mere mortal, man.

“Eh..?” I dumbly mumbled, staring at her stretching smile. It shouldn’t be physically possible. This girl, whatever she was, was not possible.

“Yes, well Pinkie, new person aside, have you looked into the task I gave you to get the library ready for Princess Celestia’s student?” Mayor Madam interjected, drawing the attention of the eldritch horror to her instead. How nobody else was quivering in fear, I had no idea.

“Hmm? Oh, that rings a bell, yeah,” Pinkie said, putting on a thinking face, not unlike the one Winnie the Pooh made. Oh, hello childhood memory!

“Well, could you escort Lux and make sure you get it done this time around?” the mayor asked, taking the scrolls from me. She handed me one back, telling me it was actually for myself. Must be the response from Canterlot. That’s some fast mail service here.

A quick look left me grinning as I got approval to work together with the pupil of the ruler of this fair country. Celestia said it would be an excellent way to teach her student some very necessary teamwork and how to make compromises with us living together under one roof.

Somewhere there was a troll inside that woman. She told me ‘Make sure Twilight gets her rest’ together with a ‘And don’t let stay cooped up for long’. I really had no idea what to make of that. Or how old her protégé was.

One would guess a little child.

“Yes, indeedely!” Pinkie said, nodding in this silly fashion were you just needed to imagine the jiggling sound of a cartoon while watching her.

“I’ll be on my way then, good day to you!” the mayor said, entering the building to get her messages on the way.

“So, Lux, huh?” Pinkie said, grinning inches away from my face suddenly. “When did you get here?”

“Um... sometime last week?” I meekly asked unsure of my statement. I didn’t even ask how long I was out of it in the hospital before regaining consciousness. Not that it mattered, anyway.

“Oh! You were the ones Rarity rushed to the hospital!” Pinkie nodded to herself. “I wanted to throw you a surprise ‘Welcome-and-get-well-soon!’ party in the hospital, but the nurse threw me out.”

Oh man, that pouty lip was just too much. Quick, change the subject!

“You could throw one the day before the Summer Sun Celebration?” I asked, not so sure I actually wanted a party at all.

“Oh my gosh! I actually planned one that day! I don’t know for what reason, but my Pinkie Sense told me that it would be an excellent time to throw one! There must be a pretty important thing happening on that day, like a new friend that has no friends yet! Wouldn’t that be amazing? Those are the best parties! I go all like, gasp really loud and stuff! Meeting new people that become your bestestest friends is so exciting!” she said, without stopping to breathe. Man, these lungs she must be sporting. “Can you see into the future?!”

“Ehrm, what?” I asked confused, the girl just continued to bounce before me, leaving me completely stumped.

“We’re here!” she suddenly yelled into my ears, making me look around. How did we get here so fast?! My poor mind whimpered at the sheer impossibility of this girl. Okay, let’s get this done with fast.

Entering the workshop, the smell of wood, metal, and burned fuses hit my nose as we made our way to the counter. Pinkie took out an envelope from her poofy hair, giving it to the clerk standing behind the desk. The man looked over the list, while his eyebrow rose up.

“We’ll come by later around one o’clock, make sure someone is there to let us in,” he told us and left for the backroom yelling for his coworkers to get the materials and tools ready.

This was way easier than I thought this would go.

“Come on, I’ll show you around the town!” Pinkie pulled my back out by my arm. How much sugar runs through her veins to allow her to be this energetic, man.

She dragged me to all kinds of corners of Ponyville, showing me some joke parlor, a gym, a bowling point, the spa, some gingerbread house I vowed to never go into, the post office from where we originally came from, a fancy restaurant, the post office again for some reason and many other locations.

“... and that’s how Equestria was made!” she said and ended her endless rant of random things that I blocked out for the most part.

“Huh?” I sputtered as she pressed a cupcake into my mouth, sending me into a coughing fit on both of my bodies. At least it didn’t look weird with Sol being sick and whatnot. The only thing I got out of it was the name of this country, man.

Sticking with the horse theme, obviously.

We were actually standing in front of that café I wanted to visit after I got done with the work order for the library. This Pinkie character was either really good at guessing, or she knew beforehand. I could do with a calming blend of tea right now or I might begin snapping at the poor girl.

I treated her to a cup for her troubles and in hopes of shutting her up. We took a seat at a table under one of these sun umbrellas, her going on about something to do with a rock farm. I had no idea if she meant a quarry by that or not. By the sounds of her excited blabbering, she made it seem like they grew them like these sugar crystal experiments you did as a little kid.

Magic, just pretend it is... magic.

I had a hard time following my own advice as she drowned her cup in sugar and grinned like a mad lady while she was at it. Wonderland was her playground, I had a feeling. No normal person could end up like that, if they didn’t come from there in the first place.

I imagined her as the mad hatter, finding it oddly amusing.

Some of these things she said made me wonder how sane she really was. I mean, a toothless alligator? There is no such thing. It was aptly named, though. I wasn’t looking forward to meeting her pet and she made him sound like the most harmless thing in the world. No idea how you can classify the snapping jaw of her pet as harmless. For her sake, I really wished it was true what she said about it having no teeth. As ridiculous as that sounded.

I just sighed into my cup as I let the liquid trickle down my throat in a pleasant warmness. God, I couldn’t wait for this day to be over. Looking at the clock showed me that it was barely reaching the ten o’clock point. Another three hours to go, I sighed in despair. Every time you wanted time to fly by, it suddenly went over even more slowly than before, making it feel like torture.

This sucked, man.

Drinking the tea to the last drop, I left the pay on the table signaling the server we were leaving and got on our way. Pinkie showed me around the local park, producing a ball from somewhere.

Now, I’m totally the worst person to play soccer with, but it had the benefit of making time go by faster as we kicked the ball back and forth to each other. At some point a short girl with a literal rainbow of colors for hair landed by our side. Her wings disappeared in a flash of light as we started to chase the ball around the big grassy field.

Eventually we started to play against each other with one of us standing between two trees that stood close enough together. I didn’t get one goal in, so bad was I at this. To each their own, I guess.

Panting, we fell into a heap on the ground laughing ourselves silly.

“Man, that was great,” the rainbow-haired girl said with her scratchy voice. “We totally should do this more often.”

“Yeah...” I doubtfully breathed, watching the clouds go by overhead.

“Rainbow, by the way,” she introduced herself. “The name’s Rainbow Dash. Fastest flier around Equestria.”

“Lux,” I said, bumping her fist with mine. “Well, as fun as this was, I need to get back to the library, see you around.”

“Until next time!” she shouted after me, as I made my way back to the big tree in the distance. A shower would be really nice right now.

With that in mind, I opened the door to the library, getting up into the bathroom with only a big tub with a pump as my way to get clean. I groaned as I pressed down and down again on the lever to fill the water in the tub.

This will be cold as fuck.

Sighing, I stipped my clothes away and settled myself slowly in the tub. Maybe I should’ve cooked some water up on the stove for this. Chattering with my teeth from the cold, I scrubbed myself down with a bar of soap. Being mindful of my chest and crotch area, I soaked my long hair and rinsed myself off with a small bucket.

God, it was awkward to bathe as a girl.

Drying off with a towel after I felt fresh and clean again, I looked at my clothes and grimaced at the smell of sweat coming from them. That would be a pain to wash out without a washing machine. Looking out a window, I estimated it was about to get a bit close considering the place where the sun was, but running around in dirty clothes wasn’t an option either.

So, with a bit of reluctance I went to work with the bar of soap. Hopefully, these wouldn’t shrink down, I haven’t ever washed my clothes by hand before. It wasn’t good on my hands either, ending up with soggy and shriveled fingers afterward.

Running back to the living room I threw some wood in the fireplace. I really hoped this tree was warded against spreading fire, I wasn’t to keen to burn this beautiful library down.

Lighting a fire was a pain in the behind, too.

But in the end, I got there and I left my clothes on the ground to dry off while I sat there staring at the fire with only a towel around me. Thankfully I wasn’t a shivering mess anymore. Wouldn’t want to get sick just after getting out of the hospital with Lux.

At last the knock came just as my clothes got dry, so I spurted myself to get dressed and went to answer the door. Greeting the men and the few women that hauled their equipment in, I showed them what needed to be done. Without further ado, they taped some of these plastic sheets over the doors to keep the dust in and got started with their noisemaking.

I told them they could find me in the basement, the last place I needed to clean, in case they needed me for something. That was why I was currently standing before the open door and gulped at the dark abyss that was the lower floor of the library. Looking around, I could use some lighting for this or it would get unpleasant to do without.

Luckily, there were some candles in a cabinet.

Grabbing one candle, I lit the wick with the fire from the fireplace and went to get to work on cleaning up the rest of the filth. I really hope they would get the bathroom done first, I thought with a grimace.

With my trusty tools Sir Broom and Walter the Bucket, I repeated the routine like the last times. Ignoring the racket from up above, I decided to sing while working to make this a bit less of a chore. It wasn’t the best song and I butchered the notes up more often than I could count, but judging by the pause of the noise from up above, I wasn’t half bad.

There were still better singers than me, but I was proud to say that I could cause others to pause what they were doing.

It was a bit more of a mess down here because some places were a lot more uneven with the roots from the tree going through the basement. And it was cold as fuck down here. Coupled that with the bad lighting from only one meager candle, it left me with a flimsy feeling in my gut. This place was way too scary, man.

On most of the shelves were these glasses with weird organic parts in ammoniac, be they from plants or some crazy frightening creatures. I was half afraid to touch them, but I swallowed my disgust and cleaned the cobwebs away. For all I know, these things could be some important ingredients for potions and the like. Any second I expected Professor Snape to storm in through the door and reprimand me for whatever I was doing.

Some glass bottles had interesting fluids in them. For example, one of them held a fluid that was pitch black and twinkled with some sparks randomly that gave me the shivers for some reason. I really hoped it wasn’t a demon in a jar, man. Another had a red fluid and what seemed to be scratch marks on the inside of the bottle, which left me hoping that the reason for that wasn’t because of the liquid in it.

Oh, and I found a necronomicon between the shelves.

I promptly decided to forget it was ever there in the first place and ran back up the stairs once I got done in that creepy place. Hopefully I would never have to step into that place again for the next decade.

Looking at how the progress was coming along in the kitchen, I saw half the stuff ripped out of the wall left in a corner and some shiny new counter made of stone getting installed by the workers. It looked heavy enough to crush your skull if it ever landed on you. And then cave in the floor you were standing on. But the people working on it seemed to lift it like it was nothing to them, so I was a bit jealous of that.

The bathroom looked better already, though. They even put the damn bathtub a bit into the ground, man. And a new sparkling shower was in the process of being set up, so I was glad for that. The toilet and the mirror plus washbasin were already done, too.

Man, these guys worked fast. But it was already getting late, so there was that. I asked them how long it would take for everything to be done and they told me it would take a few more days to get the powerline from the grid to the library and then set up the cables for the electricity.

Once evening rolled up, they told me to let them in the following morning to resume their work. The technician would arrive sometime the day after that, but first they would get the kitchen done the next day and bring all the appliances over, like an oven and dishwasher, a washer and a dryer, and all these things you would see in most households. A boiler for warm water, the most important thing to me. Couldn’t wait for that.

I went out and locked the door behind me after they were gone and made my way to Rarity’s. Spare clothes were more on my mind than money for food at the moment, but hopefully she could help me out with that. She was a tailor, after all.

Knocking on her front door, I heard a ‘Come in!’ from inside and opened the door, closing it behind me again. Seeing Rarity over at a mannequin setting up some new summer collection, I greeted her with a smile and a hello.

“Could you help me with that, dear?” she asked me and pointed to a few more dresses and outfits lying on a couch.

“No problem, I’m glad to help,” I said and got to work next to her. She looked over to me and watched me as I gleefully mixed up a few things here and there, making it look like the mannequins were talking to each other. She smiled at my antics but said nothing, so I took that somewhat as a go-ahead to do so.

“I was wondering if you could help me with a little problem, Rarity,” I said after a while of working on my little scene. It certainly put a fresh new look to the collection.

“Oh?” she asked, not looking up from her mannequin.

“I’m in need of some spare clothes, this is all I have at the...” I began and was promptly assaulted on a whiny shrill squeak from her as she looked at me aghast.

“You don’t have anything else with you? Not even in that bag of yours?” she asked me in disbelief

“Eh... no. The clothes were with the bag in my tent I lost in the forest,” I lied smoothly, glad for that little cover-up story that wasn’t too far from the truth.

“That simply cannot stand as it is, come with me!” she said determinedly and dragged me away.

Rarity asked me a few things, wanting to know my preferences and I told her she could go with some outfits that were casual, but looked also a bit fancy. I mostly stuck to variants of green, seeing that it went well with my eyes and hair, some black pants and leggings and a few short skirts, because why the heck not.

She was generous enough to offer me to let me work it off with her if I helped her set up the town hall for the Summer Sun Celebration. Knowing how big the hall is, she was certainly happy that I agreed, but it felt like it was only a small thing compared to what she gave me in return for it.

Over the evening, we talked a bit more about what I did over the day and became fast friends over different topics as we idly chatted about this and that. I was starting to consider her as my best friend, already. Not that I had many friends, to begin with, and the ones from Earth sadly didn’t count anymore.

As her little sister came back from a friend of hers, we started to make dinner together in her kitchen. Sure, I could’ve gone to a restaurant and not leeched off of her, but she offered me to stay, so I helped prepare the ingredients for some vegetable stir-fry.

It was friggin’ delicious, I had the decency to restrain myself from shoving my face into the food. It was hard, but I did it. Rarity was glad it was to my liking, telling me she learned to cook to avoid the food her parents made. She was apparently the only decent cook in her family.

I stared at Sweetie Belle across from me, glad that we didn’t let her help us.

She gave me a confused look, not having paid attention to the conversation.

That kid, man. I really hoped she would never learn to what lengths her adorableness could go, or the whole world would be in grave danger. Adorable danger, but danger nonetheless.

As it got dark, Rarity and I packed up my new clothing and stood by the door. I was ready for some well-needed sleep after all the excitement today. We hugged each other and I promised I would come back with Sol for his measurements to get him a new wardrobe too.

You know, sitting in the hospital and being out and about at the same time took some ‘Oomph!’ out of the sickness. It still felt crappy, but it was way better than being subjected to boredom.

And so another day went by in this strange new world. Tomorrow I could at least take a shower first thing in the morning, even if it was ice cold, and I couldn’t wait for some electricity to charge my phones up.

Getting back into my bedroom, I stipped out of my clothes and hit the hay with a grateful groan of content. Not soon after I was asleep finding myself in a strange little nightmare that was just too cute to be scary.

It was about Sweetie Belle taking over the world with cuteness, and I really hoped that it would never come to pass, man. As fun as it was to watch, out in the world it would only lead to disaster.

Not because of the ecological horror, but because I was subjected to be her ever-faithful servant in a maid outfit.

Yeah, it was a weird dream.

On the next morning I awoke with a cute little yawn that totally didn’t happen, as I stretched my arms and legs out. After showering I grabbed the last few coins for some breakfast at the café, I had about an hour until the crew came back to the library for some more noisemaking.

My plan got ruined as I found Pinkie waiting for me outside the door of the library for some reason, getting promptly dragged through town by the hyper girl. And here I hoped I would get a quiet and nice day with a good start at my new favorite café, but no, it was not to be. Instead, we found ourselves in front of the building I swore to never enter and had no choice but to get thrown in against my protests.

It, at least, wasn’t the kind of building where you get thrown into the furnace, but a nightmare for anyone with diabetes. Everywhere you looked, you saw sweets of all kinds and the decoration represented the same in every way. And no, it wasn’t real gingerbread if you were asking. That would be just stupid and structurally impossible. Pink menace would find a way to build a house out of something edible in some way, though, I was sure.

I just knew by the end of the day I would have an aching tummy from too much sugar.

The lady with the hair resembling that of cherry frosting swirling up took our orders and I tried to get something with the least amount of sugar in it. So, I ended up with a cream strudel and a milkshake, while Pinkie got herself some cake and a bubbly drink I was sure was ninety percent made out of sugar.

It was a bit strange to see her eat it in a few bites.

“Are you excited yet?!” Pinkie Pie asked me out of the blue as I chewed slowly in the half-awake state I was in.

“Um... for what?” I asked dumbfounded.

“Duh, the Summer Sun Celebration and your ‘Welcome-to-Ponyville’-party and ‘We’re-happy-you-survived’-party!” she said in the tone that implied that it was totally obvious.

“Uh... I guess?” I said unsure. “Wait, are these two separate parties or one for two reasons?”

“You can celebrate two parties at once?!” she gasped and I got the impression that she just wanted to mess with me. I wasn’t so sure about that, though. You never knew with that girl, man. It was like talking to a six-year-old child in the body of an adolescent.

A six-year-old child in the body of an adolescent with the power of a god.

Rainbow Dash came in at some point, taking a seat in our booth with a muffin in hand. We talked about some unimportant things, got to know each other a bit more, and laughed about some jokes.

She was the local weather captain here, so that was a thing. Not even the weather was a thing that happened naturally around here. I wasn’t going to mention how the weather was supposed to work, seeing that this was a practice for more than a thousand years here.

The Everfree Forest was an exception to the rule, I learned. As well as the wildlife, as strange as it sounded. Here you had your regular vets and stuff, but also animal caretakers that overlooked the wildlife of this country, because apparently, animals were too lazy to kill each other like they were supposed to.

Natural selection was merely a suggestion than the rule here.

The animal caretaker of this town resided just near the outskirts of the damn forest and was called Fluttershy. Either that girl had some major guts, or was seriously stupid. Whatever her secret was to not get eaten by the monsters in that place, I had massive respect for her for that alone.

I decided to stay away if I could help it, though.

It wasn’t like I had something against her, but I was plainly too afraid to get close to the forest anymore. Understandable with what lurked in there. Rainbow told me that there were even friggin’ hydras there in the bog surrounded by the trees.

And monster hunters weren’t a thing here, either. That was the job of the royal guard as they told me. Not that they would get near the place in a hundred years either, it seemed. Even they were too afraid to go in there.

How the princesses could’ve called that forest home at one point, I didn’t even begin to fathom. Either they were stupidly powerful, or had a deathwish themselves. The first option was more likely, though, judging by the big murals in their old castle.

All the more reason to hide the fact that I was the fucking Chosen One if you asked me. If I went and let that little fact slip, I would be dead within the week, because someone expected me to solve their friggin’ monster problem.

And the Everfree Forest wasn’t the only place like that in this world, either. There were several more places, each more dangerous than the other. Somewhere near the equivalent of Germany and France was a forest like the one from Harry Potter where all kinds of monsters lived, that were all bigger than a house. Oh, and giants, not to forget.

Yeah, they existed here too, apparently. Rainbow had a horror story for every kind of monster there was, as she proudly boasted. I didn’t believe her when she told me there was a headless horseman in the region that resembled Great Britain. A map of this world would be kinda nice, I thought. Maybe there was one in the library somewhere.

After our breakfast we went our separate ways, and I was relieved to be away from the exuberant joyful pink-haired girl that went by the name of Pinkie Pie.

Greeting the guys setting all the machines up to the front door, I let them in and watched as they set the stuff in a corner to get installed the next day with the technician. They got back to work on fixing up the kitchen with some new cupboards and the waterwork for the sink and left them to it as I got some books from the shelves.

Sitting down on my favorite spot on the balcony, I began studying the geography and solar system of this word. Boy, was I surprised as I looked at the drawing of the heavenly bodies. This was some messed up world, I could tell.

The whole system was unlike any I had ever seen.

The sun was tiny compared to the planet, making the world be the center of the system in this case. There were no other planets in this system either, as far as the astronomers could tell and it just baffled me.

Sun and moon circled around this planet in a way that was like a stab to everything I believed to be true and left my view of reality as a bleeding lump in the corner of the room.

Gravity didn’t dictate the movement of sun and moon in this corner of the universe like I was used to, but was controlled by god-tier magic. The reason for that? Someone evidently played around with chaos magic some two thousand years ago and left the world with a broken solar and lunar cycle.

The history books tell of a council of mages that took the responsibility upon themselves to uphold the cycle for more than five hundred years until the next mess-up with a chaos mage happened that left the weather system a wreck like no other.

Before that happened, something called Hearth’s Warming happened that was the equivalent to Christmas on Earth in its own way with the first recorded appearance of the celestial sisters at that time. They took over the charge of keeping the sun and moon on their course and earned their talent marks for that.

After that it got a bit muddled up history-wise with no one being sure how long the chaos lasted. It was estimated to be about ten to twenty years, not that long of a stretch, but the damage was done.

Some idiot tried to correct everything with order magic and ended up damaging the ecosystem even more, so there is that. I guess that is the reason why everything needed to be micromanaged on the surface of the planet, too.

Weather just didn’t happen anymore in the natural way, only in places with a high concentration of chaos magic, like the Everfree Forest. Animals lost the will to hunt in the very same way, except for places like the afore-mentioned forest.

What a messed up history, man.

And I could tell that it was heavily censored for some reason, leaving out any mention of Celestia’s sister. If I didn’t know better, Luna never existed to begin with, according to the books. The things I saw on the murals in the castle were also mostly unmentioned, leading me to believe that the older sister didn’t want to be reminded of the loss of her sister and the hard times they faced.

Well, there were wacky theories about the Face on the Moon like there were conspiracies on Earth about the Man in the Moon, but they were all mostly outlandish tales.

This planet was also called Equis and looked eerily similar to Earth, sticking with the equine puns. Equestria was where the U.S.A. would be, Mexico was replaced with the Badlands, Southern America was the home to the dragons (I was glad they were that far away, but I had a feeling some lived here, too), Europe was a bit deformed and had only Germany (it was called Germa-’neigh’ here, seriously) and France (also named Prance here) with Great Britain off to the coast of the mainland (called Great ‘Bit’-ain, man), Africa was a pun with a zebra, Russia was simply the Griffon Empire (the first one without a horse pun), while the rest of Asia was divided by ‘Saddle Arabia’ and ‘Chi-Pon’ with ‘Neigh-Pon’ off the coast like it was the case of Japan on Earth.

Australia was missing, though. Maybe it wasn’t discovered yet.

That left the Frozen North and ‘Neigh’-tica as the polar ice caps of this world. Only the outline of the South Pole was on the map for Neightica, though. Most likely because no one wanted to go poking about around there, as the note on the map suggested that no one ever returned from there previously. It was an unspoken rule to leave that place alone.

Now then, back to history for a bit. Some guy dumb enough to brew a love poison was the reason for the local Valentine’s Day sometime during the Pre-Unification Day of this nation, something that occurred a bit after Hearth’s Warming that united the fighting tribes of people with the different blessings. It was a bit like the history of the United States in that regard, just without the whole Britain part.

Unicorn-blessed lived in the mountains in castle cities at the time, while the Pegasus-blessed made their home in the friggin’ clouds and the ‘Terra’-blessed lived in the valleys. Also some major racism happened, so there was constant fighting between each other.

Another thing that came to be was called the Nightmare Night, something akin to Halloween on Earth. It started some nine-hundred and odd years ago, leading me to be a bit suspicious of a very particular reason for that.

I went without another meal that day as I read the day away on my little balcony, well into the night. At some point I must’ve nodded off to dreamland as I found myself in another nightmare again.

This time it was of the Pre-Unification Era with a full-blown civil war right around me. Hearing screaming from all sides, I ducked for cover with both of my bodies. God, the history books didn’t make it out to be this heavy of a fight!

“Feathered Fiends from the north!” someone shouted and I suppressed the urge to cry out ‘Racist!’ as much as I could. This really was moronic on so many accounts. Wishing for a change of scenery wasn’t successful, either. I would have to live with this dream, then.

“That is just bloody fantastic!” a gruff voice shouted in the distance, almost swallowed in the sound of the fight. “We’re already hard-pressed from all sides with the Glow Hands!”

Wait, really? Glow Hands? That is such a lame insult, man.

“Sir, they’re gaining on us fast!” the scout reported and I almost cried out as the ground shook around. What were these idiots casting?! They could rip out a hole as big as the Red Sea with that! These people must have really sturdy fortification if they could stop something on that scale of artillery spells.

“We’re never going to get the evacuation done in time!” another voice cried out in fear. Yeah, that made sense. You couldn’t fight magic with just bow and arrows, of course, they would seek to flee instead. That was a major disadvantage for the Terra-blessed for ranged fighting. I felt sorry for them for that.

I don’t know if guns would have helped them in that regard. You would need to have someone as powerful as an archmage to stop the force of a bullet with a shield. But seeing that a whole army of spellcasters was knocking on their front door, I wasn’t so sure they would’ve had a chance with modern weaponry.

“Are the young ones all safely through the tunnel?!” the older voice shouted back, probably the commander of their military.

“As far as I know!” one of the cadets answered back in a panic as I could hear him scream out in pain a moment later.

“Fall back!” the commander shouted just as I saw the Unicorn-blessed break through their defenses, storming their way through. One of them spotted me huddled away and pulled their sword out in a gleeful way, hatred burning in his eyes.

I cried out as I raised my hands in fear, wanting to flee, but I was rooted on the spot. The sound of the heartbeats of both of my bodies hammered in my ear, time slowing down in my dream.

Dying in a dream was always frightening, even though nothing would happen to you that much. I wasn’t sure if you could die of fear, though. And I didn’t want to find out, either. I cursed my bloody imagination for landing me always in these type of dreams.

The sword got raised into the air, ready to strike. I didn’t have my bracelet with me, so fighting back with bare hands wasn’t an option. Being cut to death was a more recent fear, what with finding these damn weapons in the chamber below the castle courtyard.

Closing my eyes as the soldier swung down their sword, I waited to awaken from my nightmare in a last bit of hope.

A second went by.

Then another.

Slowly opening my eyes, I saw a shimmering dome of light intercepting the sword of the man standing just an arm's length away from me. The man stared at us in incredulity and renewed hatred.

“You dare defend a Featherbrain?!” he shouted at me.

I looked at him confused, then looked at each of my bodies. While Lux’s fingernails were alight in a green glow, icy blue wings shimmered on the back of Sol’s shoulders.

That wasn’t a sight you ever expected to see.

The tingling in my bodies was an entirely new feeling I had no words of. I instinctively associated that feeling with mana, the energy powering most casted magic. It was like a dam broke down inside of me, allowing for the free flow of drawing in the energy and using it.

The shock of seeing myself do these things caused me to awaken with a scream. The nurse in the hospital checked on Sol, while I was laughing madly with Lux in my bedroom in the library.

This was just the thing I needed. The friggin’ tip of the iceberg my life had become. On some level I was glad I could use magic and learn how to fly, but that came with entirely new consequences.

How would I explain that I couldn’t fly as an adult? Sure, learning levitation and such was awesome, but how would I justify myself to someone that I hadn’t learned that in kindergarten? I would need to practice this in secret until I could reliably go about these things in daily life scenarios.

But hey, magic.

Seeing that I couldn’t get back to sleep, and my friggin’ hands were still glowing in that green light I first saw in my dream (that steadily got hazier to remember), I made my way down to the main lobby of the library, shining like a Jack O’Lantern.

It at least helped in the way of not stumbling through the dark like an idiot. In the stealth department the glow would be seriously easy to spot, making magic entirely unusable for jobs like espionage.

I really hoped I would get it to stop before morning came, though.

Frustrating as it was, it took me until sunrise and a lot of reading through the tomes to cut off the flow of magic. Doing so wasn’t just a simple thing to do with just a command in your mind or trying really hard to cut off the flow in your arms like you could do with your blood if you were determined enough to bind them with a strip of cloth.

It all had something to do with inner sight and, of course, the ley lines running through the world. Your state of mind and the emotions you were feeling, how you went about to try to limit the flow, from fast to slow, and so on. Frustration only led to you taking longer than necessary.

No wonder controlling the flow of mana was the very first lesson you had to learn to become a mage.

Banishing wings on the other hand was only a matter of how much you really wanted to stay in one spot or not. If you wanted to flee, your wings would come out no matter what. It was significantly easier to get them to disappear on Sol than it was to cut off the flow of mana on Lux.

Getting the wings to move was another thing entirely, though. I was sure that that would cost me my sanity once I got to the stage of learning how to fly. Just because there were some shiny shimmering see-through wings on your back, didn’t mean you felt a friggin’ thing in them without a lot of concentration. Imagine them as phantom limbs, if you will.

With more experience such a thing would become a thing you could do in your sleep, though. At least that was what the beginner flier book said on it. Great, right?

And man, was I tired as I greeted the workers on the morn again. A bit cranky, too. Some glimmer of hope showed itself, though. I wasn’t coughing my lungs out as hard anymore on Sol. That was a relief in itself, I tell you.

I decided to refine the organization of the magic section of the library shelves that day as we waited on the electrician to come around as the workers got the appliances to their respective places, only needing to get connected to power outlets now.

Around nine o’clock two men came in with the cables and the tools necessary for their work. One of them was a Terra-blessed, molding the wood of the tree-like friggin’ clay. It was fascinating to watch, for sure. It took the better part of the day to set up the kitchen alone, so I was a bit doubtful everything would be done in the next two days from now. The day after that would herald the Summer Sun Celebration at sunrise, with a night full of partying before that.

Time was running short, it seemed.

In the late afternoon I left the crew to their devices, trusting them to not steal half of the library and went to Rarity for some more modeling work. I needed some more money because I was getting hungry and had no coin in my bag anymore or a paycheck from the town yet.

Mayor Madam was the next thing I was in need to meet again the next day, I mentally told myself. We needed to work out how and when I would receive payment working for the town as the librarian together with this Twilight Sparkle that would arrive a day before the Summer Sun Celebration if everything went to plan. In three days we would get to welcome Princess Celestia at dawn and I really didn’t want to make her protégé uncomfortable.

If I did, I would probably get dragged up to her mentor, and then it was only a matter of time she would see I was the Chosen One, and we couldn’t have that, now do we?

I was the mouse hiding from the cat. And the cat was guided by fate, at that. Like a lion cub following the pride mother. And some other obscure analogy following something like destiny. And crap like that. You get the idea.

So, the third last day went by in the blink of an eye. Two more to go before the big day.

5. Always read the 'Read Me' files before starting your adventure.

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During the night that day I went on a stroll through the park, worrying over what was coming ever closer and what already had happened in the last past days.

Waking up in two bodies? Sure, it was weird but I got used to it by now. Even though it was still hard to do two things at once with both bodies, both of these things being different from each other. Reading two books at the same time? Hah, that was a dream come true, man.

Meeting little Miss Impossible in the body of a hyperactive late teen? It still left my mind hurting every time I came across her and her antics. Physical law be damned if it ever touched that girl. Pinkie was the antithesis to everything the universe stood for.

I was wondering if she was related to Deadpool.

It would make sense in that strange way of her being a character in a comic or something like that. If only she stayed in the comic book in the first place. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was a construct given form from a child’s wish for a friend that could do anything you asked them of.

Working for Rarity was a relaxing way to get away from your worries for a time, I found myself admitting. Wearing girl’s clothes with my female half wasn’t as bad as I originally feared and was in a strange way even alluring.

No, I don’t get turned on by that, pervert.

The few times I met Rainbow Dash had been fun too if exhausting in the physical kind of way. Playing soccer for hours really took it out of you. I was a bit put off by her overly boasting personality, but at least she had a way to back up the claims she made.

Seeing her fly as fast as a jet cleared away any doubts that would pop up in your mind.

How she didn’t get ripped apart by the pressure invoked by that speed was anyone’s guess. It probably had something to do with the Pegasus-blessing. No wonder they were a feared empire in the ancient days. I had yet to see an example of the epitome of the people blessed with the Terra-blessing.

Oh, and I found out Lux had a Unicorn-blessing this day, after awakening from a nightmare I didn’t quite remember anymore. Sol, on the other hand, had a Pegasus-blessing. Yay for me, I guess. The only problem is that I now need to learn the things you typically learn in kindergarten in this world and not arouse suspicion in the progress.

A feeling told me it wouldn’t be an easy thing to do.

And I went into the dreaded gingerbread house any kid on Earth would be warned against to ever enter if they got told the story by the Grimm Brothers. It was a sugary nightmare, but I survived with my sanity intact. I think.

The first impression of this world you would get, with the colorful hair colors and cute houses and so on was of a rainbow and sunshine world. The second you would get of it, was a bit different but not that much worse, seeing that such a world had its rainy days.

But the reality was, it’s just like any other with their own type of strife. You would think almost a thousand years of peace would have shown an absence of crime. The look and feel of this country was only the cover of a very thick book, though.

Thinking like a starstruck teenager only led to disappointment later in life, and I was sure there were people that only saw the good side of this country. The truth, however, wasn’t always the obvious kind. There was so much you didn’t see if you had no idea what it was like to grow up with a world experienced in warfare. The subtle nuances were lost on most of the citizens of this world, either because of ignorance or because they chose not to look too deep into the finer details of the picture they were standing in front of.

Crime was still a thing in Equestria, wars were still a thing in this world, however rare they were. The ones that happened, though, were all the more brutal for it. I won’t get into the ones I had read about in the library, but suffice to say, they made Hitler look like a toddler playing grown-up. The evils of this world were of the darkest and most vilest kind one could imagine, and then putting another suitcase full of evil on top of it.

Necromancer like the one I saw in the mural in the castle? Yeah, not something to take lightly. Weird monsters that could eat you in one bite? A common thing in the wilder parts of the world, steeped with chaos magic. In the short time that I was on this planet, I had the most disturbing nightmares of my entire life and they wouldn’t be the last.

So, one would have to imagine what it meant to be a Chosen One in this kind of world. My reluctance to play my part was only natural in that regard. Not only because I didn’t want to be in the fabled hero shmero kind of fairy tale of a little teenager with a hero complex, but because it would certainly end with me having to die at some point a tragic death and possibly failing the world in doing so. If the fate of the world rested on your shoulders, would you want this responsibility?

Even though I would’ve to play my part in some way, I at least wanted to decide in what way I went about it. I didn’t want the fame, because all it would lead to were false friends and backstabbing at the worst kind of times. Sure, I wanted the money, but only because I was the greedy type that would buy fantasy books en masse, but I could do without just as well.

I wasn’t a good person by any means. I had my bad days. I had my good days, and I had my meh days. By the end of the day, I just wanted to be me and work with my favorite thing in the world. Books. They were your silent friend, not judging you for who you were or what motivations you had. All they were doing by the end of the day is telling you a story or teach you a thing or two, and you had the choice of what to make of it.

I’m pretty sure you’re tired of me repeating myself, but I needed to make sure you know where I was coming from with this.

Don’t be the stupid person and play the hero.

That was what it basically came down to, and anyone telling you otherwise had a death wish. There was no such thing as waking up and knowing how to save the world by swinging around an oversized key, as much as you wanted to.

A hero like that just didn’t exist and never would.

You couldn’t pull skills out of your behind just because you wanted to, and no amount of begging your local deity would help you with that. Any deity granting that type of wish would be irresponsible. Sure, there were people that were born great (to most other peoples dismay) and people that were made great. But that shouldn’t be how you viewed the world around yourself.

I’m sounding like a pessimist, man. When did this become my life?

Somber mood in tow, I went back to the tree that was a house. Some sleep was in order and hopefully without nightmares.

I could do without, thank you very much.

With that I meant you, damn deity of dreams!

Or whoever governed the realm of sleep on this part of the universe. Insomnia wasn’t on my list for Father Christmas, so some rest was all I wanted.

I kinda wanted to tell Pinkie Pie of the fat man in a red jumper, just to see her reaction. That idea would somehow lead to disaster, I just knew it. So no, I wouldn’t ever tell her of the man breaking and entering in a totally legal way, because children. And lots of presents, I guess.

Commercial advertising fat man riding a sled through the air by magic reindeer brainwashing the youth of Earth aside, my dreams that night were troubled as always. Well, mostly always.

Two days were all I had before seeing Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of the Sun at the Summer Sun Celebration and with my doubts, I was plagued the whole night of images of getting dragged away from the town to fulfill some destiny set out for the Chosen One that I got chosen to be by the choosing weapons of Chosen Ones.

Yeah, I didn’t think it was funny, either.

Don’t look at me like that, that description just begged to be made, even if it is cringeworthy. No, I won’t apologize for that, deal with it.

Like all nightmares that night, I ended up fighting some obscure threat one would find in the average ‘End of all Days!’ fiction. Mainly zombies, because fuck why not. I’m not a fan of the ‘Build a friggin’ bunker’ movement that people had taken a liking to, for the purpose of some weird dystopian zombie survival fantasy of theirs that would never ever come true. Mostly because it was just stupid to think something like that would be happening because of nuclear fallout and the like. You didn’t see zombies running around after Hiroshima or Chernobyl.

I mean, even if that for some unlikely reason happened, you sure as heck wouldn’t end up being one of the one percent surviving that crap either way.

But with necromancers being real, the fear of zombies and all kinds of undead was put back into me, so I concede to that point.

Doesn’t mean it wasn’t stupid, though.

My fear wasn’t of ending up as one of the mindless hordes of undead, but more of the kind that knew what happened with oneself after being turned and having to feed on the flesh of the living. Like, I don’t know... Vampires and the like.

Not the glittery kind, fuck that shit.

What I meant with vampires was more of the haze you would have to endure as you starved yourself because you protested your very nature of undeath. Vampirism was portrayed as a curse for a very good reason. And the worst part, I knew vampires were a thing that existed here, thanks to Rainbow Dash and her stories.

The universe couldn’t hate me that much that I would end up as a vampire, right?

More and more of these scenarios flitted through my head, and I was relieved when I found myself once more in the embrace of Horse God that night. Although, I was sad that I’d probably not get to remember her come morning.

She patted my head like usual, not favoring one body over the other. Nice as it was, the time I had with her was short, but all the sweeter.

So, as day made itself known in the usual annoying way of shining brightly through your windows in the perfect angle to hit your eyelids, I got up out of bed and noticed at least some good thing that morning.

My cold was manageable on Sol, feeling only slightly bothersome now. It would still take a day or two before I was healthy again, but at least it didn’t feel like I was dying any day from being sick anymore. The medicine of these people was way more advanced than the one found on Earth.

The doctor checked up on me as usual just before the early meal of the day. He told me that, if everything went well, I would be out the next day. Two at most, like I thought would have been the case. Glad they worked their medicine like wonder pills, I was left in a happier mood.

Lux, in the meantime, was on her to the town hall to get that issue about payment out of the way. The workers would be at the library in about an hour from now, to wrap up their work. All in all, I was happy that time wasn’t an issue with that anymore. Would’ve hated the library to still be a construction site as that Twilight Sparkle character arrived the next day.

Oh, gosh. She would be here the next day, hopefully, we would get along. Fighting over each other for the library was the last thing I would want.

The receptionist saw me enter and told me to wait again, the mayor being in a conference about something concerning one Filthy Rich. Must be an awkward name to have, that guy.

Seeing that I couldn’t wait around hours here, I told the receptionist I would be back later in that case and made my way back out onto the streets. Greeting the people on my way like usual with a small wave, I instead found myself back at the café.

Breakfast was a good distraction, I guessed. So, I sat down at one of the tables and ordered myself some sandwiches and a small salad with a summer tea. The food was pretty great here, it being rich in flavor with the right amount of spices to round things out. The tea was terrific as always, so no complaints there.

It was a great way to pass time, watching the people walk by on the cobblestone street, that I almost missed the point where I would have to leave to get back in time. Paying the server, also giving a tip for the great work, I left to get on my way.

Hurrying, I made it right as the crew got around the corner the next street over. Greeting them with a smile, I opened up the library with the key and let them in to finish their work. They had made quite a headway on the cables the last day, that only the apartment upstairs was left to wrap up and be done with the renovations.

These people worked hard and fast, quite a commendable feat.

They were okay being left to their own devices, so I got back out and on the way to the town hall again. The meeting wouldn’t probably be over by now, but I could wait for the rest of the time if it came down to it.

In the end, it did come down to that. Three hours I sat on an uncomfortable chair in the waiting room. It took longer than the receptionist anticipated, much to my chagrin. But it wasn’t her fault for that, so I wasn’t mad. More mad at myself for having this much patience, to begin with, but I digress.

The mayor welcomed me back into her office, a steaming cup of coffee next to her as I sat down at the chair I sat in before. At least this one wasn’t a pain on the behind.

“So, to what do I owe this pleasure of your visit?” Mayor Madam asked me with a raised eyebrow. I was probably the second most person she saw within this week. “Hopefully nothing bad concerning the library, I take it?”

“No, nothing like that. I was more concerned about payment, and seeing that we haven’t made an agreement on that yet, I came to rectify that as soon as possible,” I told her with a red face, not entirely comfortable with the idea of talking money. I didn’t want to appear as greedy, after all. Even if I might be just that, at times.

No one’s perfect.

“Ah, yes,” the mayor frowned. I bit my lip, not wanting to come off as rude, so I bit back my begging urge to plead with a puppy dog eye look for the moneyz.

“Seeing that you will be co-working with Princess Celestia’s pupil, she left me with the instruction to leave the finances to her in that regard and gave you access to a bank account for daily necessities,” she said.

Oh, gosh, thanks for that. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about that, then. Although, it didn’t sit well with me that the Princess apparently had taken an interest in me. And I haven’t even met her in person yet. With a little bit of luck I could stay out of her way for the Summer Sun Celebration.

Okay, who am I kidding? Luck hated me, I wouldn’t get out of meeting Her Royal Royalness that easily. Don’t panic just yet, though. The future wasn’t written in stone, there is always the off chance I could stay behind the scenes like I wanted to.

However small that chance is.

I might have to stay out of the major areas of the town on that day, then. Including the library, I guess. Maybe a sleepover by Rarity’s would be nice, no idea what I would do with Sol in that case, though. Stay in the hospital for as long as possible, then? That would work if they hadn’t that good of a medical practice here. Okay, no biggie. I would find a solution. Somehow.

“Thanks for the news then. How would I go about accessing that account?” I asked, getting back out of my mental ramblings.

“Princess Celestia told me her pupil would know, so you have to be patient until tomorrow. Is that all, then?” the mayor explained. Nodding my head, I told my goodbyes and left out the door. The money I get from Rarity should be enough until then, and if I needed more, I always could do more work for her.

Going through the market, the sporty girl with the rainbow hair landed next to me as I got in line for a few fruits for a snack. Rainbow grinned at me, knowing something I apparently did not right now.

“What’s up?” she asked me, her glee poorly masked on her face. I narrowed my eyes on her, getting suspicious.

“The sun,” I deadpanned.

“Wow, bad mood, huh?” Rainbow pointed out, mistaking my suspicion for that. Not that I blame her, I could be scary sometimes. I remember I once spooked the professor at university over something I don’t quite remember anymore. Something about a chicken, I think. And tar. And an overabundance of hate for that professor.

I’m petty, so what?

The line to the stand thinned out and I got my turn in no time. Unknown to me, Rainbow made a gesture about a handshake to the blond girl behind the counter, while I made my order for two of the red orange-tinted apples.

“Howdy there, partner!” she greeted me with a country accent one would expect on a ranch. It certainly fitted her well and made her instantly likable to me. A cousin I don’t remember the name of spoke just like her. At least some memories of my family came back to me in the end.

“Hello to you, too. Could I have some of these?” I asked, pointing to the desired apples. She grinned and scooped them up into a small bag and I paid the bits.

Now, let me tell you something that friendly people are notorious to do at some point or another, depending on when you talk to them and what you’re doing with your hands at the time.

They all give you a handshake, and depending on how strong they are, they overdo them quite happily. Or if they are spurred on by a prankster standing behind you, I guess.

Because fuck that hurt!

The laugh coming from Rainbow behind me told me she was the reason the girl at the stand decided to give me that friendly shake and left me crying out in pain.

“Now there, don’t let me keep ya. Come by anytime, yah hear?” she told me with a smile. Hesitantly nodding my head in consent, I left with Rainbow in tow. Said girl wiped her tears away, heaving her strained lungs for air from all the laughing. Smiling, I shook my head, promising to get my revenge on her when she least expected it.

“Oh man, that was hilarious! Applejack always does that to newcomers, I should have introduced you earlier for that,” she said, her scratchy voice laden in mirth. I tossed her one of the apples and bit into mine.

“I take it she overdid it because of you?” I asked her between bites. These apples were perfectly juicy without being too sweet or sour on your tongue. You would see this kind of quality in gourmet restaurants on Earth, so good were they.

“Yeah, but don’t take it out on her. She’s awesome, and has the biggest family in Equestria,” Rainbow told me, also giving me the impression that that was a warning I should take to heart and not cross her family in the wrong way.

She wasn’t with the mafia, right?

I’m not sure if there was such a thing here in this world, but I wasn’t keen to find out. Better leave it as a mystery for now, then. Lest I find myself in a situation that’s better left unmentioned.

“Well then, you know where to find me, I need to get back to the library,” I said goodbye to her, walking through the busy streets back to the massive tree.

Waving to people along the way, I greeted Rarity with a hearty hello as she passed me by. She returned my smile and told me to meet her tomorrow before eight to get started decorating the town hall. Someone I also came across, was Pinkie Pie. The giddy girl was bouncing way too high for it to be possible by normal human physique, but I started to ignore her impossibility by now.

Doesn’t mean my eyelids didn’t start to twitch, though.

She blabbered on about how excited I must be for her party, so I continued my best to get away from her as soon as possible. There is a thing called ‘too much Pinkie Pie in one day’ if you asked me.

Back at the library, I was pleased to see that the workers were packing up their stuff and that they had cleaned up the mess they made while working here. Reliability on that level wasn’t seen everywhere, if I ever needed their services again, I would know where to look.

And with that, I now had nice hot warm water and all the conveniences of a somewhat modern household. Directly after they left, I gleefully took a long shower for the first time since waking up here. It was glorious!

In the hospital, Sol was getting another check-up by the doctor and I found out they had test results for allergies done while we were out cold.

Boy, was I glad I hadn’t eaten these apples on Sol, man.

Had I done so, I would be back in the hospital by now. Lux on the other hand couldn’t eat nuts, so I have to be careful on that front. Glad I didn’t decide to scavenge for food in that forest, I would’ve most definitely gone for these if I found them there.

While the doctor told me more of the results of the blood tests they had done, I decided to read some novels on Lux. Not that the information wasn’t appreciated, but I understood little of what the doctor droned on about. I wasn’t a medical student after all. Sure, basic stuff I understood, but that was as far as my knowledge went.

During the day, I went through multiple books ranging from the popular sci-fi of this world (imagine the stuff from our world and mix in a bit of magic spells), your typical fantasy stories (yeah, imagine it, a fantasy world with their own fantasy ideas), and the one or other adventure story (Daring Do, The Adventure Guy, Raiding Tomb and so forth being the more popular series amongst them).

All of them were written splendidly, it was hard to put them away come evening, but my rumbling stomach demanded food. Sadness was quickly forgotten as I found myself at a restaurant I vaguely remember Pinkie Pie showing me during her tour. Getting a seat wasn’t hard, it wasn’t that late yet, but picking out a dish from the menu was.

So many choices.

In the end, I went with a pasta dish with a spinach sauce and a bit of cheese rubbed on top of it. Believe it or not, it was my favorite dish. The waitress took my order and came back later with a glass of what was called Colta Cola here while I waited for my food.

The drink tasted like any soda you would know, also having the effect on you wanting more of it. That was sugar for you, I guess. They actually had charms on the glasses to keep your drink cool, instead of using ice cubes that would water down the drink itself if left standing long enough. The wonders of magic never ceased to amaze me.

A few minutes of waiting rewarded me with the delicious smelling food and I began to dig in in my refined way of eating fast but not messy. It was a skill, believe me.

It was filling and just the right amount for one person, worth every bit it cost me. Other patrons around me seemed to have a great time here too, so it seemed. Every dish I saw looked better than the next, making me want to come back another day for sure.

What I noticed, though, were the dishes with meat were sparingly used. This society, I saw, was more mindful of what they ate and how often they consumed something like the flesh of animals. I chalked it up to their deity being a horse. And the demigods setting a good example, seeing that Princess Celestia was older than a shriveled husk in a tomb.

Waving a waiter over, I asked for the bill and paid up, giving a tip for the friendly woman having served me today, and left out into the darkening streets from the setting sun. Tomorrow was a big day, and everything depended on how this Twilight Sparkle would receive me.

Here’s to hoping she isn’t an arrogant know-it-all.

Stumbling up the stairs to the apartment in the library tree, my gaze landed on my red bag at the end of the bed. There was one thing left I could do this day. It was time to see what I could find out with the device I almost had forgotten.

The technology was above and beyond what was possible on Equis at this time, it would do well to keep this a secret. The smartphone from Earth found itself back on the power grid, charging up. The generic jingle any phone made while booting up played and the logo displayed itself in the middle of the screen.

Let’s see what we’ve got here, then.

The home screen popped up a bit after a few minutes, the battery has reached the minimum charge to work without triggering the automatic shutdown. A picture of the winged unicorn horse from the mural was floating serenely in deep space. Swiping my finger across the screen, I found that it had no pin security yet. Would’ve to set that up as soon as I could, then.

The connection to the internet was obviously absent, but there was an option to hack into any network I would come across. I’m not sure if I would ever need that, so I just made a mental note of it. There were of course the usual apps you would find on any modern phone, with a high-quality camera, calculator, measuring tools and compass, and so forth.

What interested me more, was the ‘Read Me’ file sitting there at the end of the apps. Tapping on it, the document reader opened up, loading for a moment before showing me the content of the file.

“Number One,” I read out loud, “make sure this technology never falls into the wrong hands. I’m sure you will do just fine, my champion.”

I quirked an eyebrow at that. That felt kinda familiar to me, that wording. A few images flitted around my consciousness of a dream mostly forgotten. I’m positive now how I exactly ended up here on this planet, at least.

“Number Two, make sure to discover and train yourself in the blessings I bestowed upon you and make good use of them.”

Okay, not like I planned that from the beginning anyway.

“Number Three, find the weapons of Sun- and Moonlight if you haven’t already. I’m not sure if these things were charged up as you found them. If not, I’m sorry for that, my champion,” I read on, making me groan in the process. I wouldn’t have gotten out of this even if I wanted to. Well, if Miss ‘I need a champion for whatever reason’ wanted me to have these, I couldn’t object to it, could I?

“Number Four, tell Celestia and Luna I’m sorry, should you meet them at some point, they will understand what I mean,” I scoffed. Yeah, well they could wait for their apology until I got mine from them for the crap Starswirl did. I shouldn’t harbor resentment for that, but it felt like someone at least owed me that.

“Number Five, I’m not sure how much memory you took with you upon transfer to this world, but I’m sorry for any inconvenience. Maybe you will remember the reason for your appearance here at some point, but until then, know that I’m sorry for what happened to you,” my voice got fainter as I read further, making me wonder what exactly happened as I entered my fucking room on my last day on Earth. Something bad then, that is all I could tell from that.

“Number Six, when the time comes, I trust you will do what you must. I hope you meet my expectations,” I spoke faintly. Not foreboding at all, huh? We’ll have to see, lady. I won’t become a monster for the sake of bringing down a monster if that is what you mean.

“Number Seven, do help the Elements on their trials, won’t you?” That was vague as fuck, man. What elements did she mean by that? I can’t see into the future, ma’am! Help me out here, will you?

“Number Eight, you have half a year to prepare after the Summer Sun Celebration. If you’re not there when you’re needed, everything will be lost, my champion.”

Sighing, I stared at that warning. Half a year? How the friggin’ bananas did she expect me to get ready in that short amount of time? Talk about trial by fire, man.

“Number Nine, on this device are three uses to turn back time by a month, use them only in dire circumstances. When you do, prepare yourself the best you can, for you can not go back before you used them, and if you run out of the charges you can’t get them back. It was a fickle thing creating this particular boon, don’t squander it,” the being behind this warned me. My eyes widened as I read that. That... that was like a cheat code for reality. Did she really trust me enough to give this to me? What did I do to deserve such an honor?

Turning back time could cause so many problems, though. Better leave them for the emergencies that would turn out to be the end of the world, then.

“Number Ten, there is a tome of spells on this device with runic circles, use them to set up spells only you will have access to while not having to carry a heavy book with you. I trust you will learn how to draw them with your mana in time.”

Well, that was neat. I would have made pictures of them otherwise with the camera, but this worked out just fine. Smartphones were a godsend in that regard.

“Lastly, Number Eleven,” I read on, “do not follow the rabbit.”

Following that statement was a smiley face. The last one was most likely there to make me smile, but somehow I got the impression she meant that. Luckily, I never trusted rabbits, to begin with.

Putting the phone on the nightstand, I got ready for bed. Just before sleep claimed me, I realized I never went to the hospital to visit Sol to keep up appearance. With a shrug, I thought it would be unimportant to dwell on that. That was easily explainable to chalk up on me being too busy, and it wasn’t like I could pretend I was there when no one noticed anyway.

This night, my dreams were actually peaceful, but I couldn’t shake off the feeling of eyes staring at me from behind the whole time. Whatever it was, I hoped it would leave me alone for the remainder of the night.

The next morning came with the usual wake up call from the sun shining directly on my eyelids. Groaning, I got ready for a long day and night. Whoever put up that tradition of staying up all night for the dawn of the next day should get thrown into hell. I don’t care if it was Celestia herself, that is just unhealthy. Are little kids expected to stay up, too? If so, that is barbaric.

After a nice and fast hot shower, I made my way out into the early fresh morning air on the streets of Ponyville. A few people were already outside, going about hanging stuff up on lanterns and roofs. Everything looked very festive already, rivaling the festivals found in Germany with their spirit. Germany has all kinds of festivities for every reason one could think of, it all depended on where you were at the time. This reminded me just like these times, people all full of cheer chatting and trading even before the main celebration started.

Seriously, the Germans have a festival for chocolate, bread, tea, and so on. Everyone always thought of Oktoberfest all the time when thinking about them, that you forgot they had more than that.

Rarity was already there at the townhall, greeting me with a wave as I went nearer. Returning her greeting, we both got let in by the mayor as she unlocked the doors. There were already some boxes to the side full of their own decorations.

“Let’s get to work then, shall we?” Rarity asked me with a smile. I nodded and took one of the ladders we got provided with. A few flags on a chain went up going from one wall to the other, some ribbons went around the columns and flowers intertwined with chains of light went up and down along the walls.

It certainly looked nice.

“That is a check for decorations then. Let’s get to the next location, Spike,” a voice trailed from behind me. Turning, I saw a girl a bit older than me with deep purple hair, bordering on midnight blue, two stripes running through it. One violet, the other pink. Her eyes were a vibrant purple, twinkling in the light coming through the windows.

Let me guess, one Twilight Sparkle.

“Beautiful,” the young green-haired boy at her side said, staring at a working Rarity. Instantly I saw he was smitten with her, and my jealous side started to fight for control of my face. I’m sad to say, I almost snapped at him in my emotional state. Breathing a deep breath, the raging feelings in me cooled down to a manageable level.

And I was surprised he looked at me in the same way after that.

Oh god, what the actual fuck, man. That... that, just... just, no! No! Oh friggin’ bananas, no! By all that is holy, stop looking at me like that, snake-boy!

Snake-boy was looking at us with his slitted green eyes and I could just about make out some horns starting to become visible at his hairline. And he had a friggin’ spiked tail, man. That must be the human transformation magic of the dragons.

That meant he was a dragon whelpling, then? Must be very young if he has no fully developed horns in his human form. And judging by the way he acted, he wasn’t the brutal kind of dragon that would eat meat instead of gems.

I never expected to see a transformed dragon in all my life upon coming here, but now I have. As long as he would keep his greedy mitts to himself, I hoped we could at least get along. He seemed like he was the little brother of Twilight, it would be bad if we hated each other.

If he’s the pervy type, he will get a fist to the face, though.

“Yes, yes, the decorations are beautiful. Now, come along, Spike! We haven’t got all day, we need to prepare!” Twilight insisted, at least I think she is actually Twilight. Could be a random person, for all I know.

“Not the decorations, them!” Spike told her, pointing to us. Rarity was still in her little world, while I gave him the narrowed eyes, not liking how he was talking about us one bit. Here I hoped I wouldn’t have to deal with men swooning over me.

“Spike!” her voice cut through the room, making Rarity finally look up at them. The boy sheepishly rubbed his head where he got slapped for his manners.

“Oh, hello, dears!” Rarity said, going over. I sighed and sat myself down on the ladder. This would get annoying now, I just knew it. “Can we help you?”

“No, no. We’re just checking on the preparations, don’t mind us,” the woman said to us, trying to shoo her warden back out the door. He was like a lovesick puppy, standing stock still in awe as Rarity went over to them.

“Oh?” Rarity asked in what I think was intrigue. One thing I learned about her, she was always fishing for the latest gossip. A quirk she needed to satisfy almost always instantly.

“Yes, we’re here from Canterlot, checking up on the behalf of Her Royal Highness, Princess Celestia,” Twilight answered, trying to get the boy to move.

The second thing I learned about Rarity, whatever you do, do not, and I repeat myself, do not ever mention the capital or high society in her vicinity. She would go off like a little schoolgirl.

“Canterlot?! You’re from Canterlot?” she squealed in a high pitch. I was lucky enough to have covered my ears beforehand, or I would have a tinnitus right now.

I was left here alone, as she dragged the two away on a quest to fix the muddled attire up that the woman came in with, leaving me to finish the work here on my own.

Looking at the boxes still full of stuff to hang up, I gulped.

This wouldn’t be fun.

When you are able to do multitasking, what would you do in such a situation? Well, I had one over you. I could just focus on my other body while I set Lux up to continue working in a mindless haze. Have you ever done something like that? Work while not focusing on what you were doing? It was the perfect way for me to get Sol out of the hospital in that case.

Sure, he was still a bit under the weather, but nowhere near reason enough for the hospital staff to tell me to stay in bed. While Lux was working mindlessly on her task, requiring no input for me to keep going, I checked out at the reception with Sol. It was still a hard thing to maintain, but the fact that I could solely focus on my male half made it easier.

Imagine your brain being a big processor, tell it to do something and it will. Okay, maybe not in the literal sense, but it was the best analogy I had. Now, I had two of these suckers, I could tell my other brain to do what I wanted it to do. Neat, but exhausting for my mental state. It is a bit of a workaround for the multitasking problem I have. Although, I would have to be careful on that front if someone were to speak to her. It wouldn’t do to let someone speak to me and only receive a salivating idiot as a conversation partner.

Aside from that, I should go to Rarity for new clothes, if I wouldn’t bother her with my problems too much.

Opening the door carefully, I peeked into the foyer. She was currently strangling the poor woman with a corset around her waist. I knocked at the doorframe, smirking slightly in schadenfreude.

“Am I interrupting, my dear?” I asked in a posh voice, trying to hold off the snickers. Both of them turned their heads in my direction, Twilights going beet red in embarrassment, while Rarity gave me a smile. Spike was sitting on a stool at the wall, watching fascinated as the tall woman worked on his caretaker.

“Oh, Sol, dear!” she greeted me happily. “I didn’t know you were out of the hospital.”

“Just got out a few minutes ago. Lux told me I could come by for some clothes?” I told her, lying a bit about the Lux part, seeing that I never went to visit myself. No one needed to know that, though.

“Oh, yes. Come in, come in!” Rarity insisted, nudging me with her magic. Closing the door behind me, I joined her at the pedestal.

“Guten Tag, verehrte Frau,” I greeted, holding my hand out to the abused girl standing in front of us. Twilight hesitantly reached her own handout, taking mine. I smiled in a suave way and placed a kiss on the back of her hand.

Okay, I couldn’t hold it no more.

Seeing her embarrassment, I burst out laughing. This was just too stupid for me to uphold all the time. I’m no gentleman, not by a long shot, but I could certainly act like that for a time. As long as I could hold my glee back.

“Oh, gosh...” I wheezed, wiping a tear away. “The look on your face after that, oh man...”

Rarity gave me a slap on my arm in good-natured mirth, shaking her head at my antics.

“Ignore him, dear. He and his sister are a bit notorious to joke around,” she told Twilight, who nodded meekly. “Not as bad as Pinkie and Rainbow though.”

The last part was muttered so low, I almost didn’t hear it. So, they were pranksters, then? I’m not the type to use fancy props to get at people, I mostly let my behavior do the trick. Not that I go actively around playing jokes on people, mind you.

“I’m Sol, by the way,” I told Twilight, giving an apologetic smile for what I did. I’m not an ass, okay. May come off as that, but I’m not doing that on purpose. Most of the time. “Have you seen my sister? Red hair, green eyes?”

I have to stick up to my cover story, after all. I’m obliged to ask about my other half, even if it may make me look insane to myself.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have left Lux on her own, dear,” Rarity answered me before Twilight could get her mouth open. “I’m sure she’s fine on her own in the townhall.”

Yeah, she was. If a bit sloppy, though. Drawbacks from using my other body as a puppet. She worked fine as it is, maybe look after the decorations one last time when she is done and everything would be fine.

“So, who are you, then?” I asked the woman I was ninety-nine percent sure was Twilight Sparkle.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she introduced herself. I told you so, by the way. “That is my number one assistant, Spike. We’re here from...” She wheezed as Rarity pulled at the corset again, “...Canterlot! To look over the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. We’re staying at the... library! Could you please stop?!”

“You’re the personal student of Celestia, then?” I asked, getting a disapproving look from her for omitting the title of her mentor. Not like I cared about that.

“Yes, I’m the personal student of Princess Celestia,” she answered, deliberately pronouncing the title in a way and tone you would see someone use to speak with to a little child botching up their spelling. Jeeze, loosen up, girl!

“We will be seeing each other a lot then, I’m working there with my sister,” I told her, a slight grin overtaking my lips. Gosh, and here I wanted to make a good impression. What’s up with myself and riling up this woman?

“I take it you know your way around a library, then,” she told me matter-of-factly.

“Oh, I do,” my response was underlined with a smirk. She would learn of the majesty of the Dewey Decimal System in no time. I’m not sure if that system was already invented here, but judging by the library of Ponyville, there was a good chance it was not. Something similar might be a thing here, though.

“So, what say you, Rarity? Have you tortured the poor woman enough, so she can get back to work?” I turned to the lady standing beside me. Said woman just scoffed in a ladylike manner.

“I do not torture, mister,” Rarity protested.

“Right, ‘artfully inflict pain’, then,” I corrected myself. She gave me a slap to the arm for that, but it was so worth it.

“Thanks, I guess I’ll see you later at the library, then,” Twilight told me, tossing the corset onto a chair. Within a few moments both Spike and her were gone, leading to the situation of me being used for a pincushion. Revenge on the seamstress part, I take it.

I deserved it, I’m sure.

Rarity took my measurements, commenting on my talent mark again, and told me to sit down on the chair while she worked on my old clothes and new wardrobe. Even though I sat there only in my boxers, she continued to work professionally while my face learned how red it could become.

Watching her work, it was like being in the front row seat of a magic show, everything floated around her in perfect harmony. Nothing got in the way in the whirlwind of objects orbiting around us, new attire taking form within minutes, while my old outfit got a long overdue, as good as new, repair.

For the new wardrobe, she went with the black casual suit style that, frankly, made me look badass. A few short pants joined the mix, perfect for the summer heat, many T-shirts for both Sol and Lux, and even a jazz hat was amongst the stuff.

Fitting the fabric to my form with pins, I noticed that she took her frustration out on me with the needles because of my earlier bantering. Not complaining, I took it in stride like the half-man I am now. Although, I took note of how both my bodies reacted to the pain, even if I tried to suppress the reaction on Lux.

Once everything was in place and fit perfectly, she told me to take them off for her to adjust them to be more fitting. Wearing clothing specifically fitted to you gave off a better impression of oneself than the mass-produced stuff sold nowadays in shops on Earth.

As payment I got roped to do modeling on Sol for her, but I didn’t mind much. Rarity obviously was in shortage of living mannequins, I didn’t want to deny her my services after helping me so much.

The finished clothing was put into bags, and it was a lot to carry, I tell you. We both got on our way back to the town hall where Lux was putting the finishing touches on the decoration. I tried to control both of my bodies simultaneously again, my practice coming to fruition slowly but surely.

I didn’t stumble around if that is what you’re asking.

Still, my focus was more on Sol at the moment, movement with Lux seemed a bit jerky at times. Concentration was key, and I slowly got the hang on doing small and different things from each other with both my bodies.

“Are you there for the party Pinkie will throw tonight?” I asked Rarity at my side as we came into sight of the town hall.

“But of course, darling!” she answered me. Missing a Pinkie Party was something one wouldn’t want to do, then. Pretty sure it was because of what the pink-haired girl would do to you if you did, not because of the party itself. Well, I haven’t been to one yet, I can’t say anything for myself at this point. Let’s just hope I survive this one.

Entering the building, I already saw I missed a few things. Well, no one can be perfect, not even Lux-bot. We worked together for the remainder of the day on making everything look good for the following morning.

At the end of the day, the mayor came by and looked over our work with an appreciative nod and smile. At least it was to her liking, or we could’ve spent the night working instead of getting dragged to a party.

I don’t know which one was preferable to me.

Pinkie Pie appeared sometime after the mayor left to go do whatever she did if no one was talking to her. And with her appearance, she took ahold of us, only to deposit ourselves a moment later. Only, now it was dark, as in ‘where the fuck are my hands’ dark and told us to stay quiet and yell ‘Surprise!’ once the light got back on.

I’m pretty sure I should be one of the persons getting surprised, seeing that the party was partially for me. Although, I was pretty spooked out by the scenery change alone. Did you ever find yourself from one moment to the next in a completely different environment? Now I experienced this the second time in my life, not counting the tour Pinkie took me on.

So, we waited... and waited. And waited a bit more, until waiting got bored and I started talking with Rarity about some of her fabrics. One of her most expansive silk was that of a star spider, whatever that was supposed to be. It was an interesting fact, for sure. Not so sure if I wanted to know the exorbitant amount of money it cost on the market.

Picture a diamond as big as your hand. Calculate the value while having in mind that it was of the highest quality you could imagine, then add another one of them on top of it. Rarity was rich, I tell you. And she found the friggin’ spider she got it from, having cost her not even one penny to get. That I call luck.

After a few minutes, Pinkie shushed everyone, and we waited with bated breath. The door opened, Twilight Sparkle entered with a light pink-haired woman and Spike. Then she actually pushed the other girl out, slamming the door shut like a jerk.

What would that poor woman think of you?! You can’t mistreat people like that, it ain’t polite. Well, that is until Pinkie pulled her out from somewhere next to us while flipping the light switch.

“Surprise!” she shouted in glee, everyone else following her example a moment later. The terrorized scream coming from Celestia’s protégé was karmic retribution enough, I guess. What an introverted person she was. No wonder Celestia asked me to make sure she got out more.

“What are you doing here?!” she asked indignantly.

“She got my permission to host the party here,” I answered on behalf of Pinkie, not wanting to get the eldritch abomination in trouble for something Celestia most likely ordered to take place here instead. How else would she ensure her student would take her mind off of work for the night of obligated partying.

Yeah, that is a thing now.

“Ugh!” she screamed and stomped off, making the pink party girl sad immediately.

“Don’t worry Pinks, the party is great. Some people just can’t take too much awesome,” Rainbow told her. That was enough to push that smile back onto her face.

During the party going on all night, Pinkie Pie introduced me to many of the townfolk I came across during the week I was out and about. Some were delighted to meet me, for various reasons, others were merely indifferent towards either of myself.

Rainbow challenged me to an arm-wrestling match and introduced me to her long-time friend, Fluttershy. You know, the one living at the edge of the monstrous forest and the same girl Twilight so rudely shut out earlier.

I took a liking to her and told her how much I respected her for living that near the forest, while she told me her talent was taking care of all kinds of animals, be it tame or feral. That was some serious major skill to have if even monsters would let themselves be petted by her.

She wasn’t stupid to live there, after all. I stand corrected and I apologize to Horse God for mistakingly labeling her.

She had guts, man. And she wrestled bears for a living, so props to that.

At some point Spike went up to the bedroom Twilight had claimed for herself. We decidedly decided on our decision to ignore the loud ‘Crazy!’ from up above and continued on playing our little party games and such throughout the night.

Most of us were nursing a caffeinated drink by the time everyone got ready to head out for the town hall. I stuck close to Rarity and the rest of the girls I took to calling friends during my stay here. Rarity actually had the honor to draw back the curtain for Princess Celestia.

But when the time came for the reveal, after the announcement of Mayor Madam, no one was on the other side. So, what did the people do with a missing ruler of the land? Right, totally not panic like headless chickens.

Pinkie was idiotically trying to play it off as a hide and seek game, annoying most of the people around her.

It served its purpose, though. The citizens were less panicky than before, but one person still stood out to me in the mass. One Twilight Sparkle, nibbling worriedly on her fingernails.

If I didn’t know better, she knew what was going on. Her mentor was missing, and she was the only one that would have an idea of where she could be. The answer was probably something no one wanted to hear.

Too bad the evil cackling gave it away.

Seriously, like the supervillain kind of evil cackling. I half expected the Master to begin the monologue with a ‘Please, attend carefully’ right about now.

“Such a long time,” a voice called out, the air in the room getting colder in temperature to the freezing point, a mist starting to appear on the ground. “How long it has been, my precious little subjects.”

A field of stars entered the balcony in a smoke-like fashion. A face slowly emerged, grinning viciously. The figure wore the armor I last saw in the castle in the Everfree Forest.

Luna has finally returned, only she was twisted in a mocking caricature of her pristine self. This lady here was but a fleeting memory of the warrior goddess she once was. Not that it made her any less of a master of the magical arts.

The power coming from her alone was suffocating, I almost forgot to breathe. This was a deadly beauty to behold, for all this person promised was pain unending. I wanted to reach out to my bracelets, call forth my weapons to protect the people of this twisted monster standing before us. But I was too afraid.

Too afraid of facing the might of this fallen angel, too afraid to show my ability to summon forth one of the weapons she helped forge, too afraid to fail these people if I decided to scrounge up the courage to fight for what was right.

I was a coward, and these people would pay for my insolence.

The guards that decided it was a good idea to attack the villain got roasted to a crisp by a shot of lightning, causing all the people to scream out in fright and I wasn’t better in that regard.

These people just got taken out in one swing.

There was no one here that would stand a chance against that woman, not with Celestia being absent. And I had a pretty good idea what the reason for that was. We couldn’t even stand a chance if we tried to mob her all at once.

Hell, I was pretty sure even if I summoned my weapons, we would fail to do anything.

“Is this all you’ve got? Did you truly forget who I am?!” the woman sneered in displeasure. Please, for the love of God, no one answer that!

“Black bitch?” Pinkie stupidly asked, making my eyes widen in horror. I turned my head, as the woman on the balcony raised her hand in anger.

This could not happen! Even though Pinkie may be the antithesis to everything rational in the universe, she was still my friend! I leaped into action, just as the former Princess Luna began to cast her spell.

There was a small window of time I could take advantage of here, but being too slow would be the end of one of my first friends here. I needed to stop that.

Jumping, hands stretched out...

... my arms wrapped around Pinkie, just as the lightning began to travel down in slow motion...

... I wouldn’t make it with my momentum alone.

Was that it? Would this be the end before everything even started? Was this the last time I would get to do something with my life?

I pushed with all my might, Pinkie was flung away from me as we crashed to the ground in a heap. The scorched ground was smelling burnt to a crisp. The static in the air tickled the hair on our arms.

Looking with Lux to the spot where Sol had been, everything resumed its normal pace again. Adrenalin wore off, my heart hammered within my chest.

A bit away from Pinkie, Sol lay on the ground with his wings outstretched from the last-ditch effort I took to save the life of one of my friends.

At least I did something right for once.

Wheezing, I sat up and got promptly smothered by her in a hug. I glared up at the woman on the balcony, while she looked at us in contempt.

“Very well, then. I’ll spare you, for now. Take this gift, for showing this much bravery. Foolish as it was, child,” she told me, smirking cruelly. Fuck you, too, Lady! I will make you regret this, this I swear.

Try to harm my friends, and I will raise hell to protect them. Letting go of Pinkie, we stood back up. This time I made sure she wouldn’t make any more clever comments to the baddy.

“I know who you are!” the voice of Twilight Sparkle rang out in the silence. Gritting my teeth, I asked every deity that ever was, why these people just had to continue being stupid idiots. “You’re Nightmare Moon!”

Gasps went around in fear, while said woman gave a fanged smile. Her slitted eyes glowed in glee, her armored hands wrapping around the railing of the balcony.

“Then you must know why I am here, child,” she stated with anticipation.

“You’re here to... to...” Twilight trailed off, not actually wanting to end the sentence in fear of what it meant. Even her confidence seemed to falter in the end, whatever she thought she could do before this, was forgotten in the face of this threat.

“From this day forth, there shall be no sun! There shall be no light of day! There shall be no warmth from daylight! There shall be... only night!” Nightmare Moon shouted louder than a bomb going off next to you. Her cackle remained for a few minutes as she dissipated in a haze of smoke streaming out the window.

This... was the end of the world and the beginning of eternal night.

6. The Nightmare's end.

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Running back to the library, we all followed the girl who knew who Nightmare Moon was (not counting me, but I didn’t want to admit that to the girls). The encounter with the crazed fallen demigod was everything but pleasant.

One villain monologue, two crispy guards, and an almost dead friend later, we faced a conundrum unlike any other. How would this world continue to live with no sunlight at all? How would one go about defeating a being with access to god level tier magic on her own?

What were we supposed to do, faced with that?

Everything I encountered so far in the forest was something you could bring down if you decided to not run away. But this? No one could hope to match that power, something that could literally bring down the moon on your head.

Even having two bodies with access to magic and flight, however underdeveloped they were, wouldn’t help you in this situation. Knowledge and skill could only take you so far, weapons could only help you so much, and friends would only follow you this far.

No one was stupid enough to go face a demigod in a fight on this scale. Not without some kind of cheat, and turning back time wouldn’t help much, either. The crazed demigod would escape her prison with or without preparation. Even if I could go back one month in time with one of my three ‘Get out of Jail’ cards, I wasn’t even on this planet then!

My weapons would be as helpful as a toothpick in this fight. So, what could I do? I wasn’t prepared for this and certainly not tough enough to be of any use in a sword or bow fight.

I really wished for the first time since coming here and getting chosen for some weird destiny, that I got the skills to get through this from out of my ass. Because this was on a way too high level for me to overcome.

It was like you started a fresh brand new game and got told to defeat the end boss from the get-go. Only certain doom lay ahead for me if I decided to do something on my own in a stupid heroic way.

And to think all I feared of the Summer Sun Celebration was to get outed as the friggin’ Chosen One. This is way above that.

We found Twilight throwing all the books around in a panic, searching for some solution to make everything better. As if there was an answer for something on this scale to be found in a book. I don’t know what she expected to find, but it would most certainly not...

...come out of a book. Forget what I said, Pinkie was her usual inexplainable self and found just that. And one word popped out to me in an instant. Elements. Something, something Elements something, I heard that word recently, but where? The memory was on the tip of my tongue if that made any sense. But as hard as I tried to, I just couldn’t get it into the forefront of my mind.

“The Elements of Harmony, there are five known virtues to empower their might. Five virtues to bring out the light and vanquish the corrupted, all channeled through the sixth unknown one,” Twilight read out loud. We came to a stand around her, looking at a picture of five gems surrounding one in the middle.

“These are only usable by someone excelling at the following virtues: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty, and Loyalty. The focus to channel all of them in a synchronicity is a virtue yet not known.” She read on, every word carried clearly across the room.

“Guided by light and flame, the spark will make it known.” She ended, looking around at us. We all knew it was our only chance of coming out of this alive. If we truly decided to go through with this, I couldn’t let them do this alone. The Elements needed my help, and I knew these girls were just the right candidates for them.

“So, where would we find them Elements?” Applejack asked her.

“That is the thing,” Twilight told us, biting her lip. “I couldn’t ask you to come with me on this. It’s too dangerous.”

“I know I’m talking for everyone on this, we’re not letting you go on your own, either!” Rainbow said, getting into her face with a grin. No doubt was she too confident to see the danger of trying to find a ‘cheat it all’ weapon while a demigod was running amok on the land.

“Their last known location was the Castle of the Royal Sisters in the Everfree Forest,” Twilight answered reluctantly. I just knew it, man. I knew it! I friggin’ knew I would get roped into going in there again.

“Well, you girls go ahead, I have to find something,” I told them and dragged Lux out with me before anyone could protest. No way was I going out there with a broken bow and a glowy sword, time to find a smith in this town.

Not that I had much money to buy a weapon, but maybe I could convince them to lend me one for a while. Gosh, I was actually going to do this, what is wrong with me? Couldn’t I just leave them to it?

But... that would make me even more guilty. Letting them go into the murdering chaos infested forest on their own without help, that’s just irresponsible of me. I had no help in there and only barely made it out of there, I was the only one that knew how dangerous it could get. At least, I thought so.

Fluttershy would maybe have an idea what it was like in there or even Applejack. But they had no weapons, and with Nightmare Moon hot on our heels, that would only lead to certain death.

Moaning about being a Chosen One is all nice and good for a sane person without a deathwish, but when the lives of your friends are on the line, everyone would start to go a bit stupid and foolishly charge towards danger. As much as I wanted to stay here, I just couldn’t.

Doesn’t mean I have to show anyone that I was the unwanted hero in this tale, though. I would just have to use ordinary weapons, at least until I had any idea of how to wield these things.

The local smith was in the process of shutting himself in like the coward I wanted to be, but I was fast enough to stop him in locking himself completely away.

“Stop! Please, I need your help, mister!” I shouted with Lux and Sol, running up to him before he closed the last door. He turned his gruff look to me, glaring with his bushy eyebrows hanging low.

“What yer want, lads?” he asked in a deep voice.

“I need a weapon, preferably a sword and bow with arrows,” we told him in synch, and let me tell you, he was a bit unnerved by that, but I didn’t care about that.

“Why?” his skeptic response was more of a surprised one than a reluctant one.

“We’re going into the Everfree Forest to find something that could stop all this, we need your help, please!” I answered him, adding a bit of desperation into my voices.

“Well, yer are stupid to go in there, lads. No one ever came out o’ there!” he told me, and I grinned.

“We did,” came our response and he looked at us in surprise.

“Yer the ones that landed in hospital the other day, ya? Well, if yeh’re that desperate to get back in, dun’t let meh hold yer up,” he said and tried to close the door again, only my hands stopped him before he could.

“If we don’t survive this, it’s on your head, old man,” we growled. Threatening people wasn’t something I enjoyed doing, but if it got him to listen, I would do so any day.

“Not mah fault, yer stupid gits,” he shot back, stubborn as ever. It was a try worth, but still. I need his help, somehow.

“Okay, no weapons, whatever. But could you give me a bowstring at least?” I asked, desperate to get at least my other weapon in working order. Damn Gandalf and giving me a broken bow!

“Yeh really wanting to go in there, dun’tcha?” he asked, grudging respect finally showing in his voice. “Dun’t know how a string is gonna be o’ help te yeh, but wait here.”

The man left for a minute and came back not with a string, but with a quiver full of arrows and a fully functional bow, together with a shortsword.

“Dun’t care if yeh bring ‘em back, jus’ make the sun rises again, yer hear meh?” he told me and shut the door with a rough shove.

Huh, didn’t expect him to actually give them to me. With these I could at least help without having to rely on mystical weapons that would give us away in the night. It had the added bonus of me not having to come out and giving me weapons to practice with after this. If we survive, that is.

Let’s hope I don’t just run away at the first sign of danger like the last times.

I found the girls at the entrance to the forest, all of them waiting on me. Surprised eyes met the sword and bow in my grips.

“What are these for?” Twilight asked me befuddled. My eye twitched at that. Did she really want to go in there without any way to defend herself? How stupid was she?!

“Did you really just ask that? In front of the most dangerous forest in this country?” I asked her. She looked away sheepishly, muttering something under her breath. If I didn’t know better, she really wanted to go in there without a weapon to defend the group. Magic could only go so far in an environment steeped in chaos energies.

The forest in question looked even more menacing than before, no doubt due to the challenges that now laid before us. Nightmare Moon wouldn’t make this easy on us, deciding to toy with us along the way and finish us off just before we reached our goal.

I doubted our journey wouldn’t be met with resistance. We couldn’t just waltz in there and expect to find ourselves at the castle in no time. Danger lurked ahead, and ready or not, we would have to face it as a group.

Gulping my fear down, I followed the girls into the forest I’d vowed to never enter again. The sound of rustling leaves and twigs was eerily absent, making my hairs stand on end.

“Never in my life did I ever want to come in here again...” I muttered lowly to the girls. A few of them looked at me in surprise, mainly Twilight and Fluttershy. Both of them I just met, so no wonder there.

“You were in here and came out again?” she asked me and I nodded. I took the lead, while I took the rear with Lux. Best to cover both ends of our group, no idea what would find us first. All of the girls had flashlights with them, but I told them to shut them off. I learned my lesson of too much light in the forest the last time. It only made you a better target.

“Stay close,” I said, stopping in the front. My ears strained to listen for the sound I thought I had heard. Waiting a minute, nothing happened, but I didn’t let my guard down.

Resuming our pace, we made our way through the thick foliage covering the ground. I dared not cut down the vegetation in front of us, in fear of making loud noises. Everything depended on us getting down the cliff first without getting hunted, or we would have to find a different way to the castle.

The forest seemed way more grisly than when I was in here for my first time, and the branches of the trees seemed to hang lower as if they tried reaching down to us. To say this forest was a witchwood before is an understatement. Now it positively radiated the intent to kill us, making everyone jittery.

Stopping once more, I was sure I heard something.

“Come on, there is nothing there!” Rainbow grumbled amidst our little group. I clamped a hand over her mouth, shushing her. Counting to ten, I only reached the number six as I heard it again. A snap to my right reached my ears, all of us stood stock still.

“Don’t move...” I whispered. Nocking an arrow with Lux, I peered into the darkness. There was movement, alright. Three of them, probably gauging how much of a hassle we would be.

The attack came fast, one of my arrows actually finding its target to my surprise. The wolves that pounced out of the brush were different than the ones I encountered. These were more vicious and feral, oozing liquid out of pustules on their bark like a sickly plague. Their eyes had lost their vibrant green and looked unhealthy and their claws were cracked in several places. Fungus grew everywhere on them, making some of their movements jerky.

These were more like zombies than living wood. The foul beast I shot at continued its run with an arrow in the head. Cursing, we made a run for it. These beasts would only die by fire, it seemed.

Doing my best to keep everyone together in the dark, I fended the zombie wolves off. They weren’t zombies of course, but they reminded me way to much of the things from The Last of Us, if you know what they looked like. And where there were three wolves, the rest of the pack wasn’t far. Howls ripped through the air, carrying a croaky quality to them.

“Run, don’t stop!” I shouted at the others, my sword and arrows doing their best to stave off the attacks from the beasts behind us.

A few tried to press us further ahead, but two of my arrows were enough to delay them. Running at them with Sol, I sliced the heads off with a courage I hadn’t known I had. It was like I had a fire lit in me, giving me the necessary will to fight on. Have you ever had a moment in your life, where you felt like you could do anything? This feeling came pretty close to that, if not surpassing it. There was only one thing on my mind at this point, and no matter what, I would see it happening.

That one thing was the survival I sought for this group, these girls that welcomed me here in their town, even though I lied about where I came from. Rarity, so generous to look after me. Pinkie, with a smile on her face, only wanting one on my face, even if she was sometimes a nuisance to be around. Rainbow Dash, for all her boasting nature, was a friend you could count on. And although I only met them recently, Applejack, Fluttershy, and even Twilight Sparkle were a delight to be around.

So, that was why I smiled when I got surrounded by the wolves as the others unknowingly left me behind. They wouldn’t have to see me getting ripped apart by these abominations.

I was okay with that. They would make it through this, hopefully. Parrying with the bow and stabbing the wolve leaning against Lux, I fought with all I had. Their breath alone wanted to make me gag, trying to bring the content of my stomach back to light. And that almost did happen, were it not for one of them biting me on the leg. The pain pierced through my body, setting my consciousness on fire.

Agony like that was the first time I experienced such a thing in all my life, being accustomed to the sheltered lifestyle one had in modern countries. You never had to fight for your life against wildlife in big cities, you wouldn’t know how to get through pain like this without any training.

City life was all I knew until this point, having not learned how to survive in the wild, because why would you need to? It was unlikely you ever found yourself cut off from civilization if you never left it in the first place.

But primal survival instinct would kick in no matter who you are. These were ingrained so deeply into your DNA, that they would give you the tiny bit of rage from your inner animal to fight with a ferociousness you didn’t believe you could muster. And fight, I did.

Time itself slowed to a crawl for myself, my perception focusing on every twitch my opponents made. Ready or not, this would end with either for myself or them. There was no other option, I had to win. If I lost here, they would get back on the hunt for the girls, and that I couldn’t allow.

Gripping my sword tightly, the beasts came at me and I swung for all I was worth. Nocking an arrow, I tried to impair their movements with Lux, seeing that I couldn’t kill them with a shot to the head. They would only stop once they had none, but that didn’t mean the arrows were completely useless, either. More than once I missed my mark, untrained as I was. The ones that hit, though, were enough to cripple them long enough to severe their ugly mugs from their bodies.

Fighting for your life was something, alright. Never had I imagined that I would get a thrill from it, but my blood raged through my bodies in a synchronized heartbeat. Every beat of my heart, every breath from my lungs, brought a feral grin to my faces.

This was a hunt, but these beasts forgot who the apex predator here was.

Humanity in all its years was notoriously known to bring beasts of any magnitude down to the ground, however fearsome that prey was. Teamwork and tools, that made us to the supreme hunters in times past. We had the advantage of intelligence, even though our bodies seemed weak compared to the animals that became our prey.

With the drive to survive no matter what came our way, humans were able to make any place their home, whether it be a hostile climate or the predators roaming the lands. And although these instincts weren’t in use that much nowadays, they would forever remain with us.

The fight didn’t come without injuries, though. Many, many injuries.

Do what I could, I was still a city child and instincts or not, even a mighty apex predator found their limit at some point. All my cunning and teamwork with my bodies only helped that much, but it was enough. Enough to survive for another day to come.

“Nrgh...” I groaned, the decapitated wolves lying all around me. I fought hard, but my injuries were too much for me to get back up right now. Breathing was an undertaking, limbs trembled and hearing was strained. I waited for anything to happen at that moment. So sure was I that something would stumble upon me, as I massaged the aching joints, that I was actually left alone by the forest this time.

Yeah, weird, right?

It gave me time to get back on my feet, though. The injuries, for all their worth, weren’t running that deep, a simple bandage from a strip of cloth ripped-off of my shirts was enough to stem the worst of it. Although, it left me with tattered clothing once more, barely enough to call myself still decently clothed. Rarity would kill me for this, I was sure. If I didn’t die from some infection caused by the bites first. Whatever came first, I knew not what was preferable.

Tracking wasn’t all that hard if the thing leaving the tracks left snapped twigs in their wake everywhere. All the signs left me back at the cliff from the last time I was here. But there was a small detail different now. Just a small thing, really.

Where the cliff I encountered the last time was, was now the rubble of the collapsed ground having sunken down to the forest below. Pretty sure that was because of Nightmare Moon seeing a good opportunity to get rid of the girls early on. What else could cause destruction on this scale?

Please, let the girls be unharmed from this.

Getting down wasn’t as easy as I wanted it to be, most of it was loose ground. It made it more of a hassle, than a life-threatening drop to your death, though. Thus, a tumble was already bound to occur. Have you ever rolled down a steep hill? It could be fun, but it left you always in a daze. Having two bodies made me puke my guts out even harder because this felt like my stomachs got into the washer on accident and stayed in it for the whole day on maximum setting.

Once I tamed my protesting stomachs and ignored the taste left in my mouths, I began my quest on catching up with the girls again. How much would you bet that they thought the wolves actually managed to kill me? Fuck, I would bet all my money, if I wasn’t the one concerning the bet. Frankly, I was surprised I managed to live through that.

Maybe I could actually pull this Chosen One crap off.

What sounded like fighting ahead got my attention as I went through the foliage. It seemed the girls found trouble again, or I was walking straight towards a territorial fight between two beasts. What were the chances of that, hmm? Either way, if it were the girls, I better hurry up and help them out, before it is too late.

And too late it was, but not for them. Fluttershy actually managed to tame the manticore that looked eerily familiar to me. The sickly shade of yellow seemed a bit paler, though. I chalked it up to the nighttime and looked at the rest of the girls. They didn’t seem to have suffered any injuries caused by the landslide. But there was something common in all of them. Although they haven’t suffered physical pain, they did suffer for something.

The group seemed solemn, most likely because of my apparent death that never happened. But they didn’t know that. It had the benefit of them being more sneaky, though.

Before I could get back to them, I was cut off by the roots of the tree anchoring me to the ground on my ankles. Wanting to shout for their help, vines wrapped themselves around my throat, leaving me desperately gulping for air. Now even the trees wanted me dead, fucking shit. What could I do?

Every spell I read up on in the library was only simple charms and some illusions, there was nothing I knew of to cut through them and the sword was out of my reach, having fallen out of my grip in the surprise. Should I call upon my armor and weapons? That would have been my first thought, too. Now, if I weren’t restrained by the roots and vines, I could have done so.

My vision started to darken around the edges and I was beginning to panic, starting to bite on the damn things wasn’t helping either. With the struggle for breath clouding my mind, I almost didn’t notice the manticore studying my thrashing bodies in curiosity and hesitation. A muffled plea with tears in my eyes seemed to make up its mind.

A swipe with a from its claws and I felt air rushing back into my lungs. The manticore looked at me in contemplation, trying to decide if freeing me was in its best interest or not. I could tell, whatever Fluttershy did with this creature, that it warred internally on what to do. Give in to the urge to gorge itself or show the same kindness that Fluttershy had shown it.

Surprise was all that I could focus on as it cut one of my arms free, stepping away from me after I was free to move them. Grudging acceptance and kindness showed itself in the eyes of the beast staring at me. Now that, I didn’t ever expect to come out of this murder forest.

Quickly summoning my sword and armor with Sol, I cut the rest of the vines and roots still trying to crush my bodies. Falling down to the ground, I scrambled away from both the trees and the manticore.

Best to not test the wary peace between us, lest it decided to change its mind on getting a quick meal out of me.

I grimaced as I looked at the almost empty quiver at my side and banished the armor on Sol back into the bracelet. Better leave the few arrows for dire times and use the bow a melee weapon for now. The bow wouldn’t do much in that regard, but blocking incoming strikes was still a good thing in my opinion. It was sturdy enough for that, at least. Wouldn’t want it to break.

The manticore left as I scrambled to catch up with the girls once more. But every time that I came just about into shouting distance with them, some new threat tried to occupy my attention away from them. It was frustrating to deal with, but maybe my ordeal would spare them the misfortune of getting attacked by every beast the forest could muster at us.

That left me with fighting for my life and theirs, unknowing as they are of my survival and fighting behind the scenes. It would leave them with a mindset for revenge on my supposed death, though, so I wasn’t complaining about that.

As I followed them, I noticed they seemed to walk a different path I had taken. Maybe it was a faster way, though? They were all confronted by challenge after challenge from what seemed to be the interventions of the crazed demigod, while I fended off the more dangerous predators on my own.

Most of them seemed weary of myself, which played the deciding factor in me being able to defeat them more easily. All of them had a thing in common, though. They were all disfigured by the sickly appearance the same as the timberwolves we had encountered earlier.

Nightmare Moon was keeping me purposefully on my toes, testing the strength of the group to see if they would be enough of a hazard to her rule. For all her might, she was foolish to not strike them down on the spot. Whatever it was, it would be her downfall in the end.

Or, most likely the real reason, she wanted to crush their morale just as they reached their only salvation. A bad feeling in my gut told me, that this would be just the thing a crazed person like her would do.

People with a crushed morale were more unlikely to rise up against you, than people that had enough hope left to bring you down with all their might. Even if the people you oppressed were weak, a tyrant always met their end by the hands of those that endured the harsh rule.

As long as they lacked courage, though? They would live a miserable life at the hands of those that sought to use them for their own gain. And that, I couldn’t let happen. This country may not be the rainbow and sunshine one everyone thought it to be, but it didn’t deserve to endure this kind of torment. No country did, for that matter.

While I was fighting behind the scenes, the girls came upon the cut-down bridge that had no right to be called a bridge. Not because it was hanging into the abyss currently, mind you.

I winced as Twilight was about to run off in her joy at seeing the majestic ruin of the castle, but let out a breath of relief as I brought down a beast that reminded me of a velociraptor. I’m a bit sorry for the thing, I read it was one of the rarer monsters seen in the Everfree Forest. Not that I would apologize to it for trying to eat me.

Finding an opening, I made a dash over the bridge as the girls got into the castle and cut down the other end as more of the running terrors came after me. They sailed down into the mists down below, never to be heard of again.

That was close, had I cut the bridge too late, I would have faced the rest of them with no escape, not without letting them into the castle after the girls. No telling if I could’ve protected them then.

Seeing the pedestal rising from the ground by looking through the window, I let a smile show on my faces. They have found them, a stone dropped from my heart at that sight.

But a whole avalanche buried it under rubble a moment later as the girls left Twilight alone and the tell-tale sign of smoke filtering through the cracks of doors alerted me to the danger of her being moments away of getting killed by Nightmare Moon.

Fuck it, I thought and crashed through the window, jumping in with Lux after that. The whirlwind of smoke brought all of us into another room, one as long as a ballroom, Twilight lying slightly behind us coughing from the rough teleport, Lux and Sol standing in front of her, weapons held tight in my hands, and Nightmare Moon hovered in the air at the other end of the room.

The Elements floated around her, and a moment later they lay shattered on the ground, the laugh of the madwoman ringing through the room. Man, Bellatrix Lestrange had nothing on her.

“Get to the Elements, we’ll hold her off as long as we can!” I told her, both my voices in perfect synch. Twilight stared at us in wonder, and for once, ever since this began, I didn’t care about being the Chosen One. I was here to save my friends, and should it come to it, I’d use the bracelet as a last resort. Even if it meant I would be heralded as some idiot on a pedestal because a madman with a beard thought it a great idea to play Merlin, it meant I could at least die as someone that would get remembered for doing one good thing in their life.

That’s all I cared about right now. All I cared for, was for my friends to be safe, and if I could ensure that with my sacrifice, I would do this every time.

I still hated to be the Chosen One, don’t let my sudden courage fool you.

Nightmare Moon sneered at me, displeased that I would dare stand in the way of her prey. I glared back at her, for daring to threaten all my new (and admittedly only) friends.

“Are you this foolish to stand at the side of this whelp?” she asked me in a resonating voice. “Do you think you stand a chance?!”

“No,” I said, raising my sword and bow, ready for her attack. At least I would be a meatshield for Twilight if it came down to it. “But I’ll stand in your way, anyway.”

“So be it, child,” she said, holding her hand out. From the smoke of her hair a scythe emerged, wickedly long and sharp. Charging, the demigod met us at the halfway point and swung her weapon in an arch.

Parrying with the sword, I pressed the attack with my bow. Nightmare deflected the swing with her arm, bringing her scythe around once more. Lux rolled on the ground, coming up behind her, while Sol took the hit with braced arms taking the shock of impact.

I tried to bring my knee up against her gut, but got kicked away faster than I could blink. Groaning, I got back up, but Lux got a hit by the butt of the scythe just then. Damn it! I wouldn’t be able to hold her off for long, not long enough for Twilight to repair the elements. If she could even do that, in the first place.

But it was worth a try.

Swinging my sword down against her, she intercepted the weapon with the staff of the scythe and pushed back. I did the same, trying to stop her from using her own weapon against me again. Nocking an arrow in place, I stood behind her fully intending to cheat my way through this fight, and in that moment I didn’t care if I fought dirty.

But a shield spell was the answer to that from Nightmare. Said madwoman smirked at me, showing her fangs with glee. Grunting, I lost ground on her as she used all her strength against me.

“Don’t you see?!” she shouted at me, her deranged look making me more afraid of her. “There is no light! Only darkness will be the last thing left in the world! Don’t struggle against it!”

“You sound like some stupid villain out of a video game produced by a little kid, lady!” I shouted back, going down to my knees as I struggled to keep my weapon up against her. My bow groaned in protest as I hammered away on it, two arrows left and the one I shot on her got disintegrated by the shield. Her barrier didn’t even begin to crack, how much could this thing take?!

“Your efforts are futile, none shall stand against Us!” her voice echoed, taking on a more demonic quality. “Cease your attempts at standing against Us, mortal!”

“We’ll see about that, bitch!” I shot back, rolling to the side and deflecting the blade of the scythe a second later. Lux took a hit as Nightmare’s weapon came around, leaving a gash on my shoulder.

I jumped back from her as she tried to take out Lux first, struggling to stay out of reach, the scythe coming nearer and nearer with each swing against me. Damn, she was herding me into the corner on her! Why couldn’t she just stay focused on Sol?!

And each time I tried to attack her with my male half, she was either faster at dodging the strike, or parrying with the other end of her weapon. A glance back at Twilight told me she wasn’t faring better with the Elements. I needed another advantage on her if I wanted to buy Twilight enough time.

So, I summoned my wings and tried using them for a speed boost against Nightmare Moon. Only for her to flip my body through the room. I crashed against the wall in a daze, struggling to stop the room from spinning around me.

Focusing more on Lux, I dodged another blow from her and took a knee to my stomach for my efforts. Wheezing on the ground, I glared up at her. She stood there with her scythe inches away from me.

“Surrender now, worm,” Nightmare ordered me, glancing down on her nose towards me. Arrogance radiated off of her, so sure was she of her victory. “And We may yet spare you of your fate.”

If I got this right, I could perhaps get out of this situation and continue to fight. I would’ve to be fast, though. Concentrating on the feeling of mana, I rushed it down to my fingertips. Nightmare kicked me into my stomach again, disrupting the flow momentarily for a moment. It would have to do, I thought desperately.

“Do you take Us for a fool?” she asked me. I spit my bloodied saliva at her in defiance. “You know, We commended your courage before, but now We see all but a pest before Us.”

“A shame you would die by Our hands, you would have made for a great lieutenant in Our army. Together, we could’ve taken the world in Our name!” she said, bringing down her scythe.

“No!” Twilight cried out as she saw the event happen. Looking over, I saw the image of Lux, lying there, impaled on the end of the blade.

Then, a moment later, the image dissolved in light. Going back a few moments, just before she was able to disrupt my magic with her kick, I rolled away, leaving an illusion of myself as I placed a ‘Notice-me-not’ spell on myself. It took all my mana and more, drawing from the ley lines what I needed, to fool her into thinking I was still there. Had the movement not looked as fluid as it did, I doubt I would’ve managed to do that.

Studying spells really paid off, even if it left my veins on fire now.

“What?!” Nightmare shouted in rage, looking around. In the time she was fooled by my afterimage, I found my way back to Sol’s side with Lux.

“You dare defy Us? You can’t even begin to understand the folly of your actions, whelps!” she told us, bringing her hand up into the air. “Now, witness Our might!”

Her fingertips began to glow in a blinding light, and as she brought them down, several shooting sparks flew after us from her hand. I tried to dodge as best as I could, but more and more found their mark, going straight through my muscles.

Falling down to the ground, I couldn’t move my legs and arms on Sol anymore, while only the legs on Lux were out of working condition. She stood behind my male half as the sparks meant for her arms hit him instead. Not that that would help me now, anyway.

Twilight was left without defense, but Nightmare Moon readied her next spell to finish us off. Down from below we heard the footsteps of the girls coming closer, and I cried my tears in full view of my opponent.

What good was I, if I couldn’t stop her from slaughtering my friends?

I wasn’t a good friend, in the end.

Not even protecting someone from their death with my own I could do. What a pathetic conclusion of this fight.

“Fret not, my champion,” a voice from my right said, everything around me frozen in time. The dust in the air hung there in my view, only my eyes were left that were able to move as I heard the sound of approaching hoofsteps.

There, the Creator of all Blessings stood. Her smile was gentle as she leaned her head down to my eye level. Her lips did not move as she spoke, her eyes seemed to invigorate me and her hoof came up to my face taking a tear away from my cheek.

“Let your light be the guiding arrow in this night, my child. Don’t let the fire in your heart die out, please,” my deity told me, and then she was gone.

“Your end has come, mortals!” Nightmare Moon cackled in glee.

In one swift motion, I raised my bow just enough to take aim.

And I let loose.

“How?” Nightmare whispered in shock.

We all glanced at the arrow having pierced her hand, as she cried out in rage.

There, an arrow enhanced by of hardened moonlight got stuck halfway into her appendage, the glowing string on my bow disappearing. The arrow in her hand reverted back to its normal appearance, but the damage was done. No more spells for you, bitch!

Nightmare raised her scythe back into the air with a growl and strode in a deadly grace towards us, intent on doing what she was denied of doing with her magic. As she got nearer, I feared I would be dead within the next seconds. I couldn’t draw another arrow this fast, let alone muster enough mana for it.

Fire roared in my muscles as Sol brought his sword up despite the torn muscles, the metal of the blade glowing like it just came out of the forge. Sparks flew everywhere as her scythe met my last defense.

I don’t know what Horse God did to me, but for the last precious moments of my life, there wouldn’t be a thing I would do differently, if it meant my friends could win this fight.

“Stop right there, Nightmare!” Twilight called out.

We all turned our gazes towards Twilight, the girls at her side. They all looked frightened for my wellbeing, but stood there in a confidence I was glad to see. That meant they had found some way to use the Elements!

“It was the spark of friendship, guided by the flame of courage and the light of hope, that led us to this very moment. Together, we are able to use these!” Twilight called out, shards floating off the ground around them, as she called out the attributes of each of the girls. My hairs stood on end at the display, the energy of the magic drowning all my senses out. All but for one: sight.

I watched as she confronted the demigod, floating there in the air with her friends. Her eyes radiated a brilliant white glow, a ribbon of primal magic connecting all of them in harmony.

The rainbow was a bit over the top, though.

The cascade of magic came washing down on us, encircling Nightmare Moon with god-level tier magic. All schools of magic compromised a part of the cleansing rainbow that ensnared the woman.

Necromancy took the evil spirit out of the body of Princess Luna.

Chaos bound it in the air.

Order ensured it could not escape.

Nature healed the abused body of the innocent host.

Divine Magic judged the actions of the spirit that possessed her.

Arcane Might decided the punishment.

Dark Magic provided the means to enact it.

Destruction Magic powered the spell.

The Primal Unaligned Aspect of Magic finished the spell and focused every other Aspect to work fluidly with each other.

Everything that was left of the former spirit, was the armor lying on the ground, still smoking. The magic of the rainbow worked itself through my body next, judging my worth as it mended my injuries. The magic caressed my exhausted mind in a loving touch and retreated. Darkness claimed me after it left.

So.. my first real fight, huh? It was sloppy as hell on my part but had Nightmare Moon not held back in her perceived notion of superiority, I would be dead now. No doubts there.

And of course, I got to relive the last moments from before I lost consciousness in my dream. More than twenty times did I fail before even getting to the point of the castle, even more times did I meet my end once I got to that part.

Every time I found my way back at the castle in my dream, Nightmare would find a different way to prematurely kill me. Fuck, she even killed me with a chicken once, to my everlasting confusion. Well, dreams can be weird sometimes.

After I lost count of how many times I endured my latest nightmare of fighting Nightmare, I lost the will to play by the rules of my mind tormenting me. At that point I was lucky I got a reprieve in the form of the black void. Although, this time, there was no Horse God there.

No, I was completely alone.

For some reason, I felt this was an even worse punishment on myself. It felt like I failed in some way. I don’t know what, though. Did I fail in rescuing the world? Almost. Did I fail my friends? The answer to that was also almost. Did I fail by becoming a hero, even if it wasn’t because of my being a Chosen One? Well, I kinda was alright with that now, I guess. It didn’t mean I wouldn’t tell everyone I told them so when I inevitably failed to save the world or some other shit that was expected of me.

Man, I’m the most boring hero, ever, aren’t I?

It would be their fault for placing me into that role from the beginning. Of the history of every hero ever imagined, I might possibly be the most unworthy one. Whatever I did to get the attention of Horse God, I certainly didn’t know what that was. If you imagined a hero, you would never imagine them to be a complaining bitch. And yet... here I am. When I wake up, I have to be ready to face two of the people that could notice what I truly am.

Was it really right of me to hide this from them? Why couldn’t I just be honest and come out with it, was I really that much of a coward? Truthfully, I have to say that I am. Cowardice and courage raged a war within me, but the doubt of failing everyone was too strong, and so cowardice won the battle. I couldn’t do it, the little voice in my mind whispered, why should I fight someone else’s battle?

But a flicker of courage whispered back, and the battle started anew.

No matter what I would decide on in the end, I would protect my friends from any danger that found them, this I told myself with absolute certainty. Celestia and Luna were a different matter on the other hand.

I wondered what I would say to them, as I looked aimlessly through the void around me. Everything felt so hopeless here, but anger and frustration wouldn’t get me far. That would only make me look like I was having a tantrum. Angry words would sound pathetic to boot, blaming them for something that would’ve happened either way, what with Horse God ordering me to get these damn things if I hadn’t already.

Did I blame Horse God? No... I could never bring myself to do so. She was just looking out for her people, I couldn’t hold my problems above that. Whom did I blame in that case? Myself mostly, I guess. For being a little child and not get over it, but any sane person would struggle with a burden like this one.

I just don’t know anymore. On the one hand, I kinda felt okay with having to do this, but on the other, I did not. Perhaps I should just play this on a day by day basis. The future may hold dark things ahead of me, but for now, I shouldn’t worry that much.

Fate may bring me where I needed to be, courage and cowardice may fight the entire time with every step I take, destiny may have a cruel reward for my at the end of my journey, but I had hope.

Hope, my destiny would reward me with happiness instead. Hope, fate may let me come through this without making mistakes. Hope... my courage would never falter in the face of adversity.

With this final thought, the void around me lifted from a heavy and oppressing feeling in the darkness to a light and welcoming whiteness. A few dark and grey blotches persisted, still. The quiet before the storm, I guess. My heart didn’t feel as burdened as before anymore, with the decision to give in to fate and destiny having lifted my spirit a great deal. Most of my misgivings persisted even now, though, but they weren’t on the forefront of my mind any longer.

It remains to be seen if this was a wise choice or not.

An eternity later, I found myself wakening from the confines of my mind. While the Elements did heal me, it didn’t leave me without any aches. Groaning, I screwed my eyes shut tightly, the familiar feeling of the headache having returned grating on my nerves.

The others seemed to be on the rise, too. At least, judging from all the groans around me. Not a minute later, the first rays of the sun poked over the horizon through the windows and miraculously (or not) directly onto my closed eyelids. No sense in holding this off, I thought and opened them slowly.

Rarity and the rest of the girls were inspecting their new necklaces as I watched the newly cleansed Princess Luna rise on her knees. Poor girl was reduced to a teenager a bit younger than Pinkie Pie, said eldritch horror was bouncing around the group in delight.

I hissed as I tried to sit up against the wall. My muscles felt like they were on fire all over, making every position I tried worse than the last. I was left a panting mess on both Sol and Lux as the fabled Princess Celestia appeared in a flash.

“It is so good to see you all succeded where I failed,” she told our little group, walking towards her sister on the ground. We all watched as she knelt beside Luna, her hand placed on the shoulder of the younger sister.

“I feared I would never get to say this,” Celestia began, “I’m so sorry, little sister. Had I not been blinded by my own sun in the sky, this would’ve never happened to you.”

Tears streamed down her face as she smothered Luna in her embrace, unheard sobs rocking her body back and forth. A heartfelt sight, to be sure. Luna was momentarily confused by what was happening around her, still not used by being in control of her own body, I mused, but she returned her hug and whispered her own apologies to her.

My friends looked at the pair with their own confusion, ignorant of who this person was in the arms of their ruler. But I smiled, seeing a long-overdue reunion happening right in front of me. This made the hero business all the more bearable to me. Helping reunite family, defend helpless people, and avenge those that were wronged by the claws of evil.

You know, watching the snot running down the face of a demigod made them look just like normal people, with their own problems to face. My problems paled in comparison to that. She had to live for a millennium without her sister, constantly reminded of her failure by the very moon in the sky.

Celestia composed herself after a few minutes, everyone staring around awkwardly in silence, not knowing what to do from here. So... I stood up and went up to them. Giving the little princess a hug for comfort, both on her and my part, showing her I forgave her for, quite frankly, trying to kill me.

Then I punched Celestia full-on in the face, knocking her back down on the ground, and with her arms around her sister, she too fell down. Ups.

Pretty sure you foresaw this beforehand, but damn, I needed to have a few choice words with this idiot of a demigod. Ruler of this nation or not, she shouldn’t have let that happen in the first place. Everyone behind me gasped in shock, but I didn’t care. She had it coming for her.

“A fucking thousand years!? Are you out of your mind, lady?!” I shouted at her, as she held her hand up to her nose in confusion. Whether or not I stood there wobbling on my feet, I continued.

“She is your sister, for Mother’s sake!” I told her, ignoring how everyone behind me whispered around themselves. “And for everything good in this world, don’t make that face there! Seriously, you had it coming.”

My righteous fury made her flinch back. Yeah, all the guilt in the world wouldn’t have spared you my wrath if you couldn’t have found a better way to care for your little sister, man. Only the old crazy Gandalf knock-off put this to shame, not thinking before putting the only key out of a trap on a pedestal. I may have come to terms with my situation somewhat, but that didn’t mean I had to be happy about it. Luna was right, they should’ve checked if their intended Chosen One was ready for the task before putting them into the stone.

“I’m... sorry?” she asked me in that voice you would get when some stranger tried to talk to you for whatever reason and you were like ‘What’s going on?’.

“Yeah, yeah... I’m sorry, too. I’m just letting out a bit of pent-up frustration.” I said, with Lux nodding to that. It feels kinda cheap to use my other body like that. Like patting yourself on the back for something you did. “If Mother wouldn’t have told me to look out for these girls, I would still have done so with no hesitation. For that matter, why am I saying Mother when I mean Mother?”

My eyelid twitched as I just repeated the word again.

“Mother,” I say on Lux, then again and again, until I get that I couldn’t change the word to God. Or even Horse God, for good measure. What the hell did that pony do to me?! Freedom of speech getting censored for this stupid reason was a bit much, I have to say. Why wouldn’t she want to be called for what she is? Whatever maybe she is just humble, or something.

“You know what? Forget I ever said that.” I said, shaking my head. “Oh, by the way, she says sorry. Whatever that was meant for.”

“Um... thanks?” Celestia took my hand and Luna the one I offered with Lux, so I could help them back up.

“Don’t thank me. I don’t even know why Mother wants me to say that to you. Now, I’m sure we all have a thousand questions, but could that wait until we get back to Ponyville? I don’t fancy staying here after dark,” I tell them, rounding up the other girls to begin the track back towards the village.

Only to feel a lurch to the side as we appeared just outside of town. Was this what teleportation felt like? Gosh, this feels like your cat took a dive into your stomach and decided to go crazy with their claws.

“No need for that,” Celestia said, smiling at me in that serene way that left me feeling like I wanted to punch her again, just to wipe it off her face. “We’ll have a talk after I reassure the citizens. Twilight? If you would be so kind as to meet us at the library later?”

“Aw, no party?!” Pinkie interjected. All of us gave her a reprimanding look. We just came back from defeating a demon in an innocent host, she couldn’t really want to throw a party so soon after that? I’m not sure Luna would even appreciate the idea of being paraded around so soon after the incident, what with everyone still having her cackling self in mind and whatnot.

“I’ll make sure everything is ready for you, Princess!” Twilight said, throwing me a baleful glance. Oh, come on! Does she really want to hold this over me, after everything? Sure, I punched her teacher, but I had the right to do so, right? Right? I feel like I’m losing an argument with myself here, but I’ll stand by my point.

Not that it would save me from a lecture.

As soon as we got to the library, little miss ‘I’m a teacher’s pet’ whirled on my with angered balled fists at her sides. For a moment there, I thought I would be on the receiving end of a fist to the face. She wouldn’t do that, I’m sure. Probably.

You know what, I’ll just stand a bit further away from her.

“What was that?!” she asked me with a furious voice. I winced as I watched smoke wafting off of her hair. She really knew how to, pardon the pun, burn off excess mana. I guess she had one too many surges in her lifetime to resort to something like that.

Now, before we get to the juicy bits here in a moment, let me explain how surges work to you a bit. I’m pretty sure all of you want to know that way more than the next part, so I’ll just tell you about that. No, I’m not doing this on purpose, shut up!

Surges, in general, are rare to experience after childhood, seeing that most people have grown the pathways for mana at that point. But once in a while, someone is born with something called an overflow. An overflow is just that, your body takes mana from the leylines more easily than the average person. That more often than not leads to surges.

To circumvent this conundrum, one has to learn how to burn off excess mana in a reliable way. Now, who wants to learn about something called mana burn? No? No one? You all want to hear what happened next? Fine...

I’m not proud to tell this next part, but it happened although I stood out of arm's reach from Twilight. Never say something like ‘Your teacher deserved that’ to her face and mean it because it leads to way more pain and a bruised ego than you would ever want to admit to anyone.

She kicked me in the nuts.

Yeah, that happened.

At least nobody noticed the pained squeak I made with Lux as I cried my tears out on Sol. Funny thing is, Celestia just pretended not to notice my puffy eyes as she came in with Luna twenty minutes later.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, my sarcastic side told me I totally deserved that for being disrespectful of a demigod.

“Sol and Lux, I take it?” Celestia asked as we all got comfortable in the lounge room. I took the slightly beat-up armchair with Sol and leaned over the top with Lux, Rarity and Fluttershy took a seat to my left on a couch, while the others found some seats on beanbag chairs and the like. Celestia and Luna had a couch directly in front of me to themselves, too.

“Yes, that’s us,” I told her, nodding with Lux at the same time. Multitasking got a lot easier all of a sudden, like some broken part in me was suddenly fixed up. Maybe that was because of the Elements of Harmony? Or it could just be because of my sudden change of heart. Whatever it was, I was glad for this small boon at least.

“Curious choice of weaponry, I have to say.” Celestia hinted, but I didn’t take the bait. I could play these games too, missy!

“I guess. We couldn’t have gone into that forest unprotected, could we?”

“No, I’m glad at least some of you decided to have that much foresight. I trust that you’ll continue to look after the girls?” she asked me, her eyes losing that searching look, having apparently not found what she was looking for. Or she did but decided to amuse my notion of trying to hide that fact from her.

“As much as I would look after my sister,” I said, pointing up. Sure, Lux wasn’t really my sister, seeing that I am her, but it was the story I spun, so I stuck to it. Celestia accepted my response with that same smile from earlier and us to our own questions.

And questions we asked. The girls mostly wanted to know who Luna was, what happened so long ago, and whatnot. As it turned out, Luna was actually the one that handled the monster-hunting back in the day. It goes to show how powerful she was if she could take down something called a star beast.

On a whim I decided to ask her if she could train me, but sadly that wasn’t possible. She had her own things to work through, after all. It didn’t surprise me, but she offered me a small lesson for the next week to help me get a bit better with my preferred choice of weapons.

To my everlasting surprise, I learned that both of the sisters had a penchant for mischief from time to time. Their castle in the Everfree Forest was actually rigged up with secret mechanisms and such, allowing them to have the occasional fun on their guards back in the day. Nowadays, Celestia resorted to more subtler pranks, and her castle in the capital wasn’t as rigged up as her old one.

It was a fun time just talking casually with the two sisters, that evening came by pretty fast. Twilight, Spike and I told our goodbyes to the girls, while the princesses got ready to depart.

“I’m thankful that I get to stay here, Princess. But I’m going to miss all our lessons together,” Twilight said, hugging her teacher with a fervor.

“You’ll have to learn to trust in them to teach you a different lesson I can’t offer you in the same way, my dear student,” Celestia told her, smiling fondly down on her. I gave a supportive smile in her direction as Twilight gave me a glance. Whether or not she kicked me in the jewels, I wouldn’t hold it against her. Not after I punched her mentor, I guess that was a bit much from me.

They separated and Celestia gave a nod to the man holding the door open of their carriage. She turned to look at me as she ushered her sister in. I gave a small finger salute, and despite everything so far, she earned my respect for holding onto her sanity for a thousand years being cut off from her family.

“Keep these necklaces safe, they are very dear to me and my sister, young Sol. These will be in the right hands, I feel,” she told me in a whisper only meant for me to hear. “It seems peculiar that you were able to lift them out of their case. Watch over them, we made them with our heart and souls.”

With that, they were gone in their horse-drawn carriage. It was a strange sight to behold as the seemingly normal horses began to lift off of the ground without any wings. Pegasus-blessed and their unique magic, man.

Obviously, the horses weren’t the ones making the carriage fly, but the ones empowering the animals with their gift. It was easy to forget that this was actually a thing here.

“Shall we get back inside?” I asked Twilight and Spike, turning around to them. We had watched as they disappeared in the distance, and all the while I fingered the familiar weight hanging from my neck. What did Celestia mean by that, I wonder?

“Yes,” Twilight said and so the very first adventure of our group concluded that day.

I remembered darkly about the warning Horse God gave me, my mood souring a bit at the thought.

No time to slack off now, there was training to be done!

7. The ticket to success... can't be found here sadly.

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“Is everything alright?” Luna asked her quiet sister sitting in front of her in the flying chariot. They were on their way to the capital, just about an hour ride away from Ponyville. In a sky chariot, that is.

Celestia looked up at the disturbance in sound, meeting the gaze of her worried sister staring at her with the eyes she had so long wished to see once more, even if only to apologize for what happened between them.

Apologize for neglecting her only sister when faced with the praise coming from their subjects for becoming a hero.

She shook those dark thoughts away and smiled genuinely at her sister. It doesn’t matter anymore, she had her back now and she would never give her away again. Not to the darkness, not to anger and certainly not to his twisted mind games. He was encased in stone now and hopefully stayed that way for a long time.

“Everything is just fine, dear sister,” Celestia answered back, a tear trickling down her cheek in happiness. “It’s just... these two young mortals intrigue me.”

“Young Sol and Lux?” Luna verified.

“Yes.”

“What about them?” she asked curiously, wanting to know what caught the eye of her sister so. It happened rarely in such a way that her sister retreated into her mind that much when she met someone new.

“I don’t know, sister. There is something in them that radiates something mysterious. I can’t say what it is, though,” Celestia explained, her brow creasing in thought. “They have their necklaces and can touch them without being harmed, sister.”

“Surely they are just replicas of the original ones?” Luna asked. Celestia looked from her and then out of the window, with her gaze on the distant rooftops of Ponyville.

“No, I don’t think so,” she told her sister, her hands rubbing the pendant around her neck with the beautiful gem in the center. “I could feel the pieces of their soul and ours, still as strong as they were the time we had made these with them.”

Her sister held her own necklace with the jewel in the shape of her beloved moon. Luna’s eyes followed the gaze of her sister, now also in thought.

“It seems peculiar that she wields a bow and he a sword, don’t you think so?” Luna looked back to her sister as she voiced her observation. Peculiar indeed, she thought.

“Do you think they would be able to wield the weapons they forged so long ago?” Luna asked her sister after they fell into a comfortable silence.

Celestia looked back to her sister and smiled slightly. It would be a grave omen, they could. And if Starswirl was right about what he said, everything would depend on the shoulders of two young souls from then on.

That thought made her frown.

Everything...

“Celestia?” the voice of her sister brought her back to reality once more. She shot her a smile again, hoping she wouldn’t worry. Because, now that she had thought upon it, she couldn’t keep herself from worrying even more.

“I want you to tell me how they do during your training session,” she told her little sister, her voice barely masking the foreboding tone she almost used. “I have a feeling they will become more important to this world than anyone could imagine.”

“If you’re sure... It would probably for the best to continue their training in that case then... Should we do so?” Luna asked her uncertainly. This training would take up much time for certain.

“Yes, in that case, the Elements should also get some training in, if only just to make sure they stay alive when they get dragged into the dangers they will surely find themselves in.”

“Very well,” Luna acquiesced to the judgment of her sister, looking forward to the first time she would get to know these two young saviors a little bit more. And to thank them once more for holding her dark side’s attention during the fight. She dared not imagine what could’ve happened had she gone for the young bearer of the Element of Magic. Or if she had gone and used her full power.

“There is one confusing thing about them, though...” Luna mentioned as she thought back on the conversation between them and Sol and Lux. Celestia hummed, waiting for her sister to elaborate.

“What did they mean their mother apologizes to us?”

“It didn’t seem like they wanted to say mother...” Celestia said thoughtfully. “And if they are descendants of Sunfire and Moonlight, they could have held on to a message for us.”

“Sister...” Luna said slowly, thinking back mournfully to the time where they learned to fight under their guidance. To the time they lost them due to their inability to save them in time.

“I know, I know...” Celestia heaved a heavy sigh. “They had no children... I know.”

“We couldn’t have done anything at the time. It was either saving our kingdom or them. What the sick bastard did with their bodies, though... The blood boils just thinking of it,” Luna said, grimacing. “But one would like to think young Sol and Lux as descendants of them, they look just like them. Even though the gender is switched around.”

Celestia laughed as she too imagined their deceased mentors in the opposite gender. Sol and Lux did look like younger versions of Sunfire and Moonlight, so much so, that she dared to imagine it was no coincidence. She smiled when she imagined Master Starswirl next to them, also in the opposite gender.

Strangely, they might have been mistaken as Sol, Lux, and Twilight Sparkle.

She wondered what she would look like as a man and laughed out loud with a belly aching happiness and a wide mirthful grin. She needed this laugh just as much as her sister, as she too wondered the same thing and begun laughing with her.

“Oh, sister. What I wouldn’t give to have them back with us,” she said reminiscing in her memories. Luna nodded her head, understanding what she felt. To be young again, back in a time where everything was new and exciting and having their teachers at their side.

Meanwhile on the next day back in Ponyville one librarian was about to go crazy because of the person that has locked himself in the bathroom, intent on using all the hot water by taking a long and admittedly unnecessarily lengthy shower to cause a bit of mischief.

Or in other words, my revenge strikes back for kicking me in the private parts. I think I’m being a bit too childish in this case but right at this moment? I don’t care. My body demands a relaxing hour or two, so that is what it will get. Right now.

So... if you could excuse me for a moment? I’ll be right back.

“Lux! Get your brother out of there! Please...” Twilight asked me as I passed her outside the hall with said body. If she knew she was talking to the same person, I would not have survived her wrath, I’m sure.

“No can do, Twi,” I said to her, hoping she wouldn’t take her anger out on me too. “Sol will take as long a shower as he can if he has a say in it. You will have to wait or go find another bathroom in the meantime.”

She pouted angrily for a moment there and that was my cue to flee to the kitchen, lest she find a way to blame Lux for this ridiculous indulgence of mine with Sol.

Now then, where was I?

Ah, yes. Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Grabbing two slices of bread from the cupboard as I enter the kitchen, I trudge towards the toaster and popped them in for a moment while getting some cheese, lettuce, and one tomato from the fridge. I am so glad that this world had the wondrous technology of the toaster as I caught the slices out of the air in a little flourish and promptly threw the cheese and lettuce on them. Slicing the tomato in somewhat mishappen rings, I put my little sandwich together ready to be devoured to appease the growling God of Hunger called my stomach.

“Morning,” greeted Spike as he shuffled through the doorway, followed by a loud yawn. I ignored his usual adoring looks focused on Lux hoping it would deter him from his silly crush on my female half, but I was fighting a losing battle against his growing feelings.

I really hated that I couldn’t just say fuck off, kiddo. I’m... not that heartless. At least, I would like to think so.

“Good morning, Spike.”

“So, what are you doing today?” he asked me eagerly, ready to offer his assistance in the matter, no doubt.

“Let me see...” I mumbled absent-mindedly after forcing the remaining chunk of sandwich into my tummy. The resident God inside it awarded me with a well-satisfied feeling, as per usual.

Do not doubt in him, for He shall bring down his wrath on all who defy him.

Looking at the calendar I found the information I must have scribbled on it sometime last week under the blot from yesterday where one could identify ‘under no circumstances get out of the house’ if you squinted really hard and had an overly active imagination.

“It seems like I will have to make a tour to the post office to get the shipment of books from Manehattan about the magi-tech textbooks. Just my luck that they won’t deliver them until next week, because of some accident one of their workers had yesterday,” I mutter a bit miffed. “I mean, the guy could have at least offered to help by sending the delivery guy directly to the library instead of sitting on his lazy ass during the celebration and putting them in a corner, or... I don’t know.”

Spike looked at me like I was crazy thinking that people could work on the day of the Summer Sun Celebration.

“Can I help you with that?” he asked me and I gave him a flat out no and focusing primarily on Sol in the shower for the next minute or two as Spike tried, and failed, to use the puppy dog eyes of doom on me.

Maybe I really should let Twilight in by now... Nah.

“Well, I guess I can always go and help Twilight and Applejack over at Sweet Apple Acres,” he glumly sulked for a moment before the moment passed away like nothing ever happened and he got to work on the stove cooking some eggs for him and Twilight, as soon as she was in the mood to actually get in here instead of waiting on the availability of the bathroom.

“I didn’t think Twilight would be the type to go out of her way to work on a farm,” I said, thinking on the strangeness that was her happily offering her services to Applejack just last evening before everyone packed away their things and went home to bed.

“Well, normally she would be studying all kinds of things, but Princess Celestia’s assignment has her worrying about the weekly reports. Also, I guess she wants to get to know all of our friends better,” he answered while throwing in some salt and pepper into the pan. I must say, he sure knew how to handle himself around a kitchen. Kinda made me a bit jealous of his prowess as a cook. Even though he was just making breakfast eggs, they smelled like divine food.

I swear, I wished I hadn’t eaten by now, seeing him create that masterpiece with the basest of ingredients.

“That’s nice of her, I suppose. Anyway, I better go get that shipment so I can reorganize the library... again.” Spike nodded at my goodbye as I went out into the town thinking back on the craziness of the last day.

We all met for a common goal. A goal that so conveniently included a crazed spirit infesting an innocent princess going on a rampage trying to bring night eternal, so that I could learn to let my fears of the future not hinder or control me from taking action to protect my newest band of misfits I called friends. On the plus side I came somewhat to terms with my situation as a Chosen One and the fact that I have two bodies now. Although, on the one hand I had a feeling that this was just the start of something even more... I don’t know, sinister? This was a crazy ride already, but I had a feeling that it was about to get more insane. Insane like who would give Pinkie Pie an energy drink (I certainly wouldn’t do that, if I were you).

Now, one might imagine why it would have been a good idea to go under the pale light of the moon on a never-ending night into the most dangerous forest of all time under the pretense that you might come out alive after barely surviving the first time wandering around in there, but I would say that it was all for a good cause. Who would have done that if not our merry band of wannabe heroes? Certainly not the guards of Ponyville running around like headless chickens, if you were to ask me.

The point is, we did what we had to do and came out on top of a stupid situation we had no rights of surviving. But whatever you might want to call it, whatever deity may have assisted us or fate smiling on us for a rare change, we endured because of our bond in friendship. However cheesy that may sound to you.

And you know what? I was badass with those illusions I learned because they seemed to be the easiest for me to cast. Even though it left me quite exhausted from never having casted such an intricate illusion. It was nice having the Elements heal my body just after they vanquished the evil spirit possessing the lunar princess. I felt saddened though for the loss of the two guards that stood in her way and gave their lives in a foolish attempt to stop the crazed goddess.

Either way, that was then, this is now. Arriving at the Ponyville Post Office, I made my way inside only to be stuck in a queue. Apparently, everyone had some letters to send today for whatever reason. Probably to inform loved ones of the crazy events that transpired not so long ago and assuage their fears.

“Why, hello darling!”

The sound of Rarity’s wonderfully voice catapulted me out of my musings and I turned to greet her with a smile. And a flutter in my chest. You could barely tell she went through anything by the way she looked.

“Here to send a letter?” I asked her curiously as I spied a rolled-up scroll in her hands. We shared a brief hug as the line went forward, a person previously at the front having finished their turn at the desk.

“Yes. It wouldn’t do to not let my family now my sister and I are safe. What about you, my dear?” she asked and I explained my purpose for being here. Seeing that the library lacked any kind of technology before I arrived, it stood to reason there were zero books detailing the topic. And as a librarian, I could not stand the thought of an incomplete assortment of knowledge being offered in the majestic tree.

It was merely a bonus that I was also interested in the subject myself, seeing that there was no magi-tech on Earth. I was wondering what could be accomplished through the combination of technology and magic and how it would work.

Once we were through the queue and I had my package out of storage and Rarity send her letter, we went to the café for a quick tea seeing that it was just in time for lunch. I could relax for at least a moment before having to go back to the library and reorganize the shelves after the chaos that was unleashed by the pink menace and Twilight in their search for the book containing the information on the Elements of Harmony.

“How are you and your brother settling in, dear? What with Twilight and Spike now also living in the library?” Rarity asked me while taking a dainty sip from her camomile tea. I myself was nursing an earl grey tea at the moment.

“Oh, you know... Twilight was miffed by Sol taking up the whole morning in the bathroom. But we came to an agreement pertaining to the organization of the library. I would handle the sorting of the books and acquiring new ones while she handles the legalities, like ensuring books are returned on time, taxes and the like,” I told her while smiling gleefully into my cup at the thought of Sol having taken too long for Twilight, causing her to go to Applejack early and shower there.

I can’t help myself with these urges to tease her endlessly with my male part. Nothing sexual, though, I’m not a creep.

“My, I do hope they get along. It wouldn’t do to have tension brew between our friends,” she sighed disapprovingly and I felt a pang of guilt at that. Maybe I actually took it too far with riling her up so much. On the other hand, it was funny as hell. Perhaps the solution to the problem would simply be to reign it in a bit? Keep teasing but don’t drive her mad while doing so seems the better alternative.

That I even had to think about it so much was a sign of how bad a friend I had been to her. Perhaps I should actually apologize to her, not only for the teasing but also for punching her teacher in the face. The fact that I didn’t regret that particular part didn’t have to be mentioned, though.

Hearing a crash from down the road in the direction of the pink demons workplace caused a stop to our conversation. We both agreed it was probably for the best to see what caused the disturbance. Knowing Pinkie, she was being her usual eccentric self and roped someone into her antics.

What we actually found was her singing about something called the Grand Galloping Gala. And that caused Rarity to go all starstruck, go figure.

“Whatever, I’m outta here before I get roped into convincing Twilight of giving those to Rarity,” I muttered to myself as I got ready to depart back towards the library to start on my work. But then I heard it. The most heinous sound.

A woman swooning over a rich prick. And it was Rarity that was doing the swooning.

I felt my eyelids twitch in a fit of jealousy. A tear actually managed to wet my cheek as I silently slunk away in rejection. I didn’t care if anyone saw me looking miserable, apparently, I was mistaken of ever having a chance at her heart, to begin with, when she wasn’t even into other women. Should have figured that out, to be honest. She is way too perfect, I let my masculine part of my mind convince me I had a chance.

I didn’t realize that there probably never was an actual chance in hell we would end up dating and now it caused me to feel this mess of emotions.

What did that prick have, that I don’t?!

Slamming the library doors shut a bit too loud, I set to work in drowning myself in the mindless labor of reorganizing the books on their shelves. At least while doing so I could ignore the ache in my heart. Wow, I’m really pathetic lamenting the loss of someone I hadn’t even entered a relationship with yet.

It certainly wasn’t the best thing to do, bottling my feelings up in a little tantrum, but it was the only coping mechanism I was comfortable with right now. I couldn’t go confess to her now, not that I knew she had her eyes on someone. So even if I were to do that as Sol, it probably would also end up in more heartbreak.

I didn’t even have the desire to enter a relationship with Rarity on my male part for some strange reason. Perhaps it was this body of mine that invoked these feelings in the female half of me. I had no other explanations for this phenomenon that plagued me. And it bothered me very much.

It was bad enough I barely had any memories left from Earth, now I also had to deal with these confusing feelings. Was it the different hormones that did that? I seem to remember that people going through hormone therapy were prone to experience heavy mood swings, was it similar with me having two different genders now?

Around the time of evening, I was interrupted from my work by someone entering with her white pet rabbit. Both Sol and Lux stopped at what we were doing and stared at the white pest that accompanied our friend into the library. Don’t trust the rabbit, Horse God said, right? I could see it now, that thing getting on my nerves. I had no intention to follow it anywhere.

My eyelid began to twitch as it stuck its tongue out at me and hopped into the kitchen. Whatever was going on here? This had to do something with those tickets from Twilight, didn’t it?

I sighed in despair as Fluttershy began to dust the shelves I meticulously sorted the last few hours. Hopefully, she doesn’t decide that they needed ‘reorganization’, too. At least she had a calming singing voice.

A groan escaped my lips as she opened a window and let a few animals in to help her. God help me if my sanity isn’t intact at the end of the day.

The rabbit returned with a few vegetables and a bow and began to chop them up to a salad. The little chef’s hat was a little over the top if you asked me.

Some minutes later our resident magic expert arrived, looking stressed out and a little too hungry for it to be a coincidence that the rabbit decided to whip up a salad. You know, at most times I would agree that food is the key to love and whatnot, but if it is a bribe, it just leaves me feeling cheated. I had no idea how Twilight feels about it, but seeing her expression standing there at the door I would hazard a guess that it was about the same.

So, yeah. She was disappointed that Fluttershy was apparently also obsessed with the ticket. Seeing me also here, I could assume she thought I also wanted the tickets. So I gave her a suffering sigh and rolled my eyes.

“Whatever it is you have that everyone is so crazy about, I want no part in it. I just want my library free of this drama, so please do something, before I decide enough is enough,” I said on Sol. She gave me a surprised look, before grimacing herself.

“I’m sorry about this, Sol. I shouldn’t have assumed that you were also after the tickets for the Gala,” she told me and returned her attention to Fluttershy. Said woman’s excuse of doing a little spring cleaning was promptly ripped apart by Twilight and me telling her it was summer.

Fluttershy was apparently the only one that freely admitted to only be after the Grand Galloping Gala ticket, not that it helped in any way. A growl escaped my lips at the little white abomination offering Twilight the salad, causing her to get even madder and cause a mess on the floor with the discarded bowl, even though she was pretty hungry if I could her stomach grumbling from my position at the shelves.

At least she agreed with my sentiment that I wanted peace and quiet in the library and asked her to leave as she opened the front door. Too bad that backfired spectacularly as soon as she did so. You have three guesses as to why, and the first two don’t count.

The fluffy-haired eldritch horror dragged the poor woman out of the door in a strangely similar way you would expect to see in a cheap horror movie and left me once more alone with Fluttershy. Giving her an expectant look towards the door, she wilted a little bit with pouty lips.

“Just... don’t go and cause any more unrest and I’ll allow you to stay...” I said rubbing my eyes and she smiled at me gratefully giving me a hug. Lux meanwhile finished sorting the last books in her hand, placing them in their appropriate places.

With my work done for the day, I took one of the new books on magi-tech and guided Fluttershy up to the apartment. We settled down in companionable silence as we began reading to learn more about the topic that caught my eye.

Now, magi-tech, as the name suggests, is the combination of technology and magic, but what I now understood was, that it was a lot closer to programming to cause desired effects like powering machines in specific ways. You could for example create a machine to sort expired food from still fresh food. Or sort impurities in minerals like gemstones.

The maintenance of such machines was high in cost, though. So no worries about running people out of their jobs. Also, the machines needed a constant influx of magical energy, not anyone could operate them for any given length of time. Probably also the reason why most people still used horse-drawn carriages for transport, instead of the cars that slowly made their debut over the last few years.

Besides the abnormally high cost in producing them, you also kinda... needed to have a high pool of mana at your disposal if you wanted to drive them for more than a few miles at a time. The magical batteries that could store some mana were in no way enough to reliable use them for cars in a meaningful way.

So that left cars as an expensive toy more than the go-to transport that it was on Earth. It left me curious, though. Could I power one of them? I had no idea how high my mana pool was for me to try to operate one. And considering I barely remember how a car is supposed to work, there was no way for me to invent a ‘magic-less’ version of one. Even though it would leave me more than rich if I were to accomplish such a feat.

It didn’t mean I could study the workings of the magic version of an engine and figure out a way to make them more reliable for the everyday person. Maybe I could even work out a way to integrate those magi-tech engines to work for motorcycles. It couldn’t be that hard with a little help from Twilight, right? She was an expert in all things magic, she could know of a way to rework the engine without making it dysfunctional.

Lux began drooling at the mental picture of having a magic version of a Ducati, even though I probably never would have the necessary money to buy the parts or even make them from scratch. But one could dream, don’t they?

I was perhaps a little too engrossed in reading about magi-tech that I didn’t even notice the other girls arriving and chatting amongst themselves. By the time nighttime rolled around, I was getting concerned about the whereabouts of Twilight and Spike.

Until a loud crack interrupted our conversation about this and that and a frazzled Twilight appeared with a slightly singed Spike. She ran around slamming doors and windows shut as she and Spike turned off all the lights. A flicker of my magic returned the light in the room we were in, so I could at least see my hands in front of my eyes.

That caused the exhausted woman to scream out loud in a way too stressed way as she began rambling about not having found a solution to her problem with the tickets. I kinda felt bad for her at the moment, even though I had no part in making her this crazed about it.

So, I did the only thing I knew that would work in calming her down from her mental melt-down.

I gave her a hug with Sol.

And, you know what? It felt good. No idea how she felt, but she slowly melted into my embrace as the girls smiled at the sight. I could tell that she had no idea how to react to a hug, as she awkwardly hugged me back. She would probably need a lot more help in getting out of her nerdy social anxiety induced shell.

“Calm down, Twilight. We’re all here for you. Even if it may seem like I don’t like you with my special kind of teasing, we all want what is best for you. And I’m sorry for how I treated you this morning... forgive me?” I told her as I squeezed her shoulders lightly. “I didn’t mean anything by it and I could never hate you, even though I might have been tempted to do so after you kicked me in my... you know.”

“I forgive you, Sol. Although, I would like to see you also apologize to Princess Celestia for treating her so badly, mister.”

“That might be able to be arranged, my dear,” I said in my sophisticated voice to tease her just a little bit. She saw my smile and returned it with a roll of her eyes as we parted from our embrace.

Afterward, Applejack came over to also offer her a small hug as she apologized for pressuring into making a choice. I was slightly surprised to see her telling Twilight that she didn’t want the ticket anymore. The other girls all followed suit in their apologies, besides Rainbow Dash.

The ego of that woman...

I gave her a whack to the back of her head as she turned to me with a ‘Hey!’, she saw all of us giving her a look.

“You know... I haven’t perfected my signature move for the Wonderbolts, anyway...” she said rubbing the back of her neck. “I don’t need that ticket, either.”

“We all got so gung-ho about going to the Gala that we couldn’t see how un-gung ho we were making you,” Applejack admitted. “We’re sorry, Twilight.”

“Well, at least you could admit that what you were doing was wrong. How about some relaxing tea and we talk about what to do with those tickets of yours?” I told them, already going to the kitchen with Lux to prepare a calming blend of camomile tea.

I led Twilight over to the couch and came back in with the teapot and some cups a few minutes later. I gave her the cup with the tea and offered her some sugar to go with it.

“Thanks, Lux. I needed that,” she told me as she gave a satisfied sigh at the smell and feeling of the tea in her hand. I nodded to her and took the tickets from her hand and put them on the coffee table.

“We could go about this in two ways, Twilight,” I said to her with Sol and Lux continued. “We either give them back...”

“Or...”

“We...”

“Ask...”

“For...”

“More,” I switched back and forth with Sol and Lux, making most of the girls stare at us.

“That was seriously creepy, dude,” Rainbow said giving us a stare. “But totally cool! How do you do that?”

We just gave a grin at that and Rarity gave a small titter at our antics. Pinkie erupted in full-blown laughter, causing us all to laugh with her.

“Spike, could you start a new letter?” Twilight piped up after we all had our fill in laughter. The aforementioned dragon boy pulled out a quill and parchment. Huh, would you look at that, you don’t see quills used that often anymore on Earth. For that matter, why would he use those, when pencils are available here in Equestria?

“Dear Princess Celestia,” she dictated as he began to scribble away on the parchment. That he could write even though he was holding it in his hand instead of writing on the table was very impressive.

Considering I gave her the idea of asking for more tickets, it shouldn’t have surprised me that she instead went with returning them. I mean, sure I could see her reasoning with not being greedy as I was sometimes wantonly able to be, I would have expected her to at least try. Maybe it was her unique relationship of being the student of the ruler of this land that made her do what she did, instead. Either way, I was a bit more proud of her for being able to not give in to greed. I could learn a thing or two from her.

What I know of the dragonkin living in this world, and that wasn’t much, mind you, I watched in a fascinated way as Spike burned the rolled-up scroll and sent it away in a sparkling cloud of smoke. Presumably to Celestia in her Castle in Canterlot. It wasn’t the instant massaging I was familiar with on Earth, but it came close to it, judging by the speed of that smoke.

It was a bit sappy as she gave us her speech, and indirectly Celestia in the form of her letter, but it warmed our hearts. It wasn’t long after Spike sent the latter that he got a queasy feeling as he held his stomach. Applejack gave him a tirade about not being able to handle all the feelings floating in the room, but certainly didn’t expect him to barf up a scroll.

Well... that was awkward and disgusting as all hell, man.

He caught the scroll as it fell out of the sparkling cloud in a way that showed us that he had to do so many times in the past. Can’t imagine how it must feel to be abused as the magical mail courier. After the confusion settled down, he began to read the letter out loud and promptly showed us the eight tickets in his hand.

Whelp, it seems I do get to go, even though I wasn’t as excited about going. Not with Rarity swooning over that prince. I mean, had I not known about that I might have been ecstatic about going there and have a chance on a dance with her.

That won’t ever happen now, I feared. I should get over these feelings fast if I was to stand the oppressive feeling of staying near her now. It probably was for the best.

The Gala could still be a great reprieve, even considering that roughly in half a year everything is going to go to shit. I haven’t forgotten the warning I got from Horse God and quite frankly, it scared me.

The grumbling stomach of one Twilight Sparkle brought me out of my musings and we all decided a nice meal at a restaurant was in order to finish this day off. And so we found ourselves all sitting at a big table in the restaurant that I had frequented a few days ago.

We all gave the waitress our orders and began conversing with each other. Applejack and Rainbow were talking about the approaching autumn season and with that the race through the woods on horseback. They were already boasting that they would win against each other, causing me to get interested in the tradition. Apparently only Ponyville held the race, seeing that most other cities used magic to bring about the change of seasons. It was actually the equivalent of the formula one race on Earth, with many celebrities and athletes attending. It seemed Ponyville wasn’t just the quiet hamlet it appeared to be. Who would have thought?

“Hey, Twilight?” I asked her with Lux, seeing that she was sitting next to her at our table.

“Yes, Lux?”

“Would you know of a way to store magic better than the magic batteries used in magi-tech?” I asked her. “I have a project in mind that I want to see through at some point in time.”

“I’m not so well-versed in the workings of magi-tech. All I could help you with is figuring out a different way to hold magic if the batteries aren’t enough for you. What do you even need something like that for?” she questioned me as she was curious now and some of our friends actually started listening in to our conversation now.

“Well, you know... I was thinking while reading up on the new books we have now on magi-tech. Most of the cars are powered through the mana pool of the operator of the vehicle, meaning you need to have a high reserve to be able to travel further away. There must be a way to make them more available to the everyday person,” I explained and saw her nodding along to my words. “And to make that possible one of two outcomes must be worked towards. Either by lowering the requirement of operating the vehicle or by substituting magic with something different.”

“I don’t know about a good substitute that would work with the magi-tech engines. As far as I know, those engines are very complex in design. It would take too much time to rework them into something able to use a substitute energy as fuel,” she reasoned, thinking hard about the proposition. Too bad she had no idea about gasoline. Not that it would help us any, seeing that I had no idea of the composition of the mixture due to my brain coming up with a blank spot.

“And as far as increasing the magic storage on the magi-tech batteries, we would need to find a way to alternatively store magic in a higher capacity,” she told me with a shrug. Bummer, it would have been to easy to have her know all the answers to my problems.

“Darling, do you know how these batteries are made?” Rarity interjected from across the table.

“I think I have read that it stores magic in a gel-like substance within a chamber of magical steel, releasing the charge through the outlet. Do you know of a different way?” I asked her, a bit skeptical knowing she was a seamstress and not an engineer.

“I have no idea how much they could hold, but gemstones are notoriously known for soaking up ambient magic. The problem is, there is no way to actively charge them, as far as I know,” she answered back. Hmm, that might be one possibility. That left us with the question of how to reliably use them if they could hold more than regular magi-tech batteries.

“Actually, there might be a way...” Twilight began to mumble and began to draw a few runes on a napkin. By the looks of it, I could only identify a few, but one that stood out to me was the one used to distribute magic to other runes in the runic circle. But that rune could also be interpreted as a conversion rune.

Basically, it could be used to converse different types of magic into other types with nearly no loss. Now considering that ambient magic needed to be processed first by the body to make it usable as what our body recognizes as mana. Now, if the ambient magic were to be converted to something the batteries, and therefore the engine, could work with, there might be a way to better power the car and other things using magi-tech.

And with it also being able to distribute the magic, it would be able to draw the ambient magic out of the gemstone and convert it while it was distributing it back to the engine or battery.

“What rune is that, I don’t recognize it,” I said to Twilight as she worked out more runes and equations. Some of the symbols in the equation I didn’t recognize, either. Considering she was working on magic here, it stood to reason they were measurements for the energy.

“That is the thaumic rune for amplification,” she told me absentmindedly as she squeezed a few more numbers into the rapidly dwindling space on the napkin, so I offered her mine, which she gladly took.

“Amplification, dear? Whatever for?” Rarity asked what I also had in mind. I mean, I could take an educated guess and say that it amplicates the output of the battery, but I’m not certain on that part. You can’t make energy out of nowhere, after all.

“It is used in this case to make the gemstone draw in more ambient magic. It would work better if we could actually tap into the leylines, but the matrix for such a thing would exceed anything we could reliably use in order to account for the movement of the vehicle to the different parts of the world. For that to be viable, the car would need to be as big as a warehouse district. That would defeat the purpose of a vehicle that could travel on regular roads, though,” she explained, most of that went over the head of Rarity, but I nodded along, as I actually understood what she meant by that.

A runic matrix was a way to combine different runic circles to reach a greater purpose. And the runic circles to draw from one specific part of the leylines would already be massive enough, making the matrix absurdly big if you wanted to account for the whole world. You could limit the matrix to one country, but even then, the matrix would still be bigger than a small neighborhood.

Using the ambient magic and converting it was a way more reliable way in that regard, seeing that the ambient magic actually is the bleed-off of the local leylines. Experts in magic were still undecided on how the ley lines provide the magic energy, seeing as there was no way to know how it produced the magic. One would argue it produced it from nothing, but that would go against the rules of the universe. There must be an undiscovered variable that would explain how the ley lines work.

Anyway, Twilight finished her equation and with an exuberant cheer she told us that ‘It works!’. She did a little dance in her seat, all of us watching her mirthfully. My dream of a magic Ducati became suddenly more possible, even though I still had to find a way to rework the engine part to make it usable for a motorcycle. That was a worry for later, though. First we needed to actually make the engine not reliable on the operator.

Considering we had the most difficult part done, it was easy peasy.

Well, first we actually needed a car to experiment on. Not even considering any complications that could arise as we tinkered with it. There was the possibility that we could break the engine as we worked on it, making the process even more grueling.

“Now put that aside, dear, the food is here,” Rarity said as the waitress arrived with our food, my ‘brother’ and I have ordered our usual dish, pasta with spinach. Rarity went with a salad and fish, Twilight had some kind of eggplant dish, as did Fluttershy, both Applejack and Rainbow had a dish with a lot of different thing on it, some of it unfamiliar to me. Pinkie got herself dessert instead, go figure, and Spike had a burger with fries.

We all made some small talk while eating and I got to recount some parts of the story I spun about myself moving from, ugh ‘Manehattan’, to Ponyville and my experience in the Everfree Forest ‘camping’. Considering I woke up in there, I had no actual idea how Manehattan looked like, but seeing that Manhatten and Manehattan were basically the same cities, I went with the picture I had of Manhatten in the eighties. Judging by their reactions, I was completely right in my assumption in how Manehattan looked, seeing that Applejack actually lived there for a time, as she told me.

And considering she didn’t call me out on my bull-shit, I was reasonably sure she wasn’t a walking lie detector, as one could assume with her being the Element of Honesty. It seems the Elements corresponded only with the person themselves and didn’t give them superpowers. But considering she knew when people were honest about themselves, it was easier for herself to guess if someone was lying. Seeing that I didn’t technically lie about having lived in Manhatten for a while, she didn’t seem suspicious of my story. The fact that I mentioned my parents were dead gave me some sympathy points from her and the others. Applejacks parents were also deceased for quite some time now. Applebloom, her sister, didn’t even remember them.

On another note, Rainbow began to retell her story of how she got to be the weather captain of Ponyville. She managed to break up a rogue storm from the Everfree as she coordinated the other Pegasus-Blessed. The old weather captain was about to retire anyway, so she got the job.

We chatted on for a while after we were done eating, but it was just things we wanted to do in the next days. I told them with Sol that I wanted to see if there was a job available at the local school, considering I didn’t actually have to be at the library with both my bodies at the same time. Twilight and Lux, as well as Spike apparently, would be able to handle the library just fine.

Rarity also asked if Lux and Fluttershy wanted to go with her to the Spa, so there was also that. We agreed to go there regularly on the weekends. The relaxation offered would do me some good, even though I would be constantly around Rarity with my confused feelings in that case.

Fluttershy was the first to leave after a while, citing that she would have to take care of her animals. That caused Rarity and Applejack to also leave, considering they had little sisters to look after.

And after that, we all left the restaurant, Twilight, Spike, and I making our own way back home. It was an interesting day so far and the bed sounded very tempting now. Although, I was pretty sure I would experience some weird nightmares that night.

And boy, was I right about that.

So, my fears of rejection from Rarity were what plagued me that night. Sometimes I would be at the Gala and watch as she danced around with somebody I assumed to be a prince, looking at me smugly. At one point I had a dream of Rarity being together with a friggin’ chicken of all things.

Yeah, something was wrong with my mind constantly being mocked by chickens in my dreams.

“Do you always dream of such... weird things happening?” Luna’s voice came suddenly from my side. For a moment I had a heart attack, considering I was here with both of my bodies, but it seemed she didn’t notice that this was a ‘shared’ dream.

So, the princess was a dream walker, huh? I wanted to say that it was a neat thing to be able to do, but considering my dreams? I feared what she might find someday. I had no intention to let her see some of the night terrors I had in the previous days.

“Luna?” I asked her a bit confused. Considering I had no idea why she was here, I wanted to know.

“Yes, my subject?”

“Why are you in my dream?” I asked. “And for that matter, could you change it? I’m tired of this damned chicken reappearing every time.”

“Perhaps you should tell us why it appears in the first place. A chicken is commonly associated with the fear of acting upon something,” she explained. Was that actually true? Was it my fear of being a coward that brought me these images? I mean, on one hand it seemed like a logical explanation.

“I...” mumbling incomprehensibly was the only thing I could muster myself to, due to embarrassment.

“Speak louder, or we can’t help you in your fears, young Lux,” she reprimanded me. Gosh, why did she have to barge into my dreams, I couldn’t tell her, right? It... What would she think of me? Were there even people that were attracted to the same sex at her time? I mean, most likely, but how did people view that a thousand years ago?

“Only if you won’t judge me...” I screwed my eyes shut as she gave me her promise. She seemed genuine in that regard, so I hoped she wouldn’t do as I feared. Maybe confiding in someone would actually help. And she didn’t seem like the type that would mind which kind of person I was into. Okay, no time like the present, here goes. “I... I have a crush on Rarity.”

“And you fear for her rejection over your feelings, are we correct?” Luna asked me, seemingly accepting me for who I am. I should have known better than to fear her judging me harshly, seeing what she went through. Her being more accepting of people was likely a side effect of her long isolation. And you know... being possessed by a being akin to a demon.

I just nodded as an answer, not being up to speaking right now. My hands were so sweaty right now, I swear I was creating puddles.

“Are you so certain that is the case?” Luna put a hand to my shoulder and gave me a gentle smile. A long-suffering sigh escaped my lips as I told her of the events of the day and how my jealousy left me feeling hollow inside. She listened as I spoke of how I admired Rarity and her work, how she spoke, and what I liked about her as a person. I admitted to my faults of sometimes being a little too greedy and how I put Rarity on a pedestal for being the most generous person to have ever lived.

Normal stuff, you know.

“It sounds to me more like love than a crush. We know how it feels to be jealous, but do not let it control your thoughts, dear Lux. All we can tell you is to treasure these feelings, even if they never come to fruition,” she consoled me, embracing my female half while my male half looked on from the background. “And do not hold it to the person that manages to win her affection, they are certainly not deserving of the wrath a jealous woman can bring to bear.”

Sniffling, I nodded to her, even though I felt somewhat justified to feel this burning hatred towards the person that dared take her away from me. But her words rang deep within me, I wouldn’t want to get in a similar position as her a thousand years ago.

Saying that you were over the woman you loved was one thing, but actually following through with that was another.

So, I gave up on the notion of being together with her, this time actually meaning it. It felt like a burden lifted from my shoulders for that and the chicken in Dream-Rarity’s arms vanished.

“Have a pleasant night, Lux. And remember, even though it looks like you won’t gain her affection, there is always a chance you are wrong.”

And with that I was left alone by her, as my dream around me turned into the blackness that I associated with Horse God. And there she was, holding me in her embrace as we floated in the seemingly endless expanse.

“Do not forsake your feelings for her entirely, my child,” she told me. I looked up at her and her serene smile.

“How can I hold onto these feelings if they won’t ever be returned?” I asked her and she shook her head.

“Does it not feel invigorating to feel this way, even though it might not be returned?”

“I... guess so.”

“Then worry not about it being unreturned,” her gentle voice lulled me to sleep, despite my desire to ask her more questions.

“Sleep, my child, tomorrow is a new day with new challenges.”

Omake:

In short, it was a poorly disguised attempt from Celestia to liven up the shark tank that she called the Grand Galloping Gala just for the purpose of having a laugh at the nobles once they saw what disasters my decidedly not-so-well-behaved group of friends could unleash upon it.

Fed up with this childish attempt from Celestia and the behavior of our friends, I took the tickets from Twilight, ignoring her groan and muttering that I also ‘wanted’ to go to this event, and tore the fucking things in half to the horror of everyone present.

“Spike, write as I dictate, please,” I said, grinning a bit from the mischief I was about to unleash. “Dear Celestia, we’re so honored to attend this so-called noble event that we took it upon ourselves to spare the fighting between our friends by tearing them graciously apart so everyone could have a piece of them. Sadly, we ever so foolishly forgot that you need a whole ticket to attend, so we have to apologize with a heavy heart that we couldn’t make it. Please, don’t send more. Yours truly, Sol and Lux.”

8. In which Fluttershy beats Luna's ass.

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Now then, where were we? Ah, yes, we got the Grand Galloping Gala tickets just the day before this. It was a fucking disaster that ensued after Twilight received the tickets while having worked the whole morning at Sweet Apple Acres with Applejack and Spike.

You would think people would let the person that got the extra ticket decide who they took with them, but no, everyone had a say in that and tried to bribe the poor woman with so many promises of things and such that it ended up with her being totally stressed out over a problem that could have been resolved with a letter to her teacher from the very beginning.

Not to say the problem didn’t get resolved in the end, though. It was actually through their guilt of forcing Twilight into making a decision that we all came to an agreement. Don’t force your friends to give you stuff that belongs to them. Our very first friendship lesson, yay.

I could have done without all the drama, honestly.

Anyway, after a great evening at a restaurant to round out a pretty shitty day and chatting about this and that, I was left with a night full of nightmares and getting over budding feelings for a certain seamstress. It wasn’t easy, but for the best in the end.

That brought us to today. My epic fight against myself. Didn’t think that would ever happen, eh? Well, let me tell you: I was having fun fighting against myself. That was probably very confusing without the context of me having two bodies, but whatever.

So, there I was, staring at myself from across the field. Rainbow Dash was sitting on a low hanging cloud with a bag of popcorn as she watched on as Sol deflected every arrow shot at him, while I practiced my aim with Lux.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the epic fight you expected from the start of my explanation, but I needed to get the practice in. And the best practice is with a live dummy. It was actually quite relaxing to go through the motions and acquire the muscle memory.

That I was getting better at my aim was pretty nice to boot. I missed my shots now only about one in four times while moving. I was a natural, I could tell.

What? I missed one in four times while standing still? Lies! Lies, I tell you! Don’t listen to those liars, trust me on this.

Okay, maybe there was truth in that statement, but that was still pretty good, right? I mean, for someone that hasn’t ever used a bow before in their life, I had a pretty good aim. And with more practice, I would only get better, I knew it.

Rainbow actually wanted to try her hand at using a bow herself, but she was abysmally bad with it. Sure, she had no problem drawing the string, something that even I had trouble at the beginning, but she couldn’t shoot even if her life depended on it.

Which it might, at some point in the future. Perhaps she was better suited to a melee weapon? Something with a bit of a longer reach and light enough to not hinder her ability to fly.

For that matter, the other girls should also get something to defend themselves with. It was all nice and dandy that they got through the Everfree without any weapons, what with me fighting in the background to stop anything bad from happening, that luck would only get them so far.

Food for thought, I guess.

Now then, at some point Pinkie dragged Rainbow away from me and at last I didn’t have to listen to her chew so loudly as I practiced. I felt like cutting a bit loose and started infusing my arrows with magic like I did in the fight against Nightmare Moon.

And boy, let me tell you the difference was night and day. No pun intended.

The arrow guided by light actually flew without losing a bit of altitude or speed. It even seemed to be the slightest bit faster, if you catch my drift. Not light speed fast, but fast fast.

Like a bullet, strangely.

It was a good thing that I missed my target, or Sol would have a shiny new hole in his face. So I got a different idea on how to continue my practice. It was still a foolish idea, but not as dangerous as aiming at my own head.

Yeah, no one ever said I was smart, to begin with.

There I stood, sword at the ready and new arrow nooked as I drew the string back. Focusing the magic through my hands into the arrow, it took on the familiar glow of gentle moonlight. A breath escaped my lips on Lux and I waited for the moment my heart synchronized with my breathing. At the end of the exhale of the awaited breath and heartbeat, I let loose.

The arrow flew true and I struck at the same moment with my sword in Sol’s hands. Looking behind me, I was actually surprised I managed my feat with stunning accuracy.

I mean, I didn’t hit the arrow with my sword, but the bottle on the hill I was practicing with earlier was shattered. Playing baseball with arrows wasn’t the greatest idea, but I managed to hit something else from at least half a football field away.

Must have been a fluke, really, but it left me proud nonetheless.

Cutting my practice short after looking for the position of the sun, I judged it to be around the time it should be for the end of school. I still needed to have a talk with the local headmaster for a job there. So I packed up all my things, including the destroyed bottle, and the arrows littering the ground around me. Time for a job interview!

Lux went back to the library in the time it took me to reach the idyllic schoolhouse. Reminded me of those old schoolhouses from pictures I had seen on the internet. Sadly, that was the only memory I got this time. Well, better than nothing.

I actually just arrived as the kids got let out of school and saw Sweetie Belle amongst them heading home. Huh, that was interesting. So she went to school here? I mean, I wasn’t sure if this was the only school in Ponyville, but it was nice to know. It wasn’t that big of a school, so it stood to reason that it was just one of the ones in the area.

Heading inside after the gaggle of kids ran past me, I found a woman grading papers at her desk.

“Knock, knock,” I said, also actually knocking on the doorframe. The woman looked up at me and gave a friendly smile. I think I actually saw her at the party Pinkie held the night of the Summer Sun Celebration. Something with a ‘C’ in her name, if I remember correctly.

“Why, hello there. How may I help you?”

“I came here looking for the headmaster? But considering this school isn’t all that big there might not even be one. I was wondering if I could offer my service as a teacher?” I answered her, rubbing the back of my neck. Now that I thought about it, it seemed like she was the only teacher here. She may not even need the extra worker here. She was probably able to handle herself well enough alone.

“Oh? Have you taught before?” she asked and her question caught me a bit off guard. I mean... I actually had no idea, for all I know I could have studied to become a teacher at the university at home. Now there was a thought, what did I study? My memory came up blank.

Considering my knowledge, spotty as it was, it had to be something technical. Thinking on it, the prospect of programing in magi-tech didn’t even leave me stumped, but excited. So most likely computer science. In which area I couldn’t tell though. There were many that required knowledge on programming.

“Not that I can’t say, but I would like to prove my worth, if you would let me,” I told her. I was at least sure I could teach mathematics to a bunch of kids pretty reliably. And judging by the size of the class, there weren’t many kids I needed to teach to begin with. A smaller group would prove to be easier to teach individually.

“Well, that would depend on which knowledge you are informed of. It wouldn’t do to have you teach something that you’re not that intimately familiar with.”

Yeah, there was also that. But at least I had a good grip on mathematics to follow Twilight along in her tirades. That was what I told the woman and she promptly gave me a test on math that she said was university level here.

And it wasn’t that hard as I found out. Imagine what you learn in university on Earth and then compare that to highschool. She gave me a skeptical eye as I finished it with way too much time to spare. She began to go over it with a critical eye, writing some things at the margin of the paper. But the further she got, the more surprise was shown in her expression.

Was I a friggin’ prodigy before I lost my memories, or why did she look at me like that? Hah, surely not! There was no way, I would remember at least that much by now. And considering the stupid stuff I did all the time, I could only be called knowledgable at best.

“Well, Mister Sol, aside from some small mistakes, this is pretty much all correct. May I know where you went to university?” Cheerilee asked after I finally remembered her name, took me long enough.

“I’m from Manehattan,” I said and she nodded along, not even asking for the specific name of the university. Not that I could give one. Curse this damn memory block.

“I would like to see you here tomorrow morning if that is okay with you? I seem to recall you working at the library,” she told me and I gave an affirmative to that. She probably wanted to see how I would do in front of a class, but that couldn’t be too difficult.

“Well then, until tomorrow.”

We shook hands and I departed from the schoolhouse seeing a few kids still at the playground playing with their friends. Some looked at me curiously but returned their attention to what they were doing previously.

On the way back to the center of the town I noticed Rainbow flying overhead and a low tremor coming from the earth below me. Suddenly I was glad I wasn’t still out in the fields practicing as we all saw a stampede of cows in the distance headed for Ponyville.

A familiar woman rode alongside them on a horse with a lasso as she directed them away from the populated area. Well, it seems about right that Applejack would know what to do with a raging herd of animals.

Seeing the crisis averted I made my way back to the library and got to work on the books that were discarded on the table. It seems Twilight or someone else did a bit of reading. After all the books found their way home on the shelves, I settled down on the couch with one of the Raiding Tomb books.

By the time Twilight returned home I was through the first few chapters and only just managed to scrounge up enough willpower to get away from the book to enter the dining room where Lux and Spike were already hard at work making the meal for today.

During dinner we discussed the plans we had for the improved magi-tech batteries, Twilight actually getting the idea to ask her teacher for funds to get the project rolling. Considering the improvement we had in mind, it wasn’t that difficult to get her to agree. The batteries and the gems weren’t the most expensive thing to get ahold of, but the equipment to modify the technology was another story.

It took four days for the first things to get delivered to our doorstep and another one for the right gems and a few batteries to start us off. Tomorrow would also be the day that Luna would arrive in town for a few days to see to our training.

And I meant our training, as in Sol, Lux and the Elements. So, it seemed Celestia was of the same mindset as myself. Better to be prepared. It didn’t sit well with Twilight that she now needed to get exercise of the physical kind in, but she didn’t complain much, what with her teacher telling her to do this.

Also, she was starting to get annoyed by my teasing her getting too lazy reading books all day. No idea why she got all red on her face, though.

At least she was distracted for the day by tinkering with the batteries as I went over the gemstones to see which ones would be the best to start with. The manual for the batteries was also quite fascinating, but I won’t bore you with the details on that as we started drawing up the first blueprints for the improved batteries. At the end we would have something that would look a bit like a sonic screwdriver from Doctor Who. The gemstone would go into a socket, after that we would have a tube with the runic circles on them and after that the actual battery. Currently it still looked a bit clunky, but we were sure we could get it to be a bit slimmer.

Even if not, we could work with that as it was now.

The celebration for Applejack’s accomplishment was almost completely forgotten as we got to bed that night. Twilight actually reminded me to also attend it, to show our support for our friend. Not that I would miss that.

Oh yeah, the job at the school. Turns out I’m a passable teacher, I just needed to be able to, ahem, ‘dumb down’ my explanations a bit. But the kids loved me for the few days I was already there teaching. It was quite refreshing imparting my knowledge to those little kids.

I was pleasantly surprised that Sweetie Belle was actually able to understand what I taught before I started to, gosh I hate to say that, ‘dumb it down’. There were a few kids that I didn’t like, just because they teased a few of the kids that didn’t have their talent mark yet.

Mainly two of those little twerps. But I digress.

Tomorrow we had the award to look forward to and Luna getting here. I haven’t seen her since the dream problem I had and it seemed after her visit my dreams got a lot more calmer and I actually started to remember them. And with that Horse God dreams. Man, I loved those.

Even though she hadn’t struck up a conversation since, it was still great. Sadly this night left me with no dreams at all, so I was a little cranky come morning. Not something a little tea and coffee couldn’t fix. It was great being able to drink two different drinks at once, without them actually mixing.

Twilight dragged us out to the town hall after we finished eating and we arrived just as the finishing touches were made. The town center gradually filled up with everyone, even the kids from school. Sol was left supervising them with Cheerilee at his side and I watched on with Lux as she stood beside the rest of our friends minus Applejack.

The stack of cards Twilight levitated over was way too over the top for her speech as I saw her neat them up a bit. Leave it to Twilight to write the longest speech in history.

As she finished with the first card and tried to continue on, Rainbow Dash interrupted her as she pushed her aside. I groaned internally as the award ceremony got hijacked by our friends. It was simultaneously hilarious and sad to watch her trying to get back control of the speech she had planned out.

In the end, she gave up as our illustrious mayor came up to the stage to announce Applejack. Without Applejack actually being there to present the trophy to. Ah, well, we could always give it to her later, right? It started to become a trend in this town to present someone without them being there, it seemed. Didn’t anyone look if she was there beforehand?

The crowd grew silent, well besides Spike as he continued to cheer our missing friend on. It left me feeling a bit uncomfortable as the silence continued to grow, but to our relief the missing woman arrived, dragging a cart full of apples along with her. She did know there was no market today, right?

We all watched on as the obviously too tired girl went to the stage and promptly made a fool out of herself. What did that woman get into to end up this tired? I cringed as she played with the reflection in the trophy and Pinkie encouraged her on by joining her side.

I would have expected such behavior from the pink god, but not Applejack. Twilight didn’t seem to see anything wrong as she personally thanked the sleep-deprived woman.

At one point Applejack even slept while standing up for a moment, before she caught herself from completely nodding off. Then she began dragging the damn thing along with her, carving a small trench along her path. We all watched on in concern as she left us standing here talking amongst ourselves.

“Yeah, she definitely was out of it,” I chipped in after Rarity mentioned Applejack looked messy. Well, everyone thought so, besides Pinkie Pie. I left the issue to Twilight as I went back to the school with Cheerilee and back to the library with Lux to await the arrival of Luna.

The school period was almost finished as Luna knocked on the door. In her levitation was an assortment of weapons, as well as armor, books, and whatnot. Spike was actually the one to let her in, while I brought out some tea for us and the girls once they get here.

“Well met, young Spike. Where do we find the Element bearers and young Sol as well as Lux?” Luna greeted him and set aside all the stuff at the edge of the room. She spotted me as I set the tea down on the table and she came to my side to embrace me in a hug. A painfully hard hug, as it turned out. I liked her soft hugs better, to be honest. Perhaps she was more gentle in the dream world? But wouldn’t it make more sense for it to be the opposite?

“Sol should be back any minute, regarding the girls I have no idea. We told them to be here on time, but it seems Applejack seems a bit out of it,” I told her as she let go of her crushing embrace on my spine. At that point I spotted Rarity with Fluttershy as they approached the door to the library and Sol wasn’t that far behind them.

For a bit of fun I opened the door with my magic, just as they were about to knock and enter. The expression on both of them was hilarious, but we paid that no mind as Sol also came in, followed shortly by Rainbow. Said woman instantly began to geek out over the assorted weapons, paying no mind to the books that also rested amongst them.

We all were surprised to hear giggling come from the outside as Twilight dragged a bound Applejack behind herself with Pinkie hopping in happily after her, laughing like a madwoman.

“I told you Ah still have work to do!” Applejack complained, struggling against her restraints and thrashing around wildly, trying to get free. It was a sight to behold, the normally headstrong woman flailing around helplessly.

“Work?” I asked on Lux confused. “What is so important that you couldn’t leave that alone over the meeting with Luna?”

Applejack glared at us as she grunted trying to break through than give us the time of the day. She probably didn’t hear what I said, or she would have noticed the princess in the room.

Luna sighed as she watched the display continue on and walked over to her, touching a finger to her forehead. A little bit of magic later, we saw Applejack sleeping soundly on the ground.

“We should have known better, seeing her so sparsely in the dream realm over the last few days,” she told us as she removed the ropes around Applejack and lifted her to the couch. “For now, we will have to do without her.”

“Not to go against you, Princess, but is it really for the best all of us learn to fight? I couldn’t possibly imagine dear Fluttershy being able to fight, let alone hold onto a weapon,” Rarity said as she eyed the variety of weapons at the wall.

“Fret not, Generosity. For we shall find a style for each one of you that will be comfortable for everyone. If not, there might be other ways we shall get you able to fight. We fear what might become of you if you will not be able to defend yourselves.”

“If you insist, I dearly hope Fluttershy will be capable to handle herself in that case,” Rarity gave in, the demure woman herself giving a small shaky smile. Even I wasn’t that sure about Fluttershy learning about, essentially, better being able to kill another creature or person.

Luna gave each one of us a book on combat and first aid, telling us to read them thoroughly as soon as possible and made us wear each type of armor, trying to find the best fit for each of us.

Sol ended up with heavy armor, seeing that I preferred to stay in close combat. I had a feeling Applejack would also get the same type, once she was rested enough. Lux got the leather-like armor I was also familiar with in my actual armor, as did Fluttershy. Pinkie got mail armor mixed with the leather type at her insistence and Rainbow followed suit on that, citing that she liked the flexibility of the faux leather and the protection of the few plate pieces from the mail armor set that were light enough for her.

That left us with the enchanted cloth for both Rarity and Twilight. Twilight was actually already familiar with the type of armor, as she learned a few combat spells already under Celestia.

I was loath to admit it, but she might be better at fighting than myself, even if she hadn’t shown it before. She mentioned she couldn’t cast them as fast as she liked, though. And something you couldn’t do quickly in a fight is to give the enemy a chance to interrupt your spells, so there was that.

With the type of armor out of the way, we all followed Luna out to the park just outside the library as she brought the assortment of weapons along with her. We left Applejack back on the couch, obviously. She wouldn’t wake anytime soon.

We found a good tree to put all the things away as we concentrated on the next part. With Luna providing us with the weapons, Sol and Lux left the bow and short-sword back at the library. Sol was the first called to step up to the princess, as she gave him the first weapon he would use. It was a halberd, much to my confusion, but Luna had a glint in her eyes.

Frick, this was another test for the Chosen One thing, right?

What came next surprised me even more. Luna summoned three similar copies of herself, reminding me of the mirror image spell from World of Warcraft. I totally wanted to learn that spell now.

One of the clones stepped forward, a sword from the assorted weapons floating to herself with levitation. Great, they could cast magic, they were true mirror images of the original. I already knew this would hurt.

Luna’s mirror image began the fight by directly teleporting into Sol’s reach with the weapon, leaving it useless to me unless I could gain at least a bit of distance. It plain to see why Luna did that, as she knocked one of my feet out from underneath me. Rolling with the momentum gave me the chance to dodge her next attack and give me the opportunity to parry with the staff part of the halberd.

A halberd wasn’t just the pointy end, you could use every part as a weapon to fight. With more or less success, at that. It worked out for me, though, and that was all I needed to make a counterattack. Making short stabbing motions, making sure to not leave myself open, I kept her out of reach for her weapon to cause me any damage. She was nimble, though, and that kept me on my toes until she suddenly knocked my weapon away.

“Crap!” I screamed a bit in fright as her sword was nearing me fast. Thinking quickly, I sidestepped into her motion as she overextended and I brought my palm up and jabbed the clone into the throat, surprising her.

Who said I could only fight with my weapon? All the girls watched enraptured by the move, only to wince as the mirror image also did what Twilight did to me. I should have seen that one coming as my male part laid there on the ground groaning.

“An excellent move, if not for your cockyness getting the better of you, thinking you would have stunned your opponent for long enough,” the real Luna commented, a slight smile gracing her lips and a twinkle was in her eyes, having found something in the move that I just performed.

What it was, I had no idea, but I was certain it had nothing to do with the Chosen One thing.

Next up was Rainbow Dash as she excitedly got into position against the next mirror image. Luna gave the woman two short swords at first, before rethinking her decision and switching them to two daggers that were on the longer side of the spectrum. Rainbow made good work with those two things as she flitted around the mirror image with incredible speed, aided by her wings.

For a moment I thought Rainbow had it in the bag, that is until the mirror image predicted the movement pattern of Rainbow. It felt like it was analyzing the speedy girl until now before she struck. And struck she did with the pommel of her sword, ending the match just as fast as it began with a whimpering Rainbow Dash on the ground next to Sol. She rolled quite a bit to end up there.

Luna’s mirror image struck the base of her ethereal wings, a notorious weak spot for the Pegasus-Blessed. And that brought us to the next opponent, Lux. I wasn’t looking forward to the punishment she would inflict upon me with her.

I was at least fighting with a bow, although, Luna saw fit to give me zero arrows. She was planning something and I didn’t like it.

The fight was a struggle on my part. Sure I could still use the bow somewhat as a melee weapon, but inflicting any damage was next to impossible.

I liked to say it was possible, but I wouldn’t probably get to find out how.

Now, there was the problem that Luna could bring to bear more force with her sword, but speed was on my side in this little game of ours. So I used it to stay the frick away from her while thinking of a way to break her guard. There were actually a few things I wanted to try and I paid special attention to Luna’s mirror image with the eyes on Sol. Cheating, I know, sue me.

Casting a bit of magic, I let the rest do the trick. The girls watched on as Lux dodged left and right, that is until I stood still, but the Lux fighting continued her movements. Hopefully she wouldn’t see through this illusion until it was too late for her.

Seeing my opportunity arise, I swiftly tried to bring my bow down on her head as she stood with her back to me. The problem was, I was too fast in bringing down the weapon.

How could that be a problem, you ask?

Well, let me tell you: when your weapon suddenly makes a loud swishing noise, your opponent knew they weren’t fighting the real thing. And Luna gave a grin as she caught my arm with her hand before I could connect. Stumped on what to do, I went with the motion of Luna trying to twist my arm away.

That gave me the opportunity to elbow her in the gut as she spun me around on my other arm, causing her to let me go. So there we were again, back to square one. I couldn’t manage that surprise again, I was certain. And she couldn’t get to me due to my quick evasion.

A typical stalemate for the moment. I had the feeling though, that she was holding back a lot. I had yet to see her use any magic, like the teleportation she used against me on Sol.

Evading her next strike, I was left growling to myself as I came up empty on what to do. All my tricks were useless on her and she wouldn’t let up the pressure for myself to make a good counter. I tried predicting where she would strike, but that was still something I took too long for. When I thought I knew what she would do next, I would be left open as she was already on her next move.

Desperately trying to correct my mistake was giving her ample opportunity to close the gap between us, making me parry her blows with my bow again. At one point I drew back the string in reflex to let loose an arrow that wasn’t there. That turned out to be the right move as the string smacked her right in the face when I let go and rotated the bow just enough in my hand.

A tackle later had us rolling on the ground, but she was the better brawler in this case. She didn’t give up until I admitted my loss to her. I would have so many bruises after this was over, I just knew it.

“A brilliant use of the bow. Although, try to be more subtler in your use of illusions or learn to use your weapon silently. Were it not for the tackle at the end, we would have fought on for quite a bit,” Luna told me, as she helped me to my feet. I just nodded silently, making note of my mistakes.

If I just had one arrow, this would have gone so much differently.

I’m reasonably sure she couldn’t have dodged an arrow traveling as fast as a bullet. Well, no use in crying over spilled milk. I’m sure I would do better next time.

Pinkie happily took my place next, hefting the massive warhammer like it weighed nothing. It was funny to watch her ‘play’ with Luna as said woman tried anything and failed in the face of the pink menace. Pinkie babbled on about knowing where Luna would strike, causing the mirror image to get more frazzled in trying to get a hit in.

On the other hand, Pinkie didn’t even attempt to attack. She just jumped around like she had been drinking from the juice the Gummi Bears. At the end she just booped Luna’s mirror image as said clone simply gave up.

The next duel was between Rarity and Luna’s clones. As in all of them. Rarity held a staff in her hand while around fifteen daggers were given to her. Initially I was confused about why she got so many, until Luna told her to levitate them. And considering what Luna knew of her, she didn’t disappoint in the slightest.

The daggers began to circle her in a deadly storm. It made sense why Luna would get to use all of the mirror images. At the start, Rarity was unsure if she had even a chance, but got slowly more confident as she expertly managed to deflect any attempt from Luna to break through to her.

The battle continued with Luna’s clones using shields to try to get anywhere near Rarity, but the woman quickly cracked those, one after another, with either the floating blades or the staff in her hand. Luna began to change her tactic by using mana bolts and arcane missiles to get a few shots through, but even then the defense of Rarity’s weapons was quick to correct their position to block the attacks.

The first mistake Rarity made was trying to go on the offensive. As soon as a few blades left her storm was Luna able to freeze the blades to the ground as they tried to pierce the mirror images. And slowly dwindled Rarity’s defense away with every blade incapacitated. She did manage to destroy one of the clones in the end but lost quickly after that.

The last duel for the day was against Fluttershy just as the sun was about to set over the horizon.

Fluttershy got one knife one could generously call a dagger and a one-handed crossbow. Suffice to say, she didn’t really put up a fight, frightened shooting aside. She was the fastest to loose to Luna but said night goddess gave her a consolation that she would find something that would help Fluttershy out in a way that didn’t entirely rely on the woman herself, while also muttering something under her breath.

I was very curious about what that was about.

And as a bonus, we all got to watch her raise the moon as her sister lowered the sun from the capital. We all got back to the library and I showed Luna to the apartment. I gave her the bed in which Lux normally slept in and said goodbye to the girls after they put away the gear and took their new books with them.

That left me with the couches in the living room for beds with Sol and Lux. I could deal with that for a few nights and Twilight brought the still sleeping Applejack upstairs to her room, where she got out a spare bed. The woman needed her sleep even more than all the girls and I combined.

During the night I dreamt of the battles I had with Sol and Lux and tried to actually improve on my moves, even though I had no idea if that would help. Considering I actually activated my blessings through the dream world, it stood to reason that my actions while asleep did at least amount to something. If that was in a meaningful way had to be discovered as of yet.

It was at least fun not being exhausted from physical activity in the dream, being free to move as I wished. It probably screwed with my perception of the world, but it was helpful nonetheless.

The next day started with an irritated Applejack coming down to the kitchen, grumbling about having to work. That was promptly shoved out of the window as she saw Luna sitting with us at the dining table.

Reluctantly she apologized for her behavior and after our nagging, she finally admitted that she may need help. I actually forbade her from going to help the rest of our friends in their little problems as long as she wasn’t fully rested. She was a bit miffed about that, not fond of the idea that she would have to go back on her word, but even Luna told her that it was anything but helpful to her friends while she wasn’t entirely there mentally.

Luna had a better idea to solve all our problems. We all would go and help out at the farm as part of our training, after Twilight and Applejack had their turns in the combat assessment with Luna, though. We would all go over there once we had our own work covered, I couldn’t just not go to work today at the school.

While Sol headed outside after breakfast, Twilight, Applejack, Luna, and me with Lux, went over a few things. For one thing, Applejack got caught up to some of the information we received yesterday from Luna and had her plate armor adjusted to her.

Twilight retold the combat assessment from most of the girls, while I bugged Luna to teach me the mirror image spell. It wasn’t that advanced of a spell as one might think. The difficulty of the spell was more in maintaining it than casting it.

A novice like me could perhaps hold the spell for about thirty seconds if nothing struck the images. It was actually a popular spell among battle mages that fought from behind the tanks and such back in the day. Most mages were the typical glass cannons and required people to keep their foes away from them. Only war mages were bold enough to fight on the front lines. And if you ever fought against one, you would see why they are such feared opponents. Luna spoke of some that could hold an invading force back for quite some significant time.

Once some of our other friends started arriving at the library we began to prepare for moving all the gear towards Sweet Apple Acres. Today would see Applejack go first against one of Luna’s clones and after that would come Twilight and then the actual training would begin.

Around the afternoon we were all gathered at the farm and watched as Applejack got herself a sword and shield from the pile of weapons. Ready for her turn in the test of abilities, they started the match with quite surprising ferocity.

Luna was relentless in her powerful strikes, as was Applejack. Luna had the advantage of mobility over her, but Applejack had definitely the better defense. Not only that, but her strength rivaled Luna’s own. It was like watching an immovable wall getting struck, again and again, Luna being unable to penetrate the defenses enough to weaken Applejack.

The few jabs and strikes Applejack attempted never connected with her target, so it was half an hour later that Luna decided to add magic into the mix and promptly ended the duel.

“A good defense, fair Applejack,” Luna praised her with a smile. “Perhaps we need to teach you how to work the shield as a secondary weapon. A common misconception is that the shield only provides defensive means.”

“Aw, shucks. No need to put me up on a pedestal, if Ah couldn’t even get a strike in, Princess.”

“The role of the tank is to minimize the damage your foe could inflict upon you and your allies. We need only work on your ability to keep your foe focused on you,” Luna said as Applejack joined the rest of us in the shade of the trees, while Twilight took her place facing Luna.

The thing is... she didn’t take any weapons with her and declined Luna’s offer of a staff. Well, it seems this duel was about to get interesting.

Luna’s mirror image began the fight with a quick teleport in front of Twilight but said woman already teleported to the side and fired a beam from her hands a second or so later. The energy crackled against the conjured shield spell from Luna, so Twilight bombarded the shield with arcane missiles from every direction as she teleported around the field. At one point the cloud of dust and debris got so thick, we couldn’t see Luna anymore in the midst of the chaos.

That is until she appeared behind Twilight and kicked her across the ground. Twilight teleported away before she could hit a tree and came face to face with Luna once more. She quickly threw up one of her own shields, watching as it began to crack from the assault of Luna’s weapon and magic.

One thing Twilight seemed to be good at in a fight was delaying her opponent long enough to cast her spells, even though her fighting style was just as quick to disrupt once the opponent got the upper hand. With a quick mutter of words, energy flooded Twilight as she drew massive amounts of magic to her from the ley lines.

And what a spell it was. The sight was majestic to behold as her eyes shined a brilliant white and a nova of arcane might erupted in every direction from her. The shockwave of the spell reached us a moment later as we saw Luna’s doppelganger getting flung away, directly in the path of Twilight’s next attack as she teleported to her destination and fired a devastating beam of raw magic at her.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! Well, considering Twilight was too weak to stand at the moment, it might have been more of a draw. If you couldn’t continue after defeating your opponent on the battlefield, you might as well have committed suicide. Anyway, for now it was a win for Twilight. Luna berated her for the excessive use of magic, though. And the decision to forgo taking a weapon with her into the fight.

So, that got Twilight and Luna into thinking about what might actually be a weapon that could be of any use to the fighting style she employed. It was actually Spike that gave them the idea of a focus, saying that the heroes in his comics oftentimes used something that supplemented their fighting style and helped focus their powers.

And thus, the idea of a wand for Twilight was born. The actual crafting of such a tool would take some time, seeing that it was a very complicated process of acquiring rare materials and working them into something the user would be able to channel their magic through. It was an art not many knew in this day and age, so Luna had to actually find a suitable craftsman first.

The idea of a focus got Luna thinking about the situation with Fluttershy’s disability to fight without seizing up in fright. She disappeared for a few moments, leaving us in the clearing alone. Some odd minutes later, Luna came back with a bowl and various ingredients I saw in the basement of the library. Not the gross ones, more like herbs and such.

The princess began to carefully mix them with mortar and pestle, actually ripping some grass from the ground and adding it to the mix. Once she was satisfied with her work she set the other ingredients up at the side of the bowl and asked Fluttershy to join her at her side. Said demure woman did so hesitantly, confusion showing on her face.

Luna began guiding her through the process of what we saw was to be a ritual of some kind. Once she knew what to do, Fluttershy was left to perform a small sacrifice in pricking her finger on a needle and filling her blood in a vial.

“With an offer of cotton, I give you a place at my home,” she began to speak, as she added said ingredient to the bowl.

“With an offer of straw, I give you a place to sleep,” Fluttershy said, also adding the straw to the bowl in front of her, after that she took some cloth in her hands. “Giving you a piece of cloth, I promise to care for your injuries.”

“Herbs and fruits, I give you for a healthy meal,” she uttered and put the mixture of herbs in while taking one of the apples and placing it in the middle.

“And to you who answers this call, I offer you a piece of myself to show my dedication and willingness to stand by your side,” Fluttershy spoke, at last, dripping the content of the vial into the bowl.

Smoke started to billow from it and once it cleared away, we saw a small golden fox with two tails sitting at the bowl munching on the apple. It cooed in delight of the sweet treat.

“Feed me more of this delicious morsel, mortal!”

We all stared at the fox in astonishment. I mean, I think it was a fox, but considering it had an extra tail, it might be something from a myth I vaguely remember from Earth.

Fluttershy smiled and gave it another apple, stroking its fur as it happily devoured the fruit. It was a very cute sight to behold.

“We will consider this contract you proposed in your summoning,” it said as it curled up in her lap, staring up at Fluttershy. “It has been quite a few millennia since someone dared summon us from the spirit realm.”

“Oh, my...” Fluttershy whispered astonished. “I hope I didn’t take you away too suddenly.”

“Fret not, it was quite boring,” the spirit animal said. “It is a welcome change of scenery. We would like to have more of the morsel, please.”

Man, how big of a stomach does that little thing have? Fluttershy took the last apple at her side and held it in front of the little guy. I was feeling a little jealous of the easy bond they already shared. Once it finished with the fruit it gave a little shake of its body and hopped out of her lap.

“Alright then. Let us do battle, as the ancient rites dictate,” it proudly declared as it sat in front of her.

“What?” Fluttershy squeaked in fright.

“A battle! A test of might, a show of strength! We want to test your mental fortitude against our own!”

“I don’t... understand?” Fluttershy whispered, shaking like a leaf.

“Do your people not have a way to show their intellect against an opponent?” the fox asked, looking confused at her. “Something that shows their mental ability to cow other creatures to their will?”

“Oh... I think I might have something like that,” Fluttershy admitted timidly. “Are you certain you want to be subjected to that?”

“You are a strange mortal, mortal,” it said, tilting its head to the side. “Why wouldn’t I be sure to demonstrate my mental might against yours?”

“All my little animal friends always seem frightened by my Stare,” she said, looking slightly ashamed. “I wouldn’t want you to be afraid of me.”

“Hah! A mere mortal could never shake us! Let us begin!”

“If you’re sure...”

The eyes of the fox began to glow as it stared directly into the depth of Fluttershy’s soul, its paws beginning to burn with bright blue flames. The tails standing up and bristling.

For a moment we all feared what might happen next, but as Fluttershy turned her gaze to the little fox in front of her, it seemed to falter. It was an intense battle judging by their expressions.

Second, after second, we waited for an outcome. Fluttershy looked very fiercesome with her stare, I was slightly afraid of what would happen if she were to ever direct it at me. Scratch that, I would probably shake in my boots, begging her to stop.

A minute passed and sweat started to pool on her forehead, but her opponent didn’t look so good either. The little fox grunted here and there as if he was slowly losing ground.

The first change to appear after that was it beginning to pant in exertion. Then we all saw its ears splay back, while Fluttershy actually began to relax more and more.

“What?” the fox said dumbly. “This.. this strength! By a mere mortal? How?”

The fox snarled in a fashion that gave me the impression of something more akin to a demon than whatever it was supposed to be. But even that failed to make Fluttershy falter in her resolve.

So, as this continued on, it slowly began to cower down towards the ground, shaking slightly. Whatever this ability of Fluttershy was, it had an obvious effect on the little guy.

“We surrender,” it said, breaking eye contact with Fluttershy.

After their little contest stopped it gave its body a quick shake and it sighed a little dreamily.

“To have such a strong summoner! It gives me tingles all over my body,” it said as it hopped back into her lap and Fluttershy began to pet it once more. “Very well, then! Name us, mortal, and we will lend you our strength until your demise!”

“Oh.. Uhm,” Fluttershy muttered taken off guard. “How about... Brightpaw?”

“Hmm... it seems fitting. As you wish, henceforth we shall be known as Brightpaw, the Heavenly Fox!” Brightpaw sighed, crooning at the ministrations Fluttershy’s fingers gave him. “Tell us your name, Master!”

“My name is Fluttershy,” she said. “It is nice to meet you.”

It was kind of easy to forget that they just held a battle with their minds alone, seeing them sitting there.

Luna was the first out of the group to shake herself loose of our collective stupor. She went over to them and studied the fox for a moment. Then she asked Fluttershy if she was in need of any refreshments, or anything really, to help her relax. But Fluttershy simply stated that stroking the fur of the little fox was enough.

So, Luna wanted to know if their little ritual was complete or if they still had things left they wanted to discuss. Brightpaw apparently was happy as long as he got fed the ‘delicious mortal morsels’.

“Shall we test your capabilities in a fight?” Luna asked him.

“A test of physical strength?” Brightpaw wanted to assure himself that it was that, what Luna asked of him. At Luna’s nod he gave her a scoff. “You would stand no chance against our might!”

“Come on! How can a little thing like you best the princess?” Rainbow interjected in disbelief. Brightpaw stuck his nose up at her.

“You would not now strength if it spit you in the face, mortal,” he mocked her, turning his attention back to Luna. “Very well, then. A demonstration is in order, let us fight.”

Luna and Brightpaw went into position in the middle of the clearing, Fluttershy at his side, holding her one-handed crossbow in the hand and a few bolts in the other.

“At your command, Master!” Brightpaw said giddily.

“Uhm... attack?” Fluttershy said uncertainly, squirming at the thought of hurting the princess.

We all watched as the little fox suddenly was enveloped in a puff of smoke and from it emerged Brightpaw, twice as big as a wolf and fur glowing slightly as fire spewed from his maw, paws, and tails. It crouched slightly, as if ready to pounce. Then he was already atop of Luna, his teeth dangerously close to her face. The shockwave of his movement rustling the leaves on the trees around us and blowing our hair around.

Gaping, we were all too stunned on how to react as Luna struggled to get out from underneath his paw. Evidently by the way Fluttershy blinked at the sudden turn of events, she didn’t see that coming, either.

“Surrender!” Brightpaw growled, his voice a lot deeper in this form. “Admit to the superior might of our Master and us!”

Luna tried casting her magic, but he was quick to disrupt her plans with his other paw.

“That’s enough, Brightpaw. We don’t need to bully her,” Fluttershy said sternly, like a disappointed mother looking down on him as she came to his side. He gave in to her judgment and let the princess free from under his paws. Helping her up, we all saw Luna desperately gasp for more air. The little fox returned to his little form and found a seat on Fluttershy’s shoulders while holding on with his front paws on top of her head. She didn’t seem to mind and it looked cute as hell.

“Remind me to never get on his nerves, again,” Rainbow whispered to us and we all nodded dumbly along. That fox was something else, alright. Fuck, I wouldn’t want to be his enemy for real.

9. In which Fluttershy continues to kick ass.

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Well, then. Where did we leave off? Our training? Right, that. Okay, after we had a relatively quiet week after Applejack saved the town from a stampede and worked herself to exhaustion, we were all subjected to the torture of one lunar princess. Our combat assessment went off quite well for the most part. Sure, we got completely wrecked by Luna, besides Pinkie Pie and Applejack and to some lesser degree Twilight, we debated on what to do about Twilight’s weapon and the lack of combat ability from our resident animal caretaker.

Both of which had surprising solutions. Twilight and Luna worked out a plan to craft a foci to aid in her spellcasting in the form of a wand. For the duration of the training with Luna she needed to content herself with a dagger for the training. She was quite reluctant with learning how to wield it, though.

Part of the solution to Fluttershy’s problem came in the form of a little fox that Luna showed her how to summon. Those two bonded in a little contest of mental fortitude and became fast friends, believe it or not. Oh yeah, the little bugger could turn into a hulking beast of a monster.

Don’t ever antagonize Brightpaw, you will live longer for it.

There was also the part where Luna did some training with Fluttershy that stayed a secret between them. I have no idea what Luna did with her, but after she was done with her, Fluttershy seemed... different. She was still the demure girl we knew and loved but there was this feeling in me that told me Luna and Brightpaw had done something to her. Something I was sure I wouldn’t like in the slightest.

I can’t quite put my finger on it, I just noticed those little instances where the light in Fluttershy’s eyes seemed a bit dimmer than usual. If you blinked it was entirely possible to miss it or think it a trick in the light.

That leaves us to the here and now, some odd weeks later. Once we were through with our training, in the form of forcing us to complete the harvest on Applejack’s farm and running ourselves ragged around the perimeter of it, Luna left back to Canterlot promising us that it wasn’t the last time she would oversee our torture. My words, not hers, but basically the same meaning.

We were left with continuing our exercise on our own and sparring amongst our group of friends. Fluttershy was somewhat exempt from the friendly duels because she cheated. No, I’m not salty. Or jealous. You know what? I totally am, fuck off.

She was apparently the only one Luna trusted with the bond of a familiar. Even if that familiar was stupidly overpowered. Luna was of the opinion that only Fluttershy amongst our group of friends was able to forge a bond with a summon. That basically made her the beast tamer, while Applejack became our tank, Rarity, Lux and Twilight our ranged damage dealers, Pinkie and Sol the melee fighters and Rainbow the go-between, seeing that she would use hit and run tactics as she could fly.

Besides that, we were all told to read up on first aid and train ourselves in how to treat injuries. Not that I was that particularly good with that, I had to admit. I could do it in a pinch, although the quality of my work wasn’t of the highest caliber.

Sometime between our training sessions and work, a friend of Rainbow came by for a visit and was quickly pummeled into the dirt by Brightpaw after she insulted Fluttershy. I was quite surprised that Fluttershy didn’t stop him, either. It really left me feeling suspicious more and more of what Brightpaw and Luna had done to her.

Yeah, that happened. That friend of hers seriously had a death wish, considering the bad attitude she had about it and her continued harassment of our friends. Pinkie tried to salvage the situation but she couldn’t work wonders.

After she was gone the usual normalcy returned to our little corner of the world. We all trained here and there and I decided to patrol the border of the Everfree Forest. I have gotten the eerie feeling that something wasn’t right in there and started doing my exercise from then on there. I could do my runs anywhere I liked, after all. And it was a nice bonus of actually making sure nothing came out of there or stopping curious children from going in there and getting themselves killed in the process.

From all the warnings regarding that place, one would expect people would stay the hell away from it.

In my spare time, I studied the runic circles in my little library on my phone in the private confines of my bed. And regular spellbooks, because how could I ever stay away from those?

While most of it was still beyond my comprehension, some of the stuff was useful to know. Like keeping my tea warm with a little modification to my cups. I really loved that alteration, what can I say?

Just a few days ago, I managed to get the mirror image spell down pat that Luna taught me. It didn’t help me with studying, seeing that I couldn’t access their memory, but it helped me very much in my training against myself.

When you could fight four versions of you, it helped you a lot when fighting against groups.

The flight training with Sol was continuing at a snail’s pace, though. The best I could do was hover for a few moments before losing my rhythm and balance. Rainbow tried to help me a few times, causing me to come up with an explanation of why I couldn’t fly, but she quickly gave up on that notion. She was way too impatient to be able to teach anything in a reliable way.

Apropos teaching, Twilight was currently teaching Lux all the tricks she learned with magic as she herself learned new ones. Spike was ecstatic to have a beard grown on his way too young face for it to look natural. To each their own, I guess. At least the kids in school didn’t get the idea to do anything stupid as I was distracted, while Lux was laughing her ass off.

So, twenty-five tricks as of right now. I would think such spells were beneath Twilight, but one could never know when they would come in handy.

I groaned as Spike began flirting to imaginary Rarity in the mirror as he admired his mustache. A little part of me wanted to drag him away from there by the ear, but I mercilessly beat the jealousy back down from where it came.

His flirting came to a halt soon enough as Twilight reversed her spell and we went outside having stayed cooped up in the library for long enough over the last few days. Not just learning magic, but also tinkering with the magi-tech batteries. We were already at the testing phase of our improvement and they certainly are little wonders! Celestia was quite proud of us for our innovation and we should get some new equipment over the next couple of days.

I couldn’t wait to see how the cars would perform with these new babies! How far could we go before the batteries were depleted and needed to recharge? As long as there were a few stops along the way, it should take us anywhere we desired without problems. I was already getting giddy over the prospect of revolutionizing the method of travel in Equestria, no... in all of Equis!

Our conversation along the way turned away from the magic tricks to the specifics of the talent mark a person has and their relation to magic. As Spike aptly said, normally you were bound to the magic your talent mark gave you access to. Twilight clarified that statement, going so far as to explain that someone with a talent mark purely for magic would have no such restrictions.

That probably explained why I couldn’t do every bit of magic I came across in books and so on. Sure, most often I could brute force the spell to work, but I needed to use a lot more mana to get it done than someone that had a talent for it. Runic circles were a small workaround for that but those were a lot harder to use.

My talent was related to combat, I had to guess, so every spell that was purely used in any way to go on the offensive or defensive was quite a bit easier for me. The fact one could use illusions in combat to great effect and that I was fairly adept with light-based magic made it my go-to for any fight.

The mirror image spell Luna taught me was technically also classified as an illusion based spell, even though they are actual bodies made of mana.

The sudden appearance of two little absentees from school that ran over Spike brought me back out of my musings. The two babbled on about a new magician in town and how she had the most magic than any other magician. Even though we all knew that that was Twilight and whoever this was couldn’t hold a candle to her, the kids got us interested as they led us to the town center where we saw a traveling wagon.

All our friends were already there as it seemed, so we squeezed through the masses to stand beside them as the show started to begin. The woman that spoke was certainly no Penn and Teller but still managed to enrapture the crowd around us with cheap parlor tricks as well as smoke and fireworks.

The boasting of the woman on stage soon turned the mood of our friends sour, as even I was getting a little agitated by the arrogance portrayed by her. Sure, I knew the show biz on Earth was a brutal thing and I couldn’t begin to imagine how it was here, but I was preeeetty sure such an attitude got yourself faster out of a career than you could say ‘Eichhörnchen’. Try saying that, it’s quite funny.

As our friends went on about how boasting is a crappy thing to do and what not, Rainbow decided that she was exempt from that rule. Applejack didn’t look too kindly at her self-love, which brought us back to that ‘magic schmagic’ was apparently bad.

“Well, well, well,” the ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie interjected, having noticed the mood swing in the crowd and which people were at fault for that. “It seems we have some naysayers in the audience.”

So, how does she think to solve this situation? By issuing a friggin’ challenge to the crowd to disprove her claims to be the most powerful magician in all of Equestria. I groaned in dismay as all of our friends decided to take her up on her words besides Twilight and Fluttershy, no telling where she was... Brightpaw was a real bad influence on her, it seemed. Twilight didn’t want to come off as boastful and protested Spike and my decision to let her teach Trixie a thing or two.

And for the record, I in no way believed the words she vanquished a star beast. Certainly not an adult one.

So, Spike and I suffered quietly through the torture as we couldn’t speak another word due to Twilight’s spell. I tried opening the zipper on my mouth but had no luck in that regard. It wasn’t easy taking the abuse of the idiotic woman up on the stage while Twilight remained passive and one after another our friends tried to bring Trixie down a notch.

If it were legal, I would have pulled out my bow and shot an arrow through her pointy hat. Would have made for a great sight, too. Pretty sure she could sue me for that, though. And it would make me look like a trigger happy lunatic to the residents of Ponyville.

I winced as Rarity was sent wailing because her hair got turned green. I felt a spike of righteous anger flare in me and felt my magic sparking in my hands. Okay, I’ve had enough of this shit. If Twilight won’t act, I will.

And a sinister smile spread on my face, made even creepier by the fucking zipper stuck on them, as I got just the perfect thing for the occasion. She said she beat a star beast, right? Well, I will give her one. One only she can see.

Now then, illusions are normally seen by everyone. How does one make them specific to the person you want to affect? The answer to that was quite simple. Illusions are light and sound-based tricks of the mind and illusion spells in Equestria create constructs to show other people what you have in mind and what you want them to see.

By projecting the image directly into the eye of the target, one could make a specific illusion for only one person and the sound into their ears.

What did she see, then? Well, let’s just say seeing her scream about an imaginary monster was the most hilarious thing I have ever seen.

The crowd around us grew confused as to what was happening and I might, and I say this lightly, I might have caused some of them to panic. Okay... most of them.

“STOP!” Twilight screamed and I lost my focus on the spell, destroying the illusion on Trixie. The majority calmed down, seeing that there actually was no monster there, to begin with.

“Well, Twilight, I guess it’s up to you,” Spike began, also tired of this nonsense. “Come on! Show her what you’re made of.”

Hey, since when could he speak again?! Damn zipper, stuck on my lips.

“What do you mean? I’m nothing special,” Twilight said, trying to dissuade the people around us from getting more curious about her magical talent. Well, too bad Spike thought differently about that and pressured her further. Their argument was interrupted as Trixie stepped forward on the stage.

“Ha! You think you’re better than the Great and Powerful Trixie?” Trixie asked arrogantly looking down on us from the stage. “You think you have more magical talent?”

And then she prompted Twilight to prove it to her which in turn caused her to have an anxiety attack and run away. With a sudden ‘Zipp!’ I got through the stuck zipper and it vanished from my lips. Finally.

“Come on, Spike. Let’s make sure Twilight is okay, I’ve had enough of this charade,” I told him as I stalked off after Twilight. Snakeboy followed dutifully after me as I heard a ‘Run away, it proves Trixie right to be the best magician in Equestria!’ and I just flipped her the finger without turning. Could she not shut her trap or did she love hearing her voice so much?!

Around that time I also finished with my work at school, so I was on the way home with both of my bodies. Perhaps a little practice would get Twilight out of her funk, I know I liked hitting things when I felt down in the dumps. So maybe it will help her, too, if only to let her frustrations out on a willing dummy.

“Twilight?” I called out as I opened the door to the library. A quite ‘What?’ came from upstairs and as I went up to check on her. I saw her cocooned in her blankets on the couch in the living room, almost making me go ‘D’aww!’ at the sight.

“Hey, everything ok?”

“Not really...” her muffled voice replied and Sol finally arrived at my side. I quickly went over to her with him and ripped the blanket away from her and sat down beside her.

“Well, then. Do you want to let off some pent up frustration?” I asked her with a smirk and she got an intrigued look into her eyes.

“I could do with something like that,” she admitted flustered. Come on, it’s not so bad for wanting to beat someones face in every once in a while, liven up! “What do you have in mind?”

“How about I let you beat myself and Lux up for a bit, we still need to get some more training in for this week,” I proposed to her.

“I could use a little bit of exercise, I guess,” she mumbled over to me as we gathered our gear and headed out. Spike went off on his own, so it was just Twilight and me. We went to our usual spot near the Everfree where we didn’t need to worry about bystanders getting in the way.

“With the mirror images, Twi?” I asked with Lux as Sol already got into his stance. Twilight drew her shiny new wand and the dagger as she pointed her wand at him with the dagger in position to deflect any attacks that might get through to her. She actually admitted it was easier that way than to constantly rely on a shield she couldn’t make small enough to converse energy.

“Let’s start off without for the time being and summon them later on in the fight, okay?” she told me and I nodded.

Nocking a training arrow that wouldn’t hurt her on the right side of the bow, I drew the string back, more arrows in my hand as Luna taught me. It was difficult at first to rethink my image of an archer and learn how to fire accurately with the arrowhead on the other side to what I was familiar with.

It soon got apparent in my training with Luna that it was way faster this way. She told me a war archer couldn’t just carry a bunch of arrows only in the quiver at their side, and boy, did she reprimand me for having worn the quiver over my back at first, as that would make it a hassle to draw more arrows to shoot.

Also, she made me run through an obstacle course with the quiver on my back, making me spill all my arrows all the time. Suffice to say I learned quickly to adapt the new style of holding onto my arrows.

“Ready?” we asked each other and together we let out a snort at that. We all grinned at each other and I was the first to move with Lux. An arrow flew over to her and she waved her wand. The air shimmered in front of her where the arrow would have found its mark, but as it flew towards the shimmering air it came out the other side and flew back to Sol instead.

A quick swipe deflected the arrow into the ground. Some arrows were deflected by Twilights dagger, while some got incinerated with a flick of her wand. Whelp, those won’t be able to be used by me anymore.

While I went around her in circles with Lux I got up and close to Twilight with Sol. Let me tell you, even though I had strength over her in spades, she just knew how to manipulate that to her advantage instead. Imagine, while you’re swinging your weapon down at your opponent, that it suddenly got way heavier than before. She was an expert in magic, so of course, she knew how to manipulate gravity. A field of magic that is exceedingly difficult to perform and with the help of her wand it got even easier for her.

Oh yeah, those problems she had before with taking to long to cast spells in a fight? Those didn’t exist anymore.

And thus, Sol went flying due to a beam taking him off his feet. At that point, I cast the now thoroughly memorized spell of the mirror images and fired four arrows at once, all from different directions.

I saw Twilight grin as a quick bubble shield stopped all the arrows from striking her. Then she teleported to the first image and nicked it with the dagger, making it disappear.

“Crap,” I cursed and rolled quickly away before her dagger could connect to me next. While I took a tumble, I swiftly grabbed an arrow already in the ground and fired it just as fast back to Twilight. She actually had to dodge that one as I regained my distance. A clone of mine tried hitting her with the bow, but it was halted in its motion by the dagger in Twilights hand. Her wand made short work of that copy of me. She was to fast for me to make any use out of my clones, damnit.

So, I went with a different approach. If my last clone won’t be of any use now, it will make for good cannon fodder. Casting an illusion on Sol, I masked his approach to Twilight and distracted her with my clone going into melee and me continuing to fire arrows from a distance.

At one point I feared a deflected arrow would give me away with Sol, but I was lucky that it just barely missed. I slowly made my way over to her, and just as she finished with my only clone left, I struck. My plan was simple. My plan was elegant. My plan was masterful!

I booped her on the nose as I grinned at her stupified look.

“I win,” I said with a voice full of glee. She pouted at me but nodded exhausted. “How about a race back to the library? The last one there has to cook dinner?”

“Alright, don’t think I’ll let you win that easily!” Twilight answered back and began to run without me giving the go. Laughing, both Sol and Lux went after her. I knew from the beginning that I would never win with Sol wearing the plate armor, but this wasn’t about me. It was all to cheer her up, after all.

Twilight fought valiantly against my female half as we both tried to get the upper hand by using our magic and if it weren’t for the stumble on my part, I would have won against her.

Both Twilight and Lux were relaxing on the couch in the library as my male half arrived a few minutes later, finally dragging myself through the door. This wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had, running with my armor on for such a long distance, but it gave Twilight a new memory to cherish our friendship with.

So like the good loser that I am, I got to work on preparing the dinner while Lux and Twilight chatted about our exercise. It was a relaxing evening talking about this and that, mostly about magic. Both of us decided to read a bit before retiring for the night, so I actually found the time to finish off that Raiding Tomb book that I’ve been reading over the past weeks.

As the day ended and night began I heard Twilight arguing with Spike once more about why she wouldn’t show Trixie up. A slam of the door alerted me to at least one of them being mad again. Damn, just as I managed to get her out of her funk. I went to see what happened and saw her at the lectern reading a book about wildlife.

“Everything okay?” I asked her.

“Yes, just Spike being stubborn,” she told me, so I sat down next to her on a chair. Reaching over, I closed the book on her, making her look at me.

“Why don’t you do what they try to tell you? They don’t want to see you hide a part of yourself.”

“I... don’t want them to think I’m like Trixie, Sol. I couldn’t live with that,” she whispered looking down at her lap. I gave her a poke on the shoulder, where here talent mark was.

“Twi, your talent is magic. They would never think that of you. Our friends all know what you’re capable of, is it so bad if the whole town knew?” I spoke to her gently. Standing up, I gave a pat to her head. “Anyways, I’ll head to bed now, tomorrow is a class test, I have to be up bright and early.”

“Have a good night, Sol,” she said and I nodded at her, telling her not to stay up too late again. You would expect her to listen at some point about that, but as of right now, I had no luck with her on that front.

Imagine my surprise as a loud roar ripped me out of slumber in the middle of the night and finding out that the light was still burning down in the library. The fuck was going on now? Looking at my phone, while hastily putting on my armor, I saw that it was one in the morning. God, I was too tired for this shit right now...

Quickly racing down the stairs, I saw Twilight get her wand, robe, and dagger ready while noticing how Spike was urging her to hurry up. We all went out into the night, one arrow already at the ready and my hand on the sword prepared to draw it from its scabbard as soon as it was needed. A lot of people were running in the opposite direction of us as we approached the center of the commotion.

Guess who lured a fucking glowing bear into the middle of town. Well no, it wasn’t Trixie as one might have expected, but two idiotic kids. And they weren’t safe from me chewing them out about it.

“We’re sorry, Mister Sol,” they apologized.

“It doesn’t matter, get to safety while we deal with this problem. Twilight, I hope you have enough juice in you for this,” I said, turning towards my friend as she gulped. Seeing Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity arrive at the scene, I got at least a small part of a plan ready. “Rainbow! Distract it while Twilight works out something to calm this bear. Rarity, get the people away from here! And Applejack, you are with me, we will make sure it won’t reach Twilight if it comes anywhere near her!”

The three quickly sprang into action, Rainbow Dash annoying the beast enough to keep its attention while Rarity guided the people away from the danger. Applejack came to my side and hefted her shield up in front of her.

“Mind telling me how that thing got here?” Applejack said, glancing at me from the side.

“Two little dipshits deciding they wanted a front-row seat of the oh-so ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie vanquishing a star beast. Now, let’s make sure Twilight has enough time to work her magic touch and solve this problem.”

“You don’t think we actually stand a chance if Rainbow won’t be able to hold its attention, do you?”

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” I answered grimly.

Turns out we weren’t needed. Like, at all.

As Twilight worked, the wind started to pick up and a distant melody began to lull the bear back to sleep. Rainbow landed at our side while we watched as a water tower began to get filled with milk from over at the farms and floated over to the bear. The shine of Twilights magic steadily increased, wild sparks were flying away from her. Before the bear could crush Trixie it also began to float in the air as it started to suckle from the improvised flask.

Once it was back in the safety of its own cave, we all let out our bated breaths in relief. The crowd began to cheer loudly as we all praised Twilight for this feat of magical might.

“I’m sorry,” Twilight said in return, much to our confusion. What was this about, now? Well, I had a pretty good idea, but why would she ever be sorry about this? “Please, please don’t hate me.”

Groaning in exasperation, I hugged her with both Sol and Lux and invited Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow to follow suit. Spike joined in as well as we dispelled her notions that we would hate her for what she was able to do with her magic. That silly girl and her insecurities.

So yeah, the girls all told her what I tried to already hammer into her head. It was well past the time that she got the message. I snorted as Spike asked her how she knew what to do with the ‘Ursa Major’. That was a whole different can of worms. I knew already that the size difference between a major and minor star beast was gigantic, but to see an actual minor star beast put it into an entirely different perspective. If Twilight already needed to concentrate her magic so much to handle the little one, I didn’t want to know what would happen if the big one ever decided to show its face.

So, Twilight went on to lecture Spike, and with him the rest of the people, that what we stood against was a teensy weensy baby. Of course, Trixie made a show about how Twilight would never have her amazing show talents and promptly disappeared in a poor attempt of a smoke bomb vanish.

That left us with two little troublemakers.

“Where do you think you’re slinking off to, huh?” I asked them with my most menacing voice I could muster. Sol actually could pull it off in a very frightening way, and seeing that I was one of their teachers at school, I was well within my right to give them a punishment for stupidity rivaling the people that got the Darwin Award.

“Uh...” I could tell they knew what they did was wrong. They can be glad no one got hurt in this disaster, or I wouldn’t be as ‘kind’ with my punishment.

“An essay about local wildlife, an essay about how one shouldn’t believe everything a show magician tells them, a public apology to the town and at least a month detention with either me or Miss Cheerilee starting tomorrow. The essays are due to next week, you will find the books within the Golden Oak Library. If you need help finding them, ask Miss Lux here for the books. I expect to read the first draft of the apology in the next three days,” I scolded them sternly, listing the things off I wanted them to do. I’m sure Cheerilee would agree with me on most of this if not all of it.

Twilight also gave them a punishment that had them clean up the mess caused by the big sparkly bear. There were quite a few damaged trees and gnawed on houses that could use a bit of tidying up, as well as the destroyed wagon Trixie left behind.

The mustaches she gave to them were ridiculous, though. Well, at least the other kids will get a laugh out of that.

And so, everything was solved. The answer to life and the universe, what was the best topping on a pizza and what came first, the egg or the chicken.

What? You expect me to give those answers to you? Why would I do that?

The next day arrived perhaps too early for me, what with me having to be at the school so early to prepare for the class test. Most of the stuff I already had ready to go, but I still needed to rearrange the desks so the kids couldn’t cheat by looking at their neighbor’s test, and therefore their answers. Even if they might be wrong, it would defeat the purpose of solving the equations on their own.

I had put about fifteen tasks of varying degrees of difficulty on them, everything they should know about if they listened to the lessons and did their homework. I also put one bonus equation on it, about the next topic, curious if some of them already know how to do probability calculation.

Ah, whom am I kidding, Sweetie Belle probably did. I swear, she was sometimes bored out of her mind as everyone else still struggled on the tasks I set them to do while she scribbled away on her paper, everything already solved.

I’m sure she would be the only one even attempting the bonus equation at the end of the test.

Applebloom was the first to arrive at school, as she was an early riser due to the farm life and her sister being relentless about which time she went to bed and woke up.

As the classroom started to fill up I explained how and when students could leave for a bathroom break and set the papers face down in front of each and every one.

“Alright. You have two periods to work with... starting now,” I said and some flipped the sheets frantically over. The sound of scratching papers was the only thing filling the room as I went around, searching for any cheat sheets and preventing any shenanigans from occurring by some of the bolder students.

I smiled as I saw Sweetie Belle doing the harder parts first and went on, giving Scootaloo the stink eye as she tried to spy from her answers. I put my hand on top of her head and pointed it back to her own test.

“Only one warning,” I told her and she gulped at that. Suffice to say, she didn’t try again. A ‘Psst!’ came to my attention as I saw Diamond Tiara try to sabotage Applebloom by giving her an empty piece of paper. I took it and her test, causing her to protest me but I didn’t let myself be swayed by the threat of her father ‘coming after me’.

Try it, kid. We will see who will laugh at the end of this little spiel.

I wasn’t all that surprised to see Snips and Snails struggling at even the easy equations. Come on, what did they do outside of the classroom that made them this bad at math? Complete dunderheads, the both of them.

It clawed at my singular soul that I haven’t made any progress with them. Was I really that bad of a teacher for them to learn nothing from me?

Not everyone could be a Sweetie Belle, even if I wished for that from the bottom of my heart. It was actually fun teaching her, unlike some other students of mine.

No, I don’t care that that was favoritism.

As the first period went by I stopped Diamond Tiara from doing something stupid, like you know, stealing Applebloom’s test. I had no idea what was up with her, but it was typically something like jealousy or their own inferiority that spurned bullies on to do what they do. By making other people more miserable than they feel.

The question was, what went on in Diamond Tiara’s little head that made her feel like that. I probably should bring this up with Cheerilee to get to the bottom of this problem.

A few cursory glances here and there showed me that the students weren’t doing all that bad with the tasks, aside from a few outliers.

And I was pleased to see Sweetie Belle tried her hand at the bonus question before she went on to the small fry. I actually remember from my own memories that I never learned probability calculation until I was in high school. Don’t know whether that was because I was ill at the time or had a different curriculum.

Either way, quite a few students turned their tests in before the time was even up, stating that they were done. Looking at some of those tests, I could already tell they didn’t even go over their answers one last time to try and spot any mistakes.

By the end of the allotted time, I went around and took the tests of the few students that hadn’t already turned theirs in. Of course, some protested at that, but I couldn’t just allow them to work on it longer than I told them they had time for.

Thus, I was alone in the classroom going over the answers of the students and writing notes at the margin of the paper for them to look at later. It was quite relaxing, believe me or not.

Cheerilee came in at one point getting ready to let the kids back in. We actually decided to share all lessons, even though I only taught mathematics to the kids at the moment. It gave the children another adult to ask questions to while one of us was occupied with another student or teaching a subject.

It was mostly me helping the students as Cheerilee taught in front of the class. Once the students got a bit older I would handle the more technical subjects And seeing that we had no qualified teachers for the magic and flight part of the lesson plan, I was hard at work with Lux at teaching myself the theory behind magic.

That left us without a flight instructor. It couldn’t be me, because I was shit at flying and Rainbow already had a job. Well, one would think she didn’t, seeing that she was goofing around all the time.

I took the stack of papers and sat my behind down amongst the returning students as I continued to work. Featherweight looked curiously on as I wrote on with my red pencil. I smirked as he let out a jubilant cheer as he saw me write down the grade on his own test, one of the better ones.

Diamond Tiara grumbled a few seats away from me about her treatment being unfair, but I ignored her. She should have thought ahead before trying to sabotage a classmate.

Finally, at the bottom of the stack, I was feeling giddy to correct Sweetie Belle’s test. It was a treat to my soul not having to write all over it with red. Even though the bonus task wasn’t entirely correct, it was a good basis to improve on. She would have no trouble with the lessons, I could tell.

“Miss Cheerilee?” the voice of Applebloom brought me back to the lesson just as I wrote a ‘Well done! :)’ at the end of the test from Sweetie Belle.

“Yes, Applebloom? You have a question?” Cheerilee turned to the red-haired girl.

“Is that smoke normal?”

Confused, I followed where her finger was pointing. Meanwhile, in the library, I dragged Twilight hastily out of the door and pointed at the distant mountain.

“Oh, dear...” Twilight and Cheerilee said at the same time as I stood beside them with my different bodies. It was funny how simultaneous that was, considering that was usually my thing.

“Class, I’m sorry to leave, but I will probably be needed for this,” I said, excusing myself from the kids and giving Cheerilee an apologetic smile. She motioned for me to go on and so I raced to the position where I knew Twilight, Lux, and Spike were.

There never was a quiet moment in this town anymore since Nightmare Moon, was there? Well... it fed my inner adrenalin junkie, so I wasn’t complaining. I actually reached Twilight as Spike belched out a scroll with a familiar seal on it.

As Spike read the letter I began to equip my gear that my other half brought with her. We found most of our friends in the park and also warned the general populace of what was causing the heavy smoke that started to blot out the sky. Turns out, it was a dragon.

Here I thought I would never have to face one besides Spike, but he didn’t count in the sense that he wasn’t an ancient being able to crush me with his palm. Or any other part of his body, for that matter. And was actually willing to do so.

Understandably, I was scared.

That we had to climb for hours on end on a massive mountain wasn’t my idea of fun, either. We would probably have to camp a few days in rough terrain before we even reached our destination. And... you know, haul all our heavy gear and supplies up there with us.

I wondered why Celestia sent us, instead of the military. They would be better suited at handling a national threat, wouldn’t they? I really should read up on the militaries of this world, it was a serious gap in my knowledge.

We would have to suck it up as we couldn’t just tell Celestia to send them instead of us. Maybe we wouldn’t even end up having to fight, so there was that. It would certainly be nice to just get there, tell it to leave, and be done with it.

As we went over our overall plan for the trip up the mountain after we gathered the rest of our little group, Lux and Sol packed the things we would need. With Lux, I went through the kitchen stuffing canned food into a bag that would last us a week at the most, and with Sol, I packed clothing and other camping related gear like sleeping bags. Applejack assured me that her family had a few tents to spare so we didn’t need to worry about sleeping without some modicum of protection against freezing winds and so on.

Roughly an hour later found all of us back in front of the library as we all gathered the gear we needed. Every one of us was decked out in the armor and weapons just in case, while Applejack was wearing a heavy backpack overstuffed with camping gear. We all had a bag filled with at least some spare clothing, while I was in charge of the food and Twilight of the map. Despite our misgivings, Pinkie decided to stuff her bags with games so the trip wouldn’t get ‘super boring’, as she said.

Who knows, maybe it will help. It would help to at least relieve some stress, and judging by the fidgeting of Fluttershy, she would need that.

The trip to the mountain on the horizon took us some time at the pace we were going at. Our speed wasn’t helped by the heavy luggage, which only managed to unnerve us more and more with the mountain looming ahead of us.

Just as we arrived at the foot of it, it was already time for dinner. So we decided to set up camp before it got too dark and Applejack provided us with a firestarter kit to make a campfire. That woman apparently went out camping all the time, she truly knew her way around the wilderness, it seemed.

Not that we needed the firestarter kit, to begin with, as Brightpaw just spat out a fireball at the gathered wood. He went back to comforting Fluttershy as her anxiety started to get the better of her.

Something about that rubbed me the wrong way. It almost seemed like she wasn’t afraid of what the dragon would do but of something else entirely.

Pinkie stuck her arm into her bag, and like the physics-defying girl she was, it went in way past what was possible, pulling out a deck of cards. So, Rarity, Rainbow, Applejack, and I took her up on her offer to play a few rounds of varying card games.

“Oh, come on! How can you have the plus-four card again, Pinkie!” Rainbow complained for the umpteenth time as she got stuck drawing more cards from the stack. We all gave a snicker at her misfortune as Pinkie smiled innocently.

“Maybe I’m just lucky?” Pinkie answered.

“Yeah, sure. More like Lady Fortune playing favorites...” Rainbow grumbled as I put one of my cards down, reversing the direction in which we took turns. Now Rainbow grinned as she actually managed to draw a plus-four card of her own.

Well... turns out Pinkie had another and I had to draw eight cards with Sol. Now I started to think Rainbow’s words had some merit to them as the others laughed at the turn of events.

“Ah’m gonna have to pass on another round, gals. It’s time Ah hit the hay,” Applejack said as we prepared to play the next round after Pinkie won... again. I swear, this time I’m gonna beat her for sure.

“Have a good night, dear,” Rarity said mixing the cards thoroughly.

“Night,” we all said. Looking at my cards I barely managed to suppress my grins from showing on both of my faces. There is no way Pinkie can have a plus-four card as I already had two of them in hand!

And so went the rest of the day, me only managing to win once. Rainbow decided to tell some spooky stories over the campfire and we all had our fun with telling some jokes in-between to keep the mood up, even with the loud snoring echoing from the mountaintop.

It was a wonder we managed to succumb to slumber. I was actually surprised I didn’t get any nightmares from fighting dragons or whatnot and just found myself in the embrace of Horse God.

As always, her serene smile greeted me while her hooves stroked my hair in a soothing fashion. I snuggled a bit deeper into her embrace making her titter in mirth. If I would ever remember my real mother I would imagine her similar to her, only as... you know, a human.

Maybe...

Anyway, over the last few weeks, I got less and less of my memories back, putting a dampener on my mood on a regular basis. Horse God never answered my questions regarding my past, as she always got this far away look on her when I asked. So, I eventually stopped pestering her about it because it made her look so sad when she splayed her ears back. I got the feeling she didn’t want to tell me because she didn’t want to cause me any heartache.

Instead, she just listened to me ramble on about our day and what we did with our friends and I altogether avoided to bring up anything regarding my memories from Earth. I didn’t want to make her feel miserable again after the last time I did so. Based on her behavior I could take a guess and say that what happened on Earth must have been pretty bad to me.

Thus, I spent my night with my deity before the morning arrived all too soon. Applejack was already making breakfast as I got up. I thanked her for the meal and went about my morning rituals on both bodies. It was weird not having a bathroom to take care of myself but that is what you get when you never leave civilization.

Once we brought our little camp down we began our track up the mountain for real. The first few miles were still easy enough before the incline of the rocky terrain got steeper and steeper to traverse.

The mountain looked way smaller from Ponyville’s standpoint. We had to take a few stops here and there, mainly because some of us weren’t used to walking for hours on end up and up. Applejack was the only one that didn’t seem winded besides Rainbow Dash. But the rainbow-haired woman was mainly flying around as it is, so that didn’t count.

The only thing keeping us sane at the end of the day was the talking going on between us. Rarity complained a lot though, just as I was tempted to do. Believe it or not, I wasn’t into dirt and rocks all that much, either. I took it as the half-man that I was and sucked it up instead of following her example.

Okay, maybe I complained too, so what?

We decided to set up camp once more around the evening hours. The weather wasn’t as cold yet as it would be when we got higher up, luckily. That would surely begin to irritate everyone come the next few days.

The girls and I tried to get Twilight to break away from her constant watch over the map and get her to relax that no-nonsense attitude by inviting her along to another round of games. This time we played truth or dare.

There were some questions asked, a few dares carried out, and some embarrassing secrets revealed. Twilight actually loosened up after we all took some turns. I answered some questions regarding the stuff I remembered of my childhood, nothing too embarrassing to be said there, and did some stupid stuff like eating a really hot chili pepper Rainbow took with her on this trip.

She wanted to use those for a prank or two, but the game we played was just as good of an opportunity to use them.

I learned a few more things about my friends, like Twilight still having her stuffed horse plushie from when she was a little kid, Rarity having a full closet of lingerie she never sold, Applejack making her brother wear a dress and Rainbow having performed what she called a sonic ‘rainboom’ at the age of nine-ish. Just a bit younger than the kids I taught at school. She must’ve been training her whole life up to this point, huh.

The next day saw us playing rock-paper-scissors to pass the time and the day after that we played tic-tac-toe. We were making progress steadily to the top. And with that, came even worse terrain to continue on. It got to the point we had to use safety lanyards or it would have been too dangerous for us. Fluttershy had to carry Brightpaw, as he was having trouble with his small stature to get over some gaps and stones.

Let’s just say I wished I had one of those ice picks Lara Croft had in the Tomb Raider series, or even her counterpart Raiding Tomb here in Equestria. Well, at least we had someone that could fly, and was willing to do so, to help us not die a painful death. Rainbow was so kind as to anchor the ropes safely and guide us along when we came face to face with a cliff to big to jump across.

The problem with that was, that Fluttershy was too scared to cross by hanging from the rope. We all had taken our turns by now and Brightpaw was unsuccessful in convincing her to get over her fear.

He wasn’t that gentle in trying to convince her, either. If he weren’t so strong I would have thrown that little asshole down the cliff.

“Come on, Fluttershy. We should be much farther along by now,” Twilight tried once more. Fluttershy on the other hand just stayed hugged to the mountain wall.

“You just need to get on the rope,” Applejack reassured her. It seemed like Fluttershy let go of the rock for a moment, but leaped back to it a second after though, as a loud snore reached us.

“Take care of my things for a moment, won’t you?” I asked Twilight with Sol and went back to the other side of the cliff. I slowly approached Fluttershy as she was shaking like mad, hugging Brightpaw closely to herself.

“Hey...” I said slowly while reaching out a hand to touch her shoulder.

“Eep!” she squeaked out, her eyes shooting up to mine in fright.

“I’ll help you, okay?” I told her and she screwed her eyes shut instead.

“Come on, Fluttershy. It will be quick, I promise,” I said. “And afterward we will start our camp early for you to relax, how does that sound?”

“How...” she started quietly, her voice starting to sound oddly monotone to my ears. “How can you be so fearless?”

“Oh, Fluttershy... I’m shaking in my boots here,” I told her with a small smile. I was telling her the truth, I just barely mustered up the will to get back over here. “I just don’t let my fear control me. That’s what it means to be courageous. Standing up to your fear and say ‘No, you don’t dictate what I do!’, okay?”

Fluttershy nodded at me, so I took her hand in mine and gave a squeeze. Gently asking her if she was ready, we began to climb over to the other side. Multiple times I needed to tell her not to look down and keep her focus on the goal. Eventually, both of us reached the group waiting for us and I told Twilight we needed to set up camp, as I promised Fluttershy she wouldn’t have to continue on for the rest of the day.

Rainbow groaned at this, not liking to have to stay even longer on this godforsaken mountain, but I was adamant in letting Fluttershy have this. And maybe I also wanted this a teensy-weensy bit.

The day went by a bit slower, but the girls didn’t seem to mind as long as it placated Fluttershy and me. Pinkie got the idea to play hangman all day and drove us a bit crazy. Some of the words even Twilight didn’t know what they were supposed to mean before Pinkie explained them to us. I swear the random things she knew...

I had no idea that the whistling noise a sword makes when you swing it around is called ‘whiffle’... Or the fact a crowkeeper doesn’t keep crows but scares them away, seriously how did she know that? One particular hard one to guess at were the words ‘hapax legomenon’, which basically meant a word that only occurred once in a document or text. I had no idea where Pinkie learned all these words (probably for the sake of winning every quiz one could ever imagine).

Our journey continued early in the morning before even the sun came up. To make up for lost time, I would assume. The rest of the trip went over quietly as Twilight warned us that we could cause an avalanche in this area. Because of that, we all traveled cautiously. Rainbow had to stay on the ground for once like the rest of us and all that we had to listen to was the howling of the wind.

The entrance to the cave, in which the dragon slept, was massive. We couldn’t see that far in due to the smoke billowing out from its depth. That couldn’t be healthy, even though the dragon could spew fire like a water hose, man.

Gosh, I didn’t want to know how big it must be for it to produce that much.

“Rainbow Dash, I want you to clear away the smoke,” Twilight began as we stood anxiously next to her. “Rarity and Pinkie Pie, you create a diversion to distract the dragon if things get out of hand.”

Rarity nodded and Pinkie grinned before producing a rubber chicken. We all stared at her as she played around with it. Sometimes I wonder what happened to her when she was a kid...

“Applejack, Lux, and Sol, you get ready to defend us in case it tries to attack,” Twilight told us and I nocked an arrow, Applejack brought up a shield as Sol hefted his sword upon his shoulder.

“But it shouldn’t come to that because Fluttershy will do what she needs to do to wake him up,” Twilight continued. “And between the two of us, we should be able to get him to understand why he needs to go.”

“Is everyone ready?”

Needless to say, everyone besides Fluttershy answered with an affirmative. The poor girl was too scared out of her mind to do anything but hide. And thus, everything went downhill.

Twilight, without looking if Fluttershy was following her, went into the cave, tried her luck, and failed. Rarity was too tempted by the riches of the dragon, Pinkie just annoyed it and gave up, I tried bribing it with gold (that Celestia would provide, fuck her for sending us here), but Twilight dragged me out before we could strike up a deal. Then Rainbow got impatient and attacked the friggin’ dragon.

So yeah, that happened.

And we got promptly smashed into the ground. End of story, we all died, see you in the afterlife...

Nah, just kidding. We were a bit dazed and Fluttershy came to our rescue riding on the back of Brightpaw as he leaped up onto the snout of the dragon. That gave it a surprise.

And apparently, his flames could burn the dragon. Fluttershy didn’t even tell him to revert back to his fluffy little form of a small fox as she went to confront the massive dragon.

And boy, did she make it cry. I wasn’t sure she had it in her, but judging by the thorough tongue-lashing she did to it, you wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that. And the way how she stood there, her wings spread out like an avenging angel, a strange gleam in her eyes, and furrowed brow, made her look bad-ass.

Now then, that concludes this little tale of how Fluttershy single-handedly saved Equestria. No need to worry about the smoke anymore and the kids at school were glad that I got back safely.

Spike also was glad he didn’t have to put up with the devil bunny he was stuck with for the past week, so yay, I guess.

10. Manehattan Mischief.

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Ahh... Back here again, are we? Man, do I have a tale for you this time around. Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first, before we continue on where we are now. What? No, no, no, you can’t actually think the stuff that happened was anything but boring. Really? Okay then.

Fine, I admit, it was kinda awesome. So, we had a bit of an adventure after a presumptuous magician came to town and caused some chaos. Her outlandish tales got on the nerve of all our friends and me, which brought about some situations I’d rather not talk about. Suffice to say, after an Ursa Minor attack during the night, no one wanted to see Trixie in town anymore.

I’m not sure what happened to her after she left, I wasn’t really in the mood to find out. She did make a fool out of my friends. I know my vindictive side was speaking here, but I hope she stubbed her toe on a door. Shocking, I know.

The day after that got us on a week-long journey to the mountaintop to get rid of a dragon snoring smoke. Bad case of smoker’s lung he sported, suffice to say Fluttershy saved our asses. And by everything holy, did she bring down retribution on the dragon after we got pummeled into the dirt. That tongue-lashing will go down in the history books, I tell you.

After our grueling journey, we all had some well-deserved rest for a few weeks. We were nearing the end of summer by now and thus it brings us to today.

I finally decided to get off of my lazy ass and do something that I’ve been pushing away due to work and training. Currently, I was on a train headed to Manehattan and I’m sure you could guess as to why that was.

The train cabin I was in reminded me quite a lot of the Hogwarts Express if it was all cutesie and whatnot. It was even called the Friendship Express, for Horse God’s sake!

I was reading a book I took with me to pass the time, one of the ones from the Adventure Guy series which reminded me of Nathan Drake from Uncharted way too much. As I read a particularly thrilling passage where he tried climbing out of a derailed train car, I heard a commotion from outside the booth I was staying in.

“If you screw this job up again, there won’t be a next time, Sentinel,” the voice whispered harshly as I heard someone get slammed into the wall. The sound of a blade being drawn made me cautious as I reached for my own. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, sir Marrow, sir!”

“Good,” this Marrow guy said, and then they were gone. Whatever that was about, it couldn’t be anything good if he had to threaten people with a weapon to get them to comply with his demands. Not long after that, the train slowed to a standstill, arriving at our final stop.

I packed my things away and got off the train, looking around. Well, if you squinted a bit you would actually think you were standing back in New York on Earth. Busy people of all walks of life were going about their day in the big city with the nickname of a fruit.

Okay, how to go about this... What I needed to do was better left to be done after nightfall, so that left me with a few hours to burn off the daylight with. With an idea in mind, I stalked down the streets to a particular place I remembered on Earth. Sol, on the other hand, separated himself from my other half to go scout out the place I needed to be at later this day.

While I did that with him, I focused on Lux to see if the place I had in mind also existed here. Rounding a corner I saw the little restaurant tucked away between two buildings, looking as rustic as ever. The windows looked like they were ripped out of a fairy tale book and above the door was the name of the restaurant.

It was a place I visited a long time ago and it brought back the fond feeling I had for it. It was a German-style restaurant and I couldn’t wait to try some of the food again.

A waitress quickly showed me to a table and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face as I looked at the dishes from the menu. German food was great, seriously. If you never had some, you were missing out, I tell you.

After I satisfied the Hungry God that called itself my stomach, I began strolling down the streets to find anything that struck my fancy. Might even find some things for the girls to bring back to or try shopping for some Christmas gifts. One could never start too early with that, after all.

For Rarity, I bought some high-quality coloring pencils she could use for her sketches. I seem to remember her using some of these kinds before and those were already pretty short from usage. Some new ones would probably make her happy. I thought of buying her some jewelry, but firstly, I hadn’t enough money to go with something I think she definitely would have loved, and secondly, it wasn’t something you gave to just any person. I would basically just admit my feelings for her, should I do that. Ya know, I’m a coward, I didn’t want to risk my friendship with her.

And seeing that I wasn’t that far away from a shop selling enchanted items, I went to go look in there to see if I could find something for Twilight. The man behind the desk gave a ‘Welcome’ without even looking up from the book he was reading, apparently content to let customers browse the store without making sure nobody stole anything.

Considering this was a store for enchanted items, it was safe to assume an enchantment made sure nothing got stolen. He could be a bit friendlier, though.

Anyway, looking around all the stuff on display I smiled as I saw an enchanted tea set. The description said it would keep the tea warm and serve the liquid within when you told it to do so. I was very interested in how the enchantment worked. Maybe it worked like voice activation on smartphones and the like? I thought of buying it for Fluttershy, seeing that she was the one that drank tea the most in our group, but decided to keep looking for other things first.

The friggin’ thing was expensive for a tea set.

The enchanted clock not that far away from the tea set looked like a digital clock from Earth, but with the tell-tale glow of magic as the numbers. It looked neat, but wouldn’t make for a great gift in my opinion.

A bag caught my attention next, but the price on it made me cringe. It seems a bag of holding was only for rich people then. A bummer. Such things are majorly useful but at the price equivalent to a supercar? By all things Horse God, fuck no!

What I wouldn’t give to know how to make those... A dream for now, sadly. My skill with magic likely wasn’t enough to actually create a bag of my own. Twilight might be able to, although I was skeptical she knew how to make those. It wasn’t exactly common knowledge and by what I have read about those, the exact process was very complicated and a closely kept secret. The materials played a big part in the creation, too.

Next up in the stuff that was noteworthy, I saw a bunch of feathers. Quills to be exact. The description said that those were dictating quills, meaning they would write by themselves as you spoke to them. Kinda like those things in Harry Potter. That would actually a great gift to either Twilight or Spike.

You know what, both of them could use them equally so I’ll get two of ‘em. The rest of the stuff here wasn’t anything I would consider as a gift, so I bought two enchanted quills and left. Maybe I would come back later if I didn’t find something for Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash was easy to get something for, she was a massive Wonderbolts fan. And what do you know, there were a few fan shops around. I decided to give her a scarf with their logo on it. It would come in handy during the winter months, I’m sure.

I didn’t find anything else during my window shopping that I felt would be good for either Applejack or Pinkie Pie. Pinkie would most likely be happy to have sweets, so there was always that option left to consider. Those I could get before Christmas, though.

Before the day ended and the shops closed I decided to pay the man with the enchanted items a visit again. It was the best gift idea I had come across all day for Fluttershy, so I guess I’ll stick with it and pay the money. My pockets definitely felt lighter after I was done for the day and found a hotel to put away my stuff in and keep up appearances.

Wouldn’t do to have someone get suspicious, what with the crimes I was about to commit. I mean, I certainly didn’t view them as such, but I was looking out for myself here. Those forged papers needed to get into those buildings or I was screwed once someone got the idea to dig a little deeper.

It was a bit hard to get my hands on those, and the money I had to pay set me a few paychecks back, but they were worth it. The only problem was, I needed to get them to where they should be and put an official seal on them.

The stuff I do for Horse God, man. And myself, but still. The first thing I need to do is get in and not let myself be discovered doing so. Second on the list was finding where to put them in the building and thirdly, put a stamp of the city on them.

Oh boy, if I wasn’t in over my head.

At around three in the morning, I mused about how I should go with this. The bracelet around my wrist looked invitingly at me and I stared back.

Was it wrong to use a weapon meant for a hero to commit crimes with it? Some part of my mind protested the action as I touched it on Lux. A second later I stood there in the light-eating outfit that I haven’t seen since my first two days in this world. It still looked as breathtaking as I remembered it. Okay, this would do nicely.

There was no way I could do this with Sol, so I had to use my stealth capabilities with Lux for this mission. I didn’t need the string-less bow, but perhaps it would find its use this night.

No, not to kill anyone. Just to, you know, knock someone out. No one needed to see me doing this, but there was the possibility that I would get discovered and had to fight my way out. By that point, the mission might as well be considered failed, though. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.

I climbed out the window and jumped the short drop down to the ground, rolling to lessen the impact. Okay then, not many people still awake, but still enough to report me for being a suspicious sneaky shadow and stuff.

As I ran through alleyways I admired for the first time how the black leather-like armor felt like a second skin. Way better than my normal armor, but comparing both of them was doing it an injustice. It felt like I was wearing something of legendary quality instead of something that qualified as outstanding. The armor Luna gave our little group was of high quality, but nothing could reach up to this.

“No!” a voice of a woman stopped me in my tracks. “Stop! Let go of me!”

Fuck, fuggin’ fuck... What do I do? She sounded like she really needed someone to save her day, but I didn’t want to get seen doing anything shady.

If I went to her, there could be a chance someone would see me, or even remember me later to give a description to the police.

On the one hand, save a girl. On the other, risk getting exposed for playing hero.

I felt like I had this argument with myself before...

Anyway, no one would believe her having seen someone wrapped in a cloak of light-eating... whatever it was made of. And it wasn’t like anyone could see my face under the hood. As long as no one makes the connection of a break-in and a vigilante saving a woman in distress, everything should be alright, right?

Growling, I made my decision and sprinted in the direction the shout came from. Hopefully, I wasn’t too late to arrive at the scene. Something told me I wasted too much time already, though. I had to hurry!

Running around frantically I had to search some alleys before I saw them.

Two men were standing watch, while a third did the unspeakable. My skin crawled and I saw red. I don’t care what happens to him and his goons, he would pay for that.

The two that stood lookout weren’t the most intelligent, judging by the brawn instead of the brain. Both were ripped, which was a problem. I had no idea of how I would fare against people that relied entirely on strength to get their will done.

If my training with Luna taught me anything, though, it was that strength wasn’t the end all be all. I could work their strength against them if I was quick enough.

And speed was something I was pretty good with on Lux.

Naturally, they saw me coming from a mile away, but they were a bit to slow to react. By the time I was reaching them, one tried to warn their little leader. The other got a kick to the face, stunning him.

I grinned as the other one went to punch me, but hit his friend instead as I dodged. There was nothing quite like making your opponents hit each other, instead. His friend, as dumb as he is, hit back thinking it was I that hit him. Using the bow I knocked them both down, before striking them with it on their heads.

One fell unconscious, while I had to ‘help’ things along on the other one with a brutal kick to their head. That left only one rat to deal with.

By now even he got the memo that something wasn’t right. Too bad he couldn’t defend himself from a round-house kick to the side of his head. That was too kind on the sorry excuse of a living being but did the job. I debated whether to twist his neck around or not, but that would probably catch unwanted attention. And I didn’t want to traumatize the poor woman with my ruthlessness if I could avoid it. Instead, I would tie them up when I find something to bind them with. For now, I had a woman in need of some support.

The girl lying on the dirty ground was barely older than myself. She had light green hair and blue tear-stained eyes. Her clothing was ripped in several places and some bruises could be seen through the holes.

I grimaced at the stench of male musk in the air and tried not to throw up. God, what a sick fuck. My burning hatred almost made me pull out one of the knives from the thugs to slit his throat with, but my vindictive side wanted him to be forever in prison, to be abused by anyone that saw this act just as heinous as I felt about it.

That would put him into an eternity of suffering, while simply killing him won’t do it justice.

The girl flinched as I lightly touched her shoulder, but her eyes got back some of their light as she noticed I wasn’t going to hurt her as he did.

“Come,” I told her, offering my hand to her. “Let’s get you somewhere safe and those three locked away, okay?”

She nodded at my gentle tone of voice, hugging herself tightly as she stared forlornly into the distance. It seemed she could stand at least without problems.

I berated myself for having it let come this far, to begin with. If I were just fast enough, this could have been avoided. This was my fault for taking too long to make a decision about whether to keep to the shadows or not.

The only silver-lining I could see was that the man didn’t get to finish.

The girl didn’t even react when I told her to wait at the entrance to the alley as I bound the three worms with some chains I found lying next to a dumpster, rusting away. I was quick to arrive with Sol to drag them away to the police department. The girl followed Lux as I carefully moved her towards someone that could help someone like her.

Meaning, I left her at a hospital and let the nurses find her at the emergency station.

With that done, I continued on my original task of infiltrating government buildings. It was ironic that after stopping a crime, I would commit one. Well, technically vigilantism was also considered a crime, but that was stupid in my opinion.

Who wouldn’t enact a bit of justice if they found something like that happening? I don’t care that you were supposed to find or call the police for them to take care of the problem when you were just as capable of dealing with it. If you had the means to do so and did not, you were just as much at fault as the one committing the crime.

God, I sounded like Spider-Man. With great responsibility comes great ass-kicking, bla bla bla.

Admittedly, I wouldn’t make a great Spider-Man.

Anyway, I found myself standing atop a roof just next to the building I wanted to get into. I could see some people moving around there, likely whatever nightguard they employed to keep the building safe from people like me. Too bad no one ever looked up.

I took a bit of a running start and jumped across the gap down to the slightly less tall building. Wasn’t the smartest idea, but it worked out. The problem now was, how do I escape after I was done? That would be future-me’s problem for now.

Pulling out some lock picks, I tried my best at getting the lock of the rooftop access open. It took me some frustration and way too much time, and some broken picks, to get it to finally open.

Without making a noise I opened the hatch to peek into the darkened corridors. Letting the fold-out ladder down, I slowly made my way down to the floor. Putting the ladder back up, I began to sneak around so I could find what I was after.

Most of the rooms were just offices, so I went to the next floor all the while avoiding the guards with their pesky flashlights. I found a locked door, but after I got through the lock I just found a janitor closet. So much for getting my hopes up. At least I found a floor plan on the wall and determined that there was nothing on this one.

Once more I went down the stairs to search for my target. I almost ran into a guard as I was about to round a corner but was swift enough to slip into a room before he could turn around. I waited for a few minutes before opening the door so it was slightly ajar. The coast was clear for the moment and I took the opportunity to find another floor plan.

It was actually plastered over the janitor closet of this floor, with a sticky post on it saying ‘Don’t lose it this time, Argent!’. Whoever that was, he needed to keep better track of his things.

Like the master key I found in the room behind the locked door. That would at least spare me the risky process of trying to open these doors. Seeing that the floor didn’t have the room I was gunning for, I went down once more.

I was nearing the end of a hall when the first complication occurred. A guard was coming up the hall I was in and I was to slow to enter a room. The one I tried was locked and fishing out the key would have taken to long.

So I did the only thing my panic-induced mind told me to do and stood still while pressed to the wall. I sighed in relief as he only just looked into the hall before turning around to go back onto the patrol route he followed.

Well, until he turned back around again because he heard me exhale too loudly. Actually, it wasn’t that loud, but in a silent building picking up on this wasn’t that hard.

Hastily I cast a spell I was all too familiar with by now.

“Hello?” he said, unsure if he did hear anything. He went up to where I was standing and I had to keep my hand on my mouth and nose with a death grip. If he heard me breathing out in relief from down the hall, there was no doubt he would hear me breathe from right next to him.

God, I loved the ‘Notice-me-not!’ spell so much right now. Even though the edges of my vision started to get blurry. Fucking move away, man! I couldn’t hold my breath infinitely.

For once Lady Luck smiled upon me as he shrugged and went back to do the work he was too incompetent to do. The ‘Notice-me-not!’ spell had one glaring weakness and that was that you could see a slight wavering in the air if you were suspicious of something fishy going on.

This time I was able to breathe in deeply to replenish my oxygen as he was gone around the corner and out of ear-shot. Gosh, that was close. I ended my spell and continued on. While I did want to keep it going, it would leave me too exhausted to actually flee once I was done here. No need to waste energy when I can sneak around just as well without. In a bind, I could cast it again.

Seeing that I could open the door behind me now I went in and found a big office of someone important. Going through some of the documents lying on the desk I learned where they kept the legal documents of the citizens of Manehattan. Apparently, they recently moved them around and what I was reading was the report on that.

Due to fire hazard moved to... Oh, come on! The second basement floor? I could have searched the whole night away going by this rate. Well, at least I now had an idea where to search.

Locking the door after I left the office, I made my way back to the stairs. Or wanted to at least. The friggin’ guard from earlier was standing in front of the door leading to them. How would I get past him now?

Well... I had one very bad idea and a slightly less bad one. First option, add to my list of crimes by setting the building on fire, or for the second option, knock him out.

The question was, what would I do? Sure, the inner pyromaniac within me wanted to cackle in glee while causing havoc, but my rational part argued that I couldn’t live with myself after I would be done doing so.

Mentally counting to ten, I sprinted at the unsuspecting guard before he even had a chance to react. A loud crack echoed out as my bow connected with his nose, followed by a headbutt to his forehead. He went out like a light, slumping to the ground. I winced rubbing my own head.

Okay, now I was on a time limit, better start to get a move on in that case. Shoving him into the staircase with me to hide him from the other guards for at least a little while, I quickly made my way down to the basements second floor. I had no idea how long it would take for people to notice his absence, so even if he didn’t wake up anytime soon, someone would get suspicious soon.

I cursed as I saw three guards patrolling through this floor instead of the usual one or two I had observed on the upper floors. How many guards did they hire for this building, man... It seemed the head honcho was a paranoid person.

One of them, I could tell, stood in front of the door I was after. Or the door that most likely had what I wanted to get in to. The storage room for all the legal documents.

That meant one more guard I had to knock out while the other two were free to give out an alarm that an intruder was in the building. And at least one of the patrolling guards was in the line of sight of the other ones. At this point, I thought it would be easier to rob a friggin’ bank.

Which was not an idea I entertained for more than a minute. Nope! No way.

Perhaps... Okay, there might be a way I could delay them from getting the other guards, but I had to be fast. As soon as I left the confines of the staircase I needed to lock them with the key. If they couldn’t get through the door as I dealt with them, they couldn’t warn the others, right? Perfect plan, if I do say so.

Once more I counted down from ten and held the key at the ready. Springing into action, I closed the door just as quickly as I opened them and put the key in. A ‘Hey!’ came from the guard down the hall as he spotted me and I turned the key in the lock.

Phase one complete. Starting phase two of my masterplan.

Dodging to the side, the guard overextended his arm and I punched him in the kidney. The other guards appeared at the end of the hall, both of them drawing their nightsticks. No matter, I just had to avoid getting knocked out by them.

The guard I was already fighting with retaliated by throwing another punch. I went with the motion of stepping backward before he connected the hit to lessen the severity somewhat. I dodged once more to the side, but this time he was wise to not overextend. At his next punch, I did a backflip kicking him full-force in the chin. I barely avoided getting hit by one of the guards blunt weapons as they tried to take advantage of a perceived inability on my part to react fast enough.

A sweeping leg strike saw at least one of them lose balance and fall to the ground. Through the motion of a roll, I put enough swing into the attack with my bow to make him unable to continue the fight. Have fun in La La Land, my dear.

Seeing one of the remaining guards make a break towards the staircase while pulling out a key of his own, I threw my bow to put a stop to his plan, while fending off the other guard. At the very least my attack made him let go of the key in his hand, so I had a few seconds to deal with the other nuisance. I expertly dodged the strikes of the man, he was after all not as fast as some of my friends and certainly not as fast as one of Luna’s mirror images.

So, that gave me an idea.

Summoning my clones they dogpiled my opponent while I went after the one struggling with the key. Kicking up my bow from the ground, I swung it heavily against the side of his head. That took care of this one and my clones made short work of the other one.

“Sorry, boys. Nothing personal,” I said to their unconscious bodies while I went and opened the door to the archive.

Finding the proper registry was easy enough in the maze of drawers and lockers. Without hesitating, I deposited the forged documents in their rightful places. Or wrongful, depending on how you view what I did as good or bad. Not that I care about the particular righteousness of my little breaking and entering.

How many crimes did I commit this night, again?

I went back up the staircase once I made sure the door was locked up again and tried to come up with an escape route. And judging by the commotion upstairs, I needed one asap. The foyer of this building was an obvious choice... if I wanted to get caught by more than five guards in that area alone.

Damn, you would expect they were here to prevent a break-in from happening. By how paranoid the big boss here seemed to be, I think there had been one recently. I’m going to make his paranoia worse, aren’t I?

Another option would be to fight myself up to the top of the staircase. In doing so I would need to fight even more than the previous option. It would be offset by having to fight them one or two at a time, seeing that the staircase was only so wide to allow that many people to fight reliably side by side.

I preferred the last option of jumping out a window and making a run for it. The problem with that was, that I needed to get to the second floor of this building where the outside windows were located. The fucking building had none on the first. And by the time I got there, the guards would be hot on my trail. Well, better that than the other two options, I guess.

Before the first guard could reach me I was already running down the hall on the floor where I needed to be. Okay, then. Judging the direction it was going, the main entrance was to my left, so going to a room on the opposite end would get me the best access to a guard free road. Well, almost guard free, as there could always be some there now to prevent my escape.

Not that they would be successful in that regard, I told myself. Couldn’t get caught now, could I?

I managed to slam the door of an office into the face of the men chasing after me and swiftly locked it to buy myself time to get the window open and get out. Down on the streets, I saw two flashlights scanning the windows for movement.

Alright, as always, I counted to ten and got ready to flee and/or fight. Let’s hope it stays with flee, then.

Pushing the window open as I felt it to be the right moment to do so, I jumped out and rolled down on the ground to avoid injury. As soon as I was back up I sprinted down the streets as guards and police gave chase.

“Crap,” I muttered to myself seeing the law enforcement come after me, too. Ducking into an alleyway, I continued to run from the law at the best speed I could maintain for an extended period of time.

And just as I thought I managed to lose them, another policeman spotted me as he entered the alley on the other end.

“Surrender now, or we will use force!” he told me. I turned around, but there stood a woman ready with a weapon and cuffs. Double crap. What to do, what to do...

“Lady, we got some questions for you, please just come with us,” the policewoman said as she slowly started to get closer to me. Crap, crap, crap. Think, come on, think!

Where is the most likely place they won’t get to me?

You know, people always forgot to look upwards.

Giving a grin, I jumped on the dumpster to my side and then jumped to the fire escape ladder above me. And thus, the chase continued over the rooftops of Manehattan.

Forgot some people in this world had fucking wings, man. It was a bit thrilling running and leaping from roof to roof, ignoring the very possibility of me not making the jump and ending up as a pancake on the earth below me.

For good measure, I led them on a wild goose chase to make sure there won’t be a connection between me with my armor on and me without it. So, how did I lose an entire police force from catching me?

By standing at the ledge of a jump to a building impossible to make. Now, now, I know this doesn’t make any sense to you yet, but bear with me. This all will get cleared up in a second or two.

“Stand down and put your arms in the air!” the policeman said from behind me as I looked at the drop before me. Well, I won’t survive that for sure.

“Or what, officer?” I asked back, putting on a sultry voice. What? I have to make it distinct and completely different from my normal voice, don’t judge me.

“Whatever you did in that building, we want to know it and we will get answers!” he told me, slowly approaching me. I saw a few Pegasus-Blessed flying around the building we stood on.

“My, my... What special attention you gift me with,” I returned, looking down at the ground in an obvious way to indicate that I was thinking of jumping without a way to break my fall.

“Just a counter-measure to make sure no one makes any stupid decisions tonight,” he answered back with a sneer. Somebody doesn’t like me all that much, do they?

“I think we’re way past that, my dear,” I smiled back in a condescending fashion. His childish attempt to stop me from doing what I wanted wasn’t going to work.

“Get away from that ledge, please. The crimes you committed this night aren’t worth taking your life for,” he said, changing his approach from goading me away from doing the monumentally stupid act of turning myself to a pancake.

“Goodbye, officer,” I mocked him and then I was past his vision. Naturally, he scrambled to look over the edge in hopes that a Pegasus-Blessed caught me.

The thing is, I sat right beside him as he stared disbelievingly at the body on the ground. A moment later it flickered and vanished, another version of me running away in the distance and no one was chasing after that version.

“Damn it!” he shouted and ran to get off of this building. Hah, what a fool. He didn’t actually believe that an illusionist would continue on fleeing while out in the open, did he? Not to mention the one down below couldn’t be real either, because that would have meant that I actually went through with jumping from the building.

At least it got the job done, getting them away from me. It would have been awkward to have him see through my rouse. I was glad he was as gullible as he was, though.

I was interested in the fall-out of this little shindig. But that could wait until the next day or so. Sleep sounded very enticing right now. This time I wasn’t harassed by anyone as I made my way back to the hotel.

The next day saw the whole city under lock-down for the big bad illusionist that was a mystery to the police. I stayed mainly in the hotel anyway, so there was little chance of them finding me.

People were agitated about this, no wonder about that. Some gossip I overheard was about the police searching for a supposedly mass-murderer. Great.

What is it with people jumping to conclusions without any information? Was it so tempting to label me a mass-murderer from the get-go? The nerve. But then again, I was mightily tempted to rip the heart out of that guy that abused the girl the night before.

During the night I decided to scout out the train station and get a picture of the situation there. And would you look at that, they had friggin’ magic scanners. That wasn’t something I was expecting to see. That piece of magi-tech wasn’t very common. They basically functioned like a metal detector, but for magic.

Seems like I won’t be leaving Manehattan for quite some time, then. I had no idea how they got at my signature, but I could take a guess. Probably residue from me using my illusions. They must have a competent mage here for them to program it into every scanner they brought here.

I don’t think I could fight my way out of a city. The train was obviously out, so how about the roads? Not an option either as I looked down a street and saw a control point. They played for keeps, huh? I could try sneaking through them with a ‘Notice-Me-Not’ spell, but there could always be the possibility of them detecting the shimmer in the air.

Okay, a city full of people that were too suspicious of me for me to use my best spell for stealth. Lux couldn’t fly, so that went out the window, too. Not that I could fly with Sol that well, either. So even if I wanted to, I couldn’t carry myself out of this city through the air.

I sighed and went back to the hotel. There must be a way, I just couldn’t see it yet.

Morning came all too soon. I found myself some breakfast and headed out to see how the lock-down looked today. As was usual, the people of Manehattan were bustling around and I overheard a thing or two. The newspaper agencies were in a frenzy to get all the latest news and there was actually a sketch, badly drawn if you ask me, of me in a demonic fashion grinning maliciously.

I wasn’t that fat, was I?

The headline read ‘Mysterious woman infiltrates government building, Objective unknown’ while the article spoke of the incident in more detail. They actually held an interview with the police.

On another note, it was funny seeing the second article also be about me, but in a positive light. That one held the title ‘Vigilante saves the day!’ and reported the actions that transpired in the alley. There was no description of the savior, so there was no connection between both articles.

If only they knew... What chaos would that unleash, I wondered. I could see the headlines already, ‘Hero or Criminal?’. Thus, another day went by without anything happening, really.

During the daylight hours, I should say.

At night, I went out again. There was still another matter I needed to investigate, and with me now being stuck here, it was the perfect opportunity to do so. The name of the guy on the train eluded me but considering that he had a job to do, something that most likely involved some form of crime, I’m sure I could use my time to do some good.

Cloaked back up again in my light-eating mantle, I stuck to alleyways and rooftops to get around the city. I had to avoid some Pegasus-Blessed here and there but had mainly no problems with getting around. They didn’t know where to focus their search, which was fine by me.

It was fun to stop a few petty crimes here and there, I had to admit. My main target didn’t show himself this night, though. I had nothing against that if I were honest here. Whatever they wanted to accomplish needed for them to plan their actions out, and that meant more time for me to find them.

The next day had the people talking even more, as the vigilante they read about was apparently the same person that broke into a government facility. Who would have thought that?

My alter-ego was creating quite a few waves in the opinion of the people. Some already started to make arguments about why I was good, while others vehemently discredited everything I did as mere criminal activity. Both sides had some truth to them. My actions weren’t entirely heroic as some people thought, but on the other hand, they weren’t that bad, either.

Try to tell that to the people, though. Those were stuck with the black and white view of either or. Arguing against that was like pulling teeth. A few days went by with this back and forth and I made no progress on the front of the man I tried to track down.

It didn’t help that I had no idea how he looked and only had his voice to go by. Currently, I was standing on the roof of a building overlooking a bank on the other side of a street. I had seen someone fishy go in there and stopped to investigate. Sol was my little scout because I couldn’t go around activating my bracelet with him. Well, I could, but considering the fact that everyone could see my face if I did wasn’t something I was willing to accept.

And what do you know, the guy that looked suspicious had friends equally as shady. They didn’t make it obvious that they knew each other, but when you see people trying to hide weapons, they must be a group. Judging by their voices, none of them were the guy I was after. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t put a stop to their schemes.

Before I could leave with Sol to get ready to intervene with Lux one of them grabbed hold of me and put a knife to my throat, screaming for people to get down to the ground while his friends threatened the personnel and customers to follow his words.

I sighed and got down from the building I previously stood on. Five armed men versus little old me. Looking at each of them with Sol, I analyzed which one needed to go down first. Two burly men with machetes, one scrawny boyish-looking adult with daggers, the head honcho with a short sword, and one guy that pulled out a crossbow out of a bag. Two melee, one support, and two that looked like they never fought in their entire life.

The first target would be the one with the crossbow, then. He would cause me the most grief out of the assembled group. And he was also the one that would be the easiest to pick out.

As was customary by now, I counted down from ten before acting. Silently I slunk into the building as I made sure none of them looked at the entrance. I had to wheeze on Sol as I created a distraction with him and got promptly punched in the gut by brawny guy number one.

Better that way than for them to notice Lux behind their ranged fighter. Making quick work out of that guy, I kicked away the crossbow in case he recovered anytime soon. And then came the realization.

He shouldn’t have been target number one.

The boss of their little group saw me and sneered, activating an enchantment on the sword. The magic of the blade caused it to burst into flames of an eerie green color. Well, too bad for him I had two bodies to work with.

Kicking him into the nether region, he went down crying like a little girl. He shouldn’t have taken Sol hostage, I thought with a grin. Taking my prize in the form of a shiny new sword, I engaged one of the thugs as Lux fought the other brawn for brain.

Well, everything went perfectly. Couldn’t say they put up much of a fight against the combined might of my bodies. Lux finished her opponent first and I cut through the machete of the other guy with ease. He promptly surrendered to me after seeing his weapon dealt with so efficiently. That sword was scary, I had to say.

But, you know... I never get the easy route. The little scrawny kid I thought was no threat at all? Yeah, well he stood directly behind Sol and nicked my cheek with his dagger. A dagger that was quite obviously poisoned.

So, there I stood, time flowing in slow motion as I saw my other body standing there without a chance to react and the kid holding the dagger in my face.

I did the only sensible thing I knew would let me attack from the distance between my female body and my male body. Reacting on instinct, I drew back a string that previously wasn’t there and let loose an arrow made of pure moonlight.

Would you look at that, the bow wasn’t useless! Would have been helpful to know before getting fucking poisoned. That poison was running through my male body now and I had no idea what it would do. I felt slightly numb already, though. Paralyzing effect? The question was, how far would it paralyze me? There was the possibility of it not stopping with the heart, after all.

I wasn’t a poison expert and this world had a whole slew of poisons I never even heard of.

So, my arrow struck the asshole in the chest and Sol slumped down to the ground. Just my luck to get into such situations, wasn’t it? Thinking on the warning words Horse God gave me of the timelimit I had before something serious would start happening, I didn’t even want to imagine how bad it would get while seeing my poisoned male half lying on the ground, gasping desperately for air.

I ran over to the man lying a bit behind Sol and pointed a new arrow I nocked directly in his face.

“Where is the anti-dote?!” I screeched at him in my fury, thoughts addled by the pain running through my veins on Sol. Instead of answering my demand, the bastard just grinned with blood flowing from his lips.

“RAAGHR!” screaming bloody murder, I gave the young adult a mercy and killed him on the spot. He would have continued to bleed out anyway. He was a talking corpse, for all I cared.

“The Shadow Stalker just killed him...” I heard whispers from the terrified people around me, but I ignored them in favor of checking the injury on Sol. The cut on the cheek wasn’t very deep, it wouldn’t leave a scar probably. Judging by the heavy sweating, the body was hard at work at trying to get rid of the foreign substance. It was a losing battle though, which didn’t improve my mood one bit.

Okay, how to go about this... I needed to position my body in a way I wouldn’t suffocate first and foremost. So I repositioned it that it was lying on its side and propped the head upon the elbow of the arm. Next up, I searched the body of my poisoner.

Some bubblegum, a few hidden blades, but no anti-dote in his pockets. Just some crumpled up notes with gibberish on them. Might try to decode that later. For now, I took one of his poisoned blades and had one of the bank attendees look after my body while I sprinted to the hospital to get someone to try and analyze the mixture on the knife.

The staff at the hospital were understandably surprised to see me come crash through the emergency doors. Some were wary, but one particular brave woman came to investigate why I was barging in like that.

“Poison... injured... bank...” I wheezed out, giving her the dagger. A breather was all I needed with my female body, I was more concerned about my male body at the moment.

And boy, the mention of someone injured rallied the people around me like nothing else could. At around the same time, the police found out what happened in the bank as someone else went to go get help. Still needed the bastards restrained, but as long as they remained unconscious I would concentrate on the more immediate concerns.

A few hours later had Sol admitted into a hospital room being monitored and on an intravenous bag. The poison was actually that of a manticore and was easily identifiable by the smell alone. I was suddenly glad the manticore in the Everfree didn’t poison me or I would definitely be dead already. Small miracles.

One good thing came from this debacle, though. The police were now distracted with what happened at the bank and how someone managed to smuggle such a potent poison into the city.

And the one using the poison? Yeah, let’s just say he wasn’t the only one with access to it now. All over Manehattan reports came in from criminals poisoning people here and there, which caused the hospitals to fill up quite fast. I got to answer a few questions on Sol to help the police and give my witness report.

Lux, on the other hand, had her work cut out for us. I was doing what I could, but I couldn’t be everywhere at once. The thing is, I got a really bad feeling about this. The encoded message I found on the body of the robber in the bank wasn’t helping me in any way to get behind this mess.

That brought us to the here and now, I was once more stopping a mugging at a local convenience store when the police also arrived. Now, I was in quite a pickle. There was not enough time for me to stop the criminal and also flee the police.

To my surprise though, the police wasn’t interested in me. Well, they kinda were, but they didn’t want to arrest me. Okay, maybe some did, but the guy that led the chase a few nights ago stopped them from doing so.

“Lady, we don’t want to hurt you,” he began while the robber looked between us. Shrugging I let lose the glowy string and pierced the shoulder of the idiot holding the clerk hostage. If they weren’t here to stop me, then I could just as well do the job first and have a chit-chat after. The man holding the weapon let it fall with a scream and I vaulted over the counter and swung my bow full tilt in his face.

“Was that necessary?” the police officer looked at me exasperatedly. I made an exaggerated motion about thinking on it and gave a non-committal shrug with a small grin.

“He asked for it,” I answered back, kicking the asshole for good measure. Then I turned to the clerk in concern. “Are you okay? Did he nick you anywhere with the blade?”

The young woman gave me a shake of her head as she threw herself around me in a hug. I gently stroke her back as she let out a sob and I reassured her that it was over now. A police officer took her away from me after she continued to shower me in her gratitude. Looking at the unconscious man on the ground I went up to him and searched him. Like the other times, I found a crumpled up note in his pocket with the same gibberish on it.

“We have actually been decoding these messages,” the policeman in charge told me. I turned to him interested as he continued on. “Every one of these has a specific time they instruct these criminals when to go out and cause trouble. We still have no idea what purpose this all has, but we are suspecting it is used to cause a distraction to the police force. And you, it seems.”

“Me?” I asked bewildered. If someone didn’t want me to find out what was going on, then we needed to stop this asap.

“Some notes have specific instructions to make these actions deliberately obvious so they catch your attention. Whoever is behind this, they go to great length to remain in the shadows. Every person we have interrogated always says the same thing: They found the poison with two notes in their apartment promising them high amounts of money for completing the task set out for them,” he explained to me. “The first note tells them how to decode the second one and instructs them to burn it after the fact. The thing is, whoever gave them the notes wants us to find the encoded ones, hence the crumpled notes on their person.”

“I don’t ask this lightly of you, but we need your help in this case,” he said. I bit my lip at that. It would give me way more attention than I liked, attention that could pick the interest of the Princesses. But on the other hand, I was stuck in trying to get closer to the person behind all this.

“Only on a few conditions, Mister...” I started, a plan forming in my mind.

“Secure Shackle,” he answered back. “Name them and we will see if we can abide by your demands.”

“Firstly, I don’t want the Princess Celestia to know about this,” I said and while he looked confused at that, he gave a nod. “Secondly, I don’t want to reveal my face to you or anyone I’ll be working with.”

“That can be arranged. Anything else?”

“After we are done, I want an official pardon for any crimes I may have committed over the last few days. Is that clear?” I asked and I sure as hell wouldn’t budge on that. Either I got that, or we would continue to work separately. I hoped he wouldn’t deny me that because I needed their resources more than they needed me.

“I can’t promise you that,” he said to me, giving me a glare. “You killed a criminal, that has to go punished.”

“Fair enough,” I said. “But I don’t intent to rot in prison for what is right.”

“You have a seriously screwed up view on what is right or wrong, Lady,” he spat. “What you did was wrong on so many accounts, I couldn’t list them all.”

“What would you do if someone just tried to kill a person in front of you and you had no idea which poison the bastard used?” I shot back, getting up to his face. My sultry voice made him nervous as our lips were just inches apart. “I am a very vindictive person, my dear. I don’t play for keeps, I do what I deem necessary in the moment.”

“What kind of life have you led to turn out like this?” he asked perplexed. I gave a smile at that and stepped back from him.

“I was chosen to be a champion. But I decide how to enact their will. And let’s just say that my benefactor... understands that sometimes you have to get your hands a little dirty for the greater good,” I answered barely above a whisper. “I don’t remember much of my past life since some weeks ago. And the few memories I have don’t give me much to go on for me to know what kind of person I was.”

“Very well, then. We will see what to do about you once we have the perpetrator behind bars,” he said. My words seem to have at least left an impression on him. What kind, I couldn’t possibly guess at. “And no killing from now on, do you understand me?”

“I can’t make promises like that,” I said and before he could object, I continued on. “But I will do my best to reign in my... impulsiveness.”

“That is all I ask for,” Secure Shackle told me. “May Harmony guide us.”

“Oh, Harmony won’t guide you tonight, my dear. Let’s just say Hope is on our side.”

“If you think so.”

And that is the story of how I made a temporary peace with the police of Manehattan. Unbelievable, right?

The thing is, this world didn’t need heroes that did the right thing all the time. Maybe what it needed more was someone that got the job done at the end of the day. I wasn’t hero material anyway. The anti-hero route appealed to my taste way more. Screwed up morals? Check. Willingness to get my hands dirty? Check that two times. Selfishness to look out after my own before others? Fuck yeah, check!

My friends would come before the rest of this world a hundred percent of the time. There was nothing more worthwhile that I wanted to protect more. Heck, even Celestia and Luna would come before the rest of the world if I had a say in it. I couldn’t save everyone, but as long as I keep those friends of mine away from harm everything would be okay in my opinion.

11. Stopping cults is what I do for fun.

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I told you it was quite the tale, didn’t I? Well, it isn’t over yet so let’s get the recap out of the way, shall we? It all started with me in a forest... wait, no, that is too far of a recap. Let me see... Ah, here we are. It all started with me on a train. One that was quite a bit similar to the Hogwarts Express, but I digress. On the ride over to Manehattan, I overheard a particularly interesting bit of information. Someone on that train wanted their lackey to get the job done properly and that clued me in on how this could only mean something criminal. Well, that and the way he threatened him with a blade.

What happened next? Oh, let’s just say I was a bit distracted by some scum trying to rape a woman and succeeding with it. Well, halfway, but they still did it. Suffice to say I put a stop to that before he could, ugh, finish it. The bastards that did that are behind bars and the poor woman got the care she deserved.

My little stunt after that was a little bit less heroic. The whole reason for me being here in Manehattan wasn’t the delicious food served in a German-style restaurant, but the little problem of me not having ‘legal’ documents. To rectify this little oversight Horse God made, I infiltrated the government. Okay, I just broke into a building, beat up some unfortunate guards, and deposited some forged documents where they needed to be.

My methods caused quite a stir, I have to say. The chase that ensued got the attention of not only the police but all of Manehattan the following day. Newspapers fought over every bit of information like the rabid dogs they were and I never had a quiet day after that. People were divided into factions whether I was good or bad (spoilers, the answer to that was neither), and I was prevented from leaving the city by the police searching for my sorry ass.

Until we came to an understanding, that is. Whatever was happening within the city, that being criminals getting supplied with manticore poison and being told to cause a bit of havoc, needed to be stopped. The police had the necessary talent to decode the crumpled up notes the criminals left behind and I had the... gosh, now I’m the one with the brawn, aren’t I? Anyway, due to the incapacitation of Sol, I had the motivation and willingness to do what needed to be done to finally put an end to the one behind all this.

That brings us to the here and now of this little tale. Secure Shackle, my little police liaison, told me to concentrate my efforts on finding the supplier instead of bothering with every little crime I came across. Didn’t stop me from crippling any criminals I just so happened to stumble upon as they were threatening to poison someone.

And so, I actually managed to find myself a shifty guy climbing through a window in the middle of the night. One could tell he did this often with the efficiency he went about breaking and entering into apartments that weren’t exactly always on the ground level.

I observed him doing his little thing of leaving a vial of manticore poison behind and the two notes with the instructions on what to do and what they would get for it in return. The man was just as fast out of the apartment as he broke into it. So, being careful in my movements, I went to shadow him on his rounds. Probably should have gone into the apartment to steal that venom, but then I would let slip this chance of tracking it back to its source.

Man, just what wouldn’t I do for the greater good? It would have stopped a minuscule amount of crimes in comparison to stopping it entirely from happening, had I gone for that venom, instead. I would need to live with myself that I couldn’t prevent every crime.

It took quite some time, way longer than I would have expected for him to keep doing this, but eventually, he ran out of venom vials in his bag. The sun was at maximum an hour away from rising over the horizon and I was way too tired to keep following him would he have continued on throughout the day, too.

Following the man wasn’t an easy task by any means. It goes to show how careful and paranoid the guy was as he went through the city. At one point, I feared he had managed to escape my sight, but then he came back back-tracking through the alley where he temporarily managed to give me the slip. Can’t say I wasn’t thanking my lucky stars for that.

By the time the sun actually came up, we were near the warehouse district and I finally had an idea of where to search further. I couldn’t follow him to the exact warehouse, seeing that my outfit made me stand out like a sore-thumb in daylight.

The following evening saw me standing at the police department. I wasn’t a big fan of getting them involved somewhere where there were probably a ton of willing murderers hiding out planning their dastardly plans... to do whatever. Look, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Of course, I’m majorly reluctant to lead a bunch of people to their deaths, who wouldn’t be?

But I had the hope everything would turn out alright. And when you literally embody the hope this country has (according to Twilight), don’t look at me like that, then everything should play out fine, right?

I’m pretty sure I will eat my own words later for thinking so.

“Hello, my dear,” I said, standing slightly to the side of Secure Shackle as I let down my ‘Notice-Me-Not!’ spell. Said police officer jumped at my sudden appearance. We were currently standing in front of those see-through whiteboards with all the important pictures and casefiles hung up on them. Some strings connected a few of them and quite a few notes were written on the board.

“Don’t do that,” he berated my, a scowl on his face.

“But however shall I show my favorite police officer I appreciate his work?” I asked back, faking a hurt voice. It was fun messing around with him.

“I seriously doubt you like me all that much, considering we are still debating on imprisoning you for the murder at the bank. What do you want here, anyway?” he asked me. “Our next meeting isn’t for another few hours.”

“Well, my dear, why waste time with all this, when I can tell you the general location of their hide-out?” I told him and did my little spiel of going around the whiteboards and tracing a few things on them. At his raised eyebrow I gave a little smirk.

“And where would that be?”

“At the warehouse district,” I answered back. He sighed and asked for a specific area, so I asked him for a map and promptly circled the place where I tracked the poison dealer to last night.

“Can’t tell you which warehouse exactly, my time was running out to get a read on that, and following the shifty guy in the daylight would only alert them to us being onto their trail. So, when do we raid the place?” I said.

“I will get the task force ready, while you go and find us the exact place. Once you have it, return to this place here,” he began and pointed the meeting point out on the map. “So you can tell us where we need to go. Don’t take too long, a group of heavily armed men and women won’t go by unnoticed.”

“Understood, until then, my dear,” I said and vanished from sight by the use of my trusty spell. I loved that one, it was just so versatile! It was also the perfect tool for this mission.

The way back to the general area where I stopped following the man didn’t take me too long. So I started going around and climbing up to windows and such to search the interior of the buildings. Most of them weren’t that interesting, although there was one warehouse full of shiny new cars, but I didn’t let the sight distract me.

Around half an hour later, I found the one I was looking for. And man, what a sight that was. Cages upon cages with exotic animals and a large circle with candles in the middle of it. Oh yeah, and a fuck ton of cultists praying to whatever deity they worshipped.

It clearly wasn’t my patron, as they offered whatever living being was willing enough to do the sacrifice or was forced into the position. The sick fucks didn’t make the distinction between young or old. Forcing my bile down my throat, I raced back to the meeting place and told the men and women what to expect.

Needless to say, they were just as pissed as I was. And that motivation showed as we burst down the doors and caused the cultists to stop whatever they were doing at the moment. An arrow quickly found its way into the skull of one of them before he could plunge the dagger into the bound, and pretty obviously pregnant, woman.

And then all hell went loose. I wasn’t the only one that mustered up the will to kill a cultist before they could bathe the ground in the blood of their next victim. And by the sight of it, those cultists knew how to fight as I saw some of them take the lives of the men and women I had led here.

It was a blood bath.

“Kill every last one of these heathens!” a voice said, catching my attention. It was the same one I heard answering to this Marrow guy on the train. And oh boy, did he look ugly as sin. Half burned face, a noticeable hunch, looking like he was starving, and sickly eyes roving over the room as he yelled at his comrades to slaughter us. “And with their sacrifice, another seal will be broken!”

Well, whatever that seal was for, I had no interest in letting that happen. I focused on helping out keep the foe away from the people freeing the slaves. Using illusions to my advantage, I made the cultists think they were being attacked from the wrong direction, and from then on the fight was basically already won.

Until the cult leader decided he had to engage me directly in the fight. And once more it got obvious I needed to practice more against magic users. I needed a way to beat them consistently.

It was very much annoying as he started to bring back the fallen to fight for him. I was struggling with keeping the living corpses away from the rest of the fight while dodging their attempts to maim me.

Fucking necromancy, man. Here I hoped I wouldn’t ever have to worry about zombies ruining my day.

A heavy chain stopped one corpse from taking a bite out of me. That cheeky little bugger managed to sneak up on me! Me! The one that was usually doing that to fight against any kind of foe. Secure Shackle gave me a nod as he drew back his chain and decapitated the undead cultist.

“You have already lost, oh mighty warrior of the night! There shan’t be anything stopping this ritual from completion!” the necromancer crowed gleefully. “The seal requires but a few more sacrifices. Come and give your life for the greater good!”

“Thanks, but I will decline that offer,” I shot back. Looking around me, most of the risen zombies were already dealt with and the rest of the cultists were either dead or chained up. Secure Shackle sure knew how to rodeo with iron chains.

The man in front of me let loose a bolt of sickly colored magic and I quickly shoved the last of the walking dead in front of it, sending it back to the rest it was denied.

“Why won’t you just die already!?” he shouted, spittle flying from his cracked lips. Eww, disgusting. As I rolled on the ground to dodge another bolt of his magic, I let loose another arrow made from solidified moonlight. It tore through his shoulder and he raged on that he couldn’t get a hit on me.

Well, at least that I had going for me. He was a terrible shot, honestly. I fired another arrow into the arm that already had an arrow stuck in it.

“Fine! If you won’t be the last sacrifice today, then I will be!” he shouted and my eyes widened as I felt the magic around me shudder. His crazed look all but confirmed his intentions. And I was powerless to stop him from doing what I thought he tried to do.

Scratch that, what I knew he was doing.

The ley lines of the world didn’t just give mages access to powerful spells, but if one was determined enough, or foolish enough, to let the full might of them flow through you, they were very likely to rip you apart cell by cell and take anyone too close to your vicinity with you.

And I was within his blast radius.

Shouting for everyone to run, I rushed away with the full power of my abused muscles. I hoped I would make it in time, and right after I thought that, I felt the magical shockwave encroach upon my body. A look over my shoulder showed me the miasma of uncontrolled magic, twisted due to the man that invoked it, as it approached me.

Then I stumbled due to the blood-soaked ground.

Well, it was a nice life, if nothing else. A weird one, but nice. I would still have my male body, but considering half of me would die, I had no hope I wouldn’t feel the repercussion of that and come out unscathed.

What would happen to my other body should one fall? I would assume the backlash would cripple me in some way that it would leave me next to useless.

When people die, it is often said that their life would flash before their eyes. I had none of that. The only thing I felt was a horrible feeling of dread. For once I wished I had stayed in bed instead of getting up.

A bed sounded really nice. I wished something could have gone differently tonight. Had I just killed him instead of trying to cripple him to avoid breaking this seal, I wouldn’t face this situation now.

I was sorry for leading all the people to their deaths today. If I just did this mission on my own, no one of the good and innocent policemen would have had to die this night.

I felt anger at myself, for feeling so useless at the moment. For not doing what needed to be done when it really came down to it. I was such a hypocrite.

In the end, I felt acceptance for the consequences of my actions. For leaving the girls like this. For disappointing Horse God. And for not telling Celestia and Luna I held these weapons.

This was the exact reason why I was so against it in the first place.

But even that was just a hollow excuse by now. An excuse for me to use so that I didn’t have to accept my cowardice.

Whatever it was about these bodies, Sol was the one practically able to ignore this crippling feeling of being scared and Lux could just ignore whatever hopelessness I felt with Sol. That couldn’t be caused by mere hormones, right?

Seems like this is goodbye, I’m sorry.

A second went by, and another. Another second passed... and nothing happened.

Slowly looking up, I was greeted by scorched ground just inches away from my feet. Everything else in front of me? Gone, like it never existed, to begin with. The cages filled with every kind of animal were reduced to molten slag that pooled on the blackened ground.

Would you look at that? Dumb luck saved the day, who would have thought that would happen? Well, obviously not you, as I’m currently talking to you and recounting what happened.

Yes, yes, I will get on with the tale, sheesh.

Secure Shackle came up to me and helped me get back on my feet. I told him I was fine and slowly breathed in and out. I needed to calm my racing heart down after this whole ordeal.

The policemen offered me their thanks in helping them stop this madness, but I knew we failed. We failed spectacularly. An unknown seal of some kind was just broken and we all had no idea what that would entail.

For now, I think the bed that I so desperately wanted was calling my name. Without saying anything to the rest of the task force, or even Secure Shackle, I was gone. They could deal with the clean-up and the rest of the manticore venom.

The next day actually saw the arrival of a group of friends at the hospital Sol was staying in. Even though they administered the anti-venom, they were observing the patients before they were absolutely certain nothing would happen. Dealing with such a poison wasn’t very easy, and the fact that it was a magical poison meant that I couldn’t just leave.

“What was even so important both of you had to come here to Manehattan? There are multiple news reports on what happened the last few days here, we were all worried something happened to you,” Twilight started her rant, pacing back and forth as the others watched her go on without daring to interrupt her. “And imagine our surprise when a letter arrives, saying that you got poisoned! Poisoned, Sol! That just made us more worried!”

“I’m sorry, Twilight,” I murmured, not daring to look her into the eyes. She was seriously scary right now. “We had some important business to take care of. The registry office had no idea of our move to Ponyville. It took us a bit longer than we thought. There was quite a commotion, I don’t know if you have read about it, but someone broke into there for whatever reason.”

I’m sorry I had to lie to you, Twilight, but if you knew the truth it would have gotten way too complicated for me to be willing to deal with it. It’s not like it was a complete lie, I just... changed the story up a bit.

“I’m well aware of this vigilante that goes around the city like she owns it. Sol, we’re just glad she was there to save you. I’m sure that we all agree on this when I say this, we wouldn’t be able to entertain the thought of what would have happened had you died in that bank. Promise me... no, promise us... that you will be more careful in the future,” she went on, ending her rant at last.

“I promise I will be more careful from now on. But Twilight, I can’t promise you this type of situation won’t happen again. You all know in what kinds of situations we all end up in, and I have a feeling this wasn’t even the worst of it,” I said. She sighed at that, nodding as she thought on it. It was true, just thinking back on the debacle with the star beast and the dragon. Trouble found us, not the other way around. Not to mention the start of our friendship, the fight against Nightmare Moon.

Earth never saw this kind of thing first hand, but when you had things like the wildlife of Equis and goddesses, magic, and demons, the meaning of danger got a whole lot more... dangerous. A threat on Earth, while serious, was nowhere near what was possible in Equestria alone. One nation was way more dangerous than the whole planet I hail from.

When things like the raid we did last night were just minor things in the eyes of Horse God, I didn’t want to know what other minor things would pop up before my preparation time was up.

Twilight took me up on my offer to go visit the public library here in Manehattan and some of the girls went with us to make sure we didn’t stay in there all day. That left Sol alone with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

“How was she?” Rainbow asked me after a few minutes of us talking about this and that. Apparently, I missed a huge storm and an opportunity for a slumber party with Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity. Probably for the best, what with me still feeling awkward around Rarity after too much time in close proximity to her.

“How was who?” I asked confused.

“The Shadow Stalker, dude! I heard she beat up those guys like in no time! She must be a Pegasus-Blessed, right?” she answered me and began totally fangirling out over my secret identity with Lux. Oh, for the love of Horse God, why? I didn’t need her to get all excited about me going around stopping crimes like a cringe-worthy fan.

What did I do to you to have pissed you off, Horse God? Can’t you give me a bit of peace for once?

“Uh, no... Shadow Stalker used magic if I remember right. Why are you so interested in her anyway? She committed murder right in front of my eyes, Dash,” I told her and tried my best to get the notion that I was a hero out of her head. Better to keep the expectation low so that they won’t be disappointed in me should they ever find out.

Who am I kidding? Of course, they will be disappointed.

“Wow, she is a Unicorn-Blessed? She must be even more badass to go around jumping from roof to roof to throw the police of her trail,” she squeed. She fucking squeed at that. “And duh, it’s obvious she would take down the bad guys. I mean, she only did that because she thought you were just murdered in front of her, right?”

Well... That was somewhat close to the truth, I guess. I did have the fear Sol would die from the poison if I didn’t act fast enough. And I was quite a bit too vengeful to care about letting my poisoner live. Better remove the possibility of him trying again entirely than risk me actually dying.

“I guess, but Rainbow, please don’t think she is the honorable hero worthy to be revered. She does fight dirty when given the opportunity,” I explained to her.

“So, like you?” she asked, giving me a cheeky grin. Well, she had me there. All of our friends knew I took any kind of opening, making me a more daring fighter. “I know a lot of people think she is this big infallible hero or the despicable villain. But do you know what I see in her?”

“No... What do you think of her, Rainbow?” I asked back, now a bit curious.

“I see a person struggling to do what is right. I see someone that acts on decisions where others would hesitate or still think about them. I see her actions speaking louder than the words people associate with her. She is a person like you and me, but willing to act when others wouldn’t,” she explained and I sported a smile the entire time it took her to finish her explanation.

Well, at least I had one person seeing me for who I was. Even though she didn’t know she was talking about me. Maybe they won’t all be disappointed with what I did and had to do.

“How about you guys go over to Lux and ask her to show you the restaurant both of us love so much? I promise you will like the food there,” I said and Rainbow nodded. She gave me a goodbye and went out the door.

“Hey, Solus? Don’t be afraid we will leave you hanging, ‘kay?” Pinkie spoke up for the first time, actually really out of character for her, and managed to confuse me. Before I could ask her about the weird name, she was gone. What did that even mean? She couldn’t possibly know about Lux being the vigilante, right?

And that name, it sounded Latin. But what reason would Pinkie have to give me a different name for Sol?

Unless... no, there is no way.

In the meantime, a few minutes after I sent Pinkie and Rainbow to my other half saw us heading to the little German-style restaurant. I was gushing about how great I felt the food there was. Twilight actually mentioned she had German food a while ago while an ambassador from Germaneigh was at the castle. She said she liked it too, so that got Applejack interested. So... here we are.

We got led to a table by the waitress and talked a bit more about what was going on around Ponyville lately as we waited for our food. The kids at school were asking where I was and Cheerilee would have a few choice words for me when I return. Rarity bemoaned the fact that I missed a spa date with her and Fluttershy. I wasn’t so sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Our food arrived just as we entered a lull in our conversation. Fluttershy went with a traditional specialty of German ravioli called ‘Maultaschen’. Yeah, weird name, I know. Doesn’t get better with the other names, though. Pinkie and I also went with a noodle dish called ‘Spätzle’ with some dumplings and a nice sauce made out of apples. Applejack and Rainbow went with a hearty meal, both of them got interested in it after I told them there were eating contests in Germaneigh for that dish, called ‘Schnitzel’, which was a breaded meat dish. Twilight and Rarity had something that I could only guess at, but there was one thing I recognized on their plates. It was ‘Sauerkraut’, I think the English name for that is also called that.

So we all enjoyed our food and as we began talking in between bites, I mentioned to Twilight what I had planned for concerning the magi-tech we were still working on.

Of course, she got interested in ‘my’ idea of a motorized bicycle. She asked me how I wanted to go about that and I told her of how I planned to rework an engine like we reworked some of the other magi-tech we worked on, mainly the batteries.

Before I could go into more detail, Rarity told us that we could continue our little brainstorming back in Ponyville. She wanted us to go on a museum trip and go look at some of the fashion stores. That got Rainbow to groan and moan about how it was way better to listen to Twilight and me rant about magi-tech over her idea of fun.

Instead, we all decided on one thing to do for each of us before the girls needed to get back to Ponyville at the end of the day. Pinkie wanted us to find a shop for party supplies, which was easily done. Twilight concurred that both she and I already had a turn with the library and the restaurant, so we didn’t get to decide on anything further. Kinda mean, but also true if you think about it. At least Twilight was happy that we would get to visit a museum and I wasn’t complaining about that, either. Fluttershy wanted to visit the park, no surprise there. Applejack wanted to make a quick visit to her aunt and uncle, and Rainbow got us to go to a Wonderbolts fan shop, which brought with it a good-natured roll of our eyes.

At the end of the day, I said goodbye to the girls and gave my word that we would be back home in a day or two. We all gave each other one last hug before I stood at the platform waving after the girls as the train picked up speed.

So, this night was a shorter one than the last ones. The police were just as able as I was to prevent any further shenanigans from happening. I sort of told Secure Shackle I would be on ‘vacation’ for the foreseeable future and enjoyed a long night of sleep in the arms of my deity.

We talked a bit here and there, mostly me about my day with the girls and my thoughts on the cult I stumbled upon. She frowned hearing about the seal being broken, but she didn’t elaborate upon what kind of seal it was and what it sealed. So I lightened the mood by telling her about my little project of trying to build a Ducati running on magic.

I also got to know she hasn’t an actual name, never having seen the need for it. So I got creative and gave her a nickname, besides Horse God. She smiled a bit at the obviousness of it but found it quite fitting.

Thus, I was the first mortal to give the capital ‘G’ Goddess a name.

Spectrum.

Yeah, imaginative, I know. But what can I say? Her hair faded from one color to the next, her iris sparkled in the multitude of colors of distant galaxies and she literally embodies every aspect of life.

Of course, she told me that I couldn’t share the name with say, Celestia, due to the effect she has on me, what with her literally creating my bodies on Equis. That kinda-ish made her my mother, but for now, I think I will need to think of her place in my life. It was hard imagining a literal Goddess being your mother, but it worked out in those Percy Jackson novels, so why couldn’t it for me.

The fact that she didn’t go around sleeping with mortals eased my mind somewhat. The image of it made me gag in reflex, though. No one liked to imagine their parental figure in such a position, I’m sure. The fact I couldn’t remember my birth mother made it all the more tempting to place her in the position of the mother figure.

I had the weirdest origin story a ‘hero’ could ever have, hadn’t I? Please don’t tell me I was a genetically engineered child on Earth, I couldn’t take this much bullshit. What’s next, a dinosaur riding a shark with laser cannons being my uncle?

The dream with Horse God aside, I decided to hit up the museum again that we visited the last day. There wasn’t enough time to go over every exhibit there and I totally needed the history lesson.

I know I went over a bit of the history already, but that wasn’t nearly as detailed as what I found here. And boy, did they get some things wrong. Instead of Horse God giving away the Blessings, the earliest account of history I knew of from the castle, three siblings did so.

Those were people with actual resemblance to the ponies Equestria (and Equis for that matter) made their basis for puns. The first had actual wings, the second a unicorn horn, and the third had the muscle and legs of a satyr.

Well, no wonder the people had given these abilities the names they have now. The one with the horn was called Unicornia, after which the first Unicorn-Blessed country was named, the second got given the name Pegasus, very original there, and the last one Terra. An obvious trend could be observed here, but I digress.

According to the little sign next to a painting of them, they lived about two thousand and four hundred years ago and all of them had differing ideas on how to lead their people. The period was generally known as the Pre-Unification Era. Before the whole Hearth’s Warming thing happened, we have quite a few things to go over.

Around two thousand years ago, a mage dabbling in the foundation of magic discovered a new kind of magic, that was at the time completely unknown. And it’s very random nature promptly ripped apart the solar system. It was speculated that there were other planets within it at some point, as it would seem weird to see other solar systems having ones and this one not. Not that it wasn’t possible, but scientists still debate whether this mage poofed them away or whatnot.

Thus, the Council of Sun and Moon was born. The mages responsible for upkeeping the solar cycle all had a very short life-span due to them burning themselves out with the potent god-level magic they had a daily struggle with for five hundred years.

There was some muddled up history over those years, most of it lost to time and only recently found, thus explaining why my history book in the library didn’t have it in there. The war before the Hearth’s Warming story lasted for over fifty years and the details were scarce.

There was a mention of a necromancer, though, which made me very suspicious. There was actually an artifact of that time here on display, some kind of disfigured bell. Whatever it was used for, I had no idea. Pretty sure it wasn’t to ring for supper.

Hearth’s Warming wasn’t actually the happy go lucky tale I expected at first. Most history books apparently didn’t go into the, ahem, gory details. After an eternal winter, the three tribes decided they needed a new land. What did they do as they found each other claiming the same land? If you guessed they hugged it out and split it up, you’re wrong.

Of course, they painted it red with each other’s blood. As the three leaders of the different kingdoms all fell to the hatred that gripped their hearts, and you know, each other’s blades, their aides brought a stop to the senseless fighting and the threat of another eternal winter caused by the icy spirits known as Wendigos.

Thus, Christmas for Equestria came into being.

Not long after that, another chaos mage dabbled into something that wasn’t meant to be played with. The unpredictableness caused him to disfigure himself into an amalgam of different animals. Maddened by the magic coursing through him, he made the world his plaything.

Time wasn’t easy to tell during the time of his reign, but according to these texts he ruled for about twenty years, and the world never fully recovered for it. It was Celestia and Luna that put a stop to his Wonderland parody. But it wasn’t the first appearance they had in history.

The fact they never answered what happened before that time only made it harder for historians to create a recount of the past. Everything they had about Celestia and Luna came from some texts mentioning them with Starswirl the Bearded, Grogar, and two of his risen lieutenants. According to the passage, they were former heroes of this land.

Must suck to be brought back to life only for you to fight against everything you stood for and being forced to watch yourself commit these acts. It was eerily similar to the tragic past of Arthas Menethil from World of Warcraft.

One thousand three hundred years ago got us to a familiar scene. I remember the mural quite vividly from the Everfree Castle, as I was plagued with nightmares right after it.

The Lord of the Demons, Tirek, leading his armies against Equestria on one side, and the King of the Dead, Grogar, brought back to life by a power-crazy necromancer. In the middle of it fought Celestia with the halberd and Luna with the warglaives.

That war was actually the most life demanding one of all time. At the end of it, only a tenth, a friggin’ tenth, of the population on the whole of Equis remained. Luckily, no intelligent species saw the end of their day, but that didn’t apply to wildlife.

One could imagine what it meant to live in that time. Celestia and Luna remained tight-lipped about the years that followed, but suffice to say, a hundred years later someone tried to fix what was wrong with the world and only made it worse.

This time, around one thousand two hundred years ago, it wasn’t a chaos mage that made the screw-up. No, he thought he could return the world to the perfect balance with order magic. The thing about that, the magic that uses the empowerment of order, is that it didn’t like to be told what to do and takes the first thing it gets as a template to base everything else off of.

Needles to say, the attempt to make everything right with the world backfired in a majestically stupid way. Thus, cloudless skies became the norm for every area the magic touched and animals were too stupid to hunt each other. With that came the need for weather control and animal caretakers.

Then we have next to no mention of the fifty years that followed, just an off-handed comment about the polar lights disappearing. No one was concerned about that little tidbit of information, but I knew it had something to do with that mural in the Everfree, the one with the living shadow.

And now, we came to the most recent addition to the historical records. The banishment of Nightmare Moon and her recent return and cleansing. So yeah, that caused quite a stir in the historical community. How dare Celestia erase history, blah blah blah.

Give her a break, man. I already punched her for the shit, don’t get all uppity about her keeping painful memories away from you guys.

Two years after Luna was banished the Canterlot Castle was finished. Celestia sure abandoned ship fast, but I couldn’t fault her on wanting to live somewhere where she wasn’t constantly reminded of the absence of her other half.

With all the new information I had access to now, the apology from Spectrum to Celestia and Luna made a lot more sense. She couldn’t stop every big bad thing from happening and they must feel like they got abandoned by their patron deity in their greatest time of need.

Thus, no mention of Horse God besides the mural in the Everfree.

I felt angry at that. How dare they abandon her in return? There must be a reason why Horse God couldn’t intervene directly, which made a lot of sense now that I think about all the times she helped me.

She couldn’t touch the physical plane anymore. She needed a champion to do her bidding now, and whatever caused this had a play in every bad thing that must have happened since then. And I bet these seals were a part of this, too.

Horse God had the power to render entire universes lifeless and create entirely new ones, but with the restrictions placed on her, there was nothing she could do.

Except find the courage in her heart to hope that everything turns out alright. I was her champion in two forms. I was the courage that blazed bright as the sun. I was the hope that lit the road ahead in dark times. Her way to influence this world once more.

And I vowed at that moment to not disappoint her. Spectrum, Horse God, Mother, whatever I will end up calling her in the end. She was the reason that I existed here and made these wonderful friends, got to experience the thrill of living on the edge and coming out on top, constantly improving upon myself.

For her, I would do everything. If I had to slaughter half of the world (which I’m pretty sure she won’t make me do), I would not even ask when to start.

I would go as far as she told me. I would commit any act necessary as she told me. I would... go and stop the friggin’ robbery happening right now.

For someone quite as attentive as I, sometimes I had the tendency to get stuck within my mind at the worst of times. Ducking into a bathroom quickly, I touched my bracelet to don my nifty armor and get my bow out. By the panicked screaming coming from the hall where I read through all the history they had on display, there was something very bad awaiting me.

Considering the bone-like appearance of the man standing in the middle of the room with corpses littering the ground, I guess I found the man behind everything going on in the first place.

The leader of the cult, Marrow. And judging by the naming trend in this world, I was reasonably sure his full name was Bone Marrow. Or Bonemarrow, depending on how one writes that name out.

“Marrow, I presume?” I asked as he studied me in return. He didn’t even give a reply as he once more tried forcing open the case with the disfigured bell in it.

So, I shot an arrow at him. And this time, I fully intended to remove him from the picture early on.

The problem was, whatever he did to himself, the arrow seemed to have little to no effect on him besides annoying him slightly. He waved his hand from one side to another and I was sent into the wall at the very end of the hall that I had come from.

I grunted through the pain, cursing the apparent casualness of how easily he swatted me away with his corrupt magic. I spit out some blood and frowned. That couldn’t be good.

The material of this armor could withstand quite the force, it seemed. Without me getting squished to a pancake within, that is. I was suddenly glad I decided to go and activate the bracelet before confronting Marrow.

“You asked for it, old man,” I growled and stalked back to where he first punted me away from. It seems by now he was trying to brute force the case open. Wasn’t doing him any good, either. The power he flung around so casually made me hesitate, to be honest.

“Here again?” he whispered, but his voice carried strongly despite the way he spoke. “Not that you could defeat me, anyway.”

“Every criminal thought so, too. Look where they are now,” I shot back and nocked another arrow. The bastard didn’t even look worried as it flew directly for his head.

And the sight of it sticking out of his skull worried me greatly. He wasn’t fazed by the only thing that worked against friggin’ undead. Well, that and fire. Panicking I fired two more into his ugly noggin, but nothing different happened.

“Are you done?” he asked. And just for the heck of it, I shot another arrow into his mouth. Probably a bad idea to annoy the unholy abomination in front of me, but what can I say? A panicky Lux is a panicky Lux.

That I couldn’t come over with Sol was putting a strain on my little psyche, too. Fucking nurses telling me to get back to bed. I was having a crisis here, couldn’t they see that?!

“Enough of that,” Morrow said, ripping the arrow out of his mouth. He watched on in curiosity as it seemed like his hand was blistering from the contact with it. Now that I saw it being pointed out like that, the other arrows did the same thing on his head.

“Curious, indeed,” he observed. “Maybe?”

He pulled out the other two arrows, while I tried to stop him with more, ignoring the fatigue that set in from creating so many with my magic bow. Whatever he was thinking of doing, I had to stop him.

He couldn’t leave with that artifact, under no circumstance.

Marrow actually staggered back as the continued assault drove him away from the case. If I had any hope of making it out alive, I had to put my best effort into this. So with that in mind, I created my mirror images as I drew more mana from the ley lines with a little starting difficulty. All three of them mimicked my actions of shooting the bony old fuck over and over again.

It got to the point where he looked like a glowy pincushion, trying to move any part of his body. But my assault couldn’t continue on. One clone after another disappeared before even I couldn’t continue drawing power from the ley lines and pulling the string of my bow back.

At one point I heard the police evacuating the building, so I at least didn’t have to worry about any civilian casualties.

Then, Marrow made his move once the assault stopped. Every arrow seemed to shoot out of his body at once and I had to run back as fast as I could to avoid the flying projectiles.

One managed to get stuck in my side, though. I crumpled down to the ground, gasping for breath in the midst of the pain.

“Foolish as that attempt may have been, I must congratulate you in opening the case for me,” Marrow stated and I looked at what he meant. For several seconds I forgot how to breathe as I stared at the sight my eyes refused to believe.

There stood the splintered half of the case, the viewing glass was gone from it entirely and only the frame remained. The bell looked like it did before the start of this little fight, though. Just as decrepit and now ripe for the taking.

I couldn’t believe it. Once more played by my foe. Once more at fault for something I couldn’t guess at the implications of. Everything felt as if it was working against me, more and more. This couldn’t be the end, right?

Marrow stashed the relic away in a conjured bag and casually strolled past my writhing self. “For your own good, stay far away from me and my goals, child.”

I spat after his retreating form, struggling to get myself to sit against the wall. A few minutes passed before I heard the footsteps of approaching men and women. Taking a look at the group of police officers, I saw Secure Shackle run over to me.

“What happened?” he asked me urgently. I explained to the best of my ability, trying to grip the arrow sticking out of my injured side, but he forced my hand away before I could do something monumentally stupid.

“Where is that Marrow, now?” he wanted to know next.

“Gone, can’t you see that, dear?” I chuckled weakly. He called for the other officers to get an ambulance ready for me and they left us alone. I was breathing heavily and he continued trying to keep me conscious. That arrow must have hit something important, then.

“Make sure... that I get placed in the same room as Sol, alright?” I asked him deliriously. Was the room supposed to spin like that? The ground looked funny in that color. It looked like it was flowing, hehe.

“As long as you don’t die on me, you hear me?” his voice echoes weirdly in the distance. I think I will take a nap now.

12. Finally home for like... a week and I get friggin' cursed.

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Would you look at that, I’m still alive. Hooray for me! Let’s start going over what happened, shall we? No, I promise I won’t bore you with the boring details of how I recovered. The only thing I will say is, that it was annoying to get the same sermon on Lux that I got with Sol from my little group of friends.

Yes, I know you were there, now shut up. Let me finish this part of the story first before we go out and about doing what we always do. Save Equestria and look cool doing it. As long as what happened last year doesn’t repeat itself.

I’m way ahead, aren’t I? My bad. Where did we leave off? Ah, yes. Okay, here we go. During my trip to Manehattan that turned into an extended stay, I came across a cult causing a lot of trouble by distributing manticore venom to criminals so they could distract the police long enough to get their little ritual done.

Sadly, they managed to break the seal in the end. We were playing right into their hands and didn’t know it until it was too late. Suffice to say, I wasn’t very enthusiastic about how my methods ultimately worked against me. And it wasn’t the only time I made a screw up like that within a short time span.

The fight against the big bad Marrow the Necromancer was entirely one-sided. Which led to an ancient artifact being stolen and my female half delirious from blood loss.

A week or so later I was finally home again. And boy, did I miss being here. The big city lifestyle just wasn’t for me anymore. Ponyville had the perfect size, the people knew each other around here, and it generally had a much less oppressive feeling living here.

And my friends lived here, so fat chance of me moving back to a metropolis.

Upon my return, I had to listen to Twilight for days about how stupid I was, always getting myself hurt. Cheerilee gave me a punishment in the form of extra work and some very choice words of abandoning her without saying I would be gone for an extended period of time. The kids were happy to have me back, at least.

Pinkie was happy to throw me a ‘Welcome-back-we’re-happy-that-you’re-not dead’ party and life returned to normal. Well, normal for Ponyville at least. Something was always happening around here, even if it only was someone making a fuss about one thing or another.

And that brought us to the here and now. While Sol was out hunting in the Everfree, I know shocking after me swearing to never enter it again, Lux was preoccupied with getting the groceries for the week. It was just early enough to see the people setting up their stalls, so I was sure I could even get some of the imported bananas before they were sold out again.

They were always sold out after a few minutes...

That plan went out the drain as some people desperately ran back home, screaming about the witch visiting town again. And with the panic, the store owners bolted their doors shut and the stalls were left abandoned.

“No yummy fruit for me, this time,” I sighed sadly and spotted Pinkie waving Rainbow Dash inside Sugercube Corner. As she saw me, she began to motion for me to get into the confectionery, too. Well, if I couldn’t get my groceries today, I could just as well get breakfast done now.

“Hey Lux,” Rainbow said as she spotted me walking in and Pinkie dragged me over to the counter. “Where is your brother?”

“Still out hunting in the Everfree, he should be back soon,” I told her and she gaped at me. Oh, yeah. The promise of me not doing stupid stuff, shouldn’t have forgotten that already. “Don’t worry, he doesn’t go far in, just the outskirts. We’re trying to get more training in while we can.”

“Dude, I would have thought both of you would take it lightly for like... the next month at least. But... if you’re sure about this, I can’t tell you to stop,” Rainbow sighed. “I understand you guys feel like you failed somehow, but that shouldn’t mean you are useless.”

“I guess,” I said lamely back. We heard Pinkie opening the door again and this time Applejack and her sister entered the bakery. Not long after that came in Rarity and Fluttershy. Guess our Spa date won’t happen again, what a shame. I liked those...

By now Ponyville had turned into a ghost town and we all observed a woman in a heavy cloak crouching down in the middle of the street, digging out stones and dirt in search of whatever she sought to find here.

Last but not least, we had Twilight come in with Spike in tow. She was interested in why Pinkie was in the dark shop instead of outside and Pinkie pointed out that we were also here. Around this time Sol arrived, too, so our merry band of misfits was all together now. I made a wide berth around this witch that everyone seemed so interested in and I had to say, something about her gave me the creeps.

Twilight and Pinkie went over to the window and we followed along, once more watching the woman get down on the ground to rip it apart. My hairs on my neck and arms stood on end as this witch looked over in our direction and I saw the eyes beneath the hood flash a bright yellow.

I didn’t notice I retreated back to the counter in fright. What can I say, that was seriously alarming. And I felt a spike of power radiate from her right as that happened as well...

Applebloom came out of hiding from behind her sister and asked Twilight if she also saw that. Applejack, like the overly protective sister that she was, got mad at her for mentioning the name of the witch, and for once I had to agree. You didn’t go lightly around speaking the name of witches, after all. It was an ancient art, but the magic of names was something that existed here in Equestria.

Thus, an argument broke out between all of us. Pinkie was convinced that the woman was an evil enchantress, I was afraid of mentioning the name of the scary witch and Twilight insisted that there was nothing wrong going on.

I wanted to cry out racist as Rarity feinted on the idea that you could be born with a darker skin color, but I chalked it up to my friends being ignorant of the world beyond Equestria. It didn’t make it right, though.

The image of the woman being a witch was admittedly a bit exaggerated, but with her living in the Everfree Forest? Yeah, she must be either really really crazy or really really powerful. It was no wonder the people in Ponyville were all too willing to jump to conclusions about her being a witch.

It didn’t mean they had to be wrong, but I got the impression she was more of a witch doctor, instead. There were quite a few similarities to her and the people in Africa back on Earth still practicing something like that.

The ritualistic staff in her hands and the pouches hanging from her belt were also a dead give away that she dabbled more in the herbalistic nature of witchcraft, instead of the bloody kind. I guess she was a benevolent witch in that case?

I felt silly for feeling afraid of her at first. Okay, maybe it was justified because I didn’t know that piece of information, but I felt guilty for also judging her without getting all the facts. My friends weren’t the only ones capable of that, it seemed. Eh, nobody said I’m perfect and it was completely normal to judge someone based on first impressions. As long as one doesn’t let it cloud their judgment after that, everything could be forgiven and forgotten.

I felt like crying as my friends went on about how the Everfree Forest wasn’t natural in the way that the weather, the animals, and the plants all work without the input of the people in this land. It sounded completely normal to me, but I came from a planet that didn’t have the magic the people here had access to. Myself included now, I suppose.

The people got used to the idea of managing the world by themselves instead of nature. No wonder when the world was like this for longer than a thousand years. They didn’t remember a time where it was different and it was all nice and good to read about it, instead of experiencing it. Something like that could make any civilization fear the difference in what was caused by nature and what was caused by the people.

I was a good example as I first arrived in this world. I was spooked out by all the flora and fauna, which hadn’t really stopped, now that I think about it. It was so bad that I feared to go out and scavenge for food in the Everfree as I didn’t recognize even the type of trees around me. Not to mention the tree dogs of hell, fuck those.

Pinkie decided to sing to us a ridiculous song that she had written about the ‘Wicked Enchantress Zecora’ and how we will end up in her stew. Thus continued the argument about how all the stuff the woman has ever done while in Ponyville wasn’t evil and Twilight tried to convince us that she maybe wasn’t all that bad.

I felt sorry for Applebloom as she got continuously shushed by her big sister for trying to talk some sense to the adults in the room. As her teacher, I wanted to help, but as Applejack’s friend, I didn’t want to get in her way of how she wanted to raise her sister. I couldn’t decide for her, after all.

The arguments got more and more ridiculous. Pinkie made outrageous statements like ‘Zecora eats food, she must be evil’ and Twilight got fed up with her at that. Pinkie tried to make it out like she was eating it in an ‘E.V.I.L!’ way, whatever that means. I wanted to tell her that, but Applejack interjected at that point.

“Hey! Where’s Applebloom?”

“The door’s open,” Fluttershy answered and then the panic ensued. I’ll admit, I was getting fearful of what might have happened. There is no way to tell if the kid went after Zecora and I was rather reluctant to entertain the idea of Applebloom following her back into the forest. She should know better...

So, panicking like headless chickens, we all ran out while leaving Spike behind in order to try to catch up to Applebloom before she could get lost in the Everfree. Or worse... die in it. Thankfully it wasn’t that far in that we thankfully made out the form of the little child following the witch, walking at the side of that field of weirdly blue flowers. Applejack took the lead and we ran across to stop her sister from going further.

“Applebloom!” Applejack called out. “Ya get back here, right now!”

Her sister stopped following Zecora and turned to us, as did the woman she had been trailing.

“Beware!” Zecora called out with a distinct African accent. “Beware, you Equestrian folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke.”

Her warning fell on deaf ears with the girls and I looked down at the flowers. You know what they say about colorful plants in nature. They were either highly deadly or slightly deadly. Or just beautiful, but with a warning like that? I was inclined to believe that these weren’t entirely innocent flowers. Either way, I didn’t fancy getting poisoned. Again...

This time the arguments went to how Zecora should be afraid of us instead and not we of her with her curses and whatnot. Twilight was of the opinion there was no such thing as a curse, but even I knew better than that. In a world of magic, there was the very likely possibility of them existing. I would go so far to say that there could be the chance that Celestia and Luna even knew a few just by the fact that they have lived for half an eternity.

One could even argue immortality was a curse, instead of a blessing. Celestia certainly had every reason to believe so, after she spent a thousand years alone as everything turned to dust around her.

I certainly didn’t want to be in her shoes. The mental image of me outliving my friends was sure to bring me nightmares this night. I guess there was a silver lining somewhere in that train of thought, although it was hard to see. For one thing, I would still have Spectrum, and for another, I’m sure Celestia and Luna would be ecstatic to have another immortal that wasn’t crazy or in isolation.

For all I knew, there were more than a few. Celestia and Luna couldn’t be the exception to the rule, it was unlikely that in a world where immortality was an actual thing, only two beings had such a thing placed on them.

“Twilight, I know you’re an expert in magic, but you shouldn’t discount the idea of actual curses being a thing. You fancy yourself a scholar, do you not?” I asked her and she nodded at that. “Isn’t there a saying about how a theory remains only true for so long until it gets disproven? The possibility exists that curses could be real, I’m sure even Celestia would tell you to not discard the idea entirely.”

“See, Twilight! Just what Ah was tryin’ to tell y’all. Thanks, Sol, for talking some sense for once,” Applejack was quick to support my beliefs. Even though she only used that to prove her point and ignored the other message of that it was only a possibility, not a proven fact. The slight jab towards me that she gave me was promptly disregarded...

I had the tendency to be just as bad as Twilight when I got enthusiastic about something, like magi-tech for example. I didn’t take it personally... much.

Thankfully nothing bad happened on our way out of the forest. Applejack went back to the farm to give her little sister a thorough talking to and to ground her for the next week (probably the next month, though). Rarity, Fluttershy, and I (with Lux) went to the spa to relax, while Pinkie and Rainbow went back to work. Twilight and Sol continued on the work with the magi-tech engine, seeing that we had the time to spend right now.

The rest of the day went by uneventfully. The night, on the other hand, was anything but restful. The stupid song from Pinkie got stuck in my head and suffice to say, her appearance in my dreams wasn’t a welcome one.

It’s bad enough I have to put up with her antics even when I want a bit of peace and quiet, now I had to content myself with having her invade my dreams, too? I loved that girl to bits like the sister I never had and probably never wanted, but even I couldn’t take that much of the pink menace.

Especially as I found myself at a graveyard, her disembodied voice floating around like a specter just out of eyesight. The names on the stones around me flooded my heart with despair because I recognized every last one of them.

Applebloom. Scootaloo. Sweetie Belle.

Those weren’t even the worst ones yet. It continued on with every person from Ponyville, and my friends weren’t excluded from that list. Two names, in particular, made me lose faith entirely...

Celestia and Luna.

Both of the sisters had a grave here in this godforsaken dreamscape. I was entirely aware that this was just a dream, but seeing all those names here on an endless row of tombs? It gave all of my fears a face.

I was afraid of losing them in the coming battles. Of losing everything I held dear. And the gravestones embodied it quite thoroughly.

Walking for what felt like hours didn’t get me anywhere near the end. More and more names, sometimes even multiple on the same stone, greeted me. All of them held the caption of ‘The ones Sol and Lux failed to safe’.

Two of those tombstones didn’t read that, though.

Sol, he fought valiantly but failed in his duty at the most crucial times.

Lux, she was the first to fall and ushered in the end of Equis.

At that point, I wanted it to stop, but my feet went on regardless of my wishes. There was one grave that was entirely impossible. One that in a million years couldn’t ever come true.

Spectrum, a mother to all.

“Enough of this torture, my child,” her voice reached me at last. She stood beside me, looking down at the grave as if it told her a funny joke. On her snout was a smile, even though I felt like anything but being happy. How could she find humor at such a sight? “I won’t leave you, you should know better than to harbor such fears. Let them be a warning, but don’t succumb to their lies.”

“But how? This all could become a very real possibility if I fail!” I shouted at her, falling down to my knees. Tears flowed freely down on both of my faces. Hugging her front legs like I was afraid she could disappear if I didn’t keep her in my arms, I looked up to the smiling eyes staring down at me.

“You have been blessed, and yet you fret so much about a possible future. Awaken to your true potential, see what I see in you, and you will understand,” she explained, causing me to feel more confusion than closure. “I see you found a particular plant in the forest, it will be interesting to see your reaction to it upon morning, my sweet child.”

She tittered at that and redecorated our dream to the soothing void of space. This time we were in a different part of it, as I could see a planet not that far away from our position.

“Is that?” I asked and she nodded at my question. The planet Equis, it was a breath-taking sight. An atlas couldn’t do it justice. The vibrant oceans wrapped around the continents like blankets, the frozen caps to the north and south, the clouds floating around serenely, the lights in the darkened part of the world shimmering in a beautiful way, and the light of the sun framing the curvature of the world in a brilliant display of care. A care for every living being down on that planet. “It’s gorgeous.”

“That it is, my child.”

“Could we always dream of this place?” I asked her timidly.

“If that is what you wish,” she smiled. “Then I shan’t say no to you.”

Sitting up and leaning against her, I rested my head against her neck and continued to marvel at the sight of the planet I now inhabited. She nuzzled the top of my head affectionately and we stayed silent for a few more minutes.

The morning came all too soon. A ‘Have fun!’ was the last thing I heard from my Goddess before I felt weird all over my bodies. Rubbing my eyes with the back of my wrist, a jolt like no other went down the spines on both Sol and Lux.

“What the?” I asked, my voices a slightly bit more squeaky all of a sudden. The sensation of my eyeballs being more than triple the size they were before made me shiver in fear. Was I cursed? What was it that Zecora had said again? Something about the blue flowers. Spectrum also failed to hide her amusement from me during the night, so I knew something was definitely up.

My eyes beheld the hooves in front of me. The tan hooves. Hooves that were attached to me. Following the limbs up to my shoulders, or were they called withers now? No, that was the part between the shoulders at the base of the neck, right? Fuck, horse anatomy wasn’t really something I had studied and I regretted that oversight immediately.

The sensation of turning my head around way too far than what I was used to was jarring. I stared at the little pony flanks greeting my sight. On both of them were the images of my talent marks and beyond that, a ginger tail and a blonde tail swishing from side to side in agitation.

What did those flowers do to me?!

A noticeable part missing from Sol was the wings. I friggin’ lost my wings! I began to hyperventilate as panic started to claw at my mind. What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t even get to stand up steadily without falling back down to the ground, only to be cushioned by some pillows I tossed from my beds during my nightmare. A common occurrence for me, I assure you. It seemed I even fell down from the beds in the night.

I whimpered at the loss of my human bodies. Whatever the flowers did to me, I hoped the effect wouldn’t last forever. If that was the case, all my training would have been for naught. I couldn’t fight like this!

“Twilight!” I gasped. She had also touched the flowers! As did my friends. Oh no, no, no, no! This was even worse if all of us suddenly turned out to be cute cuddly little ponies.

What? Don’t give me that look, I can admit that I looked cute as hell. Don’t even try to deny it, you know it’s true.

Stumbling around a lot and hitting my poor snout way too often in my clumsy attempts to go and get Twilight in the hopes that she could help me, or at least find a cure, I ended up tumbling down the stairs with Sol. I was fortunate enough to avoid the same fate with Lux.

Down in the library part of the tree, I saw Twilight tearing books from the shelves and leaving them carelessly on the ground. She still was human at least, and by the expression she wore, she didn’t expect my sudden species change.

“Sol? Is that you?” she asked bewildered. I shook the daze away and looked at her hands. Her fingernails continued to grow abnormally long, probably disabling her from utilizing her magic.

“Yeah,” I answered. Lux was still fighting with the stairs. Twilight followed my gaze to my female half and continued to gape at me. “You’re a... pony? Both of you?”

“Thanks for the brilliant observation, my dear,” I shot back, my sarcasm showing in the posh tone of voice. “What gave it away, the muzzle? The hooves? Perhaps the smell?”

“Don’t get snarky on me, mister,” she said, giving me a small glare. I apologized for letting my frustration out on her, but she understood the feeling. Both of us were cut off from using magic and Sol was permanently grounded for the moment.

To be honest, I would miss my magic more than my wings, seeing that I still was abysmally bad at utilizing them. Beyond gliding and hovering, I haven’t got the hang of climbing in altitude yet. My guess was that I lacked the proper instincts. It would be a tedious process of getting there, although I was optimistic to get there one day.

“Have you found anything yet?” I asked her, grimacing at the storm that went through here. She went to answer me, but Spike spoke up before her.

“It’s a curse! Twilight won’t believe me, Sol.”

“Because it’s not something that is real, Spike! We need a cure for whatever caused this, not a book about the supernatural. That is purely based on fiction!” she shot back and rolled her eyes. Spike gave me a shrug at my raised eyebrow.

“Have you even looked into the book?”

“Sol, we can’t waste time with going through a book about nonsense! At least from you, I expected better,” she told me. I rolled my eyes, grumbling about her stubbornness. Whatever, it’s not like I’m the expert in magic here...

I might have grumbled about that, too. With not so kind words... It’s frustrating that she couldn’t even entertain the idea that this was quite possibly a curse and not something else.

Pinkie arrived just as I managed to get down to the ground level of the library with Lux. Her tongue stuck out of her mouth, swollen so far beyond what I thought was physically possible, causing her major trouble with speaking. She tried to say we had been cursed and Spike played the guessing game. Not very successfully, at that.

Around then we heard a series of crashes and Rainbow brought down the door to our library, her wings continuing to beat against the air even as she was buried halfway in a mountain of books.

Rarity arrived next, hair sprouting from every surface of her body, but unlike me, hers was long and shaggy. Both Rarity and Rainbow agreed with Pinkie that we have been cursed by Zecora.

“Ah hate to say Ah told you so, Twilight,” Applejack’s squeaky voice reached us. Her voice was way more squeaker than mine. She was sitting in a pocket of Applebloom’s attire, showing us how small she had become. “But Ah told you so!”

Would you look at that, she was even more incapable of defending herself than I was. Fluttershy was the only one of us that remained unchanged. And as she fussed over me, I could tell she wanted to hold me in a hug against her chest and never let go. I was small enough to be carried around like that, unfortunately.

“There doesn’t seem to be a thing wrong with her!” Rarity complained, spitting out the hair that got into her mouth as she spoke.

“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. “Are you okay?”

But Fluttershy refused to speak. That obviously gave me the feeling that something was wrong with her voice. Was she mute now? I don’t know... the blue flower seemed to make each one of us bad at what we were good at, in which way would Fluttershy be impeded by that?

Twilight couldn’t work her magic, I was beyond any ability to fight, let alone walk steadily, Rainbow’s wings worked against her, Applejack was too tiny to work at her farm anymore, Pinkie couldn’t speak without making a mess (and that girl loved to talk), Rarity was too much impaired by all the hair getting in the way to work as a seamstress, and Fluttershy refused to speak for some reason.

You know, it was almost funny what this curse did to us. Twilight’s fingernails looked creepy, though...

Then, at the insistence of Applejack, Fluttershy spoke with the deepest voice I have ever heard. The only one unaffected in our little group now were Spike and Applebloom, but both of them never got into contact with the blue flowers. Spike because he didn’t go into the forest with us and Applebloom never touched those flowers as she followed Zecora and got carried out of the forest on Applejack’s shoulders.

Spike made fun out of all of us, so Twilight made him look through the books as punishment. Can’t say I was sorry for him, he was asking for that with his behavior. Rainbow, on the other hand, had another idea on how to lift our curse. By raiding the place of the witch in the Everfree...

Great idea, I have to say. Great. Fucking. Idea. Let’s go to the possibly not so innocent benevolent witch that could kill us with a few words or worse. I didn’t know what could be worse than her killing us for annoying the heck out of her, but I’m sure there existed at least one thing that was worse than death.

Thus, once more the dispute whether this was a curse started up again. The only ones in our group that agreed Zecora had nothing to do with this were Twilight and me (although I wasn’t entirely certain about that). Nobody noticed that Applejack and her sister were gone before it was too late.

Some panicking later about whether or not someone had stepped on the tiny Applejack, we were on our way to Zecora instead. I’m sure Applebloom went to her to try and fix this. She was the kind of person that wanted to fix her mistakes on her own, and what better way to fix our little situation than ask the one that gave the warning about the blue flowers in the first place?

At least I got the hang of walking around on all fours as long as I pretended I was crawling around as a human. Wasn’t entirely similar, but it got me to move in the right way. Going faster than a trot was a bad idea, though.

On the way over to Zecora’s, we found our missing friend minus her sister. She was left to fend for herself all alone on a branch and if it weren’t for Rainbow flying around all wacky and out of control, we would have never found her. At least we were the ones that got to her first, as I didn’t want to entertain the idea of timberwolves or a manticore getting a quick snack out of her.

As we found the abode of Zecora, I felt relieved that it was not a gingerbread house like in the old fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. That just solidified my view of her being a benevolent witch doctor.

Any witch not living in a gingerbread house earned herself a plus in my book...

The girls didn’t share my view, though, as they looked through a window I was too short to reach now. I poked Fluttershy’s leg once and she held me up so I could see what all of them were getting so afraid of.

In the middle of the room was a cauldron with bubbling liquid inside, on the shelves were vases and bottles made of hardened clay filled with all kinds of herbs, masks hung up on the walls all over the place, and I even spotted an old traditional dream catcher hanging on the door to her home.

Zecora entered the room and the girls around me ducked out of view for a moment. We returned to observing the woman in the room and listened to her speaking foreign words as she worked on the brew in the cauldron.

Pinkie was upset she stole her song and forced Fluttershy to sing for her. Unamused, the demure woman spoke monotonously the words we heard just the day before. Pinkie did her little dance, but I got fed up and left the group to speak to the witch doctor in her hut before she noticed us spying on her.

That would give her the wrong impression, for sure. So, to prevent that, I knocked on her door and waited for her to open it. Needless to say, she was surprised to find two little ponies sitting on her doorstep.

“Hey, we need your help. Do you know what happened to us?” I asked her. “My name is Sol, and that is my sister Lux.”

“A warm welcome to you,” she began smiling down at me. She stood aside so I could come in. “I know of a cure if you wait for that brew.”

Not a minute later, one tiny Applejack riding a rare Rainbow Dash mount arrived to wreck the home of Zecora. I guess that was a premature end to my hope of returning to normal today. Leave it to the stubbornness of my friends to ruin our chances of being cured in a timely manner.

Whatever they heard, Pinkie somehow managed to convince Twilight that curses actually existed and that Zecora was the one behind all of this. I didn’t have it in my heart to correct her on that, seeing that she actually managed to change her mind on that. That didn’t make it Zecora’s fault, though.

Zecora had all the right to get mad at my friends for blaming her, they did just barge in accusing her and destroyed half of her home. The fact they thought Zecora had done something to Applebloom got quickly debunked as said girl stood in the door with a shocked look at the mess caused by my friends. Her expression wasn’t missed by anyone in the room.

“What in Ponyville is going on here?” she asked. Applejack was glad to see her safe and sound, but that still left us with Twilight as she stood defensively between the kid and Zecora.

After another debate whether curses were real or not and us explaining that the blue flowers were behind all this (even though I was still of the opinion curses and hexes still had a very likely possibility of existing), Zecora and Applebloom explained that the flowers were called Poison Joke. The contact with one of the flowers was enough for them to affect someone with their ‘poison’.

The joke was that it made us useless, I guess.

Twilight wanted to know from where Zecora knew the cure for it and I had to avoid to groan out in misery. Of course, the only book in the friggin’ library she refused to look into was the one Spike pointed out. She misinterpreted the title, or just didn’t read it past the first word (or thoroughly enough), and didn’t bother with it because she judged it based on its cover.

We all were very much not amused by that. The next time something comes up like this, I will fucking force her to sit at her desk for hours reading the thing until she could recite it in her sleep. Perhaps I should have listened more to Spike and looked through it myself, so I wasn’t entirely without fault here.

Zecora explained to us what all the decorations meant to her as the girls asked about their little observations of the ‘creepy’ masks. I didn’t find them that creepy, but I was more open-minded when it came to things like foreign cultures. Her chanting over her brew? That was a nursery rhyme, go figure... It did sound very intriguing, in my opinion. Perhaps we could sit down over some tea and she could tell me more about Zebrica. I was interested in how similar it was to Africa.

She assured us she could mix up the cure again, but she was missing some ingredients, one that could be bought in Ponyville. Without further ado, we promised the woman we would try and convince the people that they need not fear her. I was pretty optimistic that if we just showed the town that she was just a normal person like you and me that they would come around and be the welcoming neighbors I knew they were.

“Maha’we!” Zecora incanted while she tapped the ground with her staff and we all looked on as power surged through the room and all the stuff littering the ground got fixed up again while everything returned to their proper places. Well, besides the liquid now staining the ground.

She was seriously powerful, I was glad she didn’t decide to make an example out of us while she was mad at us.

While we made our way back to Ponyville, we saw the flower sisters cause a fuss again. Those three had a problem, man. They panicked over the littlest things at times.

In the end, we had the town apologize for how they treated Zecora and got her the ingredients she needed. She would be back in town the next morning so we all could soak in the cure at the spa.

Needless to say, my dear mother was having her fun with me this night. It didn’t take long for me to fall asleep and once I was within the dream realm she greeted me readily with a hug a bit too tight for comfort.

“To see you in this form warms my heart,” she grinned, nuzzling my manes in glee. “Perhaps we shall have you looking like this in our dreams from now on?”

“I...” stuttering a bit at the overly exaggerated show of maternal instincts from her, I was unsure of how I should answer to that. So I just blushed deeper in embarrassment and failed to raise my voice loud enough to give a coherent reply.

“Speak a bit louder, won’t you?” she said, eyes twinkling in mirth.

“Okay, you win! I like this form, happy now?!” I shot back, my face redder than a tomato. “I like how my fur feels snuggled up against you and how nice it feels to nuzzle you back, okay? It makes me feel closer to you than my human bodies could ever be.”

“You don’t have to be so indignant about this, you know?” Spectrum, no, my mother told me. It was like I was just denying myself from having a family again after not remembering the one I had on Earth. If it meant I had this amazing being as my new mother? I’m sure my old one wouldn’t fault me for that.

I got a feeling of understanding of how those people in reincarnation stories could just readily adapt to their new family so easily. Their previous lives were just memories to them once they started their new lives, just like Earth was just a memory to me now.

It was for the best that I didn’t cling to this half-forgotten image of the person I used to be and embraced my new life here to the fullest.

“So, I gotta know, what happened to the bracelet? I didn’t have it on me as I woke up like this,” I inquired. Spectrum glanced down at my wrists where they normally were.

“My dear, this form of yours is saturated in the magic of the world. The bracelet was more of a focus if anything to bring your personal armor out along with the weapons you found in the Everfree Forest beneath the castle,” she started to explain. “Someone like me, an actual pony as you find yourself as, doesn’t need such a silly thing. Try to summon them. You might be yet surprised, my child.”

I did as I was told and found that it was actually way easier than I feared it could be. Normally I always touched my bracelet for this but just ordering my armor to surround me was enough. They formed perfectly formfitting around my pony bodies. The weapon on the other hand, or was it hoof now? Anyway, the weapons themselves were still the same size they were when I was human.

It seems like those were meant to be wielded in my human forms. Not surprising, really. They were forged by human hands to be used by human hands. That just left the question of where this armor came from. So, like the little curious pony that I am, I asked Spectrum whether she knew what the armor actually was.

“Your armor is a very piece of your being. As I brought you to this world and remade you into what you are, I gave you this small boon as my champion. Wear it with pride, for it is literally you that protects you from harm,” she told me. “It was a difficult process to interact with reality as I am now, but for you and my world I would gladly do so again.”

“I read about how they worshipped three different beings for the blessings that you gave them in that museum in Manehattan. How could they just abandon their belief of you like that?”

“Are you referring to my firstborns?” she asked me, her eyebrow raised up a bit.

“Wait... those actually existed? Unicornia, Pegasus, and Terra?” I shot back flabbergasted. Would you look at that, the history was accurate to some degree, after all! And they were her first children?

“My, my. You think they are dead?” she tittered. “While they might not be able to move around freely anymore, I assure you your siblings are still out there, upholding some of the seals. As is their duty now.”

“Siblings?” I asked bewildered. I wasn’t sure how much exposition I could stand for today.

“Why, of course, they are. What did you think? That you were my first child I sent down to the world below us?” mom shook her head in a mock disappointed way. “Technically, you already met two of your other siblings, did you not?”

“Wait, what?” my voice failed me. She couldn’t mean Celestia and Luna, right? Please, don’t tell me my first interaction as the little sibling was to punch my big sister while freeing the other.

“I must say, it was quite humorous to watch how you first introduced yourself to her after your very first adventure,” she laughed heartily. “My, I’m interested to see how she will react once she understands who you truly are. I will get the popcorn ready in that case.”

I groaned in despair. What did I do in my previous life to deserve this? Which god did I piss off to make my life this complicated? It was bad enough I was technically a demi-god by all rights and means, did I have to have such a weird family now? A small smile worked itself onto my faces despite my best efforts to hold my glare at Horse God, but it was a futile effort.

This family might be weird, but it was my family. I could deal with that, I suppose.

“Sooo... if Celestia and Luna are my sisters, why do I have their talent marks? Well, as close to them as they are with these weapons superimposed on them. What’s up with that?” I wanted to know. Nay, I needed to know. Both of these already caught the interest of my friends as I couldn’t exactly hide them in my pony forms. Sure, Rarity knew of them but didn’t ask any further questions about them.

“That is a complicated story, my dear. Believe it or not, but Celestia and Luna’s marks were based off of another mark entirely,” Spectrum answered me. “Your essence, or what you might know as the soul, is a very old one. I’m sure you are aware of the concept of reincarnation, yes?”

I gave her a nod. And... she was right, it was a very complicated story. There existed a man and woman, long in the past now, that taught Celestia and Luna how to fight, alongside an old wizard by the name of Starswirl. It was weird of hearing about these past versions of me, those mighty warriors that safeguarded the land as Celestia and Luna were just mere children at the time. Spectrum sent the sisters down to Equis as their next guardians and both of them were found by Starswirl. He was their instructor in everything magic, while Moonlight and Sunfire taught them how to fight.

The tale of my hidden past wasn’t a happy one, though. As was customary at that time, war arrived. And with that war, came death and destruction. That first war with Grogar? That was the first time I had died and with him being a necromancer?

Let’s just say, my nightmares about turning out like Sylvanas weren’t just figments of my imagination. Both Moonlight and Sunfire were forced to raze the planet to the ground, the fallen heroes meant to protect turned against the very people I was trying to keep safe.

I’ve been granted a second chance. A second chance that I won’t squander this time around. My mother was glad to see the resolve in my eyes for it meant I didn’t want to repeat the mistakes of a past version of myself.

That just left one question.

“If Sunfire and Moonlight were two separate entities, what happened to make me like this?” I asked and dreaded the answer. There were a million possible reasons for how this could have happened and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

“I think that is a question for another time, my sweet child,” she told me gently and gave me a sad look. I had the feeling she wouldn’t be telling me this anytime soon. My vision began to fade as I was slowly pulled out of the dream realm. So I just sighed and gave her one last nuzzle as goodbye for now.

Necromancers, Seals, half-god siblings, and me, a reincarnated soul as old as dust and dirt. Nothing could surprise me anymore. And if there was anything left to surprise me, I was reasonably sure that I would be beyond the ability to care at that point.

My life turned into a crappy teenage novel and I was okay with it...

At least today was the last day of the weekend, so I had no work to worry about. The only thing to look forward to was the visit from Zecora.

It was nice to have my normal, human bodies back.

Turns out I had no clothing on, though, which got me into an embarrassing situation with the girls and the spa ladies. Also, everyone saw my tits, so yeah... They wouldn’t ever let me live this one down, huh? As long as only my friends saw me naked, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

13. We need an exterminator...

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I know it was quite the revelation the last time we spoke like this and I’m sure you remember most of it, so could we skip the part where I recap the last session? What do you mean, you write this stuff down?! Didn’t I tell you not to do that during our first meeting? No? Well, don’t do it. Not everyone needs to know about my complicated origins, or even me being one mind controlling two bodies.

Okay, you know what? I don’t care, write the stuff down, nobody will believe it anyway. I eagerly await the day we’re done with this crap and I can go back to living my life like I want to without having someone analyze all my faults and whatnot. No, Twilight, I don’t care that it supposedly helps me deal with it. Can we get started now? Good.

You know, the day Fluttershy brought back those little monsters from the Everfree was the first day you all saw me at my lowest and most cruelest. I’m pretty sure some of you never wanted to talk to me for a while after that, but seeing Celestia do the same thing to those hell spawns changed your perspectives pretty hard, didn’t it? Anyway, let’s start at the beginning.

Like every moderately uneventful day, it began with me doing my rounds at the edge of the Everfree Forest before the sun was even up. I was getting increasingly worried by the withered appearance of some of those timberwolves that dared to get close to the settlement.

Something was happening all over the world, and if that cult in Manehattan didn’t clue me in, then those monsters in the forest did. I was increasingly happy with the performance of the sword I appropriated from the man that tried robbing that bank.

Timberwolves didn’t like me before I had the flaming sword and they certainly didn’t like me after I burned their buddies to ash and cinders. What a little difference like that could do, huh?

Zecora, too, was getting concerned by the increasing change in the wildlife of the Everfree. Multiple times had I tried to get her to move to Ponyville where it was safer, but every time we met over tea she told me the same thing. Unless the very forest started to act out like that, she would remain in her little tree hut.

While I was doing my little part-time job of watching the borders of the Everfree, I gathered the herbs she used most frequently and she taught me a bit about surviving out in nature. And boy, did she know a lot of stuff. Suffice to say, I now knew how to appropriate safe water and food within the forest. Should I get lost in there I wouldn’t be completely useless.

That wasn’t the only thing I made progress on over the last few weeks. I got an epiphany about my wings and I finally managed to fly for real. It was all about the mindset. Believe you can fly and your wings would actually respond in the way you want them to. The fear of falling was quite detrimental to your ability to fly. While I wasn’t the best or fastest flier out there, my endurance allowed me to make long flights in exchange. Rainbow tried to race me a few times but got bored pretty quickly after seeing me not even put up a challenge.

And my dream of making a magic-powered Ducati? Let’s just say we made huge waves in the automobile market with the improved engine design and had enough resources to experiment on reworking the design of the engines to fit on a bicycle frame.

One small step for me, one huge giant leap into the future for Equestria. Celestia was proud of our progress, which was also a nice bonus. Suffice to say, Rarity wasn’t the only rich person in our little group of friends anymore.

With the innovation out on the market, prices for cars were a lot more affordable for the average person now. The times of the car being a toy for rich people was over and with a little nudge in the right direction, mass production was introduced to society.

I don’t feel bad for bringing that to Equestria, it made a lot of things a great deal cheaper. That put an end to exorbitant prices on magi-tech and paved the way for progress. Meanwhile, I stayed out of the limelight, feeling like I cheated on the greatest scientists and inventors from Earth. It didn’t feel right to take credit for an idea I just copied based on the few memories I had of my previous life.

The money I accepted easily, though. What? I’m a greedy bitch, what did you expect of me? Deny the riches I had access to now? Besides, I’m pretty sure I got the short end of the deal while others profited from what I brought to Equestria way more than me.

To honor all the great inventors of Earth I started the whole Nobel Prize thing here in Equestria with a little bit of help from my friends and my unknowing sisters. They were quite intrigued by the idea, everyone was happy, and it helped out up and coming scientists, inventors, politicians, and whatnot. The first Nobel Peace Prize went to my little group of friends, seeing that we friggin’ saved the world.

Yeah, we got the first prize that we introduced to the world, boo-hoo! You won’t see me crying over it. Considering we barely got acknowledgment after we saved the world, I think it was due time my friends got the credit they deserved as the Elements of Harmony.

I could do without all the attention, though. Half of Equestria was now interested in the little hamlet that everybody seemed to forget existed at times. There were a few people that were daring enough to move here, despite out town being next to the Everfree and having a pink-haired god-like being living here.

Spectrum assured me that Pinkie Pie was in fact, not a god or eldritch abomination... or one of my siblings for that matter. My sanity wouldn’t have survived that, I think.

Considering I missed the day where Twilight learned about the ‘Pinkie-Sense’ that reminded me eerily of the ‘Spider-Sense’ from Peter Parker, I had to deal with the aftermath of Twilight going crazy about the impossibility of it all.

Anyway, enough about all the stuff that happened over the last few weeks of this tale, we had a pest problem to deal with and had no one we could call to deal with it in a professional manner.

Apparently, no one had an idea on how to deal with parasprites, besides Pinkie and Celestia. One wanted to shove the problem where it came from, the other wanted to burn them into non-existence. The latter opinion was also my approach, but we’re getting ahead again.

Twilight was in a frenzy about the ‘casual’ visit from Celestia and decided to clean up the library for the umpteenth time that week, while I got dragged into helping decorate the whole town after I was done with my border control at the forest. I was of the opinion that this was entirely unnecessary. Casual was everything but what the people were preparing for here.

Pinkie running around like crazy asking for instruments left me stumped on what was going on. Little did I know what that was the prelude to.

I was curious about the weird insect fluff ball that Twilight said Fluttershy found as she was picking flowers for Celestia, but chalked it up as a last-minute decision for her to acquire a pet for herself and Spike.

And boy, did I wish she burned it to a crisp come the next morning. There were dozens of them fluttering around, eating all the groceries in the kitchen, and my secret fruit stash. I whimpered at being denied my fruity goodness once more.

Then they started to wreck the library that just got a fresh once-over and I said enough. This was getting out of hand, they obviously bred like sex-crazy rabbits going at it all night and day for a whole year. And the next thousand, while they were at it.

Thankfully, fire was the solution to every problem mankind has ever faced. No, I wasn’t a pyromaniac. I just had a slight disposition to... use fire to solve all my problems. But it worked, didn’t it? I mean, if they could multiply like that it wasn’t like I was rotting them out.

Even if they deserved extinction. A fiery blazing inferno of an extinction. Would Celestia banish those pests to the sun if I asked her?

Twilight stared at me like I had gone off the deep end, swinging the flaming sword around like a maniac. Don’t worry! The library won’t go up in flames! We made sure nothing like that could ever happen, just like we made sure no lightning would ever hit the library. And no hurricane could uproot the tree. And nothing short of a nuke could scratch the tree. Probably. It simply was too beautiful to be destroyed like that. There was no way it would come to any harm as long as the wards weren’t overloaded with a huge dosage of magic.

Then I watched the hellspawn hurl up another of their ilk.

“RAGHR!” I screamed as they began to multiply like crazy. I was swinging around my sword in a whirlwind and they decided I was a large enough threat to their existence to begin attacking me.

Now, as I later learned, parasprites are actually quite deadly creatures. In small numbers, they seemed harmless and barely put up a fight, but as soon as they had eaten a large amount of food, like say a week’s worth of groceries, they gained enough energy to produce a gigantic swarm.

And each one of them had the capability to consume flesh. They were the friggin’ piranhas of the air, I tell you. The numbers I was fighting against were starting to grow overwhelmingly in their favor, even as I slaughtered hundreds of them with a few blazing swings of my weapon.

“Retreat! Abandon ship! Everyone fend for themselves!” I ran screaming out the door, all of them flitting after me with a heavy buzzing in the air. I felt them biting into my skin, trying to tear away at it to get to the fleshier parts of me. Meanwhile, Lux was next to useless with her bow, so I had to conjure up a new spell I had been working on.

Arcane Explosion. A nifty spell, one I took heavy inspiration from World of Warcraft. It did what its name suggested. It created a fast-expanding bubble to form around the caster, inflicting crushing pressure and harsh injuries to any living being within the blast radius, ending in explosive force. It was a costly spell that required a lot of mana to cast.

But using one of those a few times caused a couple thousands of the bugs to die while trying to get at me and my mirror images. It gave me just enough leeway to get my bodies away long enough for us to escort Twilight to Fluttershy’s. She wasn’t particularly happy in my methods of dealing with the pest problem we had, but she could suck it up for the moment.

We were trying to survive a hungry swarm hellbent on eating us, so I think a little excessive force was justified. And it barely put a dent in their numbers, anyway. It was high time she learned that killing non-sentient creatures like those was a necessity to stop them from growing out of hand. I had seen pictures of insect swarms causing famines on Earth, I didn’t want to see what would happen with these parasprites spreading all over Equestria.

I didn’t want to know how much lives would be lost to the never-ending hunger of those monsters that had no inhibitions from going after people as well.

On the way over, me doing everything to keep the insects away from us, we stumbled upon a frantic Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Both of them seemed to look a little worse for wear, but fine overall.

Without stopping our sprint to the resident animal caretaker, we were swiftly overwhelmed as her door burst open with even more parasprites. Dread filled my heart as I sprinted through the doorway. Please, don’t let Fluttershy be dead...

Said woman was standing there, completely helpless and I saw quite a few animal skeletons littered around. Horror couldn’t describe my feelings enough. My hatred spiked up hotly within my chests seeing tears run down Fluttershy’s cheeks. Brightpaw was spitting around flames carefully, trying not to damage the house or hurt any of the animals he was protecting.

“Evacuate your animals out of this building, Fluttershy!” I shouted at her, swinging through a cluster of hungry pests. My demand brought her out of her grief, a little light entering her empty eyes in a flicker of hope and she was quick to follow the path we cleared for her. Once outside, the parasprites converged into a larger swarm and Brightpaw was free to turn to his larger self.

“Here’s all those apples you wanted, Fluttershy,” the voice of Applejack reached us, and the parasprites spotted all the new fuel ripe for the taking like a sacrifice offered to a dark god hellbent on destroying the world.

The swarm continued to grow larger and larger, the effort of Brightpaw and I not being enough to remotely stop them. Twilight and Applejack’s idea to herd the things back into the forest turned out to not work at all for the size of the swarm and the attempt at using a tornado of epic proportions to contain them ended up with Pinkie almost killing Rainbow Dash with cymbals.

And then, as if things couldn’t get worse, the swarm decided we weren’t worth their time anymore and invaded Ponyville instead. Understandably, we were all mad at that. Pinkie wasn’t the only one the girls were mad at, though. My tactic of killing them didn’t sit right with most of them.

I didn’t care about their opinion as the parasprites began to cause the greatest famine known to this quaint little town. Everywhere we looked, they ate anything edible within sight. Before Twilight could cast the spell to stop making them want to eat food, I hijacked the spell.

Now, don’t tell me that it was a good idea. It wasn’t. It really wasn’t. Instead of food, I told the spell it wanted to make the parasprites want only one thing.

And that was my specific mana signature.

Yeah, I said it was a stupid thing to do, but I knew the spell Twilight attempted didn’t work the way she intended it for. You had to give it a different target instead, so I panicked and picked the first thing my magic could decide on. That being little old me. Whatever... I have done things that were more asinine than this.

Sometimes it seemed like I had suicidal tendencies, but I assure you I was quite attached to my life. My brain just had a bad case of ‘Give-me-the-most-dangerous-situation-to-get-my-next-fix-on-adrenalin’ addiction. Timberwolves just didn’t do it for me anymore, you know?

“What did you do?!” Twilight screamed at me, fear and rage showing in her expression.

“What I had to do,” I answered back solemnly. “That spell needs a replacement for a target, Twi. Or did you forget that?”

“Lux...” she seethed, grimacing at her slight oversight. “Which target did you give them?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know that?” I shot back, and I ran away from my friends while Sol held them back. All of the parasprites followed after my female half, ready for their next, and last, meal.

Needless to say, I was in quite a pickle. Sol couldn’t hold my friends for long and Lux wouldn’t be able to stand a full assault of the bugs for more than a few minutes. If it came down to it, I could do what that cultist did in the warehouse and wipe the threat away entirely. That was a last, last, laaaast resort, though.

Like, ‘I-was-about-to-die-anyway’ last resort. Which might very well happen, now that I think about it.

Twilight managed to break away from Sol with a desperate teleport, taking me with her, and she watched Lux get surrounded on all sides by the parasprites.

A few arcane explosions kept them away for the moment, but my body began to burn from the abusive amount of mana coursing through it.

Desperate, Twilight tried to cast the spell from earlier again, but I managed to stop her with Sol. She kicked and screamed at me for letting her help me, but I couldn’t risk it.

She was too important to risk her life, it was I that had to make the sacrifice. To do what needed to be done.

I drew more mana from the ley lines, my eyes beginning to glow and my hair started to drift in an unseen wind that wasn’t actually there.

“Okay, please let this work,” I muttered, curling myself up as my body began to float by itself, I let loose a scream starting the surge. That was the last idea I had before I even could entertain the thought of burning my very being to obliterate this plague.

An adult could, in desperate times, force themselves to surge. It wasn’t pretty on the body, though. Normally surges are a sign that the body couldn’t hold the amount of mana yet, and it was a way for it to force the mana pathways to grow so that they could allow a better distribution of the energy within the body. Children were prone to such accidental magic for that very reason, their bodies still being in the growing phase.

I, on the other hand, had a fully grown mana pathway system already. Which meant jack shit, in the end, the surge forcing them even wider than what was the average for a person.

My concentration was straining, vision blurry on Lux. I barely mustered up my willpower to direct the raging mana around me to attack the flying insects around me. They tried to flee, but I pulled them in into the deathtrap I had become. There was no escaping me, I was inevitable. Their end was the only purpose I gave the magic around me, beckoning it to fulfill only that demand.

A burning hot sun gripped my arm, pulling me out of my surge with the sudden force of thousand trucks ramming into me. “Foolish.”

The voice sounded familiar. Also quite angry and disappointed in me.

I had no recollection of the part that followed, so here is what the girls told me. Yes, I know Twilight, you were the one that told me what happened and berated me for it, after my sisters had given me the tongue-lashing of the century, nay, millennia, but the story wouldn’t be complete if I left off here, right?

Twilight stared at her mentor, her hair alight in the glory of a solar flare. She had feared everything was lost by the time her mentor would arrive for the visit, but seeing her there, holding the exhausted Lux in her arms as the very air around her ignited the parasprites, she could only stare dumbly at the display of power.

Celestia watched the face of Lux, a saddened frown on her face. Around that time, Twilight’s friends arrived at the scene, finding Sol desperately clinging onto a now limply sitting Twilight. He seemed to be just as out of it as the personal student of the princess

And all of them watched Celestia slaughter the little insects with no effort at all. Within seconds there was naught but ash remaining of those in the immediate area, a few seconds more, and the rest were caught in the maelstrom of fire. In the end, it seemed like there never were any parasprites, to begin with.

Celestia returned to her normal regal self, my female body already fast asleep due to a sleep spell.

“I’m sorry to have to cut this visit short, but it seems the problem is solved for now. I will take young Lux with me to Canterlot so she can get the medical attention she needs. We will talk later, Twilight,” she said, and then she was gone, Lux with her in tow.

I got myself out of my daze with Sol and the girls told me Lux was going to Canterlot for medical reasons. Well, at least I knew my other half was safe and sound. It would be a good idea to stop with these stupid stunts.

Around evening was the time I awoke with Lux and I wished I remained unconscious. Every fiber of my being protested any kind of movement. My eyes were glad for the darkened room, but even that put a strain on them. Pained moans left my throat, a headache pounding away on the inside of my head like a menagerie worth of animals just decided to trample all over it.

“Finally awake, we see,” Luna’s voice was gentle but held an undertone of strictness in it.

“What happened to me?” I croaked out, I was still hazy on the details. Twilight was currently too busy organizing the town’s distribution of food to tell me the whole story. And the only thing I remember was an arm touching me during the surge, then nothing.

“You experienced a forced mana surge, something that could have ended up quite deadly if it continued on for more than ten minutes. You were fortunate enough that Celestia was already on the way to Ponyville, or you wouldn’t be here right now,” Luna explained, sitting down at the foot of my bed. She studied me for a moment, seemingly uncertain what to make out of my lack of making intelligent decisions on the fly.

“Is Ponyville safe?” I asked. Luna nodded, saying Celestia took care of the problem that befell our town. The parasprites were eradicated to the very last one and she stopped my surge at the same time.

“Were it not for you running out of ideas, we would have you locked up for your own safety. We seem to remember you playing it safe during our training sparring sessions with expertly crafted illusions,” she started. “Would it not have been simple to use them to your advantage against the pest plaguing your town?”

“I...” my breath got stuck in my throat. Why didn’t I think of that? It would have bought me some much needed time, time that was valuable in such a situation.

Would it have changed anything, though? They were attracted to my life essence, would they have fallen for such a trick? Maybe if I had thought of using my illusions before Twilight had started casting that spell? I can’t tell for sure.

“Your training is by far not complete, young Lux. Perhaps another session with you and your friends is in order. We shall see to it, then,” she mused, standing up from my bed and stopping directly in front of me. She let show a small smile at the thought of torturing us again for ‘training’. “And mayhaps Tia will be able to accompany us this time.”

My face paled at that thought. From what I understand, her sister is even more powerful when it comes to purely combat-related spells and having seen those murals in the Everfree? She knew how to handle a weapon expertly, too.

“Are you sure that is necessary? I mean, I can promise to be more careful, if that is what you want?” I asked, knowing full well I meant no word of that promise. The last promise got like, broken in a few weeks. By now I knew being careful was never going to be an option in the long run.

I had to take risks in order to save as many lives, that much I knew for certain. I could try thinking all day long for alternative solutions to the problems I face, but where would that leave me? That would only lead to hesitation on the battlefield and that was not something I could allow.

Luna raised an eyebrow at that and took out a newspaper. A picture of me as my vigilante self was on the front page, showing a scene during the night I led the police on a wild goose chase through the city. Don’t know at which point exactly it was, seeing that it went on quite long, and how someone got a picture of me during that night... but it was me, no denying that.

“It seems ending up in troubling situations is one of your specialty, is it not, Shadow Stalker?” she asked me, her eyes narrowed to slits.

“How...” I stuttered. How indeed? I was pretty sure there was nothing that could give me away like that. Or, was there?

“It is quite simple, we have to say. When there is only one person we ever taught the mirror image spell to and they appear in Manehattan fighting criminals left and right, who do you think that would be?” she asked.

“Oh...”

“Indeed. It was easy to connect the dots with you using a bow and illusions, but that was a dead giveaway,” Luna said matter-of-factly. “We have to ask, though. Where did you get such peculiar armor?”

“It was a family heirloom?” I said unsurely. There was no damn way she would accept that excuse. I could try, though.

“I see...” she said, my hope flaring up at how ridiculously easy that was. “Then your Talent Mark is also a ‘family heirloom’?”

And my hope took a leap out of the burning airplane that was labeled ‘Lux’. Goodbye, it was nice knowing you.

“Um...” I stuttered. “Yes?”

Okay, try to bullshit your way out of this! We have to salvage this situation, asap! I can’t let her know about this...

Who am I kidding? Of course, she already suspects me. They suspected me from the very start we met. I should have gone with something different for weapons to take with me into the Everfree. Like a spear, or something. No hope in denying it any longer, it seems.

“Could you tell the truth for once, please?” Luna scolded me. “We promise you, you are in no way in trouble with us.”

Looking at how sad her eyes appeared on her scowling face, it made my heart pulse with sympathy. She had lost a mentor once upon a time that looked just like me, one that was a previous incarnation of myself. How could I deny her that closure? I mean, I was right in front of her, a haunting memory of times long since passed.

So, I did the right thing and got over my perceived notion of keeping things a secret that shouldn’t stay secret. Admitting to myself that it was childish of me to behave like this wasn’t easy. At some point, it would have come to light, anyway. Why wait for a situation that could perhaps turn out worse than this?

I reached out to my bracelet and held it. Here goes, I guess.

A moment later, Luna studied the bow in my hands with tears in her eyes. She reached out to it, asking with just her expression if she could hold it once more. I presented it to her readily, not having it in my heart to refuse her request.

“I am She who guides the Moon, grant me access to the hidden potential within this bow,” Luna whispered and I watched in awe at what happened. Blades of moonlight extended from both ends, turning the bow into a melee weapon, not unlike the warglaives she was seen wielding in the past. She split the altered weapon in half, holding two warglaives now.

“Truly, we never thought we would see these again,” Luna muttered. “After Moonlight and Sunfire were slain... we tried wielding them for a while, but they never held this form for very long for us. Starswirl was the one to convince us they needed the right wielders, so we placed them beneath the castle, waiting for the right owners to come along.”

The weapons in her hand flashed once, returning to the form I was familiar with. Luna handed it back to me reverently and I returned it back to the bracelet. I watched her, more curious than ever before.

“Tia already suspected you to be the next wielders of these weapons as soon as she saw your choice of weaponry. Both of us held the same suspicions, so we went to our old castle to see if they were still where we left them. Imagine our surprise when we found them gone...

“After we saw what happened in Manehattan, we knew where they went for certain. We wanted to confront you then and there, but Tia wanted to see what you would do. She merely treated your trials during your extended stay in the city as a test. For her, it was a way to see if you were ready for what lies ahead. Suffice to say that you impressed and disappointed us at the same time.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. Luna gave a small laugh at that, shaking her head.

“You reminded us of our own training days under Sunfire and Moonlight, young Lux. We were quite stubborn and hotheaded in our youth, only listening to what we thought would benefit us the most during our teachings. Our teachers weren’t entirely pleased with us, but they understood what we went through at the time. We grew up in a time of war, young Lux, we had not the luxury to think every possibility through, just as we have observed your impulsiveness.

“Moonlight taught us patience, even in battle. It was a tedious process for our teachers, but eventually, we got over our perceived superiority and started listening to them. Sunfire taught us discipline, even as we went against their teaching time and time again. Both of them didn’t give up on us, even as our little temper tantrums got out of hand at times. Starswirl gave us the knowledge we needed to eventually take up the mantle of rulers of this land. Magic was a difficult thing to learn in the olden times, believe it or not. Much progress has been made in that area since we were children, even though Tia saw fit to censor some of the more dangerous arts.”

At that moment the door opened and the other diarch of this country came in, carrying a mug of coffee in her hand.

“Telling her about all our embarrassing moments, Lulu?” Celestia asked, taking a sip from her brew. “Have you told her about the time you decided it was a good idea to have a manticore as a pet?”

“Tia!” Luna pouted. “We merely told her of our time spent training in our youth and how similar we appeared to her own faults.”

“I’m merely teasing you, sister. Have you asked her about her Talent Mark already?” Celestia said, raising an eyebrow.

“Nay, we were still discussing the topic of their weapons.”

“Very well, then. If I might?” Celestia gestured to the sleeve on my arm, sitting down at my side in a chair. I nodded, albeit a bit reluctantly, so she exposed my shoulder and with it the mark that showed the same one on Luna’s shoulder, just with a bow over the moon.

“Did you know, a Talent Mark is specific to one person only? There might be slight variations here and there, but the exact mark has only ever appeared once through the entirety of time itself,” she explained, studying the mark on my shoulder with a critical eye. “Even down to the shimmering stars, there is no doubt in it. You have the same mark as Moonlight. How could this be?”

“If I might make a suggestion?” I said, fidgeting slightly with her so close to me. Celestia raised an eyebrow but gave me the go-ahead. “Are you familiar with the concept of reincarnation?”

“Reincarnation? The returning of the soul to another living being? Yes... I am quite familiar with it, a friend of mine... Are you suggesting what I think you are?” Celestia asked with incredulity. “That means you are... but we thought your soul was destroyed by that monster!”

She stood up abruptly, raising her voice in shock. Celestia and Luna looked like they had seen a ghost. Considering I was literally that come back to life, I guess it wasn’t that far off the mark.

“How else would you explain this here on my shoulders?”

“Tia, we have to say...” Luna began. “With her having the mark, looking like the female version of Moonlight, the necklace in her possession and the weapons removed by them? There is no other possibility but reincarnation.”

“Then... then we could do everything in the right way this time around?” Celestia whispered, hope flaring up in her like a shining beacon. “We could protect them and guide them so we wouldn’t lose them again?”

“Well, if I might say something to that?” I interjected, both of them now looking at me. “Whatever happened in the past to my previous incarnation, I don’t hold it against you that you couldn’t help me then. It sounds more like I failed both of you, so I’m deeply sorry for that. If I could change what happened, I would gladly do so.”

“She even sounds like him when he was apologizing to us...” Celestia hiccuped and then I was subjected to a crushing hug. I let her have this, deciding to endure the pain of my still aching body. “How I wished for so long to just talk to you at least one last time. It might not be how I imagined it, but it is a start. I assume your brother has the mark of Sunfire on his shoulders?”

I nodded and she let out a relieved sob. Feeling a bit awkward, I patted her on her back, unsure how to deal with a crying princess in my embrace. Wasn’t the big sister supposed to console the little one? Talk about a role reversal. Not that she had any idea about that, but I think a revelation like that would break her at this moment. How would I even convince her of that in the first place?

Did I even want to let her know that? I don’t want to be friggin’ royalty! That job was too much of a hassle for me.

Celestia decided to send a letter to Ponyville, summoning my other half to Canterlot and assuring the girls that I was safe and sound. Just a bit under the weather for the moment. Both of them actually used a multitude of healing spells to help my recovery along.

I would have to be careful with the use of magic from now on. My mana pathways were considerably widened, meaning my magic became more potent than before. Celestia and Luna forbid me from using any kind of magic for the next few days, but I could deal with that no problem.

We talked a bit more before they had to get back to running the nation. I actually learned the name of the weapons from them, so there was that. The bow had the apt name of Moon’s Tears, while the sword, that could turn into a halberd as I learned, had the name Sun’s Fury.

Badass names for badass weapons.

Both of them were forged out of the same material that my necklaces were made out of, star steel. Moonlight was responsible for the design, as well as the ability to transform into a different form, while Sunfire had forged them with the abnormal strength required to form the material. Both of them were actually Terra-Blessed, but they were incredibly knowledgable in the use of runes.

It was an ingenious design, even to today’s standards. Celestia wasn’t all that surprised that I took such an interest in magi-tech, now that she knew I was her reincarnated teacher. Too bad I had no memory from those previous incarnations, I would have loved to have access to all that forgotten knowledge they had on runes.

Maybe the tome of magic on my phone had what I was looking for, but judging from the cursory glance I had taken of it in the confines of my own bedroom, there wasn’t enough to recreate the things Moonlight and Sunfire were able to accomplish. Most of the spells in there reminded me more of the magic used in World of Warcraft, to be honest.

I made use of the arcane explosion spell already. What? You thought I created it on my own? Pfft. As if, I wasn’t that good. Why do all the work when I had a whole spellbook I had access to?

Anyway, around evening Celestia was crushing the living daylights out of Sol, as I arrived not too long after I was left alone with Lux. Needless to say, they repeated the whole stuff they told my female self, but I let them believe we were separate beings for now.

How I would open that can of worms to them was beyond me. Both of them were sure to be unnerved if I told them something must have happened to the souls of Moonlight and Sunfire to cause me to be just me. One single entity in two bodies, it still sounded strange, did it not?

The topic wandered all over the place during dinner, from when we would have our next training session, to the Grand Galloping Gala which was being held after winter began.

I was a bit fearful of that time frame because it meant half a year passed since I got to Equestria. The words of Spectrum were still haunting me: ‘you have half a year to prepare after the Summer Sun Celebration’.

They asked me if I had appropriate clothing for such an event, so I told them I would ask Rarity about that in the coming weeks. I’m sure the others would also go to Rarity for that, she was our personal tailor in our group of friends, after all.

It wouldn’t that long until winter started now, seeing that we were already halfway through the autumn season. Time sure was flying by, it seemed. It was a good thing both of them decided to give us another training session, even if I dreaded it already.

After a few days, I was back in Ponyville with Lux recovered enough that I could use magic again. Sol had the pleasure of teaching the kids again after the school break ended and the misfortune to having to deal with a snotty brat that got her Talent Mark while rubbing it in the faces of her schoolmates.

I had no idea how you could be so proud of an image of a tiara upon your shoulders. Applebloom had the fortune to find some true friends at the end of the day, and I was very proud of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle for standing up to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

And that will be everything, for now, I think. Still have other things to do, and I’m sure you need to get back to your duties, Twilight. We will continue this the next time we sit down like this.

Yeah, sure, I’ll try not to be so snarky next time, but no promises. You know me by now, don’t you?

14. Is it righteousness that drives us forward or ...?

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A lot of boring stuff happened before something of interest came around, so can we skip that, Twilight? No? Can’t I just mention it and be done with it? What do you mean, that defeats the purpose of these meetings? But all of these things don’t add anything worthwhile to this recount, why do you insist on making me go over it?

You just like listening to my sexy voice, don’t you? I can see your blush loud and clear, don’t deny it. Should I record it for you so you can listen to it twenty-four-seven? Sure, pretend to take notes all you want, I can see the desire for that a mile away. Okay, okay, enough with the teasing. Just let me skip over the boring stuff, please? Thank you.

So, as you know, Applejack and Rainbow started their whole competition thing and managed to get the last place in the race for their constant sabotage. Then we have the whole birthday debacle with Pinkie Pie where she went crazy, that was slightly interesting. What else happened? Oh, the Diamond Dog thing. Good riddance, if you ask me. Don’t give me that look, you know they deserved to be buried alive. You have seen the skeletons down there, right?

Wasn’t my best moment, but you know how I get around you and Rarity by now. I would raze this world to the ground to make sure you are safe and sound. The other girls, too, of course. No, I don’t care that I sound like a monster, these talks won’t change a thing about how I feel about this.

Anyway, there was that thing with your owl and Spike being jelly, but that barely had anything to do with me, so I will skip that too. Then Sweetie Belle and her friends all asked us where we got our Talent Marks from, but you all know that story by now, skip it I will. I think that is everything, for now, let’s get to today’s tale.

Celestia and Luna arrived to put us through our paces in a more specialized way. The girls were a bit miffed with me hiding these legendary, and very awesome, weapons from them. And there were quite a few heated words about the things I had done in Manehattan.

Something about, how could you? What were you thinking? Have you no remorse? Well, suffice to say I had a lot of apologizing to do, but help came from an unlikely source. Celestia and Luna.

Celestia actually had stopped the argument between me and my friends, stating that while the things I had done might not have been morally good (or even legal), it had prevented worse things from happening. I was actually on parole now, had to do community work, and all that jazz. But considering what else I did, my sentence was a mild one.

Equestria had some seriously messed up laws about what is considered a heavy crime. There was, for example, a law that stated you could use lethal force if you had evidence someone just murdered someone. You just needed to fucking suspect them and... ugh... In the case of the robber in the bank, I could have just said that I feared Sol might have been lethally poisoned by an unknown venom at the time and be done with it.

Don’t get me started on the more asinine laws pertaining to civil rights. There was a reason why nobles could get away with some things other citizens could not. Like buying an orphanage and converting it to your summer vacation home, throwing all the kids out into the cold. Not that anyone tried that and got away with it, it’s just an extreme example.

Rainbow was mad at me for withholding the information that I was the mysterious vigilante, but thankfully she got over it quickly. All of them actually listened to my reasoning on why I did what I did and that somewhat helped to smooth things over. It wasn’t like everything was as if nothing ever happened, but we learned how to deal with our differences like the adults we all (mostly) are.

It might have helped that Celestia and Luna admitted to having killed in the past before and were willing to do so again for the good of everyone living in their country.

That started a Q&A session between the sisters and my friends, where they basically answered with the same things they had told me while I was in Canterlot with Lux.

The topic of my reincarnation came up and that made things a whole lot more awkward for me. Celestia mentioned Twilight might also be a reincarnated person, but she would have to undergo some testing to make sure. She could just be a descendant of someone Celestia knew in the past and look similar to that person. Both of them could have had the same Talent Mark, Celestia admitted, as she didn’t know the actual mark of the person she was referring to. Something about them never showing it to anyone.

A scraggly old man popped into my head. Gaudy robe, long beard, a ridiculous hat, and magenta eyes with a wrinkly face. Nah, there is no fucking way she was the Gandalf wannabe reincarnated, was there? It must be a coincidence, in no way could I have found myself back into my original reality with the same people surrounding me that surrounded me as when my previous versions lived.

Anyway, the training started with another assessment of our progress. Most of us were now able to defeat one clone of Luna’s mirror image spell with varying degrees of difficulty.

Fluttershy, on the other hand, was now able to call upon the abilities of her familiar. Brightpaw was a heavenly fox, and those were some of the strongest spirits to ever be summoned. With his help, Fluttershy unlocked a similar form of her familiar in humanoid shape. Well, more like her new form had inherited some of Brightpaw’s characteristics. She grew larger, had two fluffy fox tails attached to her spine, cute little fox ears on top of her head, and flames spewing from her fingertips in a mesmerizing display of power.

Of course, she ripped the mirror clones apart without issue, at the urging of Brightpaw and Luna to start the fight and not apologize for what she was forced to do by them.

Luna and Brightpaw corrupted her with power, I swear to my mother. Sorry Mom, but I’m sure you would agree if I told you about the change in Fluttershy’s demeanor.

Fluttershy and Brightpaw got extra specialized training by Celestia after that. Celestia was the one that would be able to teach her more about the fire she now commanded. And she wasn’t the only one that got trained by Celestia personally. Twilight was a no-brainer but with my increased strength and magic power, Lux needed some much-appreciated lessons in control. Gone were the days I could levitate things without breaking them, my magic was unwilling to be restrained in ninety-nine percent of the cases.

Sol, on the other hand, was forced to learn aerial combat. Needless to say, that was a very bad idea and ended up as a complete failure. Whatever it was with my wings, they were next to useless if I decided to fight in the air.

I learned quickly that my armor on both of my bodies was the next level shit. Only something of equal toughness to them could pierce them. Common iron weaponry couldn’t even scratch them. But considering this world was basically a fantasy world, there still were enough metals, or even woods in some cases, that could beat the shit out of me.

When you lived in a world where adamantium, mithril, and orichalcum were some materials you could find with a little dedication, one must imagine what the rarer substances were capable of. And the thing with the wood? I was not kidding about that. There was actually an easy way for someone to turn regular wood into something called mystic wood. It wasn’t on the level of my armor but came dangerously close.

That made actual battle mages, or even war mages, all the more scarier to fight against for me. Those were prone to use magical weapons, after all.

The metal my weapons were made out of was the same as my necklaces, star steel. The rarest and most hardest to work with metal to ever be discovered on this planet. And there were only two people in the entirety of time memorable that knew how to forge it into different shapes, that being two long-deceased previous versions of myself.

Bummer that I didn’t have their memories, it would have made me able to modify these weapons to be a bit more modern. Unless I could build a time machine and go back to make them show me how to work with the metal, I would have to get by with what I had.

Beyond the combat training, both of the sisters made all of us study the ley lines of the world. A complex task I wasn’t sure of how it would benefit most of the girls. They must have a reason for going to such lengths for something that didn’t make much sense for everyone. Twilight was told not to give us the answer to that question, as it was part of our little test.

The secrecy made me go crazy searching the whole library, even the disturbing books down in the basement. I didn’t find an answer between sleeping, eating, and getting the life beaten out of me.

By now, Rainbow could swing her long daggers around so fast, you wouldn’t even notice something hit you. You would just go like, oh, where is my arm? Then it would already be over.

Rarity was a deadly mistress of a storm consisting of blades and needles. If you somehow managed to fight your way through her defense, she would swiftly bring you down with the unassuming staff. Her defense was only beaten by Applejack.

The shield of that woman was nigh impossible to break through. Whatever she did, she could intercept any kind of attack, you would think she turned into Rainbow Dash. And Applejack knew how to use that shield as a weapon, too. Together with her sword, she was either the perfect offense or the perfect defense.

Nothing needed to be said about Pinkie and the giant hammer she swung casually around like it weighed nothing. No one, and I mean absolutely no one, could touch her due to her Pinkie-Sense. Not even Rainbow Dash with her supernatural speed. Pinkie just knew where to stand at the right time and in the right way.

The expert opinion of Celestia and Luna said that Pinkie could overthrow the world if she wanted to. I didn’t doubt their assessment for one second. The only thing able to stop Pinkie Pie is either the cold dark void or an eldritch abomination. Or another Pinkie Pie. Even then I wasn’t so sure that would stop her. One could never be sure about that girl.

Then, there was Twilight.

Twilight, the magnificent girl that she was, had enough power to basically be a walking magical nuke. If she put her mind into it she could level entire mountains with the help of her wand. And with a little bit of setting up. It goes to show that with the little boost I got from my forced surge I could put up a shield that could withstand an assault from her for a few milliseconds if she used everything at her disposal.

Part of my specialized training was conjuration magic. Illusions fell also under that category, but what was more important, so did the conjuration of food! I could make my own friggin’ food, how cool was that? It wouldn’t last for more than fifteen minutes if not eaten, but that was hardly a downside in my opinion. Of course, it wasn’t actual food, but it tasted like it and returned a good amount of energy to the one eating it.

One might think you would only get back the energy you consumed by conjuring it in the first place, but that wasn’t the kind of boost I was talking about. The food merely sped up the intake of mana for example. It was a great way to regain some energy back after a long day of training. The advantage is that you could give the food to someone else.

I was quickly declared the portable fridge by my friends. I didn’t mind and it was nice to give my friends another reason to get over the little feud we had about my morals. A little bit of food united nations in the past, so why couldn’t it do the same for a group of friends?

Besides conjuration magic, I learned a few minor spells from the abjuration category of magic. Abjuration was basically a school of magic that encompassed things like barriers and banishment, or even negation of magical effects. I could basically banish all the dirt and grime sticking to my bodies at the end of the day. Nifty spell, but not that useful for combat.

Well, now that I think about it, I could potentially banish a specific substance from my body. Should I ever get poisoned again, and have the thing that poisoned me, I could purge it from my bodies. If I wasn’t very specific in what I wanted to purge, there was the possibility of me injuring myself to the point of no salvation. So, no playing around with that.

On the other hand, I could probably figure out a way to create a magic nullification spell, but that was very advanced magic. I probably would need years to get to that point, if I were to be honest. It was basically the same concept as enchanted rings suppressing the use of magic by the wearer, just with a wider application.

Barrier spells weren’t only shields. Technically, you could count doorsteps as a naturally occurring barrier against magical beings. Well, against magical beings like Brightpaw, those had to be invited into the home. If they weren’t invited, they would be severely weakened while they remained in a place they were uninvited to.

Depending on what the being asking for an invitation is looking for, they could take a gesture like putting a little bag with a lost tooth underneath a pillow as an invitation to get in and appropriate the offering. Yeah, tooth fairies existed in this world, go figure.

Barriers could also be used to prevent outside elements from interfering within the enclosed space. For example, if a gas was leaking, a barrier spell would prevent it from spilling out. Or if you had a personal vendetta against the wind and wanted to prevent your hair from whipping around in the breeze, a barrier spell was the solution to that.

Frivolous uses of magic, you gotta love that.

Anyway, seeing that my talent with magic made me better at everything combat-related, Celestia pumped even more knowledge into me about how to best maim, injure, and kill my opponent. Obviously, I was only allowed to use those in a lethal dose against enemies of the state and/or life itself, or non-sapient beings if I really had to.

Meaning, I could eradicate the monsters in the Everfree to my heart’s content and she wouldn’t tell me no~!

After what felt like an eternity of training, we were back to our normal lives and with that all the little things that came with it. Like, the next crisis that needed to be averted.

A month of highly intensive training did wonders for the body, I had to say. I was sure we could handle the little situation we were on our way to without any problems.

Applejack did her weird thing with the tree in the last compartment of our train while the rest of us had to sleep crammed into the little bunk beds. It didn’t improve our mood at all, and while some of us were content with what we had, Rarity and I were a bit mad that Applejack put a friggin’ tree in a single bed compartment.

She could have at least warned us beforehand of this long trip, so we could have booked better compartments for the train. What made it worse was the constant chattering between the girls staying up all night talking about nonsense.

How was I supposed to get any rest tonight? And even after Twilight declared they would get to sleep, they started the conversation back up. Something about Fluttershy being a tree, don’t ask me.

Being fed up with this crap, I shouted for them to shut up and clammed my pillow against my head in the hopes to muffle out their voices. That did the trick, Spike and Rarity thanking me for hammering the message home if a bit rudely, and I finally found myself in the dream realm.

As my cozy little pony self, I have to say. It has become a normal thing by now when I fell asleep. Luna was confused the first time she stumbled upon Lux as a little pony, but a quick explanation had her ignoring the fact that I was seriously messed up in my head that I wanted to be a little pony forever.

No, I’m just kidding, I told her it was a side-effect from the poison joke and Luna took that as an answer and went with it.

“How are you doing, my little pony?” the voice of Horse God reached me. Or as she was also known: Spectrum, my Goddess of a mother.

“The girls were annoying, I couldn’t fall asleep. Sorry for having made you wait,” I answered back. Mom gave me a loving nuzzle in greeting as I sat beside her, staring down at the planet below us. “Can’t you teach me a sleeping spell? Then I could fall asleep even with them making a ruckus.”

“You know that I already told you it would only give you a dreamless sleep, why do you continue to ask?” she asked me in puzzlement.

“I could always try to change it so it wouldn’t make it dreamless, you know...” I pouted. “They wouldn’t stop talking until I had to scream at them. Please?”

“My child, you don’t even understand a fraction of the non-combat related spells I tried to teach you upon you insisting you would be able to learn them, what makes you so certain this time will be different?” she reminded me, nudging me with a hoof. I just huffed and sulked in silence. “Don’t give me that, you know it won’t work.”

“Fine, it was worth a try,” I acquiesced. “You know, half the times I don’t understand why I’m able to learn things like conjuring food so easily. Other spells cause me to struggle with no end like the organizing spell I tried to learn from Twilight, or even the gem finding spell from Rarity.”

“My, and here I thought you were smart,” Spectrum giggled. “Do you not see the application of reenergizing yourself with but a few bites in combat? The food you conjure is not limited to bread and water, my dear.”

“What?” I said flummoxed. “But how would I be able to make use out of that during combat?”

“Not during combat, silly. Every battle has opportunities to get away for a few moments, does it not? I thought you were an avid player of video games on Earth? I seem to remember seeing you be quite obsessed with one particular one, what was it called again? World of Warcraft?” she mockingly pretended to think. Oh for the love of all things holy, my mother was making fun of my choice of entertainment in my previous life! How embarrassing...

“...” I muttered indignantly under my breath. This couldn’t be happening, what did I do to deserve this? I promise I’ll eat all my vegetables, just make it stop! Spectrum giggled at my expense, enveloping me in her wings.

“My, my. Here you are, too embarrassed to speak coherently. I couldn’t be prouder as your mother,” she said. “I missed such interactions with my children. Ever since I was cut-off from the physical realm I have been so lonely.”

“More like loony,” I teased back and we both giggled.

“Yes, I suppose,” she admitted, not even denying it. Someone that has lived for so long without actual contact with living beings must have had some periods of their life they went over the deep end. “But I have you now. I was quite pleased to discover you could reach me here. It seems my little gamble paid off in that regard.”

“What gamble?” I asked, intrigued.

“As I brought you over here into this reality and made your bodies, I deposited you in one of the few places that had the necessary chaotic nature for the spell to work. You are a being of untold potential, my child. A true masterpiece. I learned quite a few things in your reality.

“A little bit of chaos my other creations lack, a smidgen less order, and voila! Here we have you, resisting the influence of the seals in such a way that I am able to speak once more to one of my children without using enough magic to tear down the very fabric of reality,” she explained, a wide smile stretching across her muzzle. Putting my hooves around her neck, I gave her a tight hug and she returned it gladly.

“I guess those seals aren’t just sealing away something terrible, but also you?” I asked. Mom sighed, rather reluctant to explain that. She must have slipped up quite a bit because it seemed she hadn’t intended to let me know that little tidbit.

“Yes, my very existence is the last defense the world has against my brother. But keeping up this defense requires for me to be removed from the picture as well. My brother...” her voice got suddenly quieter as she mentioned the estranged family member. My uncle now, I guess. What a complicated family, man. “We had differing ideals as we searched the cosmos for anything interesting. He wanted to rule over life with a heavy iron hoof, while I wanted to give the life we found a few nudges here and there. Watch as they grew to be better than they were before, live among them, and find happiness. But then he started creating these abominations, apostles of an apocalypse to usher in the end to everything I worked for. He was a spiteful stallion and he didn’t like how the ones I blessed praised my efforts, while the people under his rule revolted, trying to escape his grasp.

“So, I did what had to be done. I sealed away my own brother within the deepest hole I could find, binding him down there while my three children created the first seals. Without me being here, it would have been simple for him to break free. He was always the stronger one of us, but I was smarter than him. I have no idea what changed him so much from the caring stallion to this mockery of a brother, but I couldn’t stand by and let him continue with the things he did.

“In time, he began to use champions in order to whittle away at his imprisonment and I answered in kind. The first champions I sent against his agents were but mortals from the world you see before you. They at some point had enough contact with chaotic energies so I could reach them from here. I could only talk to them once for a limited amount of time, so it was understandably difficult to get them to believe me in a timely fashion for me to talk them into doing what was necessary.

“Those few first attempts all failed, and the state of the world progressed to get much worse. Then, I found you. Well, your very first incarnations. They were born in a chaotic place, not unlike the Everfree Forest. They could listen to my guidance, sometimes even see my form down on the planet below. But they, too, were mortal. And so, you perished to one of the greatest evils to ever walk that planet, being made to serve every whim of it in its quest to bring down every seal. Celestia and Luna were just mere children at the time, and my very first attempt to create children after I was confined to this place. Moonlight and Sunfire were meant to guide them in my stead, seeing that I could not reach them.

“During the time they had together with my children, they were able to teach them the things they needed to know. They got to know about me, too. With the help you provided, they learned about the sacrifice their mother had to make, but never received the motherly affection I was so desperate to give them. The role of parental figure went to Starswirl, Moonlight, and Sunfire, but I could not fault them for that.

“And because they perceived the perishing of their mentors as my fault, for not being there for them when they needed it most, they thought I had abandoned them. Which might as well be as close to the truth, I guess. I just hope with your return they will find it in their hearts to forgive me one day.”

This... this was majorly sad, I had no idea what to say to that. Tears dripped down on all our faces, my mother’s tears falling down onto my manes, while my tears stained her coat.

I had no idea... There were no words to describe this accurately enough.

It made sense. The reaction of Celestia and Luna. They saw their dead parents in me, how could they not? How there was no mention of mother anywhere but at the Everfree Castle. How they were confused when I told them that mother was sorry about what happened, seeing that Sunfire was their mother figure.

I had failed them in the past. Spectrum had failed them in the past. We were both sorry for what happened, but Celestia and Luna solely blamed Spectrum for it. She couldn’t have intervened even if she wanted to and I was probably doing something stupid to try and save the world. Most likely even against every demand, wish, and protest Spectrum, Celestia, and Luna made for me not to go out and sacrifice myself for the greater good. Fat load of good that did me.

I was the one that should be blamed here, not my mom. Not our mother, no. It was me that was responsible for what I did in the past, even though I don’t remember it. If Tia and Lulu ever find out the truth that I was now their sibling, I would give them a piece of my mind.

They did not go around blaming someone not responsible for something I was foolish enough to do.

My dream ended on a solemn note that night, which made me especially cranky the next day. The girls were confused about how both Sol and Lux were so snappy with them at the same time, but they didn’t take it personally, thankfully.

Hopefully, they would take the few times I replied simultaneously as a weird twin thing, instead of jumping to outrageous conclusions. We weren’t that far from our destination by this point, so I hoped I would get my mood back to the usual friendly, if not slightly snarky state.

That went out the window, died a burning death, and fluttered away like dust in the wind. The train began shaking and we all looked out the window, breakfast completely forgotten.

Outside the window were what I recognized as native Americans, riding on horses herding a group of buffalo alongside our train compartments. Once more, they were forced to ram against us, as the people riding on the horses made the gap closer between them and the train. Frowning, I thought this couldn’t end up in a good way for us if they continued doing that.

“Oh! Look, they’re doing tricks!” Pinkie said in glee. We all looked to the man that now rode on a buffalo, standing upon its back. A girl, not that much older than Pinkie if I had to guess, followed up and like some acrobats in a circus, the man gave her a lift and threw her up on the roof of our train car.

“Whatever they are doing, we have to stop them. Rainbow, with me,” I said, frowning harshly. There was no way I would sit here and do nothing. She followed me up on the roof. While Sol and Rainbow ran after the girl, Lux stood up there with bow at the ready, looking out over to our attackers bringing in the herd of buffalo closer again.

“Stop with this madness, now!” I shouted out at them, but they returned with a battlecry as the answer to my demands. Very well, then. If they wanted to play rough, I would return in kind.

Nocking an arrow, I shot off a warning shot. It didn’t make them reconsider their approach, though. Another shake went through the train, and I almost fell over the edge. This was too dangerous, I thought to myself. A few more bumps like these and the train would derail.

A whistling sound was heard from where Sol and Rainbow had followed the girl and that gave the signal for them to actually try to do just what I feared. They came in with way too much momentum for me to stop them in time should I have tried to take out their mounts.

And so, I jumped. Like in slow motion, because I know you like these kinda moments, don’t you Twilight, I seemed to float there for a moment while the train tipped over.

Through the window, I could see your shocked faces as I had no idea if any one of us would make it out of this alive. I’m sure you were just as afraid as I was. Who wouldn’t be?

Well, of course, we did survive. Elsewise we would not be here talking, but let me spice it up a bit, please? Thank you. I swear you interrupt me too much, can’t you just sit there quietly like a good psychiatrist? Yes, yes, you know I love you very much, now shut up.

Anyway, there I was, on my way down to certain doom. A group of native American looking people that had no qualms with trying to kill my friends, a whole herd of buffalo beneath me ready to trample me to death, and no other option than try and land on one of them and learn how to ride in like ten seconds.

Good odds, I have to say. If they had no problem with derailing a train, then I would have none with shooting down the mount of the man riding in the front and put a stop to their whole operation before they could try anything else.

The arrow flew true, striking down the poor innocent horse, causing a funny to watch, but pretty dangerous, domino effect making them try to avoid a painful tumble by swerving away.

A few were unfortunate enough to fall and be trampled to death. Yeah, it looked gross as hell. I just managed to avoid the same fate as I clung to the big animal as if my life depended on it.

I had no friggin’ idea of how to make it stop.

Well, I had one, but I’m sure that would end the same way as the poor sods caught in my little revenge. They probably deserved it, if they could just casually derail a train full of people that had no part in this for no reason.

I wish Applejack was here with me, she would know what to do with this herd. Trying to jank on the horns of this mighty animal just resorted in it snorting in disdain at the pest sitting on it. A harder jank made it jerk to the side.

Okay, here goes.

Pulling hard to the side, I was successful in making it turn until I was going back towards the train. Once there, I mustered up a bit of willpower and screwed my eyes shut as I jumped and curled up on myself. The buffalo I was riding didn’t seem in the mood to stop anytime soon, so the emergency exit it was.

The breath got knocked out of my lungs as I rolled around. Feeling dizzy from the sudden changes from looking at the sky to the ground and back to the sky, I eventually came to a stop.

And I promptly puked my guts out, so there was that.

My body was aching all over, but it wasn’t as bad as the way my muscles and bones felt like during the training session with Celestia and Luna. Now that was true torture, I don’t think I would forget that anytime soon. Everything was hurting constantly as we were subjected to the sadistic tendencies of the sisters. Even places I didn’t know could hurt were burning like hellfire. Nothing could compare to that pain, and it showed as I quickly got over the little ache I was feeling now.

Stumbling a few times, I made my way over to the train. I had to hack away a bit at the dented metal to get into the mangled mess the train had become.

“Twilight? Rarity?” I shouted out, carefully moving around the mess on the ‘ground’. Light spilled in from the windows up top, but it wasn’t a great help as smoke began to muddle the sight a bit. “Applejack?! Pinkie?!”

No answer came back.

Crap. If they were unconscious, that would mean I would have to carry them out fast. Where there was smoke, there was fire. And with fire came a timer on the lives of my friends. I have to hurry before it is too late.

Ramming my shoulder into the stuck door to the next compartment, I heard a voice shout from the other side. It was Applejack, she was alive! With a bit more elan, I managed to break through to the other side.

Fluttershy was sitting with her back against what was previously the floor, blood flowing down from her head. Her gaze was a bit vacant, she was probably in shock. Next to her were the unconscious forms of Twilight and Rarity. Applejack was standing by them holding up a collapsed part of the train, preventing it from crushing our friends.

Not too far away, was the bleeding form of Pinkie. A piece of wood managed to pierce her leg in a turn of unfortunate events. Whatever her Pinkie-Sense told her to do, it seemed this was the least bad outcome for her.

“Ah need yer help, Sugercube!” Applejack told me, grunting from exertion. “Fluttershy ain’t responding too well, could you move Twi and Rares away from there? I can handle Fluttershy on my own, but not all of ‘em.”

Nodding, I went and did as I was told. Dragging the seemingly fine ladies out of the way, Applejack shoved Fluttershy out of the way with her, as the heavy part fell down where they previously were.

“Do you know what happened to the rest of the people on the train?” Applejack wanted to know, but as she saw my grimace, she knew it was not a pretty thing to recount. Let’s just say that the few mangled corpses I saw on the way here were lucky to only have died that way. Some were entirely unrecognizable by torn up pieces of the train shredding them into grotesque caricatures of their former self.

“Ah see...” she murmured quietly.

“We have to get out of here,” I told Applejack urgently, getting her to think about our survival instead. “The train is about to burst into flames, I guess the engine up front is causing that. Can you carry Twi and Rares? I’ll see to Shy and Pinks, okay?”

“Just hurry,” she answered back, already moving to bring them out the way I came from. The compartment where the tree was in was missing, and with it were Sol and Rainbow. Whatever happened to them, my male half must have been knocked out in the process. It was agitating me fiercely, not knowing what happened.

The smoke got thicker as I moved Fluttershy along in front of me while being careful with how I carried Pinkie. It was a tedious process of moving them through the doors and around the corpses scattered on the ground. Fluttershy needed me to guide her to climb the small ledge the door had become and it wasn’t exactly easy to maneuver Pinkie in a way that I wasn’t further injuring her.

Then, the friggin’ fire caught up to us at the other side of the compartment we had just crawled through. Frickity shit, fuck my life. With a bit more urgency, I shoved Fluttershy faster forward.

“Sorry, my dear,” I apologized, even though she was probably too out of it to register it. “But we have to hurry a bit more.”

Fluttershy was getting a bit more responsive and cooperative with the sudden hurry. It seems the instinct to preserve her life was still in working order, then. We barely managed to reach the last compartment we had to go through as the fire was spreading faster.

Applejack was quickly back in after depositing Rarity and Twilight a safe distance away to help me with our friends. With her help, we managed to escape the burning wreck relatively unscathed.

“Have you seen Spike?” she asked me, making my heart skip a beat.

“He wasn’t with you, and neither was he in the other compartments,” I answered back, dread rising in my chest. The only other place I could think of was the compartment with the tree that got stolen. I told her about my thoughts, but it didn’t give us that much relief. There were still the people that took it in the first place, and if Spike was with them, there was no saying what they would do with little Snakeboy.

“What do we do now?”

“Well...” I said, starting to think. “We have to somehow get to the town with our friends in tow. Find a doctor, that is pretty important, I guess. Somehow find a way to locate Rainbow, Spike, and my brother. Then find out what the heck is going on and why some people riding on horses just tried to kill us. And get something to eat, I’m famished.”

“Well, let’s start with the first thing on the list. You stay here with the girls, while Ah go get Braeburn and a doctor, maybe also find a car or something else to move them with,” she said. “Ah’ll be back soon, Ah promise.”

“Very well, I’ll wait here for you and try my best to treat their injuries.”

With that said, she left me here, the train a good distance away from us and the heat of the sun staring down my neck. Staring at Pinkie, I grimaced at her leg. This wasn’t going to be pretty, that piece of wood couldn’t stay in there forever.

Ripping out a strip of cloth from my favorite shirt, I prepared myself mentally. I’m sorry for what I have to do, Pinkie, but you will thank me later for this. I wrapped the cloth around her leg a bit further up from her injury and then removed the intruding object. It resisted at first but got out in the end with a wet ‘Shlick!’. Moving fast, I improvised a tourniquet with the piece I just removed from her leg, and before I pressed down on her wound, I made sure there wasn’t anything else in it that broke away.

Judging by the grimace that appeared on her face, she didn’t like me putting pressure on it. I wasn’t the best with the first-aid stuff we had to learn and I only remembered so much of it to put it to use here. With Fluttershy still not entirely there, it would have to do.

About an hour or so later, I heard the telltale sound of hooves approaching. Turning, I saw Applejack and what was most likely her cousin within a carriage, a ratty old man sitting behind them. The doctor, if I had to assume.

We got quickly to work, placing Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie on improvised beds. The doctor did his thing with them, checking for anything we might have missed, while I guided Fluttershy over. Her injury on the head had already stopped bleeding, she would hopefully be fine in the end.

Braeburn told us of what was happening lately in their start-up of a town while we rode back to the town. I had no idea what to make of it, to be honest. Bandits were trying to raid the town, the natives were trying to get the settlers to leave the land, and the settlers were just trying to start a new life. Apparently, the bandits were also harassing the natives, so that escalated the situation to what we were subjected to. An all-out war between the three parties.

Where was I, the Wild West?!

With all the violence around here, one would think someone would have sent for help by now. Not that I think I would have gotten out of coming here on the behest of Celestia if someone would have asked for reinforcements, I generally was of the opinion that a little warning would have been nice to get beforehand. Then we could have had a safer trip, at least.

The settlers were in a tight spot, stuck between the bandits and the natives. They were trying to fight back but weren’t very successful in it. Those that could fight were called upon to defend the people, crop, and orchards, leaving them stretched thin across all fronts.

The bandits had a good amount of fighters on their side, making them an even bigger threat than the tribe that roamed the lands like nomads. They also had the weapons to harass, mutilate, rape, and kill their victims if they didn’t comply with their demands.

And then, there were the natives. For whatever reason, they had a vendetta against the settlers. I mean, I could guess they were mad their lands suddenly had more people setting down shop but was that really a good enough reason to start killing people? The way Braeburn explained it to us, they also blamed the settlers for the bandits that started appearing.

Last, but not least, there was me and my friends. Understandably, I was furious with getting sucked into this mess. What originally started as a way to contribute to the frontier town, turned out to be a giant death trap. And we were stuck in it now if we wanted it or not.

After we arrived in town, Applejack and I brought the rest of the girls into the inn that had to function as an improvised hospital now. The rooms were stuffed with injured men and women, all of them wrapped in a varying degree of bandages. It was a piteous sight to behold, truly.

Suffering everywhere the eye could see. The situation was even worse than Braeburn described it. Not even children were spared. My heart broke as I saw a kid, bandages around a stump at the end of where the elbow was supposed to be.

A man missing an eye, a devastated woman staring blankly ahead, a mother crying with her daughter sitting by a man struggling to breathe, a bear of a man missing a leg and a few fingers, and the worst of all, a woman with a jagged scar over her previously pregnant belly.

What monsters could do this?

There was no way I would leave this town without bringing down divine punishment on those insolent enough to cause such evil. Those that acted in such a way had officially forfeited their lives and nothing would save them from my burning hatred. Vengeance will come for them, this I swear.

Around that time, my other body woke up. Tied to a friggin’ pole in the middle of nowhere. Hearing a groan from behind me, I tried to turn my head to see who it was. The form of an unconscious little boy with green hair was to my left, while I heard Rainbow Dash start to make a fuss about being restrained to my right.

The poles were arranged in a triangle fashion, all of us looking outwards and away from each other. Trying to get my wrists free was a futile effort, my mobility was entirely restricted by the rope wrapping around my torso and arms. They weren’t that gentle with how they left us here, as I could feel my arms threatening to pop out of their sockets if I moved in the wrong way.

Great. Just what I needed. I wasn’t enthusiastic about staying here too long, certainly not when some kind of scavenging animal finds us. The midday sun was beating down on us and the poles offered me no protection against the rays. Hopefully, Spike would be able to burn through his bindings with his dragon’s breath and free us before we cooked in our own juices.

“Dash?” I shouted, gaining her attention.

“Sol!” she answered back, her voice happy and relieved. “We have to do something! I think I saw some kind of dog in the distance. Do you think you could break your bindings?”

“Of course there is,” I muttered angrily. Probably a coyote, maybe even a hyena. Do hyenas live in Equestria? If Equestria was the equivalent of America back on Earth, they certainly wouldn’t. But what with greek monsters being here and whatnot, I wouldn’t be surprised if they do actually live here. “Sorry to say this, Rainbow. We might need to wait on Spike for our grand escape.”

“Okay, no biggie,” Rainbow said. “We just wait until the animals gnaw on our bones, then. You know how long the guy could sleep for if no one wakes him up, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but how do you propose we go about this? Shout all day long until our voices are hoarse? We are more likely to attract a predator with that than wake up Snakeboy,” I shot back, grunting. Breathing wasn’t easy, it seems the natives learned their lessons from making their restraints too light on the captive.

“Are there any rocks around where your hands are?” she asked. “Maybe something else you could use to either cut through your bindings or throw at Spike to wake him?”

“Let me see,” I said. My hands were thankfully free enough to roam the ground. There was something there, but it wasn’t a rock. Trying to see what I picked up, I almost let the little skull fall. That thing wasn’t from anything intelligent, that much I could tell. Probably from some rodent that perished there.

“Sorry, Spike, but little Speedy Gonzales has to wake you up now,” I silently apologized to the boy not too far away from me and with a careful swing, launched it at the side of his head.

“Wha?” Spike snorted awake, looking around confused.

“Wakey wakey, Snakeboy,” I snarked. “You are too late for school.”

“I don’t go to school, what are you talking about?” he shot back, irritated. “Why are we tied up in the middle of nowhere?”

“Beats me,” Rainbow answered him. “Could you use your fire to burn through your ropes?”

“Oh yeah, sure. Just let me set myself on fire, what a great idea,” Spike said in irritation. “Any other smart ideas you guys have?”

“No, but it is either that, or we get out of these ropes in a coffin,” I admonished him. “Now get to burning or those dogs Rainbow saw will have an easy meal.”

Spike grumbled and tried to breathe in deeply. When he couldn’t take any more air in, he turned his head around to the side and let loose a green flame. He grimaced as the magical flame licked at his side but soon enough the ropes snapped open.

“Ow, ow, ow,” Spike said, dancing away from the still burning restraints.

“Okay, there is a dagger at my waist, think you could get it out?” Rainbow said. Spike nodded and went over to her. Prying away at the ropes, he found the hidden dagger where she pointed it out to him. After that, it was a simple thing for him to free us.

Finally breathing easily, I stretched out my abused arms in relief. Now then, where do we go from here? It was hard to tell in which direction my other half was and I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to find a map of the area so easily. We were on our own for now, it seemed.

“You don’t have any paper with you, do you?” Rainbow asked Spike, and probably me, but we both answered in the negative. “Damn, we could have sent something to get us some help.”

“Can’t you fly over to the town?” I asked her.

“I don’t know, I have had this major headache since I woke up, I’d rather not risk leaving you guys and get stranded where no one would find me,” she answered. There went that option, then. Better stick together for now then. I wasn’t so sure I would make the trip through this heat either. And Spike wasn’t an option as well, he was tiny in his dragon form.

“Which direction do you think we should go?” Spike asked us. Rainbow looked at me and I stared back at both of them.

“What?” I asked, confused. “Why do I have to decide?”

“Because you have this weird habit of finding your sister in the weirdest of places without knowing where she was beforehand?” they shot back. Okay, maybe they had a point, but we were in unfamiliar territory here. I had no idea how to find my way back to my other half, and because the sun was directly above us, I couldn’t use the burning ball to navigate either.

“We could pick a random direction?” I proposed. Rainbow rolled her eyes starting to walk opposite the direction where she saw the dog. Smart idea, let’s see where that gets us. No need to tempt it, after all.

“How’s your head feeling?” I asked, just to stave off the monotony. We had been walking for a few minutes now.

“Getting better,” she answered. As we began to enter a large valley surrounded by mountains, we could see a few teepees in the distance. “Stay low to the ground.”

Sneaking around, we saw a few of the natives returning on horseback, bringing with them the animal they had hunted. Maybe we could distract them and steal one of their horses to make our way back to town. Probably wouldn’t help the case with them hating the settlers, but if I had to take sides, mine would be with the ones that were innocent in this bloody war.

Haunting pictures of the scene in the improvised hospital flashed to the forefront of my mind. They didn’t deserve this. I would need to ascertain whether the natives could be reasoned with first, before making a decision, though. They would answer to their crime of causing the death of all those on the train, but if what I learn of their reasons for doing this doesn’t sit well with me, I’m so gonna call Celestia here to enact divine punishment.

After I had my fill of vengeance, of course.

“Let me do the talking, stick close to me, and make no sudden movements,” I told both of my companions. They nodded and we slowly walked up to the camp, hands raised to signal them we weren’t here to cause any harm. Yet.

“Stop where you are, white skin!” a loud voice boomed. “Why have you come here?”

A man stepped up to the front of the gathered crowd. He wore a crown of feathers running down his shoulders, paint was on his cheeks, and a heavy scowl showed us that he wasn’t in the mood for shenanigans.

“We come to negotiate,” I answered, Rainbow giving me a questioning glance. I told her to trust me and turned back to the man as he crossed his arms.

“What could you possibly offer us that your people have already denied giving us?” he asked. Now we were getting somewhere, I had a somewhat accurate guess I could make.

“They have taken your lands, have they not?” I asked, judging by the gesture he made with his hand for me to keep talking, I took that as confirmation for my theory. “What if we could come to a mutual agreement? Judging by how little grows here, you must be in a dire lack of diversity in food, right?”

“What of it?” the chief, I assume, said unconvinced.

“We could provide different things to trade, I’m sure you find the fruits of the settlers aren’t so bad, maybe we could work something out,” I offered. “We are open to your suggestions, name them and we will bring them to the attention of the mayor in the town.”

“You would go so far for people not your own?” he scoffed. “We have no interest in negotiating with thieves and murderers.”

“And what about the people you so carelessly killed on that train?” I shot back, both Spike and Rainbow gave me a look of horror. They must be concerned about the girls if they had no idea about the derailing. I assured them they would be fine and used my little ‘twin connection’ card to give them an answer as to how I knew that.

“Retribution for our fallen,” the chief called back, anger clearly visible on his face. “They murder and rape, pillage our tribes, and you dare defend them?”

“I think you have the wrong idea here,” I growled. Was he seriously going around killing people because he jumped to conclusions? How stupid was he?! “It is not the settlers that do so, those you seek vengeance against are also murdering the settlers in petty greed.”

“Prove it, then. Show us to those that are innocent in your beliefs, and if we find out you have lied to us, there won’t be a town left come the next noon. We won’t settle for less,” he demanded, and I nodded. At least we had a chance to right this wrong now. The only question left was, where were those bandits holed up in? If we couldn’t get rid of them, we might need to find another solution.

Like abandoning the town. An extreme case, but I’d rather have the innocent people safely away from here.

With the temporary truce set up, I asked them if they could spare us some water. We had been wandering around through the middle of nowhere in the overwhelming heat.

At least they were nice enough to give us that much, so together we went on our way to show the tribe that the settlers were innocent in this squabble. I didn’t understand why they didn’t talk first before jumping to violence, but when you have two groups that look similar, it wasn’t that far off they would confuse them to be the same.

Meanwhile, back with Lux, I went about convincing the mayor to agree to talk with the natives so we could end this once and for all. The sheriff was skeptical at first, but both the mayor and the sheriff were willing to at least listen to what they had to say for themselves.

The rest of the girls were up and about by now. Twilight was with me on this, wanting to solve this problem. Applejack was rather reluctant after having seen what became of the people on the train, but for the sake of peace she was willing to give this a try.

Pinkie just wanted to make friends, so no worry there. Rarity was neutral in this, or just undecided, I wasn’t really sure. Fluttershy, on the other hand, was deathly silent about what she thought. I just hope she wouldn’t go and use The Stare or go all fox-demon on them.

Luna and Brightpaw seriously messed her up. I get it, she was next to useless in a fight before, but you don’t have to go and traumatize the poor woman. Sometimes she just had this cold look in her eyes now, and whatever Celestia talked with her about didn’t make it better. She was still the same kind woman from before, I’m sure you agree with me on this one, Twilight, but when it came to someone taking a life she could get even worse than me.

Why do I have to do these sessions and not her? I mean, couldn’t she use them better than me? What do you mean, I’m a heartless monster at times?! You do know what happened to me, right? Whatever. Let’s get back to finishing this, we’re almost through with this tale. God, I need a bubble bath after this.

The negotiations went over like I expected them to go. I showed the chief all the wounded people that the bandits were ‘kind’ enough to leave alive, proving without a doubt that they weren’t the only ones that had a problem with the criminals.

In the end, the settlers were willing to make a path through the orchard so the native tribes could roam the lands again and both were happy that the violence between them would stop. The people from the tribe were willing to let the orchard stay in exchange for food, and everyone was happy in the end.

That left us with one little problem left unattended. The location of the diabolic miscreants that I was going to rot out to the last person. Twilight had an idea of how we could approach this and I was glad to say it worked wonderfully.

“We will play out a mock battle between the settlers and tribesmen. You have said the bandits were all too willing to take advantage of previous skirmishes, right?” she asked the sheriff. He gave her a nod and she continued on. “Once they have taken the bait, we will drive them off and have Rainbow follow them to their hideout from a distance. Then we will go in and detain them, is that agreeable to everyone?”

Most of us in our group gave enthusiastic shouts. I had a bit of a different idea about that detaining thing, but they didn’t need to know that. Not like many would stop me, probably.

And so, we slept through the night uneasily, nervous about the next day. To make this convincing, we had the natives gather their people and try to break the shield Twilight and I would put up for real. They had to look the part and not give away the ruse.

At noon the next day, we heard the sound of a war horn come over the rise in the distance. The townsfolk all went about in a frenzy setting up defenses and looking the part of terrified citizens. Twilight and I set up at the front of the town and did our thing.

Then, the mock battle began. To make it not too obvious that we were probably two of the strongest mages around, we had the shield cracking in no time.

“Get ready, Lux,” Twilight told me and I nodded. Rainbow had already spotted the bandits moving in from the other side of town, so we knew this little ruse was working as intended. The cretins mustn’t be located that far away if they were already here just as our shield ‘broke’ apart.

Two of the natives grabbed our ready arms and put us with them on their horses as we rode to where the real battle would start. The bandits didn’t see this turn of events coming but were just as willing to fight to get what they wanted.

Too bad I was willing to slaughter every one of them. Twilight called out for me to stop, saying that this wasn’t the play. I gave her a cold look and she shut up remarkably fast. All of the targets of my wrath ended up with an arrow through their head, and as their number dwindled, they began to retreat up the mountains to an abandoned mineshaft.

Should’ve known that they would hide somewhere like that. This time Twilight insisted that I wouldn’t be killing any of them as we went to route them out. She neglected to mention that I wasn’t allowed to maim them, though.

That's what I did, too. Twilight was frustrated with me as I severed arms left and right with my sword and began poking out eyes with the tips of my arrows. I had to satisfy my vengeance somehow, they deserved it.

The problem started with Fluttershy, though. Not one of us expected for her to pull out her transformed state and go after the ones only she knew what sin they had committed. It was a weird ability she had inherited from Brightpaw, something called the Heavenly Eye.

“This is a kindness to you,” she whispered emotionless as we all watched her stare down her nose at a terrified man, her hand buried in his chest. Her muscles flexed once and the man cried out in agony. “For your transgression against life itself, I sentence thee to eternal torment in the spirit realm. May the unborn child you murdered feast on your soul.”

I puked, seeing her rip his heart out. What happened to her? How... how could she have turned into this monster from the sweet girl we knew her to be?

I... I’m going to kill Brightpaw for this.

And then I will beat the shit out of Celestia and Luna. How could they think that turning Fluttershy into this was remotely okay?! A small part of my psyche relished the pained screams of her victims, though.

Something was wrong with me, too, wasn’t there?

Never would I have been capable of killing someone before coming to this reality. What was it about this world that changed me so? Since when did murder become an option?

Since I learned that this world had bigger monsters than I could possibly imagine.

That was it, wasn’t it? Celestia and Luna were well aware of this fact. They were born as the perfect guardians of this country, Spectrum told me that was their sole purpose, wasn’t it? What did she make me into, then?

Was I the perfect little killing machine for her? To stop the machinations of her brother she created a monster of equal horridness?

The thought spun wildly through my head. Was she truly the good she proclaimed herself to be? Or was she just as worse as her brother, just in a different way?

The war of Light and Void popped unbidden into my thoughts. It was an eternal cycle in the World of Warcraft franchise. One power would overwhelm the other, until from the Darkness in the Light the universe was remade. When the cycle repeated, the Light within the Darkness would remake the universe once more.

Was Spectrum the Light and her brother the Void?

The imbalance of one thing led to zealotry in that game, would the same be true for this? Could this just be an eternal struggle for power?

“My very existence is the last defense the world has against my brother...”

Those were the words she said right? She... she couldn’t be this monster I feared her to be. Why would she be willing to simply guide the people, if she could just as well force them to do right? Why allow people to make mistakes, learn from them, and not just brainwash them so they wouldn’t need to make the mistakes in the first place?

Because she cared.

She cared for all of life, be it good or bad. She knew the difference it would make if she was just passively guiding the people in a way that didn’t take their freedom away. She was nothing like the Light I jumped to parallels with. That one had no qualms with subjecting the mortal races to its will if it benefited from it in the end.

But why make me in such a way that I was willing to commit such atrocious acts? That I was willing to do what was necessary for the greater good? Or did she actually do that, to begin with?

Moonlight and Sunfire popped into my head at that thought. The way Celestia and Luna portrayed my previous incarnation made them look like they were able to sacrifice anything if it meant success in the end. Even my own life.

It was I that was like this, wasn’t I? It was a very part of my essence, twisted as it might be. That part must have lain dormant for so long, it just made its reappearance when it was most needed. When the very fate of the world rested upon my shoulders once more, it came back to me to give me the very willpower to succeed where I may fail without it.

My morals were my own, and that disturbed me greatly. I was so willing to accept them, that it made me afraid of what I might end up like once this was all over. Would I even be able to recognize myself when everything was said and done?

As I returned from my musings into reality, I noticed I was holding a crying Fluttershy in my arms. All of our friends were too afraid of approaching us and I saw the reason why.

My hands were just as bloody as Fluttershy’s were. While she was able to feel remorse after she left the emotionless state she was in, I just watched in fascination as the blood dripped down my fingers.

How could I not be disgusted by the feeling, when I was disgusted by the mere sight of a sweet innocent girl sticking her hand into the chest of a man? No, I wasn’t disgusted with what Fluttershy had done, but by how she got twisted into this opposite of her. How her morals were turned around so much, she could rationalize the act of taking a life as a kindness.

I was disgusted by how this world turned her into a monster like me.

“Everything will be okay, Fluttershy,” I whispered. “You will see. The monsters can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

And I was disgusted at myself for not feeling alone as the monster in our group. That was perhaps the worst feeling I could harbor at this moment. Relief.

Relief, that Fluttershy was just as bad as me at my lowest.

Are you happy now, Twilight? Have you poked at my shriveled heart enough, that you understand what makes me tick? Or do I need to continue? You know this will only get worse from here on out... Why do you insist on this so much?

15. A dress to succeed.

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Twilight... My dear, wonderful, stupidly gorgeous, Twilight. Have I ever told you you have an atrocious taste in clothing? I mean, look at that sweater. It is unbefitting of someone of your station, it drives me crazy. Can I burn it after this session? What do you mean, it was a present from Celestia?! Oh good gracious, please don’t tell me my sister has a fashion sense just as bad as yours.

I didn’t mean to get an answer for that, Twilight. Now I’ll have to burn down a wardrobe in Canterlot, thank you very much. Just kidding, you know I wouldn’t burn things where other things could catch fire... I’ll just do it somewhere else. Ouch! That was a joke! Learn to take a hint, damnit.

Anyway, where did we leave off last time? Oh... there. I... you know I love you and Rares beyond the moon, right? Do we have to continue? Can’t we just skip the rest and go back to being happy and all that crap?

Fine, if we have to continue, I’ll make fun of you while I recount the next tale. And I just know which one to talk about this time around. Perhaps we should look at your psyche this time around? Wouldn’t that be ironic?

After the whole debacle in Appleloosa with the bandits, we all needed some rest. Fortunately, Rainbow’s grand performance at the Best Young Fliers competition this year was the perfect occasion for a party to wind down for a while. Fluttershy was slowly coming to terms with what she did, and it helped that we had a rotation to keep her company for a while. I’m not saying she will ever be okay with it but seeing our support prevented... you know what.

Yes, maybe I’m understating the funk she was in, but it beats thinking about it, doesn’t it? I swear, if you make me say it, I’ll walk out that door and not return for a whole month.

Ahem, as I was saying. The celebration party was great, we had a lot of fun and I had the pleasure of seeing you do your drunken dance. I can’t say it enough, but holy mother of me, it was hilarious.

Speaking of Spectrum, we had a little talk concerning my morals and which part she plays in the grander scheme. It was a heartfelt discussion and we both said things we shouldn’t have. Suffice to say, we patched everything up between us. Very tearfully. She couldn’t stay mad at me, just as I couldn’t stay mad at her.

The fact that she was just a normal person deep down like you and me, just with the whole omnipotence thing packed into it, was a reassuring thought. In the end, it made our bond stronger than before.

That she actually praised me for brutally murdering the scum of the world was a bit disturbing, though. Who am I kidding, I relished the attention like the little mommy’s kid that I am. What? You get way worse with Celestia, don’t judge me. Or have we forgotten the ‘Want-it-Need-it’ incident, hm?

What else happened? Oh yeah, Fluttershy threw her modeling career away as soon as it started. That was interesting. All because of a little misunderstanding, what a shame. Those pics of hers were seriously something else. I mean, have you seen her perfectly shaped... okay, stop hitting me already! Jeez, can’t appreciate other women around you anymore, you always get super jealous. And here I thought I was the one with the problems.

Then there was the thing with the cockatrice. I’m glad nothing happened to you and the CMC. Needless to say, I tracked down the poor disguise for a chicken after you told me what happened. Have you ever tried cockatrice? It has no comparable taste to anything, I assure you. I had to purge my body of its venom after I was done with it, though. It was totally worth it.

That brings us to the crowning jewel just at the start of winter. Of course, after Rarity saw what you were originally trying to wear to the gala, she went out of her way and offered each one of us to make a dress for us. Well, and a tux for me, too.

Considering I wear stuff like this constantly, Rarity really outdid herself with it this time around. As you girls were so generous to spit a gift horse in the mouth, shall we analyze what all went wrong after that?

Rarity was working herself to the bone with all the dresses she made for all of us, so I have absolutely no fucking idea how you could convince her to make another, more horrid, version of the originals. Seriously, what was up with that? Did you all just love to make Rarity feel worthless? Don’t give me that, you know I’m right.

Anyway, I was doing a little bit of modeling work for Rarity because apparently, I have the ‘perfect’ body size, and asked her how she was feeling with the workload and if she needed help with the sewing or whatnot. I’ll readily admit that I am not the best when it comes to such tasks (my patience, or rather, attention span was not made for those tasks), but Rarity assured me she would be able to handle it on her own.

“Whatever you say, Rares,” I said, giving her a doubtful look. She ‘tsked’ at me and said everything would work out fine. “I don’t doubt that, but what about your dress?”

“Darling, I’ll get it done, just you wait and see,” she said adamantly. I didn’t really hear what she said underneath her breath but it sounded suspiciously like a ‘hopefully’. “Besides, I already have the design down pat, as they say. As long as you all are satisfied with the end-product, there will be enough time to work on my own dress.”

“Rarity... you know how our friends are at times. Just look at that thing Twilight dragged in through your door. She has no fashion sense, and if it weren’t for you, what do you think she would wear all day long?” I deadpanned.

“Yes, well... I’m sure they will be pleased with them, though,” she answered back, albeit a bit reluctantly. That didn’t sound like she was so sure of it.

“Just... please don’t forget your own dress, Rarity,” I acquiesced. “I’d hate for you to not have a dress yourself.”

“Pshaw, as if I would ever forget about that,” Rarity laughed.

Of course, we all know how that turned out. A few days later, we were gathered before her and she presented us with the finished dresses tailored for us by her capable hands. Of course, that also meant that sadly, her own dress had been a bit... neglected. Her generosity knows no bounds, but sometimes I wish she would be a bit more selfish. There were the odd few times where she had it in her, but never when it really mattered for her own good.

We all went to her boutique expecting only the best from the most talented seamstress in this whole damn world (in my opinion) after she summoned us back to look at the (pretty much) finished works of art. It barely started snowing in the days that had passed and because of how you all acted around the dresses, made the timetable until the gala a bit too hectic for Rarity. I swear I was this close to strangling you all, despair didn’t even begin to describe how I felt at the time.

I mean, how could you not love those masterpieces? She even used cloud infused silk for Rainbows dress, what more could you want from her? I was left speechless by them, especially my own.

It was a magnificent piece of artwork. The gemstones on the dress for Lux were so finely integrated, you would have thought it was made from the very night sky itself. It was simple, yet extravagant. It didn’t need anything besides that, for it was already perfect just the way it was. The rest would be done with a decent application of make-up and a stylish haircut, as well as my necklace.

The tuxedo for Sol was equally as good, if not better. A perfectly pearlescent white color, seemingly pitch-black tie, and the most radiant cuffs to round out the picture of a suave man that knew what it meant to be at the top of the world.

Don’t even get me started on the shoes for both outfits, they were the most heavenly things to ever grace my feet. Shiny black couldn’t do it justice to describe their look.

I wanted to cry right there on the ground as I couldn’t tear away my eyes from them. The silence was suffocating Rarity, though. The critique coming from the girls was of the highest degree one could ever give, breaking the poor heart of the seamstress that just worked her ass off to provide each one of us with a dress for the gala.

“And you, Lux?” Rarity was disheartened, looking between all of us. “What do you think?”

“I love you,” I said, my mouth working without the input from my brain.

“I beg your pardon?” Rarity asked, a heavy blush forming on her face. Her question brought me out of my daydream of dancing around the whole night in that dress.

“Uhm... What did I say again?” I asked confusedly.

“I’m... uh, well... What do you think of your dress?” Rarity stuttered, unable to repeat what I said to her. Shrugging away the confusion, I went over to her and gave her the greatest hug to ever go down in the annals of hugs.

“I love them, Rares. You really outdid yourself with it. But what about your own dress? Where is it?” I told her and began to look around “You did work on it, right?”

“Ah, well, darling,” she began. “The thing is...”

“You didn’t, did you? Oh, Rarity, why do you do this to yourself?” I asked her sadly. She sighed and just left my embrace at that. It seemed she didn’t want to be pressured into giving an answer, totally understandable, really. I just wish she would at least stop for a moment, work on her own things, before getting back to the dresses she had made for all of us.

“And you, Sol? What do you think of the tuxedo?” Rarity asked, smoothing out the fabric of said outfit.

“Fit for a king, my dear,” I smirked back at her, managing to make her smile.

“Thank you, darling. At least some of you are satisfied with what I made for you. I’ll have to redo the rest, then,” she said. The girls tried to assure her that it would be fine as it is, but Rarity insisted on making them be to the perfect satisfaction of everyone.

I knew then and there that that would mean she would never finish her own gown in time. This was way too much selflessness to be appropriate. With a heavy heart, I went home for that day. Praying, hoping, begging for her to not do this to herself, but my wishes went ignored.

As the week progressed and the gala threatened to arrive any day, I went to look at how Rarity was doing. Needless to say, she was completely exhausted and you see it from her posture alone. Slumped over the backrest of her chair, the glasses on her nose couldn’t hide the exhausted look in her eyes.

Her hair was even worse. It was the first time I had seen her so unkempt and it was giving me the shivers. This was not the woman I knew her to be, this was an exhausted wreck in need of some relaxation.

“You, my dear, are coming with me this instant,” I said, giving her my best disapproving look with Lux. I’m sure I could get Aloe and Lotus to open their spa for a few more hours today.

Dragging the irate fashion designer behind me, I was getting ready to bang on the doors of the spa when they opened on their own. A surprised Aloe greeted me and after a quick conversation, she looked Rarity up and down with a frown.

“This won’t do, no!” she said. “This is a disaster, Miss Rarity! You are in dire need of a massage, come with me!”

I paid for the whole expenses and was pleased to notice Rarity slowly unwinding. Hopefully, I would have her in working order before Celestia came over for her visit. It would be just my luck that Rarity might be totally overworked for her to not remember that Celestia is coming over tomorrow for our brunch date.

I might as well wake her up tomorrow and escort her.

The next day was for once one without any snow blanketing the ground. I made good on my own promise to go see Rarity out of her boutique for the rest of the day. One more day away from her work wouldn’t hurt her and it might even help let her breathe in some fresh air and sort her thoughts out. A creative mind sometimes needed pauses, too, after all.

While we had a wonderful time at Sugarcube Corner, it was sadly cut short by the mayor’s wishes for an audience with the princess. I was a bit miffed, especially since we were having a lot of fun and Celestia took after my own heart with her humor, I could understand that we couldn’t hog herself all to ourselves. Rarity returned to her work with fresh new vigor, while I stayed behind to help clean things up after Pinkie abandoned her bosses.

And you know what, I don’t think that cage was empty before. Panicking a bit, I tried to think of what could have happened to the pet of Celestia. A pet that was obviously ill.

There was only one place the friggin’ bird could be. Sighing, I told Mr. and Mrs. Cake goodbye and gave them my thanks for the great food before I started walking towards the house of a woman that may or may not have stolen a bird without saying anything. Well, it would defeat the purpose of stealing something if you said anything about it, but Fluttershy wasn’t the kind to have grubby sticky fingers. That was more like me when I was unable to resist my urges...

What was the first thing I saw when I arrived and looked through the window to see if she was home? The bird drowning in the soup Fluttershy made for it, while Brightpaw laughed his little fuzzy behind off.

“Fluttershy, I would appreciate an explanation,” I said, knocking on the window. Her eyes went wide when she saw me standing there and she went and tried to hide Philomena behind her back. I raised an eyebrow at that and she grinned sheepishly.

“It’s not what you think it looks like!” Fluttershy assured me, waving around her hands in a desperate attempt to convince me otherwise.

“You’re not drowning it in soup?” I asked skeptically, coming inside.

“Wait, what?” she asked back. Fluttershy turned around and gasped at the sight of bubbles floating to the surface of the liquid within the bowl. “Oh, no! Philomena!”

“I would give up on that bird, if I were you, and return it back where you took it from,” I observed. “Celestia wasn’t all that concerned with its state of wellbeing, so I’d hazard a guess and say that is no normal bird.”

“Pah! This bird is so far removed from normal, you would have to be blind to not notice that, mortal,” Brightpaw commented. I gave him the stink-eye and he huffed with an upturned snout. “No one appreciates my services anymore, it seems.”

“You little piece of shit!” I shrieked back at him. “You corrupted our dear Fluttershy. If it weren’t for her, I would have already sent you back from whence you came!”

“Try it, mortal!” Brightpaw crooned. “We will see who will walk away from that fight! You stand no chance against my magnificence.”

I growled indignantly, hating that he was basically as strong as my sisters combined. How Fluttershy could have been so unfortunate to summon him of all things, I had no idea. Heavenly foxes were everything but heavenly. Quite the opposite, really.

Little monster... One day, I swear, one day.

“Enough! Both of you!” Fluttershy put a stop to our feud very fast with her patented stare. “I thought we were over this, already! No one corrupted anyone here, it was I that corrupted myself.”

“Shy, you can’t possibly be serious about that?” I asked aghast. “That only started after what he did to you!”

“Brightpaw did nothing. I... I did that of my own free will...” Fluttershy whispered, her voice going lower than I have ever heard from her.

“But...”

“No buts, missy!” Fluttershy scolded me. “Let it rest. You are the only one clinging onto this perfect little image you had of me.”

“Shy...” I cried, seeing what she was doing to herself. She was putting all the blame on herself again.

“I appreciate your concern, Lux,” she said. “But it is neither needed nor wanted.”

“How can you say that?!” I shot back, hiccuping. “Why do you want to be this monster so badly?!”

“I don’t,” Fluttershy muttered, her eyes becoming emotionless. “It is what is needed of me, though. This world is diseased, Lux. You better realize that now, do you understand me?”

She gripped me around the throat, slamming me against the doorframe. Her nose was dangerously close to my own, I could feel her breath on my lips. I gulped fearfully. This wasn’t her! There was no way I could have already failed one of my friends!

“Don’t think you’re above me, little Hope,” she snarled. My heart died a bit further with her words, so I shut it off completely before she could shatter it further. “We will see who is the greater monster among us.”

“Are you certain you want to subject yourself to this torture again, Kindness? I know what it did to you the first time around. Don’t come to me a crying mess when you rip out a heart with your bare hands again,” I snarled back, voice monotone. “We can play this game if you want. Are you ready to do what is necessary?”

“Girls!” the voice of Twilight caught our attention. Both Fluttershy and I turned our cold gazes on her. “Stop this, right now! You are friends, please...”

“Step out of this, Magic. The adults are talking,” I said. “She started this, I will finish it.”

“We will see about that,” Fluttershy responded in kind. “I can see your sins even now in this form, I know what darkness you try to hide. Even from yourself.”

“Is that so?” I asked. “And where will that lead us to? A fight between titans, perhaps?”

“Try me,” she shot back.

“Stop!” Twilight cried, her magic ripping us apart as we tried to claw each other’s faces off.

“Let me back at her!” Fluttershy said, struggling against her restraints just as I did the same. “She will see that I’m just as much of a monster as her!”

“Whatever happened to you, both of you, this needs to stop!” Twilight said. “This isn’t who you are. Neither of you. What made you this way, Lux? What happened to you, Fluttershy?”

“Hope is but an illusion, my dear. You will see the world burn before your eyes and it won’t be there to save you. I have learned this lesson once, can you learn it?”

“Kindness is but a cruelty to the people that deserve it. Where would it lead us if we gave it to the filth of this world, hmm? Can you look a family in the eye that has lost their unborn son to the hands of a psychopath if we let him live?”

Twilight stared at us, Brightpaw sitting in his little bed, grinning a self-satisfied smirk, not caring about what his caretaker was saying, and Philomena let out another cough. Her eyes wandered to the pet on the table, sitting there serenely like nothing was wrong.

“This isn’t right... Something must be influencing you,” Twilight whispered, shaking where she stood. “Celestia!”

With a flash, Twilight was gone. My uncaring eyes met emotionless ones.

“How are we going to do this then?” I asked and she cracked her neck.

“The old fashioned way.”

“You know how this will end in that case, Shy. Twilight is not here to reign us in, this time.”

“But I am,” the voice of the Celestia interrupted us. “I would have thought you would have put this behind yourselves.”

“Ah, the sun graces us with her presence. To what do we owe this pleasure?” I said, licking my lips in anticipation.

“Must you let yourself fall this far? Come back to us, Lux. Come back to me, please,” Celestia admonished me. I pouted and gave in to her demand, life returning to my eyes. God, this felt weird. “This is a dangerous state to be in, have I not told you this enough, Fluttershy?”

Said woman winced, as her eyes lost the emotionless mask it had previously. We both mumbled our apologies to each other, feeling sickened by what we almost did. It felt like the primal part in me wanted to assert herself as the alpha, even if it meant fighting against my friend.

“What is happening to us, Celestia?” I asked, feeling more afraid than ever before. Celestia sighed and embraced us in a tight hug.

“I wish you would not have to experience this, but what you went through just now requires a bit of a more detailed explanation,” she started to explain. “In the old times, that was a state that Moonlight and Sunfire discovered to better fulfill their duties. As the guardians of this land at the time, there were many threats that required ruthless efficiency to deal with. In your previous incarnation, you gave it the name of emotional suppression. In that state, it is nigh impossible for the foe to make you lose control of your own self during combat. And it prevents emotional attachment from clouding your judgment.

“Luna taught Fluttershy this in the hopes to make her a better fighter and I had to give her a severe talking to. I was aghast that she would teach it to anyone, but she had no idea that, by now, in this day and age, it isn’t a thing that should be used anymore. Luna convinced both Fluttershy and me it would probably save her life at some point, and reluctantly we agreed. Those weapons of yours are a sign for great peril to come in the near future, and I fear what it will cost you all. So, we taught Fluttershy how to enter such a state in a controlled environment. Brightpaw played an essential part in it. It’s a necessary evil if you will.”

Frowning, I thought about this. It made sense, I guess. In a very twisted way. Why would I have this ability then, if my previous incarnation came up with this? The answer came to me quickly: Moonlight and Sunfire were me, to begin with, I thought. It would make sense I would be able to discover it on my own again.

“How did I die, Tia?” I asked quietly. If this was an ability I had, something that prevented me from being taken advantage of in a fight, how come I still died? If I was as ruthless as I feared myself capable of, there was no way Grogar would have been able to kill me at my prime. There had to be a variable I wasn’t accounting for.

“Do you truly wish to know this?” she asked me. I nodded grimly. Better to know in case something similar happened again. “Grogar tricked you into activating your emotions. Grogar, Moonlight, and Sunfire were at a stalemate, so he tried to even the playing field. Grogar, in his endless cruelty, had forged look-alikes of Luna and myself as corpses and mentioned how he killed us, saying that we screamed in agony for you to save us, and it brought the full brunt of your rage out. With you unable to think clearly, it was simple for him to bring you down. We were helpless against him as he came to our doorstep next.”

Of course. Of fucking course did that monster do that. Why wouldn’t a monster like him resort to methods like that? I would have been an easy target after that.

“He threw your desecrated corpses before us, raised you into undeath while he taunted us with your failure, and ordered you to raze the world to the ground. He continued saying how easy it was for him to twist you into his perfect little puppets,” Celestia cried. “We had to kill you again because no matter what we tried, you were too deeply in his grasp. We only had one last lucid moment with you as you died again, and you thanked us for releasing you!”

I reached out and enveloped her in a hug. This was my fault. I made her cry, all because of my damn curiosity. Because I failed her as she was forced to watch me become everything I stood against. I became the evil that I had tried to protect the world from and left both of them alone. Although those were the failures of a past version of me, it still felt like the me now has failed them.

“I promise you, that won’t ever happen again. I’ll learn how to control this even better than Moonlight was able to. I can’t, in good conscience, subject you to the same failures of my past again,” I swore to her. “I may have no memories of then, but if I’m just half the woman of what Moonlight was as a man, then I will do better than he ever could. I won’t leave you, not again. I can’t, you deserve that much.”

“Lux, I know you might think you have a lot to make up for, but you aren’t the same person that you were then. Don’t try to be another Moonlight, try to be you. Do that much and I’ll be just as happy as I was with Moonlight,” Celestia told me. “Everyone changes with time, even I. I don’t want you to think that I expect you to be the same person you were as Moonlight, just as I don’t expect Sol to be just like Sunfire. Both of you can be who you are, not who you were. Why wouldn’t I support that?”

“I guess I just want to give you back lost time with Moonlight and Sunfire,” I answered back. Celestia let go of me and smiled. She would totally flip her shit if I said I was her sister now, wouldn’t she? I don’t think I was ready for that, yet. Not only because she wouldn’t ever let go of me and my male half, but because I was mostly confused about how to feel about her now, too.

Did I see her as a sister, or would I see her as my surrogate daughter again? It was way too weird to think like that about her, what with her being so much older than I. Well, as my physical body, I’m sure my soul would count as older.

Gah, this was so confusing! I felt like eating a tub of ice-cream now. Fruit flavored, preferably. A talk with my mother about this couldn’t hurt, either. She might be able to help me sort this out.

“Now, then,” Celestia began. “I see Philomena has found her way to you? Have you been making fun of people again, my dear?”

Celestia went over to the almost fully molted bird and took her in her arms. She removed the feathers Fluttershy tried sticking back on it and gave it a once over. The bird seemed to look a bit sheepish, belying a greater intelligence.

“Almost there, Philo. Almost there,” Celestia said, giving it an affectionate rub on the head. “You might want to come and watch this spectacle when it is time, Fluttershy. You too, Lux.”

Fluttershy looked at me confused and I gave a shrug, so we just followed Celestia back into Ponyville. Twilight and the rest of the girls were already waiting for us. The personal student of the princess gave Fluttershy and me nervous glances, so we gave her a reassuring smile and she sighed in relief.

As the minutes passed, we saw the last feather of Philomena leave her body. The bird gave a last breath before a flame suddenly burst from it, turning it into ashes. The girls were crying out in shock, while I gave a small grin.

A phoenix, huh? I might want one for myself, but the chances of that happening are next to zero. It was said that the birds chose the person they wanted to stay with, not the other way around. To even be gifted one of their feathers was a great honor.

From the ashes, it arose, burning in magical flames. It flew a few rounds over our head and landed on the shoulders of Celestia, nuzzling the top of her head.

We all had our fill with questions regarding the bird, had a bit of fun with the stoic guards, and generally talked a bit more with Celestia before she had to go back to Canterlot.

Then, Rarity invited us back into her boutique. By that, I meant the other girls, but I just went along with them to see how much they screwed Rarity over.

I already mentioned you had a terrible fashion sense, did I not, Twilight? What you and the others managed to create was the most nightmare-inducing clothing I had ever laid my eyes upon. I had to wonder how much you must have pestered Rarity to even go along with your demands.

As I stood there, I had to suppress the urge to vomit, already tasting the bile entering my mouth. I whimpered looking at the literal nest for a hat that Fluttershy had come up with. And by everything that was holy, how could the blanket of a dress that Twilight designed be ever considered something anyone would wear?

I think you don’t truly understand what you made Rarity do with those. If you were to summon a demon from the deepest pits of Tartarus they would go crawling back where they came from to hide from those despicable things for the rest of eternity. That is how bad they were, Twi. I know you all made it up to her later but was it even necessary to go against the expert in fashion in the first place?

What do you mean, you weren’t thinking about that at the time? You’re Twilight friggin’ Sparkle, admittedly one of the sexiest women alive if you were to ask me, but you should have known better! Don’t take this personally, but sometimes I wonder if you have an EQ of a toddler. We seriously need to work on your social skills, my dear.

Anyway, as I was wondering how I would be able to look you guys in the eyes while wearing those and not claw my eyes out in the process, Spike came in mentioning that some big-wig from the capital was coming to the fashion show that would be held later this evening.

My eyelid started twitching as the girls said how that would promote Rarity’s business like nothing else would. No, I said to myself, this was not happening. I would not allow these atrocities to be shown to someone that could ruin the entirety of Rarity’s reputation.

“Girls, if you wear those things, I’m going out of this door and never return,” I whispered, my voice sending shivers through the group. “I can’t allow you to show these abominations of a fashion crime to the masses. There is no way anyone of you could do this to dear Rarity.”

“What’s the matter with you? Ain’t you happy with your dress?” Applejack shot back indignantly. “Ah seem to remember you saying that you loved it.”

“My dress isn’t the problem, my dear Applejack,” I said. “Your dresses are.”

“Hey, we are happy with them, they are perfect!” she said, not even seeing anything wrong with how they looked. “Rarity should be proud of these, they are true masterpieces!”

“Proud?” I asked, anger beginning to boil within me. “Proud?! You will ruin her business with these! How could she ever be proud of... of those things!”

“Not everyone has the same taste as you, Lux,” Fluttershy began, but I interrupted her.

“No, but my taste is way better than this!” I shouted and pointed at the nest atop the mannequin. “I have standards, Fluttershy. And this? This belongs in the trash, dear. How can no one see that?! What is wrong with you people?!”

“Lux, dear,” Rarity touched my shoulder. “You don’t need to do this. If they are happy with them as they are now, I’ll be glad to take the fall.”

“Rarity...” my voice was hoarse and tears dripped down my cheeks. “Why?”

“It’s okay,” she embraced me in a hug, patting my backside. “I’ll be okay with what I have here in Ponyville. Who cares what some of the people in the upper crust will think of me...”

“I do,” I said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt by this.”

“Oh, Lux, dear,” Rarity laughed. “I have a thicker hide than you give me credit for. It would take more than a little loss in reputation for me to give up entirely.”

The other girls were staring awkwardly at my female body while I stood stoically at the edge of the room with Sol. If they won’t learn from this, then I would make good on my promise. I’ll ask Celestia for a room in the castle or something if it came down to it. Maybe then they will change their minds.

Evening arrived in no time and rather than participate in the show, I went out and searched for this guy that was supposedly a big name in the fashion industry. If I could convince him that the dresses weren’t actually designed by Rarity herself but the women that meddled into the business that their noses didn’t belong in, then I could perhaps salvage this situation.

Imagine my surprise as I looked at the guy and he was (pretty much) an exact replica of Karl Lagerfeld.

“Hoity Toity, if I may have a word with you before the show begins?” I said, taking a seat at his table. He looked at me, put his glasses down a bit, and regarded my female body with a look that I’d rather not want to know what went through his mind at the same time while he did so. I gave him a glare with Sol, feeling uneasy.

“My, what a marvelous dress, my dear,” he said. “Who designed it?”

“The lady that is hosting this show, dear,” I answered with Sol. “And I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t look at my sister like that.”

“Terribly sorry, but who are you?” he asked, his gaze turning to my other body. Well, either he was incredibly stupid or deaf. I did just tell him that Lux was my ‘sister’, right?

“Sol, a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mister Hoity Toity,” I said, offering him my hand. Never let it be said I wasn’t polite. “Anyway, the thing we wanted to talk with you about?”

“Yes, yes, do go on,” Hoity Toity said.

“What you are about to see is in no way created by Rarity,” I said, and before he could ask what I meant, I went on. “They may have been made by her, but the people you will see walking out of there wearing them? Those girls have no sense for fashion and pressured Miss Rarity into making those abominations.”

“Oh?” his voice seemed a bit skeptical. “Why would Miss Rarity comply with their demands, then?”

“Those are our friends and Miss Rarity has too big of a heart to say no to them,” I explained. “What you see me and my sister wearing were the first creations she had done for us for the Gala. The first designs of the ‘dresses’ you will see in a moment are nowhere near as hideous as what the girls turned them into. If you were to stick around after the show, I might convince them to show the originals to you.”

“Why would they not show them instead of those things you mentioned?”

“Pride, my dear. Pride for their own ‘genius’ and what they perceive as beautiful. Don’t ask me how they could look at those and say ‘These dresses are truly the best to ever have been created’,” I explained. I grimaced as the light began to dim and our attention was diverted to the stage.

Of course, the girls went against my wishes and went out with... I can’t even call them clothes. Nothing needed to be said to say how the crowd reacted to them standing there on the rotating platform. It was a disaster and as Twilight’s and Applejack’s gaze found mine in the crowd, they winced.

At least you were able to finally understand what I meant at that time, Twilight. I really would have gone to Canterlot if you hadn’t made things right after the show. I probably wouldn’t have stayed there forever, because even if it might seem that way, I can’t ever stay mad with you girls for long.

Hoity Toity glanced again towards me, contemplating if I had said the truth, but all he saw of me was me trying to hide my face in shame while glaring at the girls between my fingers. The man sighed, said how atrocious those things truly were, and then demanded for the seamstress to come out of hiding.

And Rarity came out, hanging her head low.

Please, please, please, give her a chance. Don’t disregard my words, you have to see that there was no way Rarity could ever come up with these on her own. You have to see the guilt in the eyes of my friends, it was so obvious!

“What do you have to say for yourself?” Hoity Toity demanded.

“I’m sorry for having wasted your time, Mister Hoity Toity,” Rarity answered and walked back into her home glumly.

“Mister Hoity Toity, wait! Please,” Twilight called out. The man in question looked to her next, giving me a sideways glance. “Those dresses... no, whatever we turned these into, they weren’t the original designs Rarity came up with. Please, you have to believe me.”

“It seems your friend was right, after all,” he said and the girls looked over to me. “Very well, I will see those dresses in a week, I still have other places to be in. My time is a precious commodity, next time you decide to waste my time, I won’t be so lenient with you.”

“Thank you,” Twilight said, saying what I felt in my heart.

“Now then, I have an appointment in Fillydelphia in a few hours, if you will excuse me,” Hoity said, getting into the limousine he arrived in. “For your sake and mine, make sure to not displease me when we meet again.”

Then the car was on its way, leaving us alone. In a week he would be back, and in a week and a half, the night of the Gala would be upon us. And judging by the state Rarity must be in, she would never get to finish her own dress without help.

So I explained to the girls what we were going to do. We would complete the dress for her, all the same time I would keep Rarity emotional company with Lux and make sure she didn’t notice her design ‘going missing’ for a little while. Twilight was all too ready to follow my lead on this, constantly apologizing for not having taken my words seriously.

I told her we had a chance to fix this, and if we were successful, everything would be forgiven. Fluttershy actually had the necessary skills to work with needle and thread, so it was a relatively easy task for them.

A week later, Rarity saw what we did and thanked us for what we did for her. The big surprise we had for her as the limousine arrived? It made her day, being able to show off the original designs and earning the credit she so justly deserved.

I taught her some quick illusions and together with Twilight, we put on a show that the man wouldn’t be so quick to forget. He was absolutely ecstatic about what Rarity had to offer as a designer.

Thus ends this tale. We all learned a thing or two, especially you, Twilight. And the best of all? Rarity truly created a dress to succeed.

16. Won't you dance with me?

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“How are you feeling, my child?” Spectrum’s voice greeted me as I found myself in her embrace. I gave her a nuzzle as I got used to being a pony again. It was always a bit jarring, going from human in the waking world to pony in the dream realm.

“Nervous,” I answered. “The Gala is tomorrow and with that the last few hours of peace I have. Are you certain something will happen?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” she answered. “It might not be immediately, but I felt the seal weaken a few hours ago. Something is about to break free, my child. I can’t tell you which champion of my brother managed to get out again. All I can tell you is to prepare accordingly for that. I will do my best to buy you more time, although I fear it won’t last for long. I can’t risk destroying my own seal, dear.”

“Okay...” I mumbled. My heart was doing flips in my chest and I couldn’t stop my legs from fidgeting.

“Have fun at the Gala while you can, okay?” my mom told me, laying a hoof on my withers and placing a loving kiss on my forehead. “I don’t want you to be distracted at it. It is your last chance to relax before you and your friends need to stand ready to fight.”

“Do you think we will succeed?” I asked her.

“Of course,” she simply said. “I have no doubts about that.”

Her faith in me was greatly appreciated, but even I could tell she harbored some nervousness of her own. While she could make accurate guesses at what might happen at which point in time, she wasn’t that omniscient to know what exactly would happen. It was more a feeling for her that a storm was approaching.

At that time, I had absolutely no idea just what kind of storm it would turn out to be, in the end. I had no idea what it would cost me, Twilight. We all had no idea what kind of price we would have to pay.

As the night made way for the day, I found myself in front of Rarity’s boutique together with Spike, Twilight, and the woman that lived there. Also, Pinkie Pie was here jumping on the trampoline she had dragged all the way over here for whatever reason. Lux was currently finishing up with her own project, so it was only Sol with whom I kept the girls (and Spike) company.

Twilight was currently working on a new spell to give our group a way to arrive in style at the Grand Galloping Gala. Well, most of our group, as I had a little surprise waiting with Lux.

So, as Applejack, Rainbow, and Fluttershy arrived at our gathering, Twilight was finally ready to do her thing. Spike produced an apple from his bag and put it on the ground a small distance away from us. The final result was something right out of the Cinderella story, just without the pumpkin look. Can’t have everything, I suppose.

And as Twilight tried to transform some mice into horses to pull the carriage, Rarity’s cat was already on them, chasing them away. Maybe she should have thought that through a bit more...

Good thing I finished my project in time, then.

The girls were a bit stumped on what to do and my cryptic reply on why Lux wasn’t here yet didn’t help the mood all that much. They were about to find out, though.

“What is that noise?” Rainbow asked, trying to listen harder. I could barely contain my glee as all of them tried not to make any sound to discern what it was Rainbow heard.

My grin became only wider as the roar of the magi-tech engine became discernible over the corner of the street. The incredulous faces the girls made was satisfaction enough as Lux came into view, riding on the black painted motorcycle.

Oh, yeah, I did it, boys! I meticulously redesigned the magnificence that was the Ducati here in Equestria. Imagine the difficulty of keeping the fact secret from Twilight that I slowly gathered every part to craft the engine we had been working the blueprints for. Or how hard it was to get all the parts manufactured in the first place.

Man, I loved the thing already. It purred like a satisfied kitten, having been woken up for the very first time since I began building it. The matte black paint job with the red accents was just perfect for my little baby. On the side of it, I had painted the little heart symbol of my original shirt, and hugging it was the little pony version of myself in a cartoony look.

It was my pride and joy. And tonight, it would have its first mission! To bring my friends to the Gala. While looking awesome doing it, of course.

“Dude, that is the coolest thing ever!” Rainbow practically already began to salivate over it. “How did you manage that?”

“Quite right, darling,” Rarity said, also looking it over with an appraising eye. “The design is a bit too sporty for me, but it is a piece of art nonetheless. However, what I want to know, though... how did you build this without anyone noticing?”

“Oh, believe me, it wasn’t easy. If it weren’t for Twilight working with me on redesigning blueprints of the engine so it would fit on this baby just right, I wouldn’t have been able to get this far,” I said, putting the helmet in my lap as I turned the engine off. “I had to get myself a private mailbox to hide all the packages from Twilight and Spike. Then I had to rent a little shack where I could work on it in private. The end result you can see here. So... was it a great surprise?”

“The bestestest best surprise!” Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully, hugging me in her death grip. “So... are we ready to get this thing started, or what?!”

“Pinkie, dear, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, we still have to get to the spa first. It isn’t even evening yet, so be a bit patient, yes?” Rarity pulled her away from me, talking in a berating tone.

“You girls go on ahead, Spike and I will see to hooking this up to the carriage in the meantime,” I said, shooing my female side playfully along to the rest of the group. “Come on, Snakeboy.”

“We will see you later!” Twilight said to us as they left us here alone.

“Finally, they’re gone,” I said, a smile stretching across my face. “You up for a little tour on this baby?”

“Shouldn’t you ask your sis first?” Spike commented doubtfully. I snorted at that, picking him up and putting him behind me.

“Do you actually think she would mind?” I asked him, being fully aware that I would indeed mind if a stranger were to ride on it. It wasn’t like I had to give myself permission to ride my own bike, though.

“Yeah, that’s true. You guys share, like, everything. Besides make-up and clothing. I mean, that would be weird,” he commented.

“Why would that be weird?” I asked, grinning. “Don’t you know it’s rude to judge people based on their choice of how they want to live their life?”

“Sheesh, don’t take things so literally,” Spike grumbled. “Are you going to start this thing, or not?”

“Yeah, yeah, hold your ponies,” I laughed.

“Funny,” he deadpanned.

“Yeah, well... shut up,” I shot back and revved up the engine. A loud roar sounded from my baby and then I had us traveling through the street towards the outskirts of town at breakneck speeds.

Spike desperately clung onto me around my waist, but soon enough he was starting to cheer at the exhilarating feeling of the wind whipping through our hair. We did a few rounds on the recently paved roads that slowly started to replace the old ones all over Equestria, nay, the whole world.

With cars came the need for better infrastructure and there were already the first freeways planned out. Those would take a bit longer to become accessible to everyone, but once they were I’m so gonna be the first one to be on them.

Now that cars, and in the near future motorcycles (of course I’m gonna make money off of that, why wouldn’t I?), were more available to everyone and not the toys for the rich that they previously were, those rich guys started to invest in the luxury cars that were so coveted on Earth. There were already the first brands popping up that made supercars. And boy, were those expensive. Way more expensive if you were to exchange the currencies of Earth and Equis, to be honest.

You could probably buy two of them on Earth for the one you would get here. Maybe three if you had the connections.

After our little cruise, we returned back to the apple coach carriage thingy to do as I had said. I had seen a few of the kids from school as they watched in awe as we rode around, so it was no surprise some of them came to inspect what we were doing.

One little Pegasus-Blessed girl, in particular, wanted to sit on it while Spike and I tried to figure out how to attach the damn carriage to it. I didn’t mind that much, it was an excellent reward for the good grade she got in the last class test. Let’s just hope she continues the trend.

In the end, we managed to rig something up with some ropes and steel bars. We tested it out thoroughly, to make sure nothing would happen on the ride over to Canterlot. We would have to see if it works out or not. You can never be too cautious with those types of things, after all.

In the meantime, the girls were all helping each other with their hair and make-up. I wasn’t exempt from that with Lux. Having lived half a year with two genders, even if they were on separate bodies, left anyone completely unfazed with being in touch with their girly side. Rainbow might try to argue that she was anything but that, but deep down, we all knew she had it in her to be just as girly as the rest of us.

I might have embraced the female part in me after just a few days living here in Equestria, but that was partly due to the fact that my head was stuffed full with iconic female protagonists and such in games, books, films, and whatnot. Lara Croft was a perfect example of what I strived to emulate with Lux, she wasn’t exactly the girliest girl, but she represented everything I thought a woman could be.

Badass, intelligent, resourceful, willing to sacrifice her own wellbeing, and so much more. How could I not want to imitate just a tiny fraction of what she was?

Anyway, I was getting side-tracked by my own thoughts on feminity, we didn’t even notice that Spike had come over to look how we were doing. We would have to leave in a few hours if we wanted to get there in time and not risk the carriage being ripped apart because I panicked and drove too fast.

During the ride over later that day, we had a chat about this and that while Spike and Sol were up at the front making sure we arrived safely. Twilight was talking about how she wanted to spend the night at Celestia’s side and... let’s just say I didn’t have such a great feeling about how that would turn out.

I generally had a bad feeling none of the girls were going to find what they hoped to find at the event tonight. My plans for tonight weren’t that big, to begin with, so I wouldn’t be disappointed if they failed. The same could not be said for the others. Even Spike’s plan of sticking with all of us through the whole night would be dashed as soon as we were about to enter the castle.

Poor guy. If there was one person in our group that deserved having a great night, it would be him. He was young and I didn’t want him to remember this night as a failure for the rest of his life.

As we arrived, I groaned as that thing happened again. Music. Not the music you would get from playing instruments, but the random thing that just suddenly happened in this land. It would start from absolutely nowhere and the worst thing about it was that you couldn’t resist the pull it had on you as soon as you entered its range. A heart song was really annoying when you had other people there with you pouring out stuff like finding their Prince Charming.

Maybe I was still a bit sore about that.

I tried to resist it, but even my willpower couldn’t fight something that might as well be considered God-level magic. Spectrum assured me that she had nothing to do with that ridiculous thing when I had asked her, thus I sadly had to suck it up. Didn’t mean I liked it.

So, I sang about what I thought the Gala had in store for me.

“At the Gala,” I began with my part. “There are only a few that I want to impress, give my friends the time they deserve in the process.”

“At the Gala,” I sang with the choir. Sol twirled Lux around, singing the next part somberly. “I want to make them see that I am not the monster they fear I can be, to prove to them that I want to be as virtuous as they are to me.”

“I’ll show them,” I continued, dipping down low with Lux in Sol’s arms. “That my heart glows just as bright as an ember, and then I’d round it out with a dance to remember, right here at the Gala!”

Good gracious, that was way too much information revealed to the people around me. I hated how it forced those words out of me like that. The people around us continued on as if nothing was amiss with what I just sang. Might as well get this part behind me and drown the memories out with better ones.

As the song found its end just as we entered the castle, I was promptly left alone with Spike as everyone else sped off to do what they came here for. Spike was disappointed that his hopes of how this evening would go were crushed so soon.

I felt bad I couldn’t prevent that from happening. I was hope given form with Lux, and here I stood. Unable to give it back to him as even my own was crushed beneath the cruel hand of fate. Perhaps it just wasn’t meant to be.

“Come on, Snakeboy,” I said to him. “Let’s find the buffet, maybe we will find some of our friends to hang out with.”

“If you think so,” he muttered dejectedly.

“Hey, if everything else fails, you still have me here with you, right?” I said, nudging his shoulder in a reassuring way. “Can’t be too bad stuck with me here.”

“I’m sure you wouldn’t want to babysit me the entire time here at the Gala, Sol,” Spike grumbled. “Twilight is off to who knows where, Rarity is after that man she dreamed about, Fluttershy is going to be in the garden the whole night, Rainbow has her thing with the Wonderbolts, Applejack is too busy with her apples, and Pinkie is... Pinkie. And I’m sure you don’t want to hang out with me and your brother the whole night, Lux.”

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong there, sorry,” I said, a grimace coming to my face. He wouldn’t make the greatest dance partner, I feared. “But I could still keep you company if you want?”

“I guess,” Spike said. Nothing else was said between us, so we hung out a little while at the table with the food.

And as the evening progressed both the mood of Spike and I got gradually more bored. At some point, he left me standing there on my lonesome and I sighed dejectedly. Great, even the kid leaves after seeing the disaster that our night had become.

“This isn’t what I thought would happen,” I muttered. Thinking for a moment, I went over to the band and saw Pinkie come over as well. Before she could do something I was sure would not go over well with the other guests, I stopped her in her tracks.

“Hey, Pinkie, what are you up to?” I asked her, narrowing my eyes at her.

“Oh, hey Sol!” she replied cheerfully. “I was just about to ask them to play the Hokey Pokey. Do you want to participate with me?”

“Uhm... no, Pinkie. I don’t think these people will appreciate that kind of song,” I answered her, hesitant to burst her little bubble that this was a party and not a formal event.

“Aww, you really think so?” she pouted. “Who wouldn’t like to have a little bit of fun, this party is totally boring.”

“That is true,” I agreed. “This isn’t the audience you are familiar with, Pinks. These people are here for the connections, not for the ‘fun’.”

“Bummer,” Pinkie sighed, feeling sadder now. “What were you doing, coming over here?”

“I was trying to see if they could perhaps play a piece you could better dance to with a partner. The slow kinda music, not the one you or Rainbow would think of,” I answered, stopping her from jumping to conclusions. She made an ‘O’ face and grinned slyly at me.

“I understand, so...” Pinkie said, leaning in conspiratorily. “Who were you going to ask out for a dance, hmm?”

“It’s not like that!” I said, a blush appearing unbidden on my face. “I would have danced with my sister, seeing that none of our friends tried sticking around.”

“You tell yourself that, Solus,” she giggled, bouncing away.

“What does that name even mean?!” I shot after her, but she disregarded my attempt to learn about that weird name she sometimes called me by. I swear, someday I will get the answer out of her. Preferably today.

The band hired to play this evening actually assured me that the Gala would hold a formal dance later that night, but seeing that people were already interested in it to start early (meaning: mainly me and some other couples), they decided a change of schedule would be okay as soon as one of them spoke with the organizer of the event.

Said organizer shrugged, said why not, and allowed the dance to start half an hour ahead of schedule. I mean, if I had known I would have only needed to wait that long, I could have been patient about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NliYy7iqh-U

Once the musicians on stage changed the pace of the music from the barely noticeable background music to the more active, relaxing melody, I saw people around me take their partners out to dance. I followed suit, taking my positions across from myself. It might seem weird dancing with yourself in two bodies, but the one I actually wanted to dance with? She was sadly unavailable.

And as I danced there, twirling my female body around and moving slowly over the floor, I couldn’t help but notice that Pinkie tripped up Rarity with one foot. The man Rarity was in company with didn’t even seem to care.

What did she see in that sorry excuse for a grown-up?

I sighed dejectedly, feeling miserable as I danced with myself. This wasn’t right. How could I not go over there and punch the asshole in the face? He was supposed to be a prince, was he not? Weren’t those meant to be chivalrous with the woman they accompanied? He certainly didn’t live up to the expectation of Prince Charming...

A dip down, a spin around, a step to the left. It felt hollow, being here on my lonesome. This really wasn’t how I imagined the night to go today. Here I was, the last day I would have of quiet and peace, and I wasn’t having any fun. Mom would be so disappointed in me.

Pinkie’s eyes caught mine and she made a gesture with her head for me to do something. She huffed as I bit my lip in hesitation. Her hands made wild gestures for me to get over to Rarity, then she held her hand at her mouth like she was about to give away a secret while pointing with her other hand at Rarity.

Could I really just go and steal Rarity away from her dream, even if the man she so desperately wanted to meet was a jerk? My mind told me not to do it, that I would forever ruin everything between us, but my heart went and got the club out and beat my brain into a pulp.

So, as I saw Pinkie walk towards where Rarity was going, I made my choice. Leaving the dance floor in a hurry, I ran after Rarity with Lux, being careful not to fall on my face while wearing the stupid stilettoes.

“Rarity!” I called out, the woman in question turned a questioning head my way while slowing down from her brisk pace. She obviously had tears in her eyes, after that man just left her there on the ground.

“What is it, Lux? I’m not in the mood for you to tell me you told me so,” she sniffed, trying to keep from full-on crying right there in the middle of the hallway.

“Would you...” I began, and I had to fight myself from clamming up. Looking up from where I had bowed my head down in fright, I mustered up all my willpower to just ask her. To not be a coward for once. “Would you like to dance with me?”

“I...” Rarity stuttered, looking my nervous self up and down. “Truly?”

“Uh... yes. Yes, please,” I said, giving her a smile, hoping she would take my outstretched hand. “Just this one dance... If anything comes of it, would you be open to the idea?”

“You... I had a feeling you felt this way about me,” she whispered, taking my hand and stepping closer to me. My heart began to beat faster as she stared into my eyes. “I thought you would never say something... That I just imagined it, that the slip up with the dress was just a fluke... Was it because of Blueblood? Were you so afraid I would reject you because I had a crush on a man?”

“Maybe...” I mumbled, swallowing thickly. Even in my wildest imagination, I never would have thought I would actually be at this moment, standing in front of her and confessing my feelings. After I first gave up on her, I never thought that it would ever happen, couldn’t entertain the thought that... she might have said yes if I spoke up.

“Oh, Lux, you silly girl,” Rarity said, barely above a whisper. “How long would this have gone on? Would you have lived in misery because you wanted to sacrifice your own heart to see me be happy with another?”

“I...”

“Please, tell me,” she demanded. “Don’t say that you were ready to just give up on me like that.”

“I know it was stupid of me,” I said, shivering all over my body. Not because I was cold, though. “But I couldn’t just go and ask you out if it meant that our friendship would have been ruined by that. So, I just... tried to accept your decision, as Luna suggested to me when I talked to her about it.”

“Lux,” Rarity said, turning my head back around to stare into my wet eyes. “Here I thought you were someone that wouldn’t let something like that stop you... I’m not so petty to ruin our friendship over something like love, dear.”

“Thanks...” I answered back with a tiny smile, relieved.

“No problem. Now, I’d like that dance you asked me out on very much,” Rarity said, smiling happily. The beating heart in my chest just skipped a turn in pumping blood through my vessels, deciding that this moment was too precious for it to continue its work lest it ruined it. “Won’t you dance with me?”

Giddily, I turned around and led her to the dance floor with a skip in my step. I took the lead as we began dancing to the tune coming from the stage and we stepped over the floor like it only belonged to us. My wild smile was reflected by her graceful one, my eyes twinkling in the light while I saw hers sparkle wonderfully. This was the best moment of my life.

The other dancing couples seemed to just flow around us as we glided over the floor in perfect harmony. None dared to get in our way as we went back and forth, from side to side, all over the freeing up space they so graciously gifted us. Rarity was a great dancer, teaching me maneuvers I had no idea existed previously.

It felt so right holding her in my arms, as she held me in hers.

Nothing could compare to this feeling I felt flaring up in my chest. This warmth, the fluttering, filling me to my core. The rest of the world stopped existing for as long as we were here with each other. And none could take it from us at that moment.

Rarity took the lead from me, spinning me around expertly. Then, once more we went into a dip, this time with me being held up in her arms. Our faces were so close to each other, I could feel her breath down on my lips, caressing me lovingly.

Playfully taking back the lead as we came out of the dip, I followed her example and held her just as low to the ground, grinning all the way even with the slight exhaustion we were starting to feel. Bringing her up again, we stepped around on the floor in a perfect synchronicity.

Twirling Rarity around in my arms, Pinkie settled down beside Sol at the end of the room, smiling like the lunatic that she was. She gave me a playful nudge into my ribs.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” she said, gazing out at the pair putting all the other couples to shame with their performance. I might have practiced a lot in preparation for this day. Still, Rarity was putting my efforts to shame.

“Indeed,” I answered her, watching in satisfaction as my other half was finally able to hold the love of our life in her hands. “So, what was that about with the Solus thing?”

Pinkie, on the other hand, was already gone. I sighed, cursing myself for not having watched her instead. Oh, well. It probably wasn’t anything important, why bother with the mystery that was Pinkie Pie.

I decided to go and find one of my other friends while I was preoccupied with having the night of my life with Lux. It left me feeling oddly divided inside. This feeling, whatever it was, wasn’t the first time that it had popped up in me. I remember multiple instances where it almost felt like I was separated in half over two conflicting thought processes. I had no words to describe it in any other way.

My thoughts made me almost run into Twilight and Celestia. Before anything happened, I put my hands on Twilight’s shoulders as we rounded the corner from opposite ends.

“Sorry, Twilight,” I said to her, a small smile coming to my lips. “Almost bumped into you, my dear.”

“No worries, Sol,” Twilight said. “Where were you going, if I might ask?”

“Actually looking for some of you girls. Pinkie managed to give me the slip, so I thought I might try my luck to see if any of you weren’t currently doing something,” I replied. She nodded, her cheeks tinting up a bit as I forgot to remove my arms. “Sorry.”

“You’re welcome... I mean, apology accepted! I...” Twilight stuttered. “Just forget that...”

“Are you okay, Twi?” I asked, confused. I don’t think I have ever made her react that way around me before. Maybe as we first met... or when I teased her... or the odd little instances where we were training and I wiped my sweat on my shirt.

Wow, have I really managed to fluster her so often without me noticing?

“Nothing! I’m fine, everything is fine, no need to worry about little old me, heh heh,” Twilight quickly answered, shaking her hands in front of her, an awkward smile on her face.

I looked at Celestia, but all she gave me was an amused titter. Deciding to follow them for now, we actually went back from where I came from. And as we arrived in the ballroom, I couldn’t help but give a wistful smile at the sight of Lux and Rarity still dancing around as if they had just started.

“I think I might go and look at what my sister is doing, will you be alright for a few moments, Twilight?” Celestia told us, a mischievous smile forming on her lips. What was she up to, now?

“I’ll be fine, Princess. Besides, I still have Sol here with me,” Twilight answered, glancing my way. “Right?”

“Yes, I won’t run away from you, promise,” I teased. “Go and do whatever it is you do when you’re alone, Tia. Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do.”

“My, my,” Celestia giggled as she walked away. “I certainly don’t think you meant anything inappropriate?”

“What is that supposed to mean?!” I shot back after her, but she just laughed more. “Seriously, what was that about?”

Twilight shrugged helplessly, her face red as a tomato. Great, now I was the one getting teased back. Celestia was way more experienced in it, as well. I really hoped she didn’t go and do what she implied. A shudder went through my spine at that image. Fucking hell, get it out! Get it out! Ugh... I need brain bleach now.

“You said you were with Pinkie Pie, right? What did she say to you?” Twilight asked me nervously, playing with her hands.

“Uhm... I don’t think anything that you’re thinking about,” I answered. “She has this weird obsession with calling me Solus and I tried to get her talking about that, but then she was gone. Why?”

“Oh,” she said. “Nevermind, then.”

“What did she talk with you about? I swear, if she said anything inappropriate about me dancing with Lux, I will strangle her,” I asked her, my eyelid beginning to twitch.

“You know... this and that,” Twilight answered, and once more she began with the awkward laugh thing.

“I’m so gonna kill her,” I growled. “Spreading lies, she knows better!”

“No, no! She didn’t do anything like that!” Twilight assured me, stopping me from trying to go and find the pink-haired menace. “She... Pinkie just suggested that I go here and... you know, try dancing! Yes, that’s it! Dancing.”

“I’m feeling like you are leaving out something here,” I said with narrowed eyes. No one ever said ‘That’s it!’ when they were being honest, so she had to be lying about something. And considering she was a pretty bad liar, I could tell Pinkie mentioned something very embarrassing to her. Or something similar to that degree. “So, do you want to?”

“Eh? Do I want to do what?” Twilight asked, confusion evident in her voice. Okay, now I knew Pinkie was up to something for sure. If Twilight couldn’t even remember that we were talking about dancing, she must be pretty distracted by other thoughts.

“Dance? You know, like you just mentioned?” I reminded her.

“Oh! Uhm... yes?” she said, now even more nervous. If I didn’t know better, I would assume that she had a... crush... on... me... Oh, for the love of my Goddess of a mother, how blind was I? Have I really gone so far with my teasing that she actually developed a crush on me? How could I miss that of all things?

“Twilight?” I asked, cautiously. She gave me a nervous glance, and now I got nervous, too. To hell with it, just ask her and be done with it. “Do you have feelings for me?”

“What?” she laughed, embarrassed. “How did you get that idea? There is no way, heh heh. Right? I mean, that would totally ruin our friendship, wouldn’t it? I don’t want that, do you?! Please don’t tell me you hate me now!”

“Hey, hey! Calm down,” I said, wrapping my arms around her. She went stiff as a board, so I rocked us both a bit from side to side and put my chin on top of her head. “No need to get so flustered over it. It’s totally okay if you have a crush on me, okay? I find it cute.”

“You do?” Twilight mumbled quietly. “You would give this a chance? If I asked you, I mean?”

I looked down at her, her lavender eyes catching my blue ones. Would it be cheating on Rarity if I said yes to Twilight? I mean, technically I counted as two people. Wouldn’t that make it weird, though? I guess if I really wanted to, I could explain my situation to them both and look where that ended up.

Perhaps that was the wiser choice, I was loath to keep something so essential about me hidden from the ones I had feelings about. Maybe it was time that I came clean to the rest of the girls about that. Didn’t want to make things weird between us, though. Although, considering who and what I was? Weird was pretty much a given.

Solus... I know that had a friggin’ Latin meaning. There must be a reason why Pinkie called me that, what was it? English had a word that came pretty close to that one, and considering there were a ton of languages that were derived from Latin, that couldn’t be a coincidence. And the word sole referred to a single thing, sounded like it could come from solus and the fact I was a single entity controlling two bodies? Too many coincidences for my comfort, if you asked me.

Pinkie knew. She had to know. The things the woman sometimes knew were eerie. In no way wouldn’t she know about this when she already knew about me doing all that stuff in Manehattan as a vigilante. Was Pinkie omniscient? No, I don’t think so, but she had a knack for knowing things she shouldn’t be able to know. Was that a thing her Pinkie-Sense allowed her to do?

Seeing that Pinkie most likely knew about me, I had no other excuses to still try and hide this from them. I think they had earned my trust enough by now that I didn’t need to cling to this image of them calling me crazy as soon as I told them the truth.

“I would like to give you and me a chance if you want to, Twilight,” I said, at last, having come to a decision. “There is one thing that I have to tell you and the other girls after the Gala, though. It might change your opinion of me. Do you still want to have that dance with me in the meantime?”

“I’m sure it can’t be worse than you and Lux having the tendencies to act out your violent impulses against our foes,” Twilight assured me. We will see about that, I guess. I just hoped I wasn’t committing a massive mistake with this.

“Then I ask you one last time,” I grinned. “Won’t you dance with me?”

“Gladly,” she said, as I began to lead her to the dance floor. “Just be warned, I haven’t ever danced like this before.”

“I could help you with that if you want?”

At my question, she gave me a nod, so I told her to put her toes to the front of mine and go along with my steps. I positioned her arms in the correct way and then we began to dance, not that far away from where Lux and Rarity were twirling around. Both of them were trading the leading position quite often and it made for a spectacular sight.

Twilight began to relax as I showed her around the movements with a gentle patience. As much of a quick learner that she was, she seemed to struggle with the more rhythm-oriented motions. I didn’t hold it against her, it made her quite a bit more endearing as a person in my eyes.

And as we danced here among the crowd, I saw Pinkie return with a flustered Fluttershy, getting her to dance with her. Now that wasn’t something I ever expected to happen. Pinkie had a big smile on her face, and it only got wider as she spotted Twilight in my arms.

I see... playing matchmaker, aren’t we? Let’s see where this will end up, then.

The unmistakable vibrancy of Rainbow’s hair caught my attention next, as I found that she had managed to convince a heavily blushing Applejack to dance with her. Let me guess, Pinkie was also behind that one?

As the night went on, we danced to our heart’s content. While Twilight didn’t exactly get better at this, we wound up in a setting that worked for both of us quite admirably. We hugged more than we danced, but it was just as nice.

At one point, Celestia and Luna came in thanking the other guests for their attendance, although it became quickly apparent that something was wrong. As they bid goodbye to most of the guests, they motioned for me and Twilight to get the rest of our friends and follow them out of the ballroom.

“We should go and see what this is about,” Twilight told me and we began to drag our friends with us towards where we had seen Celestia and Luna leave.

Once we were out of the ballroom, we went after the two sisters leading us to the throne room. And as we entered the massive room, we saw a huge group of people gathered in here. All of them had one thing in common.

Wings reminiscent of an insect, holes all over the ends of them, some buzzing in agitation and fear. The people, of which the race I could only guess at, were of a fae-like nature. Everyone within their group had a malnourished look to them, a suffering quality in their slitted eyes giving away that they must have been through hell and back.

One of them was looking way worse, but she still cared for the others first above her own wellbeing. She had matte green hair that almost flowed down to the ground, her wings were larger and way more tattered than the rest of the gathered people, and on her head rested a black and green crown. Their leader, I assume.

“We have gathered the Elements, Chrysalis. Now, what is this about?” Celestia said, getting the attention of the woman I had been observing. “You come here seeking refuge for something you have yet to explain.”

“Our home was destroyed, Celestia,” the woman said, an otherwordly quality to her voice. “My people were reduced to what you see before you. No one was there to help us, as I had to watch helplessly as my nation was burned to the ground!”

“We are sorry to hear that, but why the urgency for the Elements of Harmony and the embodiments of Hope and Courage?” Luna gave her condolences. “We have yet to hear why you would ask for them.”

“They need to be prepared. War is riding once more, my sisters. We have to act now!” Chrysalis growled. “You both know what happened to the empire of our brother. The attack on my palace shattered my throne, and with it the seal holding War at bay.”

“Are you certain?!” Celestia asked her, desperate to hope that she had misheard her.

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Chrysalis answered somberly. “My people were almost eradicated to the last person. The madman leading the fight could not be stopped, even with our unique magic. Sister, I beg you, prepare your army as fast as you can, and travel north. We can’t let Sombra retake the Empire.”

“It will take weeks to prepare the whole army, we can’t work miracles, sister,” Luna said. “And we have to make sure you will recover, you look almost entirely drained! What happened to you?”

“I used up a lot of my energy to try and keep that man from breaking the seal. As you can see me sitting here with the rest of my subjects, I obviously failed,” Chrysalis explained, blaming herself almost entirely. “If you can’t send the whole army, send in a vanguard! Anything to delay War long enough so we could muster up enough warriors to bring him down again. Perhaps this time for good.”

“Chrysalis...” Celestia sighed, glancing sadly at the distraught woman.

“I know I was a mere child as you first defeated him, but now I’m ready to fight by your side! Just... let me recover my strength first. I have to help you, please! Don’t tell me I am not ready, not again. I’m old enough now!” she begged, and my heart went out to her. To almost not make it out of the attack on her home must weigh heavily on her.

“Nay, sister. You have already suffered enough, we will not force you on the battlefield against War,” Luna declined fiercely. “We can’t let you risk yourself for this.”

“But...” Chrysalis protested but was cut off by Celestia.

“Luna is right, Chrysalis. You are in no condition to fight,” she said. “I will send in Cadance and Shining Armor with every soldier we can get to move immediately in the meantime. They will be able to hold the line long enough while we prepare the Elements for the coming fight. Let us get you back on your feet, please. You don’t have to sacrifice yourself, your people need you now more than ever. I might have another ally I could make contact with, depending on whether or not the mirror is amicable enough to open.”

“Very well,” Chrysalis sighed, accepting that it would be unwise for her to abandon her people now for the purpose of revenge. I could understand wanting to go out and do something about your mistake, but there were barely enough people left to let her species survive if they couldn’t get children with another species. They might look similar to the humans here, but I had a feeling there are a lot more differences on the inside than could be seen from the outside. “If you need my help convincing her, just ask. I would like to meet those on the other side for myself.”

“Princess, what is going on?” Twilight asked confused, a pitying look in her eyes as she beheld Chrysalis and her people. I might have voiced out my own confusion if she hadn’t spoken up first. I was very much interested in who they were talking about with that mirror thing. It sounded like a portal, almost.

“An ancient foe is about to return from where we sealed him away, and with it, a forgotten empire,” Celestia answered, producing a rather large crystal from a case by her throne.

She placed it on the ground and with a little bit of magic, a familiar sight began to form around it. It was the glass-like castle I had seen in the mural within the Everfree Forest.

“The Crystal Empire,” Celestia said, introducing us to the majestic view of the city-state.

“The Crystal Empire?” Twilight asked. “I’m sorry, but I have never read about it in any of my books!”

“It would be unlikely you would find much information on it, my dear student,” Celestia told her. “Few know of its existence. Even in the time that it was still where it stood, people only knew about it so much. All they ever remembered was the man that came and took control of it.

“He was a vicious man, riding upon a nightmarish beast of a stallion, bringing misery to every country he tried to invade. It was only through sheer luck we managed to fight him and his army back to the north. It was there that a great battle raged, taking many lives in the process.

“But, as he was about to flee from his just punishment, he cursed the Empire to go down with him. As we managed to push him back in the seal he first broke out from, he took his rage out on the people he had enslaved. The crystal people of the Empire had a unique quality to them, but it also made them quite vulnerable to his twisted mind.

“With him threatening to come back, we must prepare you and the rest of your friends for what he might bring to bear against you. Shining Armor and Princess Cadance will hopefully be able to hold him off long enough for me and my sisters to train you to resist his temptations.

“It will be an arduous task. You will wish for it to stop, but we can’t give in to what you may tell us as we do this. There can’t be any doubt left in you after we are through with you. You will defend yourself from us trying to break you with false promises and images. If you fail...”

The heavy atmosphere got a lot darker as a viscous miasma spilled from the side of Celestia’s eyes.

“Everything will be lost,” her words were biting at us, almost accusing in nature. She shot a purplish-black beam of magic at the crystal sitting in the middle of the image of the Empire.

The happy colors of the little people walking around in the city before us were turned grey and lifeless. The crystalline buildings turned into twisted mockeries, the once bright green grass turned ashen and listless, while the palace in the center turned into an oppressive fortress.

Dark crystals started to sprout throughout the shadows. And they weren’t a part of the shimmering illusion of the Empire.

“Love and hope were the things the Empire was meant to spread across the world. It was a powerful magic only found within the people that lived there,” Celestia explained, light shining from her eyes as she erased the wrongness of the crystals that had started to encroach on us. “If the Empire is once more used to spread hate and despair, a dark future awaits all of us.”

“Do not worry, young Twilight Sparkle,” Luna spoke up, standing next to her sister. “We will not let you fight this war on your own. While my sister cares for Chrysalis, we will accompany you once your training is completed.”

“Do you really think we are ready for this, Princess?” Twilight asked. I, too, was doubtful about this. There was no way we stood a chance against what was the equivalent of an apocalyptic rider from myth turned real.

“You will have to be,” Celestia returned. “Fret not, my student. We will do everything in our power to prepare you for this. And have no fear, Princess Cadance is perfectly capable of resisting Sombra’s twisted visions. You remember her, don’t you?”

“How could I not? She was the best baby-sitter one could hope to have!” Twilight answered, a smile spreading on her face.

“Then you don’t have to worry. Trust in your friends and in yourself,” Celestia said, a smile finally turning the somber mood around to that of a lighter one.

I just hope I wouldn’t make any mistakes when we go and confront the man that was fear given form. He certainly looked intimidating judging by what we saw from the illusion.

Darkness loomed ahead of us in the coming weeks. The question was, would our light remain strong, or would it be extinguished?

17. If there is one thing Warcraft taught me, ...

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“Empty your mind, young one,” Luna’s voice reached me. The flashes and explosions around me drowned her quickly out. A spell fizzled past my face, just inches away from taking the tip of my nose with it.

A frightened look to the side showed me a face eternally set in torment, the body it belonged to looked twisted on a wholly different level than I had ever seen before. Fingers bent in impossible degrees, dislocated jaw, bubbling skin all over it as it continued on its way towards me while set on fire.

“Resist it! Focus your mental efforts,” Luna’s voice demanded, though I was too preoccupied with fighting for my life. I screeched as the walking corpse’s burning hand managed to reach out towards me, grabbing my ankle. I struggled as I fell to the ground, desperately clawing at the ground.

“This is not real, realize that! Fight it! Fight for control!” Luna once more tried to get through to me, a small part of my mind was confused by the disembodied voice. “Do not let this thing drag you deeper into your mind, for we might not be able to reach you there without forcing our way in.”

“I’m trying!” I shouted indignantly. “I’m trying to fight for my life, okay?! So whatever part of my psyche you are, stop trying to say the obvious and help me already!”

“This is getting us nowhere. If you think us part of your being you must already be on the verge of succumbing to this vision,” Luna muttered.

The next moment I let out a deep gasp, returning to reality. We were within the throne room, the sun barely peeking above the horizon in the distance. Our night wasn’t very restful, to be honest. All of us were trying to suppress our yawns, none were being successful at it.

And the fact I had screamed my friggin’ soul out while under the influence of Luna’s magic didn’t help any of them.

Now that I think about it, they were looking at both of my bodies in concern... What did I miss?

“Tell us, why was Sol screaming along with you as we dragged you into your subconsciousness?” Luna asked, demanding an answer with narrowed eyes. I gulped, seeing the rest of the girls looking on in worry as I was trying to catch my breath with both Sol and Lux.

Oh... I might have thought I would be able to still control Sol while I was locked within my mind... A slight oversight on my part, I guess. I mean, normally I am able to control my other body when one is unconscious, although that always leads to me being unable to dream and such while one half is awake.

“Must I explain this now?” I whimpered, still reeling from the experience of a mental assault. It seemed so real... even more real than my dreams usually felt at night.

“Do it now, or we will drag you back to where we saved you from,” she threatened me, and I knew very well that she wasn’t joking around. Seriously, this training was turning out to be way worse than the physical training we went through under their supervision.

“Okay...” I said, more afraid than ever. “Just, let me breathe for a moment.”

Celestia, Luna, Chrysalis, and the girls waited impatiently as I dragged the few moments out that I had left with my secret. I may have wanted to tell it to the girls, but Celestia and her sisters were another matter entirely. Would they want to study me, see what made me tick? I didn’t even know what made me tick!

Oh my gosh, would they cut me open? Would they even be able to find anything if they did? I mean, I don’t think my condition was a result of something on a genetic level. They wouldn’t do that, right?

I swear Earth’s wacky conspiracies were at fault for making me this paranoid.

Okay, just breathe, like you said. They won’t do anything to me, that would be silly. Especially not to me, so get yourself together! No need to panic. Alright, here goes, I guess.

“The thing is...” I started, Lux beginning the first sentence. “I am not exactly a normal person by any standards.”

“There is something different to me. Something that sets me apart from everyone on a fundamental level than anyone sane would be able to believe,” I continued with Sol. “Something that is so weird, so abnormal, that it is sure to make you laugh in disbelief. Are you certain you want to know this?”

Everyone gave me a nod. So, to prove it to them, I stopped trying to be two separate entities and gave in to the natural synchronicity my bodies strived to be in. The change was notable, although not all of my friends were able to immediately see it. Rarity, I was pleased to say, seemed to notice the subtle gestures first. A blink of the eye, too perfectly timed for it to be natural. A twitch of the lips in nervousness. A scratch of the neck, perfectly executed with both bodies.

“For I am us,” my voices said at the same time, now making every person in the room look strangely at me. “A single entity, in control of what you see before you.”

“Funny trick, now stop with this weird twin thing,” Rainbow muttered, getting slightly disturbed as both of my heads turned simultaneously to her. “This is creeping me out.”

“Oh! Oh! Now, look at me!” Pinkie said excitedly. “Say something like: We come in peace, bring us to your leader!”

I snorted and rolled my eyes at her random antics. Doing what she demanded of me, I snickered to myself. There is one thing you have to give to her, Pinkie knew how to have fun. Besides, I always wanted to say that. Who wouldn’t?

“I woke up like this in the Everfree, being in control of two bodies. Neither fully male nor female. My memories were left a fractured mess, giving me little answer to who we previously were. I thought I was a single individual, but learning about Moonlight and Sunfire changed my perspective quite a lot. Whatever must have happened to us in the past, it left my souls in a fused state. I have no idea who I was before that,” I explained.

“But darling... what was that about your mother and father dying as we first met? Was that... just a lie?” Rarity asked me, feeling conflicted. “What about your uncle that kicked you out?”

Oh, yeah... that part. I almost forgot about that, to be honest. Never thought that would come back to bite me in the ass. Fuck... okay, if I was already telling them about this, why not come clean entirely?

“I... We are sorry for that small lie...” I answered. “We were fearful of what people might think of us, for being what we are. We tried to hide it because how could anyone ever believe something like this?

“So, we came up with a story. Being lost in the woods, that part was true, but the camping trip? A believable lie we came up with to explain why we woke up within that deathtrap of a forest. We wish we could have told you the truth about ourselves, but the truth is... We don’t know ourselves.

“We are sorry for having withheld this information from you for so long, we hope you could forgive us... me, one day.”

“I think I understand why you said I should wait before we came to a decision about what our relationship might turn into,” Twilight spoke up, nibbling on her lip. I felt my heart skip a beat fearfully in Sol’s chest. “But I think this show of trust just proves to us that you are genuine about that. That you trust us to such a degree... I don’t know what to say. I feel honored, Sol. It must have been a terrible weight on your shoulders...”

“Thank you, Twilight,” Sol said, my synchronicity breaking up again. It might feel more natural to stay in that state, but it also made everyone around me uncomfortable. Understandably so, I suppose. “I know this might be a bit much to accept, so let’s take things slowly for now. I think you, Rarity, and I need to have a talk later this evening about this. See where we stand in all this...”

“As happy as I am to see that Twilight has finally opened her heart to someone, we still have to continue with your training,” Celestia interjected. I grimaced at that. I really didn’t want to go back to being subjected to the new kind of torture they came up with. “There remains one last question to be answered, though. What do we call you? I imagine it must have been difficult responding to two different names.”

“I...” I hesitated a bit. Did I really need two names, or would one do? I mean, I always liked the names I gave myself, they felt right. But it also couldn’t hurt to have a shared name for just me. Like a last name, really. “Honestly? I don’t know... I think it would cause a lot of confusion for me, perhaps also for you guys, should I go with only one name. Sol and Lux just feel so right, like a perfect representation of myself, and I always know which body is meant.

“But if we have to give my single nature as a being a name, I might as well adopt the name that Pinkie gave me. Solus does sound very fitting, and if we had to put it to paper, I would like my male half to be known as Solus Sol, the lonely sun, while my female half could go with Solus Lux, the lonely light. Put together, I’d be known as Solus Solis, the lonely sunlight.”

“A beautiful name, paying tribute to yourself, Moonlight, and Sunfire. Your previous incarnation would be proud to bear such a name, even though it sounds quite a bit melancholic,” Luna commented, a smile gracing her lips. “Now that that is out of the way, let us continue. Prepare yourself.”

Steeling my nerves, I gave her a nod. Absentmindedly I noticed that Celestia and Chrysalis were getting ready to begin training the other girls. My observation was cut short as I was thrust back into my psyche.

“Center yourself, do not allow the assault to cloud your thoughts. Repel the images!” Luna’s voice reached me in the dark void I was floating in. In the next moment, I was back in the middle of the battlefield.

I tried resisting the pull from the false memories. But the longer I was here, the harder it got. The smoking eyes of the man that would stand against us very soon entered my field of vision, causing every sound around me to flatten out until I heard nothing anymore. Not even the guiding words of Luna.

It gave me a queasy feeling in my gut.

“Your fate is sealed, foolish mortal,” the sound of Sombra’s voice grated against my ears. It was the only thing I was able to hear now. The deafening silence returned, slowly making me go mad. Have you ever experienced total silence? It was an unnerving thing to experience.

It was such an unnatural thing, total silence. One would think that the heartbeat would drown it out, but usually, that gets filtered out by the brain. Absentmindedly I pondered that even if I could hear it deliberately, I wouldn’t be comforted by it now.

All because the world around me shifted in a weird manner.

My vision twisted in strange ways, and the assault on my mind got gradually worse. Images flashed left and right, while the man in front of me began to stalk his way towards me. The pictures were something I had never seen before, but they seemed so familiar. They had to be actual memories if I had to guess.

Faces I could not remember taunted me, streets I had no recollection of mocked me, a place that looked suspiciously like an orphanage belittled me.

My rage started to well up within me, unbidden and unwanted, and I could not control it. I thrashed from side to side, trying to throw the images away. They stayed, no matter where I looked.

“Give in,” Sombra said and my wild eyes were drawn to his as his hand gripped me tightly around my throat. I tried kicking and screaming, but the more I resisted, the more he would begin to crush my windpipe. “Trust only in the darkness of your heart, it is the only way.”

The iron grip on my throat caused me to panic, while I felt him hold me up closer to his height. The tips of my feet left the ground, dangling helplessly in the air. I felt like I was about to lock up, my whole body tingling in a frightened fashion. As if I was dangling above a shadowy pit of despair, an abyss that held no end.

“There is only me now,” he told me with a sadistic grin and for a moment, I thought he was actually the real Sombra. That couldn’t be though, right? He was just a figment of my imagination, I told myself, struggling futilely. “You belong to the dark one, you always have. Her hold on you is unimportant, her words are false promises. The blessed one is the true danger to this world. You are only a puppet to her.”

I shook my head, trying to make his words go away. They were all lies, I knew that with absolute truth. They couldn’t be anything else. Spectrum was my mother and I would not betray her to such a monster that didn’t belong here.

It was a bit strange, though... So far, it has only been zombies and mind-controlled soldiers that I had to fight against, so why this now? Why this vision of Sombra all of a sudden?

In the moment following his declaration, I felt him pushing his disgusting tongue down my throat and I wanted to gag. Its slimy wetness forced its way past what was humanly possible.

The tongue forced itself into my stomach like a gross imitation of a worm. Tears of revulsion dripped down to the ground, my distress completely ignored by him. Even as I tried biting the thing off in a last desperate act, he seemed unfazed by the attempt.

This wasn’t happening, I thought, this was not how I wanted to experience my first kiss! Not like this, and certainly not by this revolting figure in front of me. This act was everything but the gentle gesture it was supposed to be, this was nothing more than rape!

I wanted to throw up, the thought of being raped with a tongue down my throat was too much for me. A small part in the back of my mind asked me how Luna could allow this to happen. Why she was subjecting me to this vision of Sombra.

My rage turned ice cold. It sharpened to an impossibly thin edge of cold fury, and for the first time, I felt my mind clear.

Not one thought distracted me.

Not one emotion went out of line.

My mind was my own fortress and none are allowed to trespass.

There was only one goal left within me. It was the single one purpose of my very being now.

With surgical precision, my hand extended. It tore through the fake Sombra’s armor like tissue paper, slipping in and cutting through his last defense in the form of skin and bones.

Suffice to say, that tongue was ripped from his maw first and flung away.

Then, I ripped out his heart. The liver came out next. Then the lung. After that, I held the mangled contents of his stomach in my hands. All the while, my expression remained cold-hearted. Detached. Disinterested.

The memory version of the man remained alive, though. Screaming in silent agony, no sound leaving him because he quite literally couldn’t make a sound anymore. He strangely felt real at that moment to me, as if he was truly here with me. He deserved worse than what I had done to him so far.

So I continued my work. I pulled out his intestines like a wet noodle. The spleen was haphazardly thrown behind me, as it too went out. The kidneys were ripped out next, followed by the pancreas. Nothing was spared, even his tiny sausage of a dick.

I had to huff, it didn’t even give me the satisfaction I had wished for. Bored, I ripped out his eyes, shoving them up his ass in a sudden fancy. Now he can’t see where the sun shines... Wow, even that left me feeling empty.

“What has been going on here?” I heard Luna ask incredulously. Turning around, I saw her standing there, while my hands cracked open the skull of the mutilated figure beneath me.

“He kissed me,” I answered monotonously. “So I ripped out everything in him. Do you want to see his brain?”

“No... We do not want to see his brain. The fact that this monster invaded your mind... he must be far more powerful than we assumed. We have to hasten our efforts, but for now... we think this has gone on long enough,” Luna answered, a grimace turning her pretty face ugly. “You have been trapped within your mind for five hours now. Your mind is literally at war with itself right now.”

“I’ll come out as soon as I am finished here,” I answered back. “It won’t take much longer. I’ll just tear the skin from his muscles and carve out his bones, first.”

“This is far beyond revenge, it has turned obsessive! Stop with this madness, return to the waking world, please! What did you do to yourself?” she asked me, grimacing as I tossed his brain to the side. “Mutilating a specter like that because of a kiss is...”

“I made myself a monster,” I interrupted her with a smile. “He deserves everything I did to him.”

“Enough!” Luna’s voice boomed and everything around us crumbled away. First in large chunks, then everything blew away like dust. Until nothing but the dark void remained. Absentmindedly I noticed that it was supposed to be grey-white, but now the black had returned.

“Let your emotions back in, so we may bring you back to your friends in the condition we sent you in with,” Luna ordered me. I snorted at that.

“I am feeling good now,” I answered simply. “I just turned my emotions into an uncaring weapon.”

“Then, please, turn them back to what they were before that. Don’t linger in this... perverted version of the emotional suppression,” she said, a hand holding my cheek. “You can’t stay like this. We should have been here sooner to rescue you, please... forgive us. We never thought that this could have ever happened... Your defenses must be incredibly weak to allow him to invade your mind like that.”

Huffing, I did as I was told. The void turned back into the greyish mixture it was before but was a tiny smidgen darker now. Whatever Sombra had done to my subconsciousness, it left behind a stain upon my being.

On a side note, I just now noticed that I was only in one single body. It was a fusion of Sol and Lux, androgynous in nature. Neither male nor female. But still male and female, if that made sense. My hair looked like bacon, so that was a thing. I guess this form made sense, what with me having stopped hiding my nature from my friends and (unknowing) sisters.

Chrysalis was my sister now, too, right? How far did this family of mine extend, actually? I knew six of my siblings by name, and there was probably a brother I had only heard of briefly during the explanation from Chrysalis.

Anyway, once I was returned to my normal state of emotional feelings and whatnot, we returned to the waking world. By now, my bodies had been moved to the bed in the room I had stayed in the previous night.

And a lot of concerned faces greeted me. I assured everyone I was (relatively) fine and gave only a summary of what happened as an explanation. They didn’t need to know the gritty details of what I did to the vision of Sombra. Neither did they need to know about my special brand of insanity.

That made me think... Was it insanity? I mean, I didn’t think using your emotions as a weapon against your enemy was something that made you insane. If I were to be laughing and giggling like a loon while doing what I did? That I would consider insane.

With the reassurances out of the way, most of the girls left me alone with the two I wanted to talk with. It was best that we get this out of the way now, rather than later.

I stared at Pinkie, waiting for her to get the hint and leave. Said girl grinned sheepishly and skipped out with a whistling tune getting quieter being the only indicator that she wouldn’t be eavesdropping on our conversation.

“How do you two feel about me, now that you know what you know about me?” I asked, breaking the silence after it went on for too long. I still felt numb after what I went through in my own mind, but I stubbornly told myself that this was more important now. Otherwise, I would be confronted with those images, again and again, something that I didn’t want to happen anytime soon. I knew I would be having more nightmares of that encounter, there was no doubt about that in my mind. But perhaps... if I simply don’t go to sleep...

Rarity and Twilight perked up as I spoke up. They still looked like I was some sort of injured animal, pity in their eyes. I gave them a wobbly smile and both of them returned it hesitantly.

“What does it feel like, darling?” Rarity asked me, her curiosity managing to make her forget for a moment that I was trapped within my mind for the past few hours. Twilight gave a tiny nod, also wanting to know the answer to that. I sighed, fidgeting slightly. At least this was distracting me enough from that... that ordeal.

“I don’t know... I don’t remember what it feels like to only have one body,” I answered truthfully. “I guess I get double the input? Does that make sense? If I were to touch my nose, for example, I would feel two, but also one? No, more like two. Sometimes it is difficult to separate the feelings correctly, it gets confusing really fast.”

“I see,” Rarity nodded. She probably didn’t, but who would? “Darling, I... I don’t think I could be attracted to Sol, just as I think Twilight wouldn’t be able to feel something for your female body, does that... does that make you still like us?”

“Why wouldn’t I? My female body isn’t attracted to Twilight, while my male body is. I have no idea why that is, so I could only guess what the cause for that is,” I answered. “The better question is, how do you feel about technically sharing me? I... I don’t want to make one of you jealous for some reason. I understand if that is something you would be unable to look past...”

“We talked about this while you were still... trapped,” Twilight said, looking at Rarity. A tiny little blush appeared on her face and confusion quickly overwhelmed me. Please don’t tell me they are ditching me to be together instead. Don’t do this to me, I beg you.

That would be just my luck, wouldn’t it? Screw up the courage to ask Rarity out to a dance, and that is how it ends up? Only the universe could be so cruel as to take my happiness away from me.

“Rarity and I...” she began and my heart plummeted. She was going to ditch me, wasn’t she? This must still be a test in that nightmarish assault on my mind! That must be it, there is no way that she... “We are willing to enter a polyamorous relationship with you as long as we are the only ones your heart belongs to. There won’t be ogling other women, or men, for you. Do you understand me, mister?”

I nodded up and down, my vision becoming blurry with tears. A tearfully mumbled ‘Thank you! ’ couldn’t put to word how grateful I was at that moment. The thought of a harem was off-putting though.

Or was it a harem when it was two couples that were probably more like one and a half couple? No, that sounded stupid. Let me see, we have Twilight and Sol, that’s one, then we have Rarity and Lux, that would be two, but if what I understood there correctly it was also Rarity and Twilight? Would that make it a three-way relationship? Two and a half?

A harem was something like one person loving many, and many loving one person, right? Or was I just confusing myself more and more with this? Why wouldn’t it be possible to have everyone in a harem love everyone? But that didn’t sound like the things I knew about a harem from literature and so on... Why was I even thinking about this so much, couldn’t I just go with polyamorous?

You know what, that three-way relationship sounded better in my opinion, I’ll just go with that. That was what described this in the best way, why not just stick with it? I really needed to stop overthinking things.

“We will still need to go on dates to see if it will work out in the first place, so don’t think everything is done with this because we just had this one conversation, okay?” Twilight said so I agreed readily before she could change her mind.

“Well, with that settled, I think it is time for dinner. What do you think, darlings?” Rarity proposed. Both Twilight and I had nothing against that idea and I was hungry, after all. That mental training sure managed to drain the energy right out of my bodies. Considering all the things I had seen here in Equestria already, I wasn’t even so sure this was the worst one yet.

To be honest, I was debating whether seeing Fluttershy murder someone was worse than this.

During the night, I found myself in the embrace of a slightly confused Spectrum. Looking down on my bodies, I saw what the problem was. The two little fuzzy ponies that represented my form in my dreams previously were gone and in their stead, was a single fuzzy little pony. Okay, not so little anymore. Perhaps taller by a head or so, if I had to estimate the new height.

Not the first time that I found myself in a single body, but it still left me feeling odd. Like an essential part of me was missing the sensation of moving two separate bodies around. It almost felt alien to only have one body, now that I thought about it.

Never thought I would think that way.

“This is a pleasant surprise,” Mom piped up, gleefully wrapping her hooves around my single body in a full embrace. Normally she held two bodies at once, never having been able to squeeze the living daylights out of my whole being at the same time. “I quite like this form of yours, it’s just as fluffy as a mare and sturdy as a stallion would be.”

“Thanks, I guess?” my voice sounded like Sol and Lux combined, talking at the same time. At least one thing was familiar with this body. I looked between my legs, and yes there were both parts there.

Don’t ask me how that works.

“My, my, quite curious, are we now?” Spectrum tittered. “Should I leave you alone for a moment? Perhaps conjure up a ponified version of the ones you hold feelings for?”

“What?! No! Mom, stop teasing! I was just curious, jeez,” I pouted, feeling my arousal start to act up, making me uncomfortable. “This feels so weird... Why couldn’t you just shut up?!”

She just continued to laugh in mirth while I tried to stop my body from doing what it wanted. There was no way I would start with this now, thank you very much! It felt awkward as hell, even more so as a pony.

Especially not in front of friggin’ Horse God.

I might have been trying to avoid touching my private parts the last half a year because it felt like it would be as if I had sex with myself if I were to do that. I might still need to come to terms with my bi-gender nature in that regard. Although I have accepted my genders as they were, that didn’t mean I had the desire for... the more carnal pleasures, yet.

I’d rather ease myself into thinking it was okay to have such feelings.

It wasn’t like I didn’t fantasize about it, no that much was a given with how hot most people around me looked. It was just... harder to look at myself like that. Both of my genders, actually. There was something in my psyche that was majorly embarrassed to do something like masturbate when the other half of myself wanted to drown in shame witnessing what I did with myself.

The best thing I could compare that to would be to walk in on your sibling while they... played with themself. While I knew some people might fantasize about something like that and never admit it, I wasn’t one of them.

And there was also another thing that prevented me from... that. Technically, my bodies were only half a year old... That might just be an irrational fear, but it was a fear that made me shudder to think what I would be doing was fundamentally wrong.

Wow, that thought made things even worse. Would it be considered pedophile for Twilight and Rarity to be in a relationship with me? If my body was comparable to that of a newborn, what kind of person was I to drag them into this?

So, I asked my mom and what did she do as I laid bare my thoughts to her? She roared uproariously in laughter, unable to keep herself together afterward. I grumbled in indignation and sulked a few paces away from her.

“I’m... I’m sorry, my child,” she apologized after it became more and more painfully embarrassing to listen to her laugh for half an eternity. “I truly am. To answer your question, how old are you? Five? No, you are just as much an adult as the ones you seek to court. There is no reason for you to fear such a thing.”

“Thanks,” I grumbled. She enveloped my pouty self in her wings and hooves, giving me an apologetic nuzzle. Not being able to keep being mad at her, I cooed happily at the attention. We stayed in the hug for the rest of the night and it felt good just staying there doing nothing.

It was nice to have her be this understanding, even though it sometimes came off like she existed for the sole purpose of making fun of me. Perhaps it simply was the privilege of a mother to make their child feel embarrassed with her behavior.

For one small moment, I debated whether or not to tell her about how the mental-training went but thought it better not to. I didn’t want to worry her. No... I didn’t want her to panic because my mental defenses were apparently abysmally bad.

Breakfast was a simple affair the next morning, no conversations were held in the nervous atmosphere. The whole group knew what would await us as soon as we finished with the food. There was little motivation to be observed for it among us, even if a conversation might have helped distract us for a moment or two.

Today would also be the day we would see the group going for the Frozen North be sent off. Among them, as we learned, the brother of Twilight Sparkle. He was also the captain of the guard, and if I didn’t make that promise to Twilight about not fantasizing over other women and men, I totally would have gotten the hots for him. And the lady that accompanied him. Both of them were the perfect embodiment of what their respective genders could hope to be.

What? I had estrogen running through one of my bodies, I could admire a man for the sexy devil he was. I mean, seriously, look at those muscles he was packing. Even with Sol, I had to admit that I was tempted to give him bedroom eyes. To be honest... I think I mostly had the hots for him as Sol. Rarity and Twilight gave me the stink eye as I oggled him perhaps a bit too much.

Anyway, after those were off to their new icy home up north, we were subjected to the mind horrors our sadistic teachers could conjure up. There was much screaming involved. A great deal of screaming. In a few years, when little kiddies would tell horror stories over the campfire in the woods, they would tell each other about the rumor that you could hear echoes of tormented souls still to that day within the throne room.

The worst thing about this? I absolutely made no progress. Last time I might have been successful in mutilating Sombra, even though I was pretty sure that was in no way a representation of what he might actually be like, strength-wise. I doubt I could actually overpower his physical self like that.

Not every vision Luna subjected me to was as bad as the one with Sombra had been. No, that one had been the mildest vision, in comparison. She made extra sure there were no uninvited guests in my mind, but that didn’t mean she went easy on me. Most of the time she made me go through fighting a whole army at once, trying to desperately cling on to my life. Sometimes it was just me all alone on the battlefield and sometimes it was me amongst the quickly slaughtered army there to fight the tyrant.

Every time before restarting the exercise I knew I was in no danger of being mortally wounded, it didn’t make it feel less real though. It was like I actually thought I was there for real, each and every time, thinking that it was the actual battle and being convinced the time had actually fast-forwarded to the point where we had been sent there.

It was practically like I was unable to realize that I was under the influence of mind magic. As much as I vowed that I would be able to recognize something wrong going on before we started a new attempt, the fact remained I was so bad at this, the other girls were getting concerned with my lack of progress.

Luna continued to be patient with me throughout the days, although I could tell she was getting frustrated that I was unable to distinguish vision from reality. So she went with a different approach. A milder one, for sure, but none the less difficult for me. I didn’t have to fight, no. Instead, she made me go through seemingly normal days.

Normal days like any other, it seemed at first glance. The thing about that, though, was that in each and every vision there was something so blatantly obvious that it didn’t belong there. My task was to recognize that thing while not falling for the pretense that it was the actual reality I was in.

Things like Sweetie Belle being a bad student. Or Rainbow Dash being the farmer at Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight still living in Canterlot. Luna being the princess that had to banish her sister.

Most prominently among those was the blue sun, though. I swear Luna was just messing with me with that one. That one was the start of my progress, though, so who was I to complain?

Over the days of training with her, me and the girls slowly got better at resisting the mental assaults. Seeing that I was improving (if slowly), Luna ramped up the difficulty for me.

Sometimes the vision consisted of just passing encounters with the thing I was supposed to spot. Other times she made me believe I was in the place of one of the girls, seeing myself from their perspectives. Well, at the time I believed that I wasn’t myself but, say, Twilight for example. It was surreal noticing that I was the wrong person, but with each time I noticed something essentially wrong with me being... not me, I got better.

I started to pick up things. Things that got gradually more unnoticeable to spot. A quill Twilight wrote with being the wrong color. A book that wasn’t there before. Some pieces of clothing missing from my wardrobe. An eye color on a person being wrong. Some pieces of furniture standing slightly to the side.

A pattern of speech differing ever so slightly from what I knew to be true. Someone suddenly writing differently than before. Or someone that was previously able to read and write was at a total loss when they were prompted to read something.

Then, things got even more difficult to spot. A missing star in the night sky. A pebble out of place on the corner of a street. Stitching on a dress with a barely recognizable alteration. All things that I should have not been able to distinguish, by any rights.

Although it got to the point where I started to get an intuitive feeling coming from the world around me that I started to know it was wrong. But with me now being able to tell falsehood from truth, Luna decided that I was ready to go back to her trying to break my mind.

Horrific vision after horrific vision. At some point, I felt myself get desensitized to the bloodshed and carnage around me. Nothing she could throw at me could faze me anymore after that.

When you see people get mutilated a hundred million times in front of you, it starts to make you feel like your efforts to stop it were futile in the end. Why bother with something that wasn’t real, to begin with? I just feared I would start thinking like that with real innocent people.

Still, I wasn’t able to break out of the forced images Luna subjected me to. As much as I tried, and believe me I tried with every bit of my being, I couldn’t bring myself to awaken.

There was something I was missing, something I couldn’t put my finger on.

So, to give me the right incentive to work harder and actually succeed, Luna changed her tactics once more. And this time? Her cruelty knew no bounds. We already were at it for more than four weeks at this point and she was getting cross with me for failing to latch on to her teachings.

Six hours after we had started with the training for the day, she told me that she would hold nothing back. If I was incapable of destroying her hold on me with the massive battle she placed me in, then she reasoned I would be more successful with the tormenting images of my friends being subjected to every kind of horror my own mind could conjure at her prodding.

Each and every time a new vision started, I was incapable of moving and being forced to watch as my friends were made the chew tow of various monsters from the Everfree. Or I had to watch as I relived the moment in Manehattan where that bastard raped the poor woman. Only, it wasn’t the woman I remembered in the place of the abused.

No, those were the ones I loved most. Rarity screamed for me to help her, begged for it to stop, but my body was frozen against my will. I raged with hot burning fury in my chest, cursing Luna for subjecting me to this torment. All the while, tears ran down the sides of my cheeks.

Luna would pay for this.

Taking a breath, I slowly let it out. Luna always told me to focus, perhaps I went about it the wrong way before. I always tried to stop the events in the vision itself and seeing that it never worked, I needed to rethink my approach. Instead of trying to stop what was happening in front of me, I focused on Luna instead.

She was the one behind this, right? Luna was connected to my mind with her spell, but a connection could be used both ways. A door once opened... If I could figure out how I could turn the tables on her, let me travel into her mind instead... I could let her feel my fury for once.

I’m done with being useless within the confines of my own mind.

The answer to that came unexpectedly easy to me for once. Her voice was the key. So I focused more on where she spoke from, ignoring the heartbreaking sight in front of me in favor of my revenge.

Luna really should have known better to assume that I was above retaliating in kind once she started to involve my friends. They were sacred to me, and what she did went over a line. So I would cross that line as well if I had to.

“There you are,” I whispered, eyes glinting in anticipation. I followed the link back to its source, throwing Luna off her game. She had no time to react as she was suddenly subjected to the horrors my own mind inflicted upon her now.

And she wasn’t prepared for it.

I used the one thing that I knew would work for sure. The only person that she respected more than her own sister. Me. I used myself in the form of her surrogate parents. Sunfire and Moonlight appeared in front of her, finally giving me an image of their faces. My previous faces.

They obviously appeared way older than I currently was. More mature and wise. Both of them looked eerily similar to my current bodies, so much so I would assume them to be future versions of myself, were I to suddenly be gender-flipped.

Both of them would do nicely for what I had in mind.

Then, the torment began. Luna watched helplessly as I subjected her to everything she had previously subjected me to. Sunfire being raped by a corpse. Moonlight being gutted like an animal. Both of them dying over and over again. I knew no mercy, just as she had known no mercy with me.

“Focus, my dear,” I taunted her and she raged against my control. I didn’t feel right doing this, but my pettiness got the better of me.

“You insolent little...” Luna snarled back and then I was back in her shoes. “You would use yourself in your old forms against me?! We will teach you a lesson!”

And her revenge was even worse than mine. I was subjected to the images of Rarity getting raped by my male body while I had to watch helplessly with Lux. Or I had to witness how my female body ripped out everything within Twilight’s body with Sol.

Nothing was too sacred for her to use against me. And I regretted ever going against her. My mind broke, more than ever before. I begged her to stop, but the righteous fury I invoked in her was unable to be swayed by my words.

Hollowness took root in my heart and I shut off completely. I retreated so far into my own mind, I couldn’t tell if I was still alive or not. It was better than to continue watching myself go against everything I believed myself to be. To betray the only ones I would never betray.

On the outside world, Luna tried to desperately fix the situation, she regretted that she went too far with me. She tried to beg my forgiveness, but only my lifeless eyes greeted her. Nothing she did could reach me and Celestia, as well as Chrysalis, were unable to accomplish what Luna had failed to do.

No sound disturbed my rest. No light reached me within the darkest parts of my psyche. No feelings were able to wake me from my self-imposed exile.

Not until a hoof made contact with my soul.

Luna, Celestia, Chrysalis, and the girls watched as a pillar of radiating rainbow light enveloped my bodies. Ethereal feathers fluttered through the room the group was standing in, floating through an unexisting breeze.

“Awaken, my child! Your time has come to rise against the darkness. Do not let these false images keep you away from your duty,” the booming disembodied voice of the Goddess Spectrum spoke out, making the eyes of three occupants in the room widen comically. “The Horseman of War has finally arrived in the physical realm, there is no time left to prepare yourself further. I did what I could to delay his return as much as possible, now do what I brought you here for, my champion.”

“Is... is that you, mother?” whispered Celestia, disbelievingly. “Have you given us Moonlight and Sunfire back?”

No answer greeted Celestia from the Goddess. making herself known for the first time with her actual own voice in her presence. Always having wondered what her creator sounded like from the tales of her surrogate parents, she was quickly overwhelmed by the quality of it.

Spectrum, on the other hand, had little time left to accomplish her task without starting to break the very fabric of reality around her, without breaking her own seal and thus, break her brother free of his prison. The amount of magic she brought to bear was at the utmost limit of what the world could withstand without forever damaging it.

“Take this last boon,” her voice got gradually quieter. “Your mind will be shielded from the attempts War might make on you. It is the last thing I can grant you, my dear sweet child.”

The oppressive force of arcane might suddenly cut off, and I was left standing there in the middle of the room as everyone around me stared at my glowing irises. One of the ghostly feathers landed in my outstretched hand and I could feel the spell woven into it.

It would do what Spectrum said it would do. Shield me from the mental intrusion of the Horseman known as Sombra. I could feel reality protesting the very existence of the feather and instinctively knew it would only last for so long.

She knew... didn’t she? Without this, I fear I would have been lost... possibly forever.

Putting it away in Lux’s hair behind the ears, I turned my gaze to Luna in sorrow. Tears dripped down both of my faces and I went over to her. She looked unsure of what I might do, but that look got quickly replaced with surprise as I slumped to my knees in front of her and started to bawl like a little baby clinging onto her big sister.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, don’t hate me!” I cried heavily. I felt her move within my arms as she too fell to her knees, returning my hug in kind.

“Nay, we... I am sorry, Lux,” she sniffled. “We... I shouldn’t have done that in the first place.”

So, we sat there together, me hugging her from two sides, weeping together about the first sibling spat between us, even though she might not yet have recognized that we were such. Those days might be coming to a close, though. You didn’t just go and ignore what the Goddess of your world said about her having declared someone her child. Least of all the champion thing.

Sometimes I think our mother was a massive troll, waiting to be amused by the shocked faces of her children and whatnot. She had a special fondness of putting me into the focus of those situations, be they surprising or embarrassing in nature. Oh, well...

Seeing that I now had a perfect defense for Sombra’s mind games, our training finally found an end. I was the worst one in our group of friends when it came down to the mental defense department, after all.

Even Fluttershy was better at it than I was. Fluttershy! I chalked it up to my unique nature of being figuratively split into two bodies. There was no other possible explanation for this crap...

And with that, our journey up north actually began. As Luna had promised, she would be accompanying us. While Chrysalis had recovered slightly, Celestia was still too concerned to leave her on her own without sufficient defense.

The announcement that Sombra was finally out and about in the world wasn’t particularly reassuring. Over the last month, it had been unnerving to hear that nothing had happened up north yet, making everyone feel antsy about the impending doom. Especially for Shining Armor and Princess Cadance. Both of them had sent letters back every once in a while, stating that the calm before the storm was driving them stir crazy.

A courier from the Frozen North arrived the same day as the one we were about to get on the train, returning with the news that the Empire had finally been found in the blizzard after much searching, and with it, the man that stood between us and the city-state.

Needless to say, Princess Cadence and Shining Armor were unsuccessful in securing the Empire before Sombra could get to it. The letter wasn’t packed full with all the details, but what we learned concerned us greatly. They had to erect an outpost a mile or two away from the Crystal Empire, trying to defend their position against Sombra and his mind-controlled army.

It was to that outpost we were traveling to with post-haste. With us was a majority of the Equestrian Army as reinforcements. Most of them, I feared, would sadly never see their families again. I was dreading that our numbers might not be enough for what was to come.

The train we were on was the longest I had ever seen, requiring multiple engines to tow the massive amounts of train cars after it. Most of them held the soldiers and us, while quite a few held things like supplies and construction materials.

It was essential we fortified our outpost to the best of our abilities. It needed to be able to withstand an assault of Sombra’s army for some time, should the shield of Shining Armor or Princess Cadance fail. The little garrison that was currently our outpost could barely be called that, to be honest. It needed to become a fortress asap, or lives would be needlessly at risk.

While the fortification had come a long way, it was nowhere near what was necessary. Hopefully, we could buy enough time to give the workers enough room to complete their work.

As soon as we got there, I was certain that all hell would break loose.

Let’s hope no one important to me dies. Having to use a time rewind would surely come to bite me in the ass should I use all of them recklessly. Better to do the job right the first time around, then screw up big time.

Fate, though, had other plans for me.

18. ... it's that peace never lasts.

View Online

The Crystal Empire looked certainly intimidating, even from the distance. About half an hour ago we were finally able to actually see it and none of us felt any kind of reassurance from the sight. Dark spires of black crystals loomed ahead like a silent warning to not get any closer lest one regrets ever coming here.

The usual blizzard that hid the place from view was gone, in its place was smoke and ash hard at work at coating the landscape in a grey field of despair. Twisted greenish fire lit the Empire in an eerie light from towers marking the boarders in a makeshift fashion as lookouts for the brainwashed guards.

As we felt the train come to a stop, we heard rather than saw a ginormous beast roar out and a thunder-like clap from something being struck. My gaze tried to look at what was ahead of the train through the window, but I could just barely make out the glow of a shimmering lavender shield. The same sound repeated once more and I saw the barrier flash brightly for a single moment and again, the thunder-like clap resonated through the air.

It seems like we arrived just in time to lend a helping hand. From up in the front of our train, I heard orders being shouted in a frantic fashion and soon the sound of battle reached my ears.

Centering myself, I touched my bracelets simultaneously and felt the reassuring presence of my armor embrace me. Might as well get started on this and help the soldiers clear a path towards the base from which we would operate from. And, I silently mused to myself, make sure the train remained in one piece, unlike the one that got wrecked on the way to Appleloosa.

The rest of my friends all seemed to have the same idea, preparing for the literal carnage that was about to greet us. I felt bad about the enemy soldiers, they never chose to fight against the ones that were supposed to be their allies. But I knew I could not show weakness by sparing them from an untimely death.

If the people being controlled against their will weren’t numbering in the thousands, it would have been a different story. Seeing that we weren’t that fortunate, though? Every foe we would spare would just come back at us at a later date, if not minutes after we denied to release them from the hold Sombra held over them.

Basically, it was them or us. This would only end when we cut off the head of the snake. That snake would be hard-pressed from just handing its ugly little head over to us, so we have to fight our way through his meat-shields to get to him. No matter how much we might want for him to just surrender to us.

The door to the outside world opened with little resistance and I jumped out into the dirty snow below me. Looking towards where I tried to make out the fight, I saw a terrifying sight.

Some kind of yeti ice golem reared its arm back once more to pound away at the massive multilayered shield surrounding the outpost. I felt the wind whip against my faces in a harsh, cold, and biting shockwave, the sound from the impact even more deafening from out here in the open.

Then my eyes took in the massive army of mind-controlled crystal people in dark and harsh looking armor. It looked like a gigantic ocean of moving bodies that encompassed the outer edge of the lavender shield. The eerie thing was, none of them made a sound beyond what the movement of their armor made. Almost like machines, they threw themselves at the shield and the ones defending the frontline.

It was a disturbing sight, seeing them throw away their lives so callously.

Besides the army and the ice golem trying to get through to the people within the shield, there was another prominent figure trying his best to break the only defense the vanguard of Equestria had.

On a charred and muscular horse, he rode. A long and heavy sword held in just one hand with a billowing red cape flowing behind him in the wind, we beheld the man we knew was Sombra. The Horseman of War laughed viciously as he waited impatiently for the one maintaining the barrier to succumb to fatigue.

Fat chance we would give him that chance.

First, I thought, we needed a list of priorities. We couldn’t just rush in and hope for the best, even though that was usually my modus operandi. Our goal was defeating Sombra, preferably without wiping the crystal people out to the last man. No need to also commit genocide while we tried saving the world. I know I said I wouldn’t blink twice in taking a life here, but it would still be nice to have a nation to save in the process of ridding us of a tyrant. The goal of Sombra’s defeat was more of a broader general idea, so let’s put that down as the title of the list. The number one priority was getting to Princess Cadance and Shining Armor without losing the train. The biggest threat, for now, posed the giant yeti ice golem. Maybe that should be the number one priority if I were to be honest.

No supplies in the world would help us if that thing still posed a major threat, after all.

The second priority was the massive army slowly whittling away at the shield. If they were left to their own devices for too long, they would pose just as much of a threat as the yeti. I was unsure if Sombra alone could bring down that barrier, so for now, he would remain at the bottom of the list of priorities.

I was sure we would be able to win a war of attrition against him if nothing threatened our defenses.

With my mind made up, I thought of possible solutions to our literally biggest problem. That yeti couldn’t stay and I’m reasonably certain I couldn’t even scratch that thing with my weapons. Perhaps my arrows were able to slightly inconvenience it for a few moments, but that would honestly just buy a few minutes at best. I was better suited to dealing with the army than that monster.

So, who was known for monster hunting back in the day? Our dear Luna, so I asked her if she could deal with that thing and come out on top. She assured me the job would be done in no time and took off with a pair of wicked warglaives in hand. It seems her choice of weaponry hasn’t changed for when she gets serious. And by everything that was holy, she knew how to work those things to the best effect.

The rest of the girls were with me in ensuring our escort mission went off without too many losses on our side. We were all impressed by the retreating figure of the lunar princess but found our focus drawn away soon enough as we neared the conflict ourselves.

Suffice to say, our training made sure we didn’t lock up once we encountered the real deal. War was not a pretty sight to behold, but I wasn’t surprised that none of us seemed to mind that much after the thorough mental scarring we went through. The rulers of Equestria needed us to become soldiers for the sake of the greater good, even monsters in the case of Fluttershy and myself.

Speaking of Fluttershy and I, we were already entering the state of mind that only the two of us so far knew how to enter. Well, Luna would know it too probably, but she probably didn’t even need it as much as we did. I wasn’t entirely keen to find out what she would be capable of were she to enter the emotional suppression.

Probably rain down meteors or something of a similar overpowered show of destruction. And sacrifice everyone in the process, most likely.

Fluttershy went on ahead of me on the back of Brightpaw, and as she went by we shared a brief glance of cold eyes gazing at each other in understanding. Whatever might happen in the weeks to come, we would remain friends even through the hardship. We might have been at each other’s throats at one point, but now both of us knew we needed each other. Even like this, as monsters.

And through this common bond between us, we would rise to new heights. Or lows, as the case may be. While her emotional self might break down after this, her current self trusted me enough to watch her back and console her for what she might be forced to do. Perhaps I was coming to terms with the sweet girl I once knew now being long since gone, but I could hardly bring myself to care.

I was a selfish being and wanted another soul to be just as dirty as me to feel better about myself. Someone that could empathize in feeling like the worst of humanity given form, feel the same disgusting thrill I felt from dancing upon this fine line of life and death.

And death was what we brought in spades.

Fluttershy’s mount plowed through the enemy lines with next to no resistance and not long after she sprang from Brightpaw in her altered form, I was already at her side with Sol. Bringing my radiant sword to bear, none of the tin soldiers were able to defend themselves against the weapon forged from star steel. A short glance over to Fluttershy told me she had no problems with ripping apart the puppets either. Her burning fingernails made short work of anything in their way in a strangely mesmerizing way, always targeting the weakest parts of the armor and most effective body part for a quick and painless death.

Soon enough, the army started giving us a wide berth and another foe approached us to deal with the threat we posed. A large burly man stepped forth, smashing a gigantic crystalline club into Brightpaw, sending him flying to my surprise.

In a flutter of feathers, my friend was instantly behind the brute and bearing down on him with a howl that bore striking resemblance to the one Brightpaw was known for. Not ten seconds later the brute of the man was staggering on his knees, so to finish him off, I assisted Shy with a well-placed slice of my blade. And speaking of Brightpaw, he leaped back into the fray just as I arrived with Lux and the rest of the girls. The train hit a small snag, the craftsman already hard at work at repairing the damaged rails, so we had to stall for even longer.

Thankfully, our group was practically built for stalling and clearing a path at the same time. Rarity and Twilight would be able to keep the path open Fluttershy and I made, while Pinkie, Rainbow, and Applejack were more than enough to deal with any stragglers from going after the train instead. We were like a well-oiled machine, working perfectly in harmony.

Sol and Lux were the perfect front line offense, even though one might not expect that from an archer such as Lux. But I liked to think firing from point-blank into the faces of my opponents was more productive than the possibility of missing my shots, risking injuring those I wanted to protect instead. And with the added bonus of my illusions, those that were standing against me were never able to touch my female half in the first place. As long as I had mana running through my veins in abundance, that is. Even then, drawing in ambient mana or siphoning it from the ley lines would allow me to keep going for a bit longer after having exhausted my own mana pool. That would tire me out faster, though.

While Sol was better suited to fighting with the enemies directly ahead of him, I was more comfortable to rush into the enemy lines with Lux, completely surrounded by them to wreck the most chaos there. That didn’t mean that I didn’t push into their ranks from time to time, though. I just found it more convenient for me to have my opponents always in front of my male half, not having to worry about suddenly being attacked from behind.

Fluttershy was no doubt the strongest among us together with Brightpaw. One moment they would be right next to me, the next they were already gone from my side to slaughter their foes in the distance. It didn’t mean that she was more effective at killing than me, but she made it sure look a lot less difficult for her. I would say we were about the same level of deadly, weren’t it for her familiar.

Brightpaw was like her cheat ability, basically. Together they were a queen piece in chess, while I was more like the tower piece in comparison. But I had a cheat ability of my own. My weapons and armor.

“I am She guided by the Moon’s light,” I said, Lux’s voice taking on an otherwordly quality as I invoked my weapons innate powers. Ever since Luna and Celestia helped me out with those, my fighting prowess had skyrocketed. “With this call, I summon its might!”

Bright moonlight enveloped my bow, adding blades of sharpened light to the edges of the top and bottom limbs. The transformed weapon split itself into two warglaives and with a single swing of it, multiple soldiers lost their lives to a cause they were unwillingly forced into. Like in pictures of light paintings, my attacks left behind an afterimage for a few seconds, giving it a mystical look.

Probably counterproductive to staying stealthy and making my illusions obsolete, I found it didn’t really matter that much, seeing that anyone getting close to me would regret that decision as soon as they made it. Going from a ranged to a melee weapon also made my fighting style all the more justified. If I were to fight from to greater distance I would need to first close the distance to make the change more worthwhile, while already being in melee range made the transition smoother.

A devilish whinny caught my attention and I dodged just in time to not get trampled by the mount of Sombra, but I wasn’t as lucky with dodging the swing from his weapon. I lost feeling in my left arm with Lux and a moment later I had to blink the spots out of my vision from the forced teleport Twilight cast on me to prevent any further injury.

Sol was hard-pressed defending himself from the continuous assault Sombra brought to bear with both his sword and mount as I forced myself to haphazardly stitch the injury on Lux to stop the bleeding somehow before I would lose consciousness. While I could pretty much ignore the pain, even fuel it into my motivation to press the fight harder with Sol, my muscles on my female half weren’t in the mood to play nice with me. Spasming jerks here and there made the task of patching the shoulder up a nightmare to deal with.

There was no way I would be able to fight in this condition with her until I got someone to work some healing magic on it, so I used Lux more as a second set of eyes to help me get an edge over Sombra. While it allowed me to avoid being injured by his weapons of choice, it didn’t give me an advantage over him to actually defeat him. We were more at a stalemate, although even that wasn’t that much of a stalemate and more of a roadblock for Sombra at the moment. I was content with that, though, as that meant he was distracted sufficiently enough by me to safely transport the train towards the outpost.

As long as he didn’t deem it necessary to destroy that train, I was happy with the stalemate. My friends made sure the brainwashed army stayed the hell away from our fight, with the occasional assist from Fluttershy and Brightpaw once it looked like Sombra was about to gain the upper hand in our little deathmatch, we made good time with the train. The front was almost at the shield and I could already tell that Shining Armor was preparing to give us entrance.

Luckily, none of our enemies ever got within touching distance of the train. The soldiers we had taken with us were doing their job admirably in defending it together with my friends. Even better, we didn’t suffer any losses escorting the train, just a few cases of lost limbs here and there. But that were the worst things that happened, most of the injuries weren’t life-threatening.

Once the train was fully through, the girls focused on helping me get out of the battlefield with Sol. Judging by the lack of roars, Luna was also successful in her mission. A reprieve from the battle would be nice before we were forced to deal with the army outside of our base again. I doubt Sombra would sit idly by while we recovered from the intense battle.

No one said this would be easy. I certainly didn’t want to entertain the idea of him coming back with another one of those yeti golems.

So, while we had won this battle for the moment, the overall battle was still on. For now, we could at least focus on fortifying our base. And, you know, healing my fucking shoulder.

“Stop being such a prissy wuss and stay still,” Fluttershy reprimanded me and I growled at her as she and a medic worked on the bloody mess that was my arm.

“Fuck yourself with a cactus, Kindness,” I spat at her, earning myself a slap in the face. Probably deserved that, too. I wasn’t in the mood to stay still, though. There was still something I could be doing instead of me having to stay in the medical tent.

“I can let you bleed out, if that is what you want, Hope,” she shot back and continued with her work regardless of my sputtering.

“As if you would let me die,” I grumbled, pouting like a child while trying not to grimace as she got a bit rougher in her treatment. “Ow! You fucking bitch! You did that on purpose!”

“Watch. Your. Language,” Fluttershy said, her emotionless eyes gaining a glint of satisfaction within them. Oh, I see now, even her emotional self found satisfaction in my squirming, didn’t she? “Or do you want the healing magic to leave a scar? All over that talent mark, too. Wouldn’t that be a shame?”

“I’m going to dye your hair black in the night, Shy,” I threatened, feeling self-conscious about my mark. “I will do it when you least expect it.”

“Dare to lay a finger on my hair and you will see what it will get you,” Fluttershy simply stated, finishing her work finally and making way for the medic with the healing magic.

“Fine... Sorry,” I grumpily said. “Happy now?”

“Apology accepted, Lux. I’m sorry, too... for what it’s worth,” she said, leaving me behind without a second glance. At least she wasn’t the type to hold grudges for long, or our little spiel of antagonizing each other would be a lot less fun.

Yeah, we had a screwed up sense of fun in this state of mind, so what?

Rarity checked up on me and my exhausted male half in the tent a while later, making sure Fluttershy and I didn’t rip each other a new one. She was glad to see that I was doing better with the healing magic at work and told me to take it easy for now. Actually, she forced me to take it easy for now, but I didn’t hold it against her. Rarity was just concerned for my well-being, after all.

She also updated me on the situation within the camp and outside the shield. For now, it seemed quiet while Sombra was off plotting his next move or whatever. Princess Cadance and Shining Armor were glad we got here (relatively) safely before their defenses were breached. Luna and Twilight were now helping in maintaining the barrier while the couple got some well-deserved rest. Once I was able to cast magic reliably again, I would make sure to add my power to the defense, too.

Better safe than sorry, after all. No need to put a major strain on all of us, when we could pool our resources together. While Luna might have the strength to maintain a barrier of this magnitude for a week straight, she still needed to raise and lower the moon. Even if her sister took over the task of maintaining the solar cycle, she could use every bit of strength for the coming fight. Or fights, as the case may be.

The rest of us too, for that matter. I didn’t doubt most of the girls were just as exhausted as I was. I fear we would be trapped here trying to keep Sombra from invading the rest of the world.

Other nations might put up a decent fight, but with most of Equestria’s soldiers here now? My adopted home country might be hard-pressed in defending itself should we fall here. I’m pretty sure Celestia and Chrysalis would be forced to wipe out all of the mind-controlled soldiers to stand a fighting chance against Sombra. I mean, I was already tempted to do so to get this over with, but even I wasn’t that heartless.

Hope was probably my greatest weakness, now that I think about it. It might make me hesitate to do what is necessary in the end. In this case, take away the one thing Sombra holds above our heads: meat shields for his misbegotten cause. The Horseman of War would be severely weakened without an army to lead into battle. My hope was to save as many of them as I could, which may very well be the downfall of me and my friends.

I hate it when my conscience talks back at me to not be so selfish. What was so wrong with wanting to make sure we get out of this alive? I mean, those people wouldn’t be missed, right? They were already gone for a thousand years, another eternity wouldn’t change that much.

The image of my mother with a disapproving face popped into my mind and I cringed. Way to go, mind, guilt-tripping me into playing the hero... This was probably the mind-set of Moonlight and Sunfire, this selflessness that got them killed. Maybe I wasn’t that different from them, after all. Well, they were me at some point in time, but all people change to some degree. I might have become more selfish, but when it came down to it, I wouldn’t back down from doing the right thing here and there.

And I wasn’t so sure what the right thing to do was, anymore. I mean, was it right of me to deny Sombra his army and not risk them going after the rest of the world, or was it right of me to try and save them? My mind told me the first one was the one to go with, but my heart told me the second one was the only truly right thing to do.

Usually, my heart won out and this time it was no different.

Anyway, besides a few skirmishes, the rest of the day remained (somewhat) calm. If one could call the situation of an army breathing down your neck calm, that is. I was mostly left to my own devices after Rarity left to go help out around the camp.

A few days later saw myself back up on my feet like nothing happened to me in the first place. I had a few chats with Shining Armor and Princess Cadance about trying to muster up a task force to go into the Empire in the distance, but both of them were rather reluctant to try that. Not that I blame them, the few scouts we could spare returned with nothing but bad news.

I had no idea where Sombra got so many people from. The things the scouts could make out from a distance painted a bleak picture. Thousands of soldiers seemed to guard the palace alone, for whatever reason. And the people that weren’t able to fight for him? They were in chains, being forced to mine crystals and nurture crops on the fields as mere slaves. At least they didn’t seem to be brainwashed, although from what I was told, they didn’t seem to have any hope left.

“All I say is that we try to find out what it is they are guarding so desperately! It could mean the end of the war!” I shouted, slamming my hand on the large table in the middle of the war room we were standing in. “We can’t hold out here forever! Not with him and his puppets right outside our shield! We have to do something!”

“Sol, I understand that you’re getting anxious about this, believe me, we all are. None more so than Cadence and me, but we can’t rush out without a plan!” Shining retorted, equally as frustrated as I was. “We owe it to those people under his influence to save them from their fate.”

“Oh, don’t think I’m not with you on this one, Shining Armor. If we want to save them from this, then we have to go after Sombra, though. And I have a feeling that whatever it is in that giant toothpick of a castle, it is the answer to our problems! Come on, let me do this!” I growled, begging on my knees by now. “I can’t stand being cooped up here and do nothing! I have to do this!”

“It is suicide!” Shining roared back at me. “Don’t you understand that?! No force we could muster up would be able to breach the lines all the way to that ‘toothpick of a castle’, Sol!”

“Fine! Then I will go on my own!” I retorted pettily.

“You will do no such thing,” Luna intervened, holding me back from storming out of the room. “Think about what you are doing for a moment and then tell us what would happen should you go out alone.”

I bit my lip in frustration and managed to cool my temper down. Here I was again, about to commit the most stupid thing for the sake of saving everyone. Perhaps they were right and nothing worthwhile could be found in Sombra’s seat of power, but I just knew something must be there. I felt it, deep in my bones, it had to be something very powerful if Sombra couldn’t leave the palace alone while he continued to harass our people on the battlefield.

Harass wasn’t the right word for that, more like slaughter. Every time we tried to send out soldiers of our own without one of us there to defend them, Sombra would seize the opportunity to weaken our forces further. We couldn’t all be there to fight him off, unfortunately. He was just too strong for us to keep the fight going for more than a few minutes at best. Even Brightpaw seemed to struggle most of the time, and that just goes to show how big a threat Sombra really was.

“We should have taken the Elements of Harmony with us,” I mumbled dejectedly.

“And how do you think that would have gone? The last time we used them on him required an exorbitant amount of luck. Even then, he was able to take the Empire with him,” Luna explained. “We won’t risk the same from happening again. No, this time we need to make sure he is utterly destroyed. We would suggest devouring his soul, but for that to be a possibility, we would have to bring him close to death’s door.”

“Luna, we barely stand a chance with him only riding upon that abomination of a horse! We haven’t even seen him use any magic yet! From what you have told all of us, he is even more dangerous with that!” I retorted, a bad feeling making itself known in my gut. “I can only imagine why that is, and none of the possibilities seem very reassuring to me.”

“While that may be true, shouldn’t we focus on trying to free those people he is using against us?” Princess Cadance asked.

“Do enlighten me about how you would go about doing so, my dear,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her. “I seem to remember us failing every attempt at doing so. Miserably.”

“What if it is more than just his magic?” Princess Cadence proposed, making me raise an eyebrow. From where did she get that, I wonder... “Just hear me out on this one, please. The armor they seem to be wearing is made out of that same dark crystal the slaves are forced to mine, could that have something to do with how they are behaving?”

“The crystals?” I asked, intrigued. “I mean, that might not be so far-fetched of an idea... It is odd that they use a material for armor that is not able to be forged in the common sense kind of way. Whatever they do to make them, Sombra seems quite insistent on them wearing those instead armor made from metals.”

“If we could get a sample of that crystal, we could learn the properties it holds,” Twilight mused, already taking out rolls of parchment to theorize like the mad genius that she was. Leave it to Twilight to get all excited to do research in the middle of a war.

“Very well then, we will try to get some of those crystals for you to conduct your research, young Twilight. In the meantime, all of us should make sure Sombra won’t get anywhere near the shield and distract him sufficiently enough to figure out ways to break his hold on the crystal people,” Luna stated and with that, the meeting was adjourned.

“Don’t worry, Sol! We will free those people from the McMeanie Pants, you will see!” Pinkie grinned, leaving the room with a flustered Fluttershy in tow.

Ever since that Gala, they had become remarkably close in such a short period of time. As much as I wanted to cement my relationships too, it didn’t feel right to do so in the middle of a warzone. While Rarity and Twilight were talking with me quite a lot more and were making sure I was feeling alright, we all mutually agreed that we needed to go out on proper dates first once this crisis concluded itself.

One might argue we shouldn’t hold off that much with the very real possibility of one of us dying here in the frozen wasteland, but then again, it was also not good to rush a relationship under circumstances like this. Even though I might regret that, come to think of it.

There was little time to think about this, though. Not during our mental fortitude training and certainly not here with Sombra outside doing his best to be a major pain in the behind.

“Come, darling, let us make sure Rainbow and Applejack are still alive out there and relieve them from holding back the enemy,” Rarity said, taking the hand of Lux in hers and shoving my male body out through the door.

“I’d be surprised if Sombra managed to get through Applejack’s shield,” I said, thinking about our tank in the group. While she might be almost untouchable with her choice of weaponry, there was no doubt she would get tired after a while.

“That might be so, darling,” Rarity said, nodding her head. “But we should still lend a helping hand. After all, they are doing this already for quite some time now with the soldiers they took with them.”

“Let’s just hope none of them died,” I whispered, feeling afraid I wouldn’t get my wish granted. Rarity rubbed my back on Lux and I rested my head on her shoulder in a rare show of vulnerability from myself.

Looking around the working people, I could tell morale wasn’t all that high. We might be safe here for the moment, but we all knew that could change in the blink of an eye. I decidedly avoided looking into the medical tent, trying to tune out the sounds of suffering coming from within. That, too, might be a reason for the low morale.

Leaving through the newly constructed gate, we came face to face with the sight of hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers battering away on the shield, while Applejack and Rainbow were busy defending our Soldiers out there from Sombra.

“Let’s do this,” I said, bringing forth my sword and bow, as well as my armor. Rarity levitated her veritable storm of blades around her and together we joined the fray.

“Try to keep the mind-controlled away from me and Sombra,” I shouted over to Rarity, rolling on the ground to avoid one of their swords from taking Lux’s head off. “I will assist Applejack and Rainbow.”

“As you wish, darling,” Rarity answered, already moving to do as I said.

Both of our friends were glad to see Rarity and myself come to their aide. With a quick prayer, my bow transformed into the melee forms and I vaulted up in the air with a jump, using the shield from Applejack as a stepping stone.

And with the deadly glory that was me, I was in Sombra’s face, my warglaives ready to give him a nasty scar. Sol kept his horse from trampling over us as I invoked its potential with my next words.

“I am He guided by the Sun’s fire,” I spoke, once more changing the quality of my voice in an otherwordly fashion. “With this call, I summon its ire!”

A moment later, I held the transformed weapon in my hands. The grip of the sword had split in two and in between was a pillar of solar fire, not harming to the touch if I didn’t want it to be. The newly formed shaft wasn’t the only thing that changed, though. From the sword’s blade extended a raging flame on both sides, turning it far deadlier than even the warglaives of Lux could hope to be.

With the advantage of reach, it was no problem of mine to be a safe distance away from the horse Sombra sat on. And judging by the blazing cuts it left behind, it didn’t cauterize the wounds in a perplexing turn of events. I mean sure, I was surprised about that, but thinking about it? Probably better that it left the target bleeding and on fire.

The horse wasn’t really disturbed that it suffered such a devastating injury, though. If nothing else, it fought even harder against me.

While I was occupied with Sol, I tried getting at Sombra with Lux. Seeing that I couldn’t keep up my initial melee assault, I reverted the warglaives back to the bow to give myself the ability to land some hits on him. Or arrows, in this case. The problem, on the other hand, was my inability to defend myself against the sword he swung around.

“You shall fail in defending this world,” Sombra taunted and I added his words to the weaponized emotions inside me. “It matters not how long it takes, the end approaches! The Dark One will be freed...”

“You talk too much,” I said, letting loose three arrows in quick succession. Two of them were swatted aside by his blade, but the third nicked his cheek adding another bleeding line. He grunted in annoyance and lifted his hand in my direction. I had no time to react as a sickening glow of purplish-black with green bubbles erupted forth to strike at me.

In the next moment, I was flying across the snowy plains, unable to stop myself from plowing through soldiers and ice cold snow alike. Once I crashed against an outcropping of stone, I blinked the stars from my vision and saw the path my body made through the terrain. All the way to the mountain range, that is.

Getting up to my wobbly feet, I threw the contents of my stomach up with a heave. Groaning, I spat the horrible taste out for a few moments, trying not to breathe in too much. Nothing like a little bit of throwing up to keep my figure, eh?

A quick check-up with the rest of my body left me grimacing at the state of it. While my armor absorbed every impact I went through, the initial hit from Sombra’s magic left a mark. Small dark crystals started to form along my neck, left shoulder, and chest, limiting my movement with my head and marginally with my arm.

With a small growl in the back of my throat, I lifted up my bow and drew the string back with a small bit of difficulty. The stiffness at least helped to stabilize my hold on the bow somewhat.

Now, you might think: Lux, what are you doing? That arrow won’t ever reach its target!

To which I would say: If this was an ordinary bow? I might be inclined to agree. Seeing that it wasn’t, though? This will give that bastard a nasty surprise.

For once, I manifested the arrow on the left side and took careful aim. No need to account for velocity or wind, the arrow would fly regardless of those factors. Gotta love those physics-defying arrows, man.

Thus, I began to pump more and more energy into the projectile made out of moonlight. It continued to grow larger and larger, seemingly eager to make Sombra regret he ever showed his ugly face back to the rest of the world in the first place

Just as I felt like I couldn’t hold on anymore, I let the thing loose in a brilliant flash. Like the silent assassin it was, it flew in a perfectly straight line, putting the accuracy of sniper rifles from Earth to shame. I spat the rest of the aftertaste from the bile out into the snow and began my trek after the arrow.

Sol, on the other hand, felt the literal whiplash of a cannon as Sombra was blasted off the damn horse into the opposite direction from where my female half trudged through the knee-high blanket covering the landscape. It was no wonder that after that little feat of magical might, I felt utterly dead on my feet with her.

The horse standing before me whinnied in anger that its master was taken from it and reared up on the hind hooves to kick me in the face. Desperately dodging the attack, I fell to the ground in a helpless heap. Cursing, I did the only thing I could do as it was about to come crashing down with its hooves on top of me.

My halberd held up with the pointy tip at its barrel, I screwed my eyes shut as the full weight of the beast started to bear down on me. I grunted from the lack of air as I tried lifting the limp body away from me, but my strength only managed to nudge it slightly.

Great, death by suffocating beneath a horse... Here I thought I would at least go out with a bang. Instead, my death would come with a whimper as my vision started to get blurry.

Funny, Sombra’s horse was the real threat here, instead of the man himself. Friggin’ thing weighed like it never stopped stuffing its face with everything remotely edible until a skyscraper would collapse from a tap of its misbegotten hoof.

I swear Horse God will laugh her fat flank off at the irony of this should I somehow survive this fucking shit. Of all the things, why did it have to be a damn horse that managed to off me? I mean, if it was Spectrums brother, that wouldn’t be as humiliating as this.

Sombra’s horse let out a fart in its death throes.

For fuck’s sake, damnit! Was that really the last thing I had to hear?! This couldn’t get any more awkward as it already was, could it? I mean, what’s next? It throws up on me, too?!

Maybe I shouldn’t jinx it, but holy friggin’ hell, I was pissed off. Luckily for me, or unlucky depending on how one views it, I was spared from the most embarrassing death ever by Applejack and Rainbow coming to my aid, but not before I was thoroughly soaked in the blood of my unfortunate victim.

I don’t think we need to worry about Sombra for a few days, at least. Wherever he got blasted towards, he would be in worse shape than Lux, probably. Now would have been the perfect time to go after him, but none of us were in any form or shape to continue the fight with him and come out on top. While he might be weakened physically, none of us stood a chance against his magical prowess.

What it did, though, was buy us time. Time to perhaps push back the enemy front line without their commander there to counter our offense. Perhaps we could even send in a small team to infiltrate the Empire, should I get lucky in convincing Shining Armor.

“Let’s getcha outta here,” Applejack grunted, hefting my mostly limp self upon her shoulder. I mumbled a few incoherent words to her and she asked me to repeat them until she actually understood what I tried to tell her. “Rainbow? Ah need ya to go and get Lux to safety.”

“No problem, Applejack!” she shouted, already zipping away on the frigid winds. It didn’t take her long to find my female body limping through the thick cover of snow, and not a moment too late, it seems. Just as I was about to fall over from the chilling cold in a shivering mess, I felt her come to my aid.

“Oh boy, this is not good,” Rainbow stated, seeing the crystals attached to me. The rainbow-haired girl quickly got my exhausted body into her arms, not even bothered by the additional weight. “Man, since when were you so light? You better not be starving yourself to keep that figure, or I swear... Anyway, let’s get you to your room before you freeze to death.”

Needless to say, once they made sure I was safe and sound (mainly safe from becoming an icicle), I was promptly confined to my room within the quickly expanding fortress.

The doctors were doing their best with my little crystal problem, but until Luna was back from her mission I wouldn’t be leaving the bed. The thing was, whatever the thing’s properties were, they somehow were able to spread to both my bodies. That caused the doctors to panic even more than I felt they should and left me within the quarantined bedroom.

Although I could tell that the crystals were anything but good for my health, they didn’t spread to anyone else. It seems they had a strange affinity to affect my connection between my bodies, at least that was my running theory for the moment, and with that, they left me completely unable to fight for the foreseeable future.

Well, as long as I didn’t have to worry about Sombra breaking down our shield, I could allow myself some rest for once. Wasn’t like I liked it, though. The medical staff wasn’t too keen on my insistence that I could still do some good while confined to my bed, so here I was. Utterly useless.

Certainly wasn’t anything I have felt recently, right? I mean, how often have I felt like this just within the past few days? The universe must really hate me by now, I thought.

Bah, here I am whining again.

Once I succumbed to an uneasy sleep, I found myself staring into the concerned eyes of Spectrum. Looking down at myself, I saw why that was her first reaction as I appeared in front of her.

The damn crystals were attached to my very essence, it seemed. No wonder they also spread to Sol in the waking world if my very soul was stained by them. That just further solidified the theory of those crystals being somehow used by Sombra to control his puppets. Thankfully I was exempt from that, seeing that I still had mothers feather with me.

“Oh, dear...” Spectrum whispered, concern flooding the very tone of her voice. “I assume they are on both of your bodies? My poor child...”

“I can still defeat that bastard,” I grunted, the fucking things causing me pain even here in the dreamscape. “Just have to get rid of them... Luna can do that, right? Or you?”

“I can not... not with the right reagents, I fear. As much as I want to, even then I will be unable to aid you, for my last intervention threatened to tear reality apart,” she told me. “Tell me, have you made it to the city? My vision is shrouded from the Empire.”

“No, we had to construct an outpost not too far away from it... why?” I asked.

“This is indeed dire news, then. Without the Crystal Heart or a Crystal Spring within the caverns beneath the city, it will be next to impossible to cleanse this corruption from you,” mother answered me, running a hoof down the side of my head in sorrow. “It will continue to spread until you won’t be able to move anymore.”

“Can’t I rip them out?” I whispered and my voice quivered in fear.

“Not unless you also manage to rip them from your soul at the same time, my sweet child,” Spectrum said, voice thick with barely suppressed tears at her eyes. “There might be only one other option, but if you choose that, I advise you to pick the right time.”

“The rewind...” I said, shocked. How did I forget that? It... but... Was it worth the risk down the line? I might still get lucky and find a way into the Empire, and with that get myself a cure.

“Yes, my child,” she said. “It is a special spell from the old times, one I have specifically modified for you.”

“So I guess the three I have are the only ones I could get, right?”

“Yes... Time is a fickle thing, something not easily messed with. A certain man would say it is impossible to alter fixed points in time, but who decides what is considered fixed or malleable?” mother retorted, a mischievous smile coming to her face, lightening the mood considerably.

“Really, Doctor Who? That’s what you based this on?” I smiled, coughing slightly in discomfort from my mirth.

“Oh, I assure you, that man is anything but fiction in this reality,” Spectrum said, rubbing my back to ease my pain.

“Seriously?!” I asked, getting excited.

“Oh, don’t let him hear it, but I find it quite amusing to see a child play with their little toy box,” she giggled. The Tardis? A toybox?! How dare she make a mockery of the glorious time machine? Spectrum laughed quite a bit harder at seeing my pouting face.

“Don’t give me that look, it’s true! Everything I could create would put that silly thing to shame, but alas, I cannot. Not anymore, confined here as I am,” mother grinned, so I just sighed. Of course, she would make fun of my favorite entertainment, too. What could I have possibly been thinking? That it would remain safe from her teasing?

“Yeah, yeah. Continue to destroy everything I hold dear to me that I still have memories of...”

“My, extra pouty today, aren’t we?” Mom giggled again. “Well then, how about I give you something that will cheer you up, hmm?”

“And that would be?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“It’s a secret within the family, my dear,” she answered and I leaned in closer to her, eager to find out what she would share with me. “Every child of mine, aside from you, has had the pleasure to meet the oh-so-elusive timelord. I’m sure that you won’t be exempt from that.”

“Really?!” I gasped, getting giddy. Oh man, I really want to see the inside of the Tardis for myself, I couldn’t wait!

“Yes, my dear,” she smiled, messing me mane up, but I didn’t care at that moment. Eeee! I would meet one of the most iconic characters from Earth’s culture! That was like, a fantasy come true! “Now then, don’t get too excited, yet. While that man might be able to traverse time in its entirety, he can get suspicious of anyone quite easily. Bear that in mind when you finally encounter him. You might even be the one that catches his attention first, in no small part due to the rewinds I bestowed upon you.”

“So he might actually know the future where you only can make educated guesses?” I asked.

“Well, he might know the specifics, that much is true...” she admitted to me. Spectrum shook her head as she saw my expression. “Yes, yes, someone else might be able to do something I can’t, what a surprise.”

“Is that jealousy I hear?” I teased, grinning more and more.

“You must be imagining things,” she answered, putting her snout up at me in an indignant way, and I swear that sounded eerily similar to her being petulant about it.

“So... When do you propose I should use the rewind?” I asked. My mother held a hoof to her chin as she began to ponder my question.

“I’d say watch events play out as much as you can, should you find yourself unable to be cured in time. Get as much of an edge on the Horseman of War, learn and plan accordingly,” she told me, barely a minute had passed with her thinking on it. “If you return to before I gave you that enchanted feather, though, know that I can’t make you another. When you rewind time, it also rewinds time for me, but that does not mean that what I did for you can be repeated. While the universe might seem like it went back in time, it does in fact not.

“The rewind, in essence, doesn’t really turn back time, but rather returns the entire plane of existence back to what it was a month ago. While it takes the beings of the spiritual realm with it, there might be the possibility they will notice something has occurred that they have unwittingly been subjected to. These crystals will essentially be reset, too.

“I don’t foresee Sombra taking notice of that, so rest assured he will be none the wiser. That companion of your friend might notice something is amiss, though. Be prepared if he confronts you about this, although he might just be left with a sense of déjà vu for all I know.”

Okay, so basically a reset button for the universe, got it. I might see why the Doctor might take exception to me playing around with such a powerful tool, indeed. Time basically continues normally, everything would return to the place it was at before. A bit like a chessboard being prepared for a new game, really.

While we talked we estimated the time the crystals would render me completely incapable of movement in about a month and a week. After three weeks to a month I would already need assistance with walking, so that left me with little time to work with.

Another limit I learned of the rewinds, was the inability to chain them. What I mean by that is me being unable to ‘travel’ further back than a month, so after I used one, I would have to wait another month to go back a month. Should I use another directly afterward, I would essentially go back to the point where I originally went back to. Confusing to explain, but simple in concept.

So, yeah... I shouldn’t screw this up directly after I reset, basically.

The rest of the night went by all too quickly for my tastes. And let’s just say Luna was not pleased by the sight of the crystals on my body. She was already in a bad mood for having stayed up too long to get samples of the dark crystals the slaves were forced to mine and capturing one of their soldiers alive without triggering the suicide switch they apparently all had.

That asshole was a paranoid bastard for sure, going to such lengths to ensure his little puppets stayed in his command. Don’t ask me how Luna managed to avoid having the soldier go through the mental frier, my head was already spinning enough as it was from her explanation alone. Something about figuring out how to cripple the poor sod enough for the kill switch to not take effect.

While Twilight was happily experimenting on the natural dark crystals, the rest of our group was trying to figure out what to do about the magical variant that stuck to me like glue.

Luna figured we could kill two birds with one stone, by taking enough soldiers to push back the enemy while also going for the springs beneath the Crystal Empire to get that purifying water from them.

That is what we did. With Sombra seemingly missing in action, our forces were enough to push back the tide and incapacitate the enemy. While we couldn’t exactly free them, Luna at least was able to put them into a coma for now. The results from the research Twilight did on their armor gave us the necessary information to affect them in such a way that we wouldn’t have to worry about leaving them as vegetables.

After the first week, we were on the outskirts of the city-state. That was where our luck ran out, though. Sombra returned with smaller versions of the golems to deny us access to the Empire. While we were able to free the slaves and render the mind-controlled soldiers incapable of fighting, the same could not be said of the new army he brought to bear on us.

Another week passed and we were cut off from going into the Empire for good. Sombra had erected a massive crystal wall all around the Crystal Empire to deny us entry. So, I stayed with Twilight at the outpost, seeing that the growth of the crystals on my body was getting progressively worse. Princess Cadance was also still here and not with the rest of the group trying to breach the way to the caverns to get me the cure.

Sadly, that left us sitting ducks as the weeks continued on. While we were safe here in our little bubble away from the conflict, it gave us a major case of cabin fever.

During the fourth week, a scout managed to fill two vials with the water that could purify my condition and I was finally able to get back to the fight. While the golems were a lot tougher than the mind-controlled soldiers Sombra relied on before, they weren’t that much smarter.

It was almost too easy to predict their movements, I had to say. Their greater size gave them the strength that could cause small quakes from the impacts, but they lacked the agility and dexterity to actually cause us any harm.

All the while, Sombra was only watching from the wall in distaste at our efforts, as futile as it might have seemed. The golems just kept coming and coming to defend the wall.

“Your attempts amuse me,” his voice echoed across the battlefield and Sombra turned his gaze to our fortress in the distance. “What will you do if you can’t run back?”

What happened next was what spelled doom for us all. At the halfway point between the wall and our fortress, the ground began to shake and collapse falling down into the dark abyss of the chasm that formed. From that chasm came another one of those gigantic golems, ready to keep us from escaping.

“Witness the might of the Dark One as I eradicate all of you with but one spell!” Sombra said, laughing maniacally. From the entirety of the wall, a sickening miasma started to spill down to the ground.

And, as it crept forth at a steady pace, we began to witness what it did to our soldiers. One by one, they fell down coughing, desperately clawing at their throats as they tried to breathe but found no air.

“Run, little sheep!” he shouted at us, the deranged stance reminding me of someone that has lost it and fully embraced their insanity. “There is no escape! None of you will be able to change this!”

All of us ran without hesitation towards the higher ground, but we traded one deathtrap for another. The massive golem swatted anyone out of the air, instantly killing them and denying us our escape to safety.

We were completely at the mercy of Sombra, stuck between a golem and a hard place. I was tempted to use the rewind then and there, but first I had to see how far this would go. The more information I could take with me, the better I would be able to prepare.

The thing is, if I took too much time, I would return to a point in time where I got infected with the crystal, inevitably dooming me to repeat the timeline. Mother calculated the exact time of how much time I would have left from when Sombra hit me with his spell.

And I had only a few minutes left until my timer on the phone would be set off and tell me I had to use it within the last minute or return to this failed timeline.

A flash of light made me look in the direction of Sombra and what I saw made my eyes widen.

Forget what I said about being stuck between a golem and a hard place. It was more like being stuck between a golem and a mad sorcerer that just fired of a spell that would erase us from history altogether. There was no escape from that and it was too fast for me to push the button in time to rewind back to a month ago to save myself and my friends.

One small detail engraved itself into my mind as I looked towards the origin of that attack. Sombra held a pitch-black heart out of crystals and I knew why he took his time to set this elaborate trap up.

He had corrupted what I knew must have been the Crystal Heart, one of the two cures my mother told me about. It was also the key detail to how we might have been able to defeat Sombra, had we done what I suggested in the first place and infiltrated the palace to find the one thing that could have turned the fight in our favor.

I was kicking myself for not having gone through with my plan to go through with it on my own, but who knows how that would have turned out? Shining Armor and Luna were right, it would have most likely lead to my death but I still felt that it would have been the only option that could have given us what we needed.

We needed a game-changer.

Now, though? Here I was, watching something that seemed to appear in slow motion, unable to get my phone out before we were all dead, unable to provide that game-changer.

I should have used the fucking thing while I still had the chance to do so. But no, I had to get greedy and try and learn as much as I could before going back a month.

I can’t believe how unbelievably stupid I was. Why couldn’t I play things safely, just for once? Was I that desperate to get killed over my mistakes?

And what a mistake it was...

“NO!” a voice shrieked out and my perception returned to normal, just as we were all blinded and deafened by a massive boom. The snow on the ground and in the air was blown away from the force of the explosion and besides the ringing in my ears, everything seemed to be still.

Too still, I’m afraid to say.

Like awakening from a dream, we watched as a figure fell from midair, having intercepted the beam with her own body and taken the full brunt of it unto herself.

I clicked the button on my phone in grief.

2/1 Person - A new Perspective

by Feynna

1. What is this confusing feeling?

2. My name is... I mean my names are...

3. Of Magic and Gods. And Fashion, I guess.

4. Dream little, nightmare high.

5. Always read the 'Read Me' files before starting your adventure.

6. The Nightmare's end.

7. The ticket to success... can't be found here sadly.

8. In which Fluttershy beats Luna's ass.

9. In which Fluttershy continues to kick ass.

10. Manehattan Mischief.

11. Stopping cults is what I do for fun.

12. Finally home for like... a week and I get friggin' cursed.

13. We need an exterminator...

14. Is it righteousness that drives us forward or ...?

15. A dress to succeed.

16. Won't you dance with me?

17. If there is one thing Warcraft taught me, ...

18. ... it's that peace never lasts.