> Desire
>  by frutineo
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Desire: Prologue
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue

'Chaos, such a wonderful thing', thought Discord as he breathed the smell of fear and confusion in the air, amused as he saw fire sprites swimming in mounts of hay, fishes soaring throughout the sky and flocks of birds crawling on the ground.

After acknowledging that all of the elements of Harmony had been defeated, even Twilight Sparkle, he had taken his time to observe chaos spreading, from the frozen north to the Griffon kingdom before he had to return to his own self appointed Capitol city, he was now way south of ponyville, a town whose name he did not care to remember, memories of his past defeat assaulted him as if it was the prediction of coming events, that made him shiver, what if they managed to lock him away in stone?, or send him to the moon? He was mostly sure he was going to win, but in the event of his defeat, a safety had to be ensured.

After all being locked in stone all while being conscious was terrible as it was, Celestia and Luna had been most cruel to him, he only had gotten out of it, by gathering negative energies from the ones that ventured near his statue, mostly young Phillies in school walks and Celestia's own disdain and anger towards him, blaming him for her sister's... improvement.

Discord's thoughts were interrupted as he saw a chocolate coloured unicorn, with a dark mane crossing the town, trying to help and return things to normal, 'how boring' thought Discord 'trying to set things back to normalcy, must be one of those goody two hoofs you see nowadays'

Soon an earth pony cut the unicorn's way, this one was orange in colour, blond mane, and had angry jade eyes; they discussed, and the chocolate one used some magic on himself, did a pair of quick steps, with a speed that surprised the draconequus, now that was interesting, he looked throughout their souls to see that the unicorn had a great affinity with magic, but the earth pony was an even more special, his soul was a dark void made of jealousy, pain, with a core of pure loneliness.

"This could be it, if for some reason those meddling elements of Harmony return they could very well defeat me, even though I had tried this once and failed, if for some reason I could get someone to spread Chaos after I am gone I could be revived or be freed from my imprisonment,  but now I will not use a pure hearted pony to inject my powers in" memories of a discussion he had with Luna came back in a flash, the things he had said took roots deep in her heart, soon after his imprisonment she came to be known as Nightmare Moon "He will make a great disciple, but alone he could not win, he would need something else, some assistance."

Discord approached the blond colt, and after a short discussion, a flash of power and a few instructions Discord left to ponyville, with a grin showing on his face, now he just needed to act his part if everything where to go downhill, and wait, just wait.
> Desire Chapter one: Familiar Faces
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Episode 1

Familiar Faces.

16 months after the Discord incident, we set ourselves at the outskirts of Ponyville as 3 stallions discuss something as they are approaching the quite little town.

"So why don't you just tell them what the problem is?" Said a green Pegasus with 3 stripes of different shades of green in his mane and a T square with 2 identical set squares as its wings for a cutie mark "why take the longest, most annoying, and difficult path there is to ask for their damn help? I know you ARE my brother but I think this could be done more efficiently if you where to be honest in the first place"

"I know that" said a chocolate coloured unicorn with a open book and a quill as a cutie mark "but I do not want to involve anypony else, you know what happened to me when I tried to confront him alone... I spent months in the hospital and he escaped, as heavily injured as I did, not even Princess Celestia knows where he is as Discord's magic has kept him hidden from her sight"

"All the more reason to ask them directly" said a red unicorn with dark mane with 2 parallel red stripes a drawing board and pencil in his flank "The elements of Harmony are one the most powerful magic items existing in this world, they fred Princess Luna and Imprisioned Discord in stone, Princess Celestia told you so"

"Yes I know, and even so, that foal's powers must have grown by now, I think it would be dangerous to bring even more ponies to this fight, the 3 of us could fool him into a stalemate"

"And then what? Oh oh oh I know, I shall bring him as high to the sky as I can with my wings and hope to do a sonic rainboom that would separate the evil magic from him, even though it could possess me and that is if I am not dead by the time we stop fighting"

"Look just..." he knew that his brother was right, they could never hope to achieve anything on their own "I will tell them when I think is necessary ok? Now shush, we should not alarm anypony, we are almost there"

The trio entered the little town, drawing eyes to themselves, as they moved along they were suddenly aware that they did not know where to go and soon they found themselves in front of the town plaza, a light brown pony who obviously was the mayor of the town came to greet them "well met young stallions" she said "tell me what is the cause of your visit to this little town?"

"Well" said the leader of the trio "we are travellers who pursue rumours to see if there is an actual truth behind them, we heard that in this town exist a pony that vanquished an Ursa Mayor, can you please confirm or deny this story?"

"Oh my seems that someponies tend to exaggerate things, it was NOT an Ursa Mayor, but a child, an Ursa Minor, and yes there is such pony here in this town that has done such a feat, would you like to meet her?

"It would be a pleasure to meet a Pony of such strength" said the chocolate stallion trying to be as convincing and as uninformed as he could.

"My dear you are mistaken it was not an earth pony nor a pegasi that drove the Ursa Minor out of this town, it was an unicorn with an impressive magic prowess"

The stallions TRIED to look as surprised as they could, granted they were no professional actors but it was still convincing enough. "Is that so? We have never heard that such a pony could exists beside the Royal Princesses"

"Young one I assure you that Twilight Sparkle, one of the most prominent members of our community is indeed capable of such a feat"

"Well mayor thank you but I think you can stop boasting on my behalf" interrupted a violet eyed unicorn, as she seemed to analyze the stallions that where causing such an uproar, he looked at the pegasus, the red unicorn and finally posed her eyes on the one who appeared to be the leader, 'he seems vaguely familiar' she thought to herself, 'almost as if I know him from som...' her thoughts interrupted for what seemed an eternity, as their eyes met, they looked at each other as they had been friends at one time, but the more she seemed to try and recall from where, or when, it was all the more difficult to remember, finally she shook her head violently and talked "well since you came all the way here to talk to me might as well come visit me at the library, come on I will lead you there"

As the 4 ponies advanced an awkward silence invaded their atmosphere, as they were a few blocks away from the Ponyville Library, Twilight Sparkle broke the silence "say, you look familiar, have we ever met before?"

"I cannot be certain of it, it seems I recall meeting you from somewhere, I just can't put my hoof on it, oh hey nice building"

"Nice indeed" replied the Pegasus.

"Well thanks, even though it was already like this since I came to live here"

"You do not mind me flying around to look at it more closely?"

"No, not at all, just knock at the door once you want to come in, gentlecolts if you could follow me inside while your companion takes a look"

"Oh my, I must deeply apologize for my rudeness, let me introduce ourselves; this red unicorn here is my best friend, Soft Edge; the Pegasus that just flew off is my brother, High Rise; and I am Hardcover, at your service" said the Chocolate stallion as he made an unnecessary reverence.

"Ah hum, eh well come on in, you are most welcome here, please make yourselves at" a loud crash was heard, looking at the inside the remnants of a vase where scattered over the floor and 3 little Phillies came into view.

"Twilight help! They want to slay me" said a purple dragon that was on top of some librarian stairs.

"Ok girls" Said Twilight with a stern voice "what the hay is happening here?" none of the Phillies answered "Apple Bloom would you kindly tell me what was going on?" Twilight said to the yellow filly with an oversized ribbon that was obviously leading the hunt.

"Gosh Twilight, we taught that maybe we could get our dragon slaying cutie mark, ah mean, without having tha, maim him, maybe just bruise him up a little?"

"You are not helping our case" said a filly Pegasus

"well what do ya know? You ain't no liar"

"It's lawyer" said the last of the trio

"Now don't ya start now ya walking dictionary"

"GIIIIIIRLS" screamed Twilight scaring the 3 little fillies and deafening the 2 stallions beside her in the process "first and foremost you are going to clean this mess if you don't want me to tell your families about what just happened ok? Then you can go to Sugarcube Corner to bring me a box of cupcakes for my guests and you can pick something for yourselves, is that all right with you?"

"YAY" the trio celebrated "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS CLEANING OPERATION"

"Good call" said Soft Edge.

"Yeah thanks, now if you want to leave your bags over there, that way we can talk some more, so you wanted to know about the Ursa Minor?"

"Yeah well of course, after hearing of such a feat we certainly had to come see the pony responsible form it for ourselves, isn't that right Edge?"

"Truth, ehem well if you'll excuse me I will be drawing some things over there" as he made walked to the side carrying his bag with telekinesis.

Hardcover did the same, and rushed to Twilight Sparkle's side with a notebook and quill taken from his bag.

Soft Edge was drawing the two ponies, as they started talking, as if they had been friends for a long time, he did not noticed that one of his drawings, one of a threatening Discord had fallen from his sketch book, and little Applebloom picked it up, out of curiosity.

"Girls, Spike come here" she said in a low voice "we might have some problems here"

The four gathered without drawing much attention and looked up at Twilight's guests "Apple Bloom what does this means?"

"Ah don't know but it can't be good"

"Maybe we should investigate a little" said Sweetie Bell "but we possibly can't do so right now"

"I got an idea" said Scootaloo "Pinkie always throws parties to any new pony that arrives in town right?"

"Also at Gummy's birthday" said Apple Bloom.

"Or when she is bored" countered Sweetie Bell.

"Or for no other apparent reason" finished Spike

"Ok ok I get it, point is, that if we tell Pinkie Pie about Twilight's guests she would throw a party here, and we could be attending if we convince her, after that we drag one of them to the basement when nopony is watching and we interrogate him, how does that sound?"

"Great plan Scoot, while you guys are in Sugarcube Corner I will be watching them closely ok?" Spike told them.

"Ok Cutie Mark Crusaders, private detectives plan is a go!" all four of the younglings said in a low voice.
> Desire Chapter two: Usual Suspects
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2

Usual Susupects

Twilight Sparkle was too concentrated in the questions her guest had for her that was startled when the Cutie Mark Crusaders (CMC) appeared to ask for the money so they could go to Sugarcube Corner, and after giving each of them the bits to go buy her cupcakes and their candy, she once again relaxed and started admiring the stallion in front of her.

Spike was at Soft Edge's side looking the drawing he was making "wow you are good at drawing, can I see some more?" said in a normal voice as not to startle the 2 at the other side of the room.

"Do you really think I am good at drawing?"

"Of course even if they are in a cartoony style, you can feel them almost as if it were a picture"

"Well thanks, here have this one, is of animals of the world" said as he levitated a bulky sketch book "in our travels we have encountered many creatures, most of the time I have to watch them at a distance but I still end up drawing them to my best, from the time I started travelling to now, hey, you are a baby dragon, maybe you would like a drawing?"

"Sure just finish there and let me see this ok?"

"Sure thing"

*************************************************************

The CMC ware waiting for their batch of goodies back at Sugarcube Corner, the Cakes were making them as it was getting a little late, the sun was at 3 quarters now meaning that in a couple of hours there would be no sunlight at all, and the plan would not be completed if they could not find Pinkie Pie before leaving.

"What a bummer" said Scootaloo "if only Pinkie were here we could ask her"

"Ask me what?" said a Pink pony hoping while entering the bakery.

"PINKIE" screamed the CMC.

"Oh Pinkie, so glad ya are here" said Applebloom.

"Why is that?"

"Don't ya know?"

"Ooooh a guessing game, a guessing game, mhhh? Ah I know there is a dragon heading to Ponyville?, no no no that's hardly something to be glad about, Princess Celestia is appointing Twilight as new Ruler of Equestria?, no she can't, unless she is marrying someone from the royalty, Oh I know Big Macintosh is marrying Princess Luna, ooh I got to get them a weding gift"

"Pinkie, that's not the case" Sweetie Bell said as she interrupted Pinkie's train of thought (or train wreck) if you will "is just that there are 2 new ponies in town and we thought that you should throw them a party"

"Is that true? Where? I have not heard of any new pony in town"

"They are 2 Stallions, seems Twilight brought them, they are at the library"

"Oh this is so exciting, but wait... why does Twilight brought 2 new ponies to her house? Let alone 2 stallions"

"Oh Pinkie you most certainly throw a party right now, and invite your friends" said Miss Cake interrupting.

"Of course that is what I am going to do"

"Can we come?" said the trio of ponies at her hoofs, all of them with big puppy eyes.

"ooh girls, you have never come to one of my parties right? Just ask your families, since it is this late and tomorrow is Sunday you can come and stay all night"

"YAY" the trio exclaimed with devious smiles.

*********************************************************************

High Rise had looked at all the other houses from around the tree shaped library, he was ready to get down as he saw a streak of rainbow heading his way and before he could do anything it tackled him head on as he went down and landed outside of the little town.

As soon as he was mildly conscious he observed how far away from town he was and he also noted that something was weighting on him, a mare to be precise with a cloth slipping down from her eyes, it was a light blue pegasi with rainbow mane and tail, quite athletic as she just drove them away from town after the clash.

"Excuse me miss, are you alright?" Asked High Rise.

"Ugh... uh... ACK" grunted the pegasi as she jumped back "just what do you think you are doing pal?"

"Sorry?"

"You heard me, oh you pervert"

"WHAT? A pervert?"

"Why yes, you must have thought you could get in the way of my exercise, knock me out and try and touch me with your filthy hooves, well though luck jerk"

"Look here, I tried to be patient, as I thought you could be injured, it looks like you are not and certainly you are at fault, you were using a blindfold while flying, what the hay where you trying to do? Get yourself killed?"

"It is a training to sense my surroundings, that way I can make it through obstacle courses blindfolded without having practice them before"

"That's..." the stallion thought about it a second before answering "not a bad idea actually; you could sense your surroundings for danger and obstacles and use that to your advantage"

"Eh?"

"But you should clearly use it OUTSIDE THE VILLAGE, you could have killed somepony or hit yourself against a house"

"Oh yeah, tell me what where YOU doing hovering over the village?"

"Checking buildings" as he moved his body to let her see his cutie mark "but you really need to train more if you will, you are lucky that my body got used to materials falling on me during constructions, else I would not have been able to get back on my hooves"

"That explains it, you're an engineer"

"Architect thank you" High Rise replied on an annoyed voice "but back to my question, are you alright?"

"Well of course, I used to crash a lot back in my younger days, which made me resilient enough to hit a mountain, what's your name greenie?"

"The name's High Rise nice to meet you" extending his hoof.

"Rainbow Dash, the fastest flyer on all of Equestria" as she shook it with her own.

"Hey Rainbow Dash" a voice suddenly was heard from afar.

Pinkie Pie was hopping and behind her Applejack and Fluttershy

"Hey guys what's up?"

"Well sugarcube, first things first, who is your green friend here? I reckon I haven't seen him around town" said Applejack

"Oooh a third one" interrupted Pinkie Pie

"A third one?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"She must mean my brother and our friend, they were with the one your mayor called "Twilight Sparkle" I think"

"Great, that means we have one more honour guest here today" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

High Rise looked at the pink mare with a confused stare.

"Hehe Come on "lemon pie" we'll tell you everything you need ta know on our way"

'Great, now I have a nickname... not half bad now that I think about it' thought High Rise as he galloped with this fine looking mares.

***************************************************************************

Back at the library, Twilight, Spike and Hardcover were enthralled looking at Soft Edge drawing Twilight as he imagined she most have spent her days, the picture depicted Twilight resting on the floor with an open book, a cookie at her side and a night lamp.

"Good Celestia that is a great drawing" said the purple pony "and all of this other drawings are good as well, can you draw me how would My little Spike would look like when grown?"

"Sure I can just let me finish with these and..."

BAM the door opened, and the CMC entered with all the things Twilight had ordered, and even more "Girls please try not to slam the door, and tell me now, why does it look like you are ready to throw a party?"

"Uh, ya see Twilight since we saw that these 2 where new here in town, we told Pinkie Pie to throw 'em a party"

"What? You told Pinkie?"

"Who is this Pinkie Pie?" asked Hardcover

"Wait, I haven't told you about my friends?" Twilight asked facing the stallions "what have we been talking about then?"

"Ah no actually you were telling me about your life in Canterlot and we were getting to when you were ordered to come to Ponyville"

"Ok it's alright then, I shall tell you now, you see Pinkie Pie is..."

"An earth pony with apples as her cutie mark?" asked Soft Edge.

"No that is Applejack"

"Blue pegasi with rainbow mane?" asked Hardcover.

"Wrong that is Rainbow Dash"

"A beautiful white unicorn with perfectly combed dark purple hair?" Soft Edge interrupted.

"Wrong again, that one is Rarity"

"Yellow pegasi with a scared expression and overly shy manners?" once again Soft Edge inquired.

Twilight nodded her head sidewise negating what was said "Fluttershy"

"Then the one left is a hyper active pink pony, how come we missed her? She is named after her colour" asked Hardcover to Soft Edge.

"Well guys yeah it is kind of obvious" Twilight stopped there and collected her thoughts "how come you described all of my friends?"

Hardcover looked at Soft Edge and then to Twilight "psychic powers" he saw Twilights expression of mild fear and disbelief "nah just kidding, they are right behind you"

"Hey Sugarcube, will yah look at that, you sure know how to spend a night"

"What?"

"Oh Twilight my dear I am deeply hurt, here I thought we were friends, you should have told me, or is it that you do not want to share?"

"Hey what are you implying?"

"girls, ma-may I remind you" Fluttershy pointed to the CMC.

All the ponies froze at the sight of the trio of fillies looking at them with confusion in their faces.

"Sis, what are you talking about?" asked Apple Bloom.

"yeah tell us" spoke the other 2.

All the other ponies were dead silent, suddenly Pinkie Pie jumped from the second floor with a victory cheer "wahooo"

Everypony and Spike looked at her confused.

"It is time to PARTIE!!!!"

Nopony noticed, but in the time they had taken to try and get out of an awkward situation, Pinkie Pie had set everything up for the welcome party, surprised the three stallions where about to ask the mares what had happened, but they just gave the stallions a glance that said, 'do not ask'.

**************************************************************************

Even though there were 13 guests at the party, it felt like they were 3 times that quantity, there were pies, and cupcakes; sarsaparilla and fruit punch; the music, the decoration and the occasional talk made the meeting all the more delightful.

Hardcover was walking to a side, as he wanted to just rest a little, even if he looked like a strong stallion his strength began to falter, he did not felt tired because of his lack of energy, as he was well trained, it was because of a feeling he had all but forgotten, a peace of mind; he for the first time in over a year felt truly and sincerely happy, he just wanted to set down a little, and enjoy that feeling, but just as he set down to rest the three little fillies sat just around him.

"Hello"

"Hi how are you? You are Apple Bloom right?"

"Yes nice to talk to ya, how are you?"

"Fine thanks, why the question?"

"You are here, and you should be there" Sweetie Bell interrupted "are you tired mister?"

"Hardcover please, and no I am not that tired is just... I... so eh girls do you know this library right?"

"Yes we do" answered the three

"Where is the bathroom? I would like to go before someone notices I am here, they seem to be more interested in the music right now, but that will not last"

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked at themselves with devious smiles while he was distracted "sure come here"

They guided him towards the basement door, no one paid them any attention at all, and that was... good for the time being "Hey Sweetie Bell, be our lookout, kick once if someone is approaching got it?" Sweetie Bell saluted with her right hoof.

"Girls, are you sure this is it?"

"Yeah, Twilight has the bathroom down there mister, just be careful"

"Well, if you insist" Hardcover galloped downstairs, having an uneasy feeling about it, not like they could knock him out unconscious, he could easily kick them thru the room and straight out the house, still it felt somewhat tense down there.

"We got you" Apple Bloom exclaimed, as the stallion in front of her turned around just in time to see them leap at him with some rope 'where in the world did they got that?' he thought.

Hardcover thought to jump at a side or wave his hoof to throw them aside, he chose neither of them, he could injure them seriously and he had to know why they had decided to attack him, whatever that reason was, the fillies crashed upon him.

***********************************************

They sure were quick to tie him to a chair; he was even wondering where they got that long lamp from "so mister, we wanna ask you some questions, first of all, watcha doing here in Ponyville?" Apple Bloom started questioning.

"Excuse me?"

"Ya heard me mista unicorn"

Trying to remain as stoic as he could he answered "well I am here to meet the greatest unicorn in all of equestria"

"You are lying mister, and a sad lie at that" finally spoke the little Pegasus "you see, we think you are something more than that" she suddenly looked ate him straight in the eyes

"Now now, why are you accusing me of something like that, you surely must have some kind of proof"

The fillies flashed out a familiar drawing, one his best friend had done after their first visit to the Canterlot gardens, now he was just asking himself how the hay did they got their hoofs on that one.

"Well mista unicorn? Got something to say?" 

Suddenly a hoof knocks on the door that leads to the basement, no sooner the door opens, a mad purple mare floating a little filly unicorn with her magic, followed by the rest of the guests that where in the party "ah um hey sistah"

"Do not try to sweet talk me Apple Bloom, what in the name o' Princess Celestia were you doing?" Applejack glared at her sister, then to Scootaloo, and Sweetie Bell.

Scootaloo broke the silence "He is a bad pony, look at what his friend had in his sketch book"

All the other mares went in shock and looked at the now free stallion with a glare "haha you liked that one? Soft did that one on a school trip our old school had to the Canterlot gardens, right after I was transferred to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns" all the ponies turned to the stallions.

Twilight interrupted "What? You where there? How come we never crossed paths?"

"Dunno, all I can say right now is that, that particular drawing was made exactly as the one Soft Edge did for you, he just imagined the pose and moved it like every other pony and animal in his sketch book"

"Oh that explains a lot" said Apple Bloom with a regretful tone in her voice, Applejack cut through her with an intense glare.

"An just what do ya think you fillies were doing?" asked as the three of them turned their heads in shame.

"Taking care of you" Soft Edge interrupted "they saw the drawing and maybe they were preoccupied that we might have been agents of chaos or something"

"You are quite right" said Hardcover as he liberated himself from the chair "they were doing detective work, but you know, they need something…. What could it be?"

"O no, you are not making me draw something like that"

"Aw come on, you can at least give them the trench coats for at  least an hour, and the hats as well, you aren't no detective if you have no hat"

"Excuse me, what are you talking about" Twilight inquired.

The 3 stallions looked at each other and High Rise answered "it will be faster if we show you"

> Desire chapter three: You and I have Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3

You and I have memories

All the mares and fillies gathered at the main room of the library had their eyes over the stallions that were getting some drawing supplies.

"As I have already told you, I was a Student in Canterlot, I remember how hard it was to concentrate when you only like to read novels instead of magic books, and being the adventurous and bold colt that I was" he turned to see if Twilight Sparkle´s expression had changed, and it had, now she had a thoughtful expression, just as he had predicted. "I wandered into the basement of the Great Canterlot Library"

"Wait, what? Where you insane? The basement is a deep maze to take care of the most important books, if you are lucky Celestia could rescue you, if you are not too deep in it you can get out by yourself" interrupted Twilight.

"As I said; I was quite the foal, so as I was there trying to get out I actually managed to get to the center of the labyrinth and out of boredom I entered, it did not surprised me that it was empty except for the books, I thought there could be some kind of novel or something I could read, all I could see was ancient books and some that where in the middle of translation from ancient equestrian to actual equestrian, in the midst of it where some potion books that had already been translated, there was a potion and concoction tome, it had this recipe for a ink that could draw in mid air"

"Hold it sugar cube you saying this magic here can draw in mid air?"

"It is more a mix than it is magic and it did not last more than 1 hour in the original mixture, I had to travel to faraway lands to get some of the ingredients, anyway after analyzing it, experimenting and a lot of…. Mistakes I managed to create this paints and Soft Edge also managed to crate the spell we are going to present" he looked at Soft Edge and nodded.

Soft Edge started drawing with a pencil the outlining of a coat and a hat on the floor of the library, used a brush to mix some of the paint and drew the inside of the garments, finally he just concentrated his magic at the drawing and suddenly it somehow lifted itself and gained dimensions, no pony or dragon except for the stallions could believe what they saw, Twilight stepped closer to look and analyze this object, she touched it, while it felt that existed, it felt quite unreal at the same time, almost as if it was just telekinetic magic holding….  Air? She could not describe what this sensation was and before she could dwell deeper into that matter the coat and hat floated away from her and over Apple Bloom it fit her a bit loosely.

Twilight both admired and confused just spoke "you have got to be kidding me it is even a perfect fit, how do you do that?"

"Well" shyly started Soft Edge "it is just that after drawing a lot I got an eye for dimensions and measures, I just estimated her size and I tried to do get it to fit her though I seem to need more practice"

"Never mind that dear you have a wondrous talent I do not seriously think there is anypony else in Equestria who could do that spell why you could do so much more than that, that magic could certainly help me in my boutique" Rarity eloquently told Soft Edge as he just blushed and tried to his embarrassment between his hooves.

"Well A Thank yah mister"

"Call me Soft Edge little Apple Bloom"

"Amazing" "so cool" where the expressions used by the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and a now amazed Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

It should have been impossible for somepony to blush to the point of looking like a tomato but Soft Edge managed to do so when he heard those words "I… I don't think it is that great"

"Sugarcube, please do not try to hide that talent of yours, maybe yah don't want to brag about it but at the very least acknowledge it let me tell yah that this here Twilight" Applejack said holding Twilight Sparkle in her leg "was once behaving like yah did but she learned something valuable"

"Applejack is right, if you have a gift or something you can do that not many ponies can you must feel proud of it, do not hide it and you certainly most not boast about it you must acknowledge and share it with your friends" added Twilight Sparkle.

Soft Edge relaxed a bit and gave them a soft smile "thank you, I will most certainly will, so any other pony ready to get a suit done?"

"Please make me look like a princess" asked an excited Sweetie Bell "pleeeease"

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo talked at the same time "Make me a Wonderbolt" both of them blinked and looked at each other smiling

Hardcover chuckled a little and told the ponies in front of him "well there might be a problem there, we only offered these drawings to the fillies, but we only promised detective suits if you want something special I will have to ask my princess for permission"

"What?" asked Rainbow Dash "why would you need Princess Celestia's permission to do that?"

Hardcover smiled slightly "not that princess" he turned to Twilight Sparkle, she became surprised and blushed lightly.

"Princess Luna?" asked Scootaloo.

"Close but no cigar"

"Princess Zelda?" asked Pinkie Pie.

"Eeeh" he paused himself analyzing the question "what?"

"Don't mind her she's just being Pinkie Pie" clarified Rainbow Dash.

"Ok, very well you see a long time ago I received the title of knight from a cute little princess" he cleared his throat "I am the knight Cover the bold and I serve only the wishes of Princess Sparkle the Pretty" he said as he bowed in front of the purple librarian "please tell me o princess what are thou orders"

Everypony was now looking at the purple mare who was nostalgic, happy and she was sniffing a little but that expression soon changed, she wore a face similar to that of Princess Celestia and she even tried to make her tone sound as gracious as the one the Princess used "you may rise" she touched his cheek with her hoof and he slowly did so Twilight gave him a look none of her friends had seen on her "your friend shall draw the Cutie Mark Crusaders the detective coats that were promised earlier and nothing more" a duet of aaaaw were heard and she continued "for even if they did not harm you, their crimes rage in between false accusations, holding a knight against his will, attempted kidnapping and so on, they will have to like their detective coats else they want to use prisoner garments" she eyed the Crusaders.

The 3 nodded furiously and after some time they were more than happy with their coats but they were as confused as the rest of the ponies in the room they demanded some kind of explanation for this little play, Hardcover promised them to explain things.

All the ponies sat at the center of the library except for the 2 stallion unicorns as they were preparing a makeshift stage that consisted on just a long parchment paper, Soft Edge took the special ink and threw it to the piece of paper and used his magic to levitate them, at the same time Hardcover linked his magic to Soft Edge's and he started his tale "it was almost 10 years ago I remember" the ink started to move and it drew pictures as if by the wish if imagination was moving the liquid to match a memory "I was six at the time and you must have been 5, it was a few weeks after the Summer Sun Celebration and the tryouts at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, we had been interrupted because somepony went out of control and destroyed the room we were supposed to use for the test" Twilight Sparkle laughed nervously and quickly adverted her eyes back and forth at her sides, Hardcover noticed that but decided to continue his story before he could ask any question "well, my test went like yours, hatching of a Dragon egg that had been donated by a dragon from the eastern kingdoms, I remember that Princess Celestia was present in every other examination that day to prevent any more accidents as I did not knew what were the tests like I entered with a spell I had imagined while reading the stories of Strong Hoof the warrior, I remember how I imagined that if you could increase your strength with magic you could protect those who you loved and I made a grand entrance with my speed boosting spell"

"You know that spell has been used by the royal guards for countless generations right?" interrupted Twilight Sparkle.

The stallion frowned "the town where I come from did not have a library and we did not needed to have that kind of books at home or at school also imagine my surprise when Princess Celestia told me the exact same thing, she was impressed that I managed to work out the spell by myself but we still needed to get on with the test, after the egg was brought, I could not even fathom how would I hatch it, the only thing I could think of was to warm it with magic, but I could end up boiling it at that moment I thought I could always rise my temperature and maybe I could hatch the egg something apparently unheard of" he felt silent and the ink pictured him getting up to the cart and embracing the dragon's egg suddenly some paint fell over the scroll thrown by High Rise and the picture colored itself at the efforts of the unicorns, depicting now a young Hardcover embracing a dark blue and purple striped egg, the words 15 minutes later appeared over the scene and one could see the egg starting to move and crack, from it a slender whelp appeared her scales a dark blue with tiny wings her belly and spikes in purple and a face resembling that of spike looked at the colt and the colt opened his tired eyes, looked at her and finally both of them fell asleep over the cart filled with hay.

"Bleh how girly" said Scootaloo.

"Shut it, don't you think I don't know I often find myself regretting that action but please be understanding I was more focused on battle and body magic back then"

Twilight Sparkle just smiled "I thought that was pretty sweet…"

"Shut it, just never mention it again I am most ashamed of that, thanks to that I am the only pony in the history of the school to ever made such low grades and to have taken that much time to finish his entrance exam"

Spike just raised his claw (hand if you like) "eh Hardcover just let me ask you 2 questions, first of all why does she has wings and I don't, secondly what happened to her?"

"Hasn't Twilight, can I call you that?" he asked and the mare nodded "hasn't she told you what happens with the dragons?"

"wait, dragons? As in many?" asked a confused Spike

"ok from the beginning, almost an eon ago or what we should exactly call 835 years, 7 months, 16 days ago the Eastern Kingdom was having a shortage of cattle and feeding grounds, and their birth rate was increasing alarmingly, to avoid what could be a war Princess Celestia thought of a birth control program, and a cattle farming program that could be ran by the dragons and pony farmers at all times, in a way to thank her great efforts and help the Council of Elder Dragons agreed to help Princess Celestia to sort out the most talented unicorn ponies from Equestria by giving them the opportunity to try and hatch unwanted or parentless eggs, back then dragons, would fight for territory and most of the times the dragon who died would leave an un-hatched dragon egg and to avoid the destruction of said eggs they were sent to Princess Celestia herself, nowadays dragons have communities and have learned to be more pony like, they have cities and communities and the eggs that have not been able to hatch for unknown reasons, this way they will be given the chance to be hatched at some time either by a student of by a specialized group of scholars back in the Eastern Kingdoms, beside it is rare that an aspirant to student actually manages to hatch an egg, the eggs are mostly there to see how they react to the magic of young unicorns, it is rare to see a dragon hatch, let alone 2 of them" he tried to recover his breath by inhaling deeply.

Spike stared wide eyed at Hardcover, then at Twilight asking a question with his eyes 'is that true?' and the mare just nodded slowly at him with watery eyes and an expression of pain and sadness, sadness born from the inability to tell her assistant and foster brother the truth about his origins, but now was too late to apologize, they would have to talk about it soon but now was not the time.

"as to why she has wings and you do not, is because her egg came from a sky dragon, of the different types of dragon the sky dragon is the only one that is born with wings, they get their full size when they reach optimal age, other dragons develop them over the years, except for a certain race of dragons, mhhh, ok tell me, are you able to dig out earth and rock easily and eat jewels?"

"Well yes of course, why? Is that rare among dragons?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, even when the Dragon Kingdoms have changed some things remain tradition, one of them is gathering of treasure; the only race of dragons that did no such thing is the Gaia Dragon race, and they are very prolific in digging up gems for sustenance, though for reasons unknown, their hatching rate has been steadily going lower with each generation, sorry to tell you this Spike, but you may be one of the few Gaia Dragons left in this world"

Spike's heart sunk like an anvil in the ocean, his eyes watered and the only thing that kept him from bursting out of the room and cry his sadness away was the warm and loving embrace of Twilight Sparkle, he then fully realized how much did he loved her not as a sister or employer, but as a mother that had always been there for him, he hugged her with all of his strength and left her hoofs to look at her and say "let's just, finish hearing his story" 

"Hey cover, hey" Hardcover turned to the hyperactive Pinkie Pie "what is the name of your whelp? What happened to her?"

He was surprised by the sudden question but he then stared at the moon that was visible outside the window and smiled slightly "she is Merope and she is back home with my parents, I always leave her behind when I am travelling" he closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"hey stop being so mopey wopey, it makes me sad, here have some cheesecake with some strawberries over it, whipped cream over them and chocolate chips on top, your favorite" Hardcover took it smiling slightly and then realized something.

"Ok first of all, how did you know it was my favorite?"

"Duh, I asked, High Rise told me how much you love chocolate, I found a cheesecake recipe while checking out the contents in your saddlebag for which I apologize and Soft Edge told me that you love Strawberries, and the whipped cream was my idea" said Pinkie Pie nonchalantly smiling widely.

"Ok I understand that so far, the fact is, that I have seen no cheesecake all night hmpf" Rainbow Dash had rushed at him and muffled his mouth with her hoof, he looked at her eyes and she just told him not to even bother to ask anything else with her stare.

"Ok let me carry on with my tale" taking a bite at the dessert in front of him and was surprised at the incredible flavor that had, he made a mental note to ask her to teach him how to achieve this flavor "anyways it was the registration day, I had been summoned at the castle's main room where Princess Celestia needed to ask and maybe try to sway young unicorns from the far reaches of the kingdom to stay at school grounds, my family supported my decision to stay in Canterlot even if I was going to see them very few times a year" it was then he linked his magic once more and the scene started playing as he described it "that day as I left the castle's main chamber I found myself exploring around the castle and I found a young little filly, sulking on a couch dressed in a light blue princess dress, with pink decorations and pink hearts at the skirt" Hardcover could not continue as a loud laugh appeared from the rainbow mane Pegasus and the dragon whelp that until recently had been at the verge of crying.

"Bwahahahahahaha that is so rich, hehehahahaha Twi you really are a laugh" told Rainbow Dash holding her sides as she was rolling on the floor laughing at her friend.

Twilight Sparkle's face became a giant cherry and just sat there were she was.

"Ok let us carry on"

Once again the ink and paint took the lead and started to draw the story, the young colt approached the sulking filly.

"Hey" asked the colt.

"I'm not hungry" responded the filly.

"I said hey as a greeting, not as hay of food"

"Whatever"

"Why are you so mad?" he asked with a worried face.

"nuthin"

He rolled his eyes "yeah right, nuthin' always mean sumthin', you look angry and sad, maybe I can help, if yah tell me what happened"

The filly raised her gaze at the colt with a questioning stare "why have you not laughed at my dress like everypony else?"

"Well, if you want tah know, I think you look pretty in it and my dad told me never to laugh at other ponies unless I have a good reason for it, now that you mention it, why are you dressed like that?"

She shifted in her seat "I wanted to be pwetty for the Princess"

"Why would you do that?"

"Cause I am her student"

"Well I know that from time to time she will lecture ponies at her school that means we are going to be classmates" he smiled widely.

"No I really mean it, I am her personal student" she looked at him with some kind of pledge full eyes.

Young Hardcover blinked once, twice and finally trice and after it he managed to talk "ok please, tell me everything from the beginning"

Young Twilight huffed "When I entered this school, my powers went outta control and Princess Celestia took me as her student, HER personal student, so today I thought 'I wanna look real pwetty for her' and my mom gave me this dress that was meant for my cuteciñera and I wear it but everypony just chuckles at me when they see me and they are being mean and it hurts" she sniffled a little.

The chocolate colt sighed "well, look I know ponies can be real mean meanie mean pants, but they are jealous"

She cocked an eyebrow at him "Why?"

"Well first, not everypony enters this school, and more importantly you are the princess's very own student, what else do you need?, you practically have a golden ticket to wear and do almost anything you want"

Young Twilight's face brightened as she realized the obvious truth "you are right, you are right, you are so incredibly right, I am her student a chance not presented to many" she clopped her hoofs and looked at the colt "you know you are really smart for cutie filled colt"

"Is that supposed to be praise? Cuz it sounds like an insult"

"sowy, so tell me what were you doing?"

"a yes, I was looking for somepony to play with to kill some time while I leave to the dorms of the school"

"Oh you are a student as well"

"Yeah I sure as sugar am, hey I got an idea, do you want to play?"

"How about I am a princess and you my knight?"

"Can I rescue you from a dragon?"

"Of course, but first I need to knight you and how can I do that without your name?"

"You can call me Cover, all my friends call me that"

"ok you can call me princess Sparkle"

"What? No title?"

"Why should I have one?"

"Well duh to be a great princess you need a great title, like eh 'the Great and Powerful Sparkle' or something"

"Well if you insist why don't you give me a title?"

"Ok, how about Sparkle the pretty?"

"okey dokey, but now I need to knight you…. Wait I have an idea" Twiligth went looking for something, after a while she came back with a book and a quill and she set them in front of him.

"Hey where did you get a copy of 'Current Equestrian Laws?"

"It is the castle, there is bound to be a copy around in case someone needs to check up on rules or what is allowed or not, ok put your hoof over it" Cover did so and Twilight used the quill as a makeshift sword to tap his shoulders "do you sole, solemn do you swear to uphold the laws of this country and protect us from any danger that may come either from inside or outside our borders?"

"I do swear over my life that I will protect you and all of Equestria from any and all dangers"

"Then from now on you shall be referred as 'Cover the Bold' please rise"

"Bold?"

"Means adventurous or daring"

"Cool, hey now that I am a knight, wanna go play?"

"Of course silly"

"Let's go"

Soon the scene of both foals playing at the palace grounds and soon it was a scene of both waving their hoofs at each other and leaving in their respective ways yet the colt had changed he now wore a book and quill in his flank as he trotted out the castle.

"How girly" once again punctuated Scootaloo "that was how you got your Cutie Mark? Are you serious?"

"I, I thought that was cute, I never thought that Twilight was so friendly back then"

"Fluttershy you are right, Twilight my dear how is it possible that you were so social back then but when you arrived here you barely made an effort to befriend us"

She smiled nervously "hehehe well; you see after I became the Princess's student I practically spent most of my life with my muzzle buried in the books, in between classes, the Great Canterlot Library and my own place in the palace grounds I never gave myself time to make friends or get out at all, I just forgot how to be friendly over time I guess"

"What? Are you crazy? How is it possible for somepony to forget something so important?" interjected Pinkie Pie.

"I can advocate for her" interrupted Hardcover "I barely made any friends in Canterlot most of my friends are from my home town"

"You made 1 friend in Canterlot, and you only have Soft Edge and me as friends from Maneterrey in Mexicolt"

"2 friends"

"That apple selling colt does not count, you only saw him once"

"He returned to his hometown but I was never free or at Canterlot whenever he returned he is still my friend that is the way of the Stallion"

"Do you even know his name?"

"But of course I do my skeptical brother; his name is not that difficult to forget for whom do you take me?"

"You forgot his name"

"That I did" as he said that he smiled dumbly 

A barrage of hoofs hitting their owners faces were heard "hey sorry the only thing I remember from him was his red apple coat and green half apple Cutie Mark"

'Wait a second there sugarcube, you saying you know Big Macintosh?" asked Applejack

"That's it that was his name, wait how do you know?"

"He's our big brother" said Apple Bloom.

"You don't tell, well this is unexpected I think we shall meet him, let me tell you he is quite the stallion, strong and level headed I swear he could sometimes tell what I was thinking"

"This is incredible; I never thought we could be connected like this even I am beginning to think this is more than a coincidence" said the purple mare sincerely amazed.

"Well I might have a couple of stories from back then just let me give you something, Soft let me change it so you can dry it and give the drawing to Twilight"

"Yeah sure just hurry up"

Hardcover nodded and used his magic to return to the point when young Twilight knighted him, the drawing dried thanks to Soft Edge's magic the drawing dried at that moment Hardcover took it and he gave it to the Purple mare in the room.

"Ok explain something to me, why do you need him to do that magic?"

"He is the one that knows how to draw and this magic he invented works just when you know how to do so, I learned it from him but it seems lack the ability to draw so that leaves me out of possibilities to use it effectively, so I invented a mind connection spell so we could use the spell to its fullest, I share my memories and he draws them on the place he chooses but now let us talk, there is so much to tell, let me start with my adventures at the School and later on I shall tell you of how I met and befriended Big Macintosh"

"That sounds nice enough, what do you say girls? Tomorrow is Sunday maybe you can stay and hear him"

"My Twilight you are right beside" Rarity stopped to look at the fillies "seems that our Crusaders need some sleep; tell me could you spare one bed?"

"Well Rarity of course, you know let me get some blankets for us to use while we listen to their stories I am sure that Soft Edge and High Rise could tell us more about their lives as well"

"You can bet we can" answered High Rise.

"Ok just wait here, maybe you can eat some more"

"Will do"

"Well let us all help yah with it you could use the help"

"Applejack I appreciate the offer but Rarity and I can bring them all by ourselves"

"No can do Twilight, we would be abusing your hospitality if we were to do so"

"But"

"We are going to help, no point arguing"

Twilight Resignaded "Ok girls this way"

The mares all left to the second floor, High Rise talked in a low voice "seems to me they do not trust us I think it would be better to keep this little play and agree with anything they want" the other nodded.

"Applejack you know that I can do it myself"

"Sugarcube, I know you are a good pony at heart but I think they are not telling us everything"

"Wait he has not lied, all of that is the truth I can confirm that"

"I know sugarcube I could tell that all of what he said was the truth but I fell he omitted some of it, he is holding something"

"And what do you want to do?"

"Good thing you ask me here is my plan"

Soon after the mares left the fillies and dragon up in the second floor and returned down with the blankets the rest of the of the meeting went well with all the things they shared something close to a friendship was born and soon the hours got the best of the ponies.
> Desire Chapter 4: I Took a Stroll on the Old Long Walk
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4

I took a stroll on the old long walk


Hardcover yawned and directed his attention to the mares, that seemed to be as sleepy as he was “Hey what do you say if we call it a night? I don’t think it will be healthy to sleep on the floor so if you could point us to the nearest lodging site or hotel we could get on our way, maybe we could see each other lahummm ha later”

All the mares looked at him as if assessing if he was talking seriously “sugarcube there aren’t no hotels in this town”

“What? Say again” asked Soft Edge.

“Well dear…”

“You can call me Edge”

“Very well Edge you see, this town is a quiet little town out of the main roads and it is rare to have any visitors from outside, and those either build their homes to live here or stay with a relative living here”

“Still, you have many things here I still don’t see the reason to not have any lodging”

“W-well you see the Everfree forest is nearby, and no one wants to be nearby”

“Wait that Everfree forest? Cover you knew about it?”

“Well duh if you see in the maps you will see that the forest is nearest of the town”

“But who would be brave enough to go and live near it? Is it not supposed to be dangerous?” punctuated High Rise

“Hay yeah it is” interrupted Rainbow Dash “but you see good ol’ Fluttershy here” she said putting her hoof over her yellow friend “lives at the edge of the forest”

“What? Are you out of your mind? How is it possible to live there?”

“W-well you see the price of that house was real low”

“WHAT? ARE YOU INSANE?”

“Meep” Fluttershy dashed behind ‘oh the redundancy’ Rainbow Dash who just crossed her front legs and looked at High Rise disapprovingly.

“Hey sorry I snapped like that it it’s just that it seems like a dangerous place to live no matter how cheap it is, that’s all, I am kinda worried that you did such a thing”

“Why?”

“I am an architect my clients needs and safety are top priority”

“Eh thanks but I am quite all right”

“Nonsense I shall escort you home and asses what else does it needs to protect you from harm”

“But but that is not”

Cover got close to her “stop trying once he has his mind set on something he will not stop for anything, is the same for any ideas or points of view, right or wrong he stands by it and will not change his mind at all”

“Well... if you say so”

“Hey bro you know after you do all that I got an idea, we could do some sort of country house we could use to bring our parents and spend vacations here, hauum, but first let me get my tent so I could set myself outside of town”

Twilight opened her eyes widely “But you could sleep here if you want”

“How many beds do you have?”

“2, you could use…”

“One? Remember the Crusaders are in one of them, now if you excuse me I need to set myself”

“But you could”

“Sleep with you? For as much as I like the idea, the Crusaders will ask many embarrassing questions in the morning and don’t get me started on the floor, it will not be comfortable at all I’d rather sleep on a comfortable grass couch”

“You could sleep with anypony else, outside is chilly, you know winter will come soon”

“Well, we came here just to meet a pony that supposedly vanquished an ursa mayor I wasn’t exactly planning on staying in town”

“And why the tents sugarcube?” asked Applejack with a tone of annoyance.

“Is good to be prepared for anything” Cover answered without hesitation “I was not expecting to take this long for an interview but in case we did I thought we could always camp under the stars”

Applejack had to give credit were due, he was a good liar yet not that good, while he could certainly hold his ground, for her it was obvious he was holding something even so “Well you are mighty right sugarcube but still we can’t let a friend of Twilight here to sleep outside you are always welcomed at my farm”

Hardcover was feeling the pressure here, he could not say no to such offer now that they were like this he was literally feeling against a wall and one of his character ticks took over as he started mumbling a song “All in all it's just another brick…”

“In the wall”

The stallion paused and looked in the direction of the pink mare “Hey you know Pink Floyd?”

“That if I know them? I love them they are one of the greatest groups in history”

Hardcover decided then his new course of action “well you do know about of music, also I need to ask you about the cheesecake from earlier are you some kind of baker?”

“You guessed, I live above the bakery Sugar Cube Corner”

“Hooooo boy you should not have told him that” added Soft Edge “he is one big sweet tooth”

“Really? That’s great do you want to stay with me? That way I could test so many recipes with you to see if they are any good”

“I sure as sugar will”

“Well then let’s go you dummy”

As they left thru the door Applejack was following them closely “hey wait up”

“Well I, I need to go so if you excuse me”

High Rise looked at the Yellow Pegasi and told her “Lead the way”

“Ok... if you really want that” and the yellow mare stepped out the Library while the green and light blue Pegasus followed her.

***************************** ************************** ********************************

Half way troughout the town the 3 pegasi that left the library earlier were discussing no topic in particular, the cyan pegasi that was scorting the her filly hood friend tried to remain calm, but she could barely contain herself at the thought that this stallions could be up to something.

“You really want to follow Fluttershy?”

“I need to see the kind of building she lives in; maybe I could get some ideas for my designs to present back to my dad and I can really use the experience”

“Then you have got to come see my house”

“Is it cloud made?”

“Hey how do you know?”

“You are hyperactive and most of the time you were floating or feet away from the floor my guess is that you have a cloud house which I saw when we entered town, and frankly I am not interested my dad and I studied them and I really took a liking to other kind of buildings, my main target now are organic designs and skyscrapers”

“Hey don’t look down on clouds, they are comfy and nice”

“Don’t misunderstand me they are great and all but it is too easy to design and shape them at your will, I like challenges and it really helps me to take care of fine details and to be absolutely careful, those cement sacks really hurt”

“Oh dear are… are you talking seriously?”

“Hehe yeah I do, I really get hurt thanks to my own distraction”

“You really have taken quite the build if you came out unhurt after making me crash”

“It was your fault”

“You know that’s it, I can’t hold it any longer”

High Rise lifted an eyebrow “What are you…”

“Rainbow… no”

“My friend Applejack says that you might be hiding something, and now that we are alone I am going to take the truth out of you pal” Rainbow said taking an offensive stance in front of High Rise.

“Rainbow please stop this”

“No way Fluttershy”

High Rise sat in the dirt floor and sighed “So you want to know what we are hiding”

“Ha I knew it, you are hiding something”

“You are?”

Rise just lowered his head and looked at the floor “I promised my brother that I would not tell anypony about the reason of our visit” he looked at the mares in their eyes “but let me assure you that by no means we mean any harm to you, I promised him that I will wait until he decides to tell you about our situation, I want you to believe in me, I don’t want to fight right now”

“Why not pal? Are you afraid to get hurt?”

“I will never hurt a pony without any good reason, and I know you and I are tired, this will only hurt us badly and I don’t think Fluttershy here will like that”

“Ha you are so not going to save yourself from this”

“Is there no other way?”

“No other way unless you tell me the… hey”

Fluttershy stepped in between the two and talked to the blue pegasi with a harsh tone in her voice “Rainbow Dash stop this at once”

“What, Fluttersy what do you think you are doing?”

“That is what I am asking you Dashie, you are not being rational”

“Me? How about you? He just admitted he was hiding something”

“He also told us that he means no harm to any of us, and while you are ready to leap at him he is there sitting ready to take your tackle head on, he is not planning to fight back”

“But”

“But nothing Rainbow Dash, I have decided to thrust him”

“What? Why? We don’t even know him”

“So? If you knew how to be patient you would have seen the truth in his eyes, he meant everything he said and I have decided to believe in him”

“But Fluttershy, I don’t get it how can you do that”

“Dashie, sometimes you just need to believe” and then she turned to the stallion “You said your name was High Rise right?”

“Rise for my friends”

“Well Rise you were escorting me home right?”

“Are you sure about it?”

“Of course I am”

“Well if you so much insist” and both mare and stallion floated in the direction of the mare’s home.

Rainbow Dash just looked at them as they disappeared from her view “I can’t believe it, first Twi now Fluttershy, I don’t get it” and she took flight in direction to her home “I just don’t get it”

********************************************* *************************************

Soft Edge was really nervous he would have preferred to sleep on the barn, hay even the open sky seemed better than following the white mare in front of him, damn her she must be moving like that on purpose, waving her tail from side to side ‘stop looking’ he told himself ‘no good can come from this’ he just wished Cover was more straight forward with his approach.

“Edge dear” Said the white coated mare interrupting his thoughts.

“Eh what?”

“Dear you are so distracted and you have hardly said a word since we left the library I take it you are not the type to talk a lot”

“Sorry it’s just that I have a lot in my mind”

“Is my flank that distracting?”

Soft Edge turned red instantly and babbled “Wa eh just, I didn’t, I’m sorry”

“Hahahahaha dear you are quite the tease, I have seen you, you have a lot in your mind and I know how intimidating I can be sometimes just don’t mind me now please let us hurry my boutique is nearby”

Soft Edge grumbled with annoyance.

“Oh and dear please come at my side, it is of poor education to walk behind a lady”

“If there is one in front of you” he replied in a barely audible voice.

“Did you say something?”

“I said wait for me”

“That’s better”

They walked and soon found themselves at the door of the flamboyant boutique and Edge broke the silence “This is your place?”

“And workshop as well darling, do you like it?”

“It…” he looked for the right words “is certainly unique, what is it called?”

Rarity disapproved the pausing doubt but decided to not make a scene out of it “welcome to Carousel Boutique where every garment is Chic, Unique and Magnifique”

“Nice motto”

“Why thank you, but the praises should be left for when you actually see what‘s inside” she opened the door for him “please come in and feel at home”

“Ladies first” he said bowing.

“Why thank you fine gentlecolt”

As she stepped inside her business home he wished for a last time that this farce will be over soon, and then he followed her inside the Boutique, Rarity turned on some candles and Edge looked at dresses in the ponyquins and stared at them with admiration.

“Like it Darling?”

“I must say I am impressed, now I wonder where do you think and draw of all of your designs”

“Well dear how are you so sure I don’t design them here?”

“Do you really want me to start pointing out the obvious?”

“If it is that obvious you should do it with ease”

He sighed and trotted to the center of the room “First thing you need is pencil, paper, rolls of fabric, sewing equipment and a few ponyquins to start designing and testing all of you creations, except for the ponyquins none of the above can be found here, beside rooms to think or draw things in are always found in a messy fashion lots of pencil remnants, erasers that are a tenth of their original size and shape are not strange to that kind of environment and you seem to care a lot about your appearance and your workplace  that makes me think you care a lot for what your customers would say if they ever saw this place in ruins, thus I arrived to my conclusion”

Rarity clopped her hoofs in a manner of applause “Well dear you are quite right, your reasoning is perfect, it seems that you know a lot about the manners of a designer as you are an artist yourself”

Edge felt flattered, and blood started to make his way over his face “Thanks, I guess”

“My darling you are blushing a lot you know”

“S-sorry”

“Now why are you apologizing for?”

“It’s that, I don’t really get too much praise”

“Nor do you get to talk to mares very often” stated Rarity taking some steps swaying to the sides towards the stallion “am I right?”

Edge felt threatened and he stepped back as she stepped forward the blush in his cheeks had died out now he was getting pale “not really”

“But dear why is that, even if you are on the chubby side, with your talent in art you might have one follower or two” she kept getting closer to him.

It hurt Edge a little that remark but he was now against the wall of the boutique and she was insistent on getting closer to him “I like to keep my art for myself, I still need a lot to learn”

“Nonsense, you are good as as a professional, I am sure that if you want to you could get an exposition somewhere or at least sell your art to any particular” Rarity said as she was a few hoofs away from Soft Edge.

“L-like who?” he asked her and he gulped.

The mare got so close to the stallion that he could literally feel her breath, it felt nice almost as if she had brushed her teeth with mint and… was that chamomile? Edge looked up and he met her eyes, such beautiful azure eyes, and perfectly kept mane, amazing figure,  if he could just move a little he could kiss her if he just could call on some courage he could… suddenly she got away from him.

“Well dear” ‘Rarity what are you thinking’ she recriminated herself “do you want something before I show you the guest room?” ‘Come on Rarity you have teased several colts and stallions like him before why are you so altered?’ it had gone like any other time except, he had looked at her in the eyes, he had balls that was new to her the others always tried to look away.

Edge was confused, he was sure she looked differently, was she flustered? “Actually I do want to see your workplace, where you get and draw your ideas”

“My, you really are ballsy”

“Eh? Pardon me but what do you mean?”

“Don’t fake ignorance, trying to get inside the private room of a mare you barely even know, how daring”

“W-wait I didn’t”

‘Now why am I pushing it further?’ Rarity was troubled by her own behavior what did she want? ‘Maybe I should stop before this gets out of… “Here I thought you did, ugh what a disappointment,I was hoping you were more… gutsy” she eyed looks at him with disappointment.

That was it. That was the drop that spilled the cup; Soft Edge could take it no more the next thing his angered mind processed is him being in front of the mare sharing his lips with hers in a deep kiss one that Rarity did not seemed to mind at all as she had her eyes closed.

‘I can bet he is new to kissing’ that was the thought that Rarity had going through her mind ‘or if not new he has only kissed once when he was a foal’ she realized he separated his lips from her and she opened her eyes to see the stallion shying away hiding his eyes with his hair and shrinking very much like her best friend does when she is scared (which is most of the time) she giggled a little and spoke to the stallion “Dear what are you doing down there?”

Soft Edge just looked in the opposite direction of the mare “I’m sorry, I know not what came over me, and I didn’t meant to be so-”

“So assertive?” interrupted Rarity.

Soft Edge just widened his eyes and stared directly at her and saw a tender smile as if she wanted it to happen needless to say, he was dumbfounded.

The mare approached and spoke to him “please I am the one that must apologize, my manners must have thrown you out of your wits and patience you must want to see my drawings come with me”

They both walked up the stairs of the boutique and passed a door “this is my sister’s room for the night you can sleep here while I fix the guest room” at the end of the hallway they approached other door to their left “this is my room and workplaces do please come in”

Soft Edge was amazed at the quantity of drawings and materials he entered after the mare and they spent the night at the room, drawing, designing and talking Edge felt welcomed even after his approach to her, she seemed genuinely happy to share some kind of company while talking about dresses ‘I really hope we can talk sincerely with all of them soon’ he thought.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

To say that Applejack was annoyed would be an understatement, these 2 FOALS had been singing all the way from the library to Sugar Cube Corner now she did not mind Pinkie Pie ‘ah fine singer she is’ Applejack thought ‘but that damn stallion just can’t get the rhythm some times, he messes up most of the time’ finally the trio arrived at the pastry shop she sighed in relief and left them.

‘If somepony can take care of herself would be Pinkie, Ah hope’ she sighed heavily she could think Fluttershy using her stare against them, rainbow knocking them out, Twilight using her magic, the ones she was troubled with were Rarity and Pinkie, they had no real experience in fighting, now she was more scared to leave her friends alone ‘no they know how to handle them, Rarity asked for the shy painter because she was sure she could control him and Pinkie is Pinkie… she’ll do something if in trouble’ she trotted to her farm at the outskirts of town, Applejack needed to sleep and in the morning pick Applebloom from Twilight’s place.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

Pinkie Pie could not be happier, ‘why am I happy again? Who cares he is cool maybe even 20% cooler than Dashie’ her grin could not be stranger and wider if she wanted it he saw the stallion breathing in until his lungs were filled with the scent of sugar, cake and glassing.


He liberated his breath with a sigh and smiled ‘boy is this place perfect’ he faced Pinkie Pie and smiled at her a warm smile she answered with one as well finally Cover spoke “so where do I sleep? Is it the kitchen? Tell me is the kitchen”

“Of course not you silly willy you will sleep in my room which is in the attic”

“Why would you have your room in the attic of your own bakery?”

“Because it’s not my bakery I just rent the room upstairs, the owners are Mr. and Mrs. Cake”

His eyelids half-closed themselves “You don’t tell, you mind telling me why do you decided to live in a bakery?”

“Ooh its flash back time”

“Uh?”

“Shush the flashback is about to start”

“It will be easier if you just told me”

“Ugh ok but only if I get to see the flash back”

“Deal”

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

The Pie family was gathered outside their house in the rock farm they owned, there was the mother with two little fillies crying at her side, the patriarch of the family  at her side facing a pink filly.

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

“Wait a second, rock farm?”

“Shhh the good part is about to start”

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

“Pinkie is that what you really want?” asked papa Pie.

“Of course dad, I have been thinking about it and it’s something I must do”

There were 2 sobbing fillies at their mother side one barely managed to talk to her sister “but sis why can’t you stay?”

“Because there is only so little good I can do in this farm, the world needs me and I must not turn my back to it”

“Pinkie Please” asked her mother “I beg you stop this foolishness at once”

Filly Pinkie shook her head sideways “no momma, this is serious and even if it pains me it is something I must do”

“But you can’t” she never finished that sentence the right foreleg of her husband cut off her sentence.

“No matter what we tell her she won’t concede” he faced her daughter with a tear born of pain and pride slowly rolling down his cheek “you have my blessing now go… before I change my mind”

With that Pinkie Pie set herself on a quest to save Equestria from the treat of the mad sorcerer “Kefka”

* 	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

“Eeewhat?”

“Did you liked the story?”

To say that Hardcover was confused was an understatement he remained silent for a good 10 seconds trying to process what Pinkie Pie told him “so… anyway, where do I sleep?”

“This way” both ponies headed up the set of stairs, Cover was impressed on how delicious the walls and decorations looked like there were; mint lamps, chocolate columns and cookie frames all the way to the room upstairs.

‘what tasty looking walls she have’ he thought as he followed the mare “and what a nice flank”

“Hehe thanks”

Hardcover’s face reddened “I said that out loud didn‘t I?”

“Of course you did no wonder Twilight called you bold you really speak your mind’s content sometimes why don’t you do it all the time? Because that would save you a lot of time and time is of the essence yet I don’t get who would have time as their essence because when you say essence it sounds so incredibly essential and important as time does and time is so important because you could run out of time even if you are sleeping but that sounds so silly that” Pinkie Pie paused to take a breath “what were we talking about?”

Cover measured his next words “About the bed I am going to occupy tonight”

“Oh right-o-right this way”

Cover sighed relieved ‘dodged that bullet, now I must put a safety on that gun’ he then entered the room of the mare and he thought there was something missing ‘ok there is a big window, wooden floor, nice carpet, one bed, a baby alligator (why does he have no teeth?), party like table, balloons, cupcakes, punch (she must be ready to party at any time), one bed… one bed’ “say there seems to be something missing”

“What? O no somepony must have come to steal something quickly help me count all my stuff” she seemed to warp from place to place looking over her stuff.

“That is NOT what I meant”

“Hey, don’t go scaring ponies like that”

‘Why did I decide to stay with her?’ Cover thought “I meant that there is only one bed”

“Of course there is only one silly, why would I need 2 beds if I’m the only one renting here?”

“Yeah that makes sense… but still I will need somewhere to sleep, how am I supposed to do so like this?”

“Easy like this” she pulled a cord that was hanging from the ceiling and 6 sleeping bags with the cutie marks of her best friends over a backdrop of their coat and mane colors Cover was more concerned on where did this sleeping bags came from “so would you like to pick one to sleep in?”

“Sure… just let me brush my teeth, you wouldn’t happen to have toothpaste, do you?”

“In the bathroom, here follow me” in the bathroom of the Mare there was a spent tube of pink toothpaste  “I forgot to change it, and I haven’t made any more of it so I will have to use another flavor” Pinkie Pie turned to her guest “you don’t mind the flavor of the toothpaste right? The Cakes always tell me that my teeth will rot if I keep using cotton candy flavored toothpaste, can you believe that?”

“You are telling me you make you make your own toothpaste flavors?”

Pinkie nodded “yep sure I do”

Cover sighed in resignation, trying to figure this mare out was tiring yet it was somewhat amusing he could not help but smile a little “what flavors do you have?”

“Here I have… cookies and cream, vanilla, banana split, chocolate…”

“CHOCOLATE GIMME”

Pinkie giggled “Okey Dokey Lokey here, it’s your favorite I recon”

Cover acted terrified and backed off a little and gasped “what gave me away?” he smiled and corrected himself, both of them giggled a little and brushed their teeth.

“I have to ask, why do you keep this sleeping bags modeled after you and your friends?”

“It is something for when I would like my friends to come here and stay for an after party, I asked Rarity to make this after Gummy’s birthday party”

“Gummy?”

“My pet alligator over there”

“I was wondering what a baby alligator was doing here, well good night” cover dumped himself over the sleeping bag meant for Rainbow Dash and tried to accommodate himself.

“Why aren’t you getting inside the bag?”

“No need, I use my body heat spell every night and I have even managed to keep it activated passively all night long” he said as a matter of fact “if you want to you can sleep over me for heat” now he was just joking but the mare took it as an offer and he felt her crashing down over him taking the air out of him “Agh for Luna’s sake you could have just posed yourself over me not jump and fall with your whole weight”

“But there is no fun in that” she realized something “hey, how come you said Princess Luna’s name and not Princess Celestia’s one?”

“Is that important?” ‘Shit I let it slip’ 

“Of course it is, Applejack told us earlier that if you do or say something strange we must make you give us all the information you have and that statement clearly contradicts your testimony”

“… testimony?”

“Of course it is suspicious, everypony would swear to Princess Celestia”

“Surely there must be somepony swearing to Luna”

“AHA another contradiction, you are calling her Luna and not by her title, if anypony refers to the royal princesses they do as Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, you do not do that, care to explain why?”

Cover was trying to think of a way to get out of that situation ‘my options are limited; if I lie she will see it and I don’t really want to do something rash’ he sighed ‘she got me there’ finally he decided to tell her, he took something from his saddlebag, a parchment with Princess Luna’s seal attached to a cord that kept it sealed “Pinkie Pie what I am about to tell you is secret, can you promise me you won’t tell anypony?”

Pinkie Pie started a series of charades as she chanted a catchy rhyme “Cross my Heart and Hope to fly, Stick a Cupcake in my eye”

Cover was once again dumbfounded “is that supposed to be… hay I don’t know what it was supposed to be”

“It was my Pinkie oath”

“Eh…”

“It means that I won’t, under any circumstance tell anypony what I have sworn to hide, even if Princess Celestia herself were to ask me”

“I…” he smiled in resignation ‘she is being honest… and cute in a crazy and hyperactive kind of way’ “very well I believe you: this here” he showed her the parchment with Princess Luna’s symbol over it “is my official title as Princess Luna’s own student”

Pinkie’s eyes widened to an impossible size “no way”

“Yeah way”

“You have got to tell Twilight, forget Twilight you got to tell me how did you managed to be her student you must have like a ton of stories, or a ton of candy from Nightmare Night…” Pinkie was cut short from her monologue.

“I can’t tell you why I am here, and you promised to not talk about it but I promise you that one day I will tell you and only you how I became her student”

“Awwwww why only me?”

“Because my teacher only allowed me to tell 3 ponies that story and needless to say my brother and best friend where on that list”

“So… why me? You have just met me”

“Because… you seem trustable enough and I don’t think you will destroy that trust”

“Of course I won’t silly everypony knows that losing a friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend FOREVER!” she said putting a lot of emphasis on that last word.

‘Well that went well enough, I will have to tell Rise and Edge what I did though’ he stretched a little “ok Pinkie let me lay down and my offer still stands just try not to jump over me please”

“Okie Dokie Lokie”

*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*

Fluttershy and High Rise had just gotten to the first one’s cottage; it was just outside the dreaded Everfree forest on the outskirts of Ponyville, the first thing that High Rise noticed was that Fluttershy was living not in a constructed Cottage but rather in a remodeled tree stump, which in its own way was quite impressive, after a little reconnaissance both mare and stallion entered the house.

“Well umm….”

“I told you, you can call me Rise”

“Yeah sorry eh would you like to…”

“Did you do this?”

“Excuse me?”

“The interior I mean digging out the insides of the tree thump fixing it to be able to put your furniture and the animal houses this is well designed; though maybe you could use some more room that way you could take care of more animals, a sorry you were saying?”

“I was offering you a drink… if you want… but well you want an answer right? Well you see this cottage has always been like this even the furniture is from the previous owner no pony knows since when this place has been here at all’

“Interesting, well I don’t think I want anything at all but if you want something I can keep you company”

“Oh no not really I don’t want anything”

Rise just looked at her disapprovingly “You want something, you just said no because I said no”

“No really I just want to go to sleep” ‘how did he know?” Fluttershy thought ‘I did wanted something to drink but I didn’t want to force him to stay awake while I drink it and now he is mad at me because of it, oh dear Celestia what do I do?’ she shrunk a little out of fear of his stare and tried to hide herself from him with her wing “meep”

‘How cute can she be? That little meep and that shyness is so’ he sighed while smiling ‘it would be rude to force her, but it would be even more rude to make her go to bed thirsty just because I’m sleepy’ “Fluttershy look, I know it might be impertyinent of me but I just don’t like people not doing what they want because of others it really ticks me off as unnecessary and insulting so if you want I can keep you company even have a drink with you if you want”

“Thanks… I think”

“Come on be more assertive, now do tell what do you have to drink?”

“I well have some orange juice boxes in the fridge”

“Orange juice? Is it sour?”

“Why yes it is whole orange juice”

“Yes! Finally something other than sweet punch or apple juice” Rise said as he lifted his forelegs up in the air in a victorious way.

“Don’t you like sweets?”

“Not that much, my brother is the one who is crazy about sweets, especially chocolates but how about you? Don’t you have like that apple farming friend? What was she called?”

“She is Applejack she is one of my best friends but I never really liked apples and sweets that much, that is why I always tried to get orange juice for myself, but please don’t tell her I said that”

“No need to worry, now” he offered her a foreleg to help her get up “come on let’s get something to drink”

Fluttershy took the hoof of her guest and they made their way to her kitchen where she ruffled some items in the fridge and got out 2 juice boxes and he offered one to Rise, soon they were both enjoying the sour flavor of the juice boxes and Rise took notice of the cute way of drinking the mare had ‘Oh she can be even cuter than I thought’ he glanced at her and she took notice of the event and blushed a little.

‘Is he looking at me? Oh Celestia he IS looking at me, why? Is it how I drink? Or is it something in my face? Or is it? No it couldn’t be could he? Does he? Does he find me attractive? Dear Princess Celestia what do I do?’ she did not notice that her juice box was already empty and she was making an incredibly annoying sound Rise did so but was adamant of telling her outright so he chose to put down his drink and smiled at her, Fluttershy noticed this action and stopped absorbing air from the now empty box and put it down in a rush and blushed at the idea of being caught doing such a mistake “I.. I…” she squealed a little.

“He don’t sweat it I understand that my presence and looks are overwhelming you but be a little more confident, you saved me and I own you a great deal, you can even ask me to draw you a sketch for an upgrade on your cottage free of charge, actually I will do just that” Rise said with a confident tone and a grin in his mouth as he crossed his forelegs.

“Oh my, thanks that is generous of you but I couldn’t ask that much”

“Nonsense, I said that I will do it and I mean it” he now wore a serious face and patted his right foreleg on the left side of his chest right were the heart was signaling her that he was decided to do so despite her protests.

Fluttershy is surprised to say the least ‘wow, he is so much like Dashie; he is rash, brave, hoof headed, loyal, he speaks his mind out, yet he seems so sweet, caring and aware of everypony, he even tries to give me some sort of courage much like Dashie but so different at the same time’ she couldn’t suppress a giggle at the thought of him being like her filly hood friend.

“…? Why did you giggle?”

“Sorry is just that you remind me so much of Rainbow Dash”

“Rainbow Dash? Why would I remind you of her?”

“You both are so much alike”

“Now you are just insulting me I am nothing like that hot headed, fool hardy, rash, over her head mare, no way, no how”

Now Fluttershy was laughing shamelessly at his face “what? Does it hurt to look at your own reflection?”

Rise narrowed his eyes at her in a expression of madness “why you little”

‘He even gets mad at foolish things, yes so much like her’ “ok ok I’m sorry *giggle* so would you like to go to sleep?”

“*Grumble* yes, so where do I sleep?”

“My room is upstairs but it would be awkward to sleep together”

“At best”

“So that is why the couch transforms in to a bed let me just go for some blankets for you, be right back” she floated to the second floor to look for some blankets for her guest “so much like Rainbow Dash” she stopped  as memories assaulted her mind, memories of a time where she developed feelings for her filly hood friend ‘I always looked up to you Dashie, you were there at the times I was at my weakest, and when I thought no pony was there for me, you got me out of that darkness that filled my heart, and I always admired your way of thinking you were the best of the best always trying to best anypony that stood in your way, the way your eyes lighted up when you defeated a pony in a race it was the same light that shone in your eyes every time you spoke of the Wonderbolts being part of them has always been your lifelong dream, and then when you were laid out of flight school along with me you decided to move here to Ponyville with me, even though you could have stayed at Cloudsdale and make up a life of your own’ a tear rolled down her eye and she sniffled ‘why could you not be a stallion? Why could I never get myself to like mares like you do? Why did you never really helped me to overcome my fears? Why did you gave up on me as soon as we arrived here? Was I that lost of a cause? Why had to be Twilight the one that would join us together as friends once again?' her tears started to flow like a river down her cheeks and she did not notice her own scream leaving her throat “WHY ARE THERE SO MANY WHY’S AND SO LITTLE ANSWERS?” she broke down then and there she could not bear the pain any longer, her own heart betrayed her and she fell to her knees as a flood of emotions overwhelmed her.

Slowly the Pegasus stallion embraced her from behind in a warm and loving hug, like the one a mother would give her frightened child after waking up from a nightmare and he recited a song his father used to recite them to help calm her.

Close your eyes
Have no fear
The monster's gone
He's on the run and your daddy's here

Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better

Out on the ocean sailing away
I can hardly wait
To see you come of age
But I guess we'll both just have to be patient
'Cause it's a long way to go
A hard row to hoe
Yes it's a long way to go
But in the meantime

Before you cross the street
Take my hoof
Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans

Before you go to sleep
Say a little prayer
Every day in every way
It's getting better and better

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful
Beautiful foal
Darling, darling, darling
Darling Fluttershy

The yellow mare calmed a little and turned to the green stallion that was trying to calm her, she looked squarely at his eyes his big dark green concerned eyes, he did not have to say anything, and she just started crying the rest of her pain over his shoulder, he picked her up and drove her to sleep in her bed though he never stopped hugging her somehow he knew she needed that hug more than he could ever imagine.
______________________________________________________________________________

That night as everypony was asleep a foul wind could be felt over the little town.

> Side Story 1: Vices. Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Side Story 1: Vices.
Vice 1: Lust.

An earth pony of deep orange coat and pale blond mane walked over the weak bridge that lead to an ancient palace, the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters namely ‘DEUS’ was in almost complete ruins, he was not surprised of the state of what was once a magnificent structure ‘time does take its toll’ no time thrive on this meaningless details he was here for a reason, he was to retrieve something of importance something that would strike fear in the heart of all the creatures in this planet, it was called…

********	*************************	**************************	*******************************	**********************	*****************

Discord floated in front of him it was the same as he remembered the statue to be but now it was really him in the flesh, his eyes could not believe this nor did his ears when he heard the Draconequus next words.

“Hello little one who might you be?”

“D-dreamer”

“hahahahaha what a Nice name, now Dreamer tell me, what if I were to tell you that I can give you a power beyond your wildest” he was interrupted by an eager and simple answer.

“YES”

‘Yes this is it, my very own acolyte the answer to all of my prayers’ Discord smiled at him and started to concentrate a spell in his finger “look I know you will be eager to try your new powers and I want you to do so; go wild, do not allow anything to stop you but remember, if I were to be imprisoned one day you must go to the Everfree forest there you have to find the ‘Deus’”

“Deus?”

That question threw him off guard ‘Celestia must have taken real precautions this time, no wonder I found that castle different from before not only did she changed location almost nopony must know about were her old home is located let alone it’s old name seems to have been lost with the millennia I spent in my prison’ he then returned to his task “it is an ancient castle deep within the forest, there you will encounter remnants of my essence, that remnant will tell you about the item you need to retrieve if you are to revive me, also if I were you I’d lay low for a few months before unleashing your new power, make it mature like a wine and then when you feel it’s right” he got closer to the colt “open the bottle” he unleashed the power in his paw.

Dreamer felt a sudden weight that burned deep within his chest which soon disappeared; Dreamer just looked at the God of chaos in the eyes and thanked him with a little bow.

*************	***********************	***********************	******************************	******************************

‘Now that I think about it, he never really told me about this Item, even so it must have a great power if it can cancel the imprisonment the Elements of Harmony bestowed upon you master’

The colt was now near a fountain that had 6 open spaces ‘the Elements of Harmony must have been hold here once a long time ago’ his mind wandered to a few days ago when he finally recovered from the injuries inflicted on him in that battle 3 months ago, after this… aura helped him recover to his fullest, not one scar was left from that encounter ‘…now I am deviating from my goal I am supposed to look for some sort of energy remnant’ his body let out a dark aura as if it was reacting to something, that certain something was some dark blue sparkling smoke that rose from below the fountain.

‘So this is the piece of him that I was supposed to look for, intriguing it seems that it is weakened’ the aura floated in front of him locking itself to his own and without any warning it entered his body making him shriek and fold himself out of it as images and memories from a past life hit him like a barrage of stones from a landslide.

After a while he stood up from this sudden burst of knowledge and power, he felt it, something growing inside of him ‘now to do this I would need assistance 5… no 6 more like me, tainted creatures but where?...’ he paused for a moment letting his new evolved aura to look for individuals that could serve his purpose which gave him favorable results in a very short time ‘The nearest is in the mountains to the east and the next one inside the griffon kingdom, I shall play a little with the one in the mountains, see what he is made of before I decide to expose myself anymore’ his mouth formed a sly smile.

That night a foul wind was felt over ponyville.

> Desire Chapter Five: New Ways to Wake Up
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Desire

Chapter Five: New Ways to Wake Up

Periodic Magic Usage Disorder: Also known as ‘PMUD’ or by the average pony ‘Nightmare spell’ it’s a disorder that is found among unicorns at the time of their sleep. It consist on the involuntary usage of magic by an unicorn who by one reason or another barely goes from the REM stage of the sleep to the 2nd stage unable to get to the 3rd and 4th stages while his/her mind focus on creating a spell as noted before due to any number of reasons some of the most common are; stress, fear, guilt and as the common pony name implies a nightmare. In any instance if one suspects of having this condition a doctor should be consulted as soon as possible and if the case requires a psychologist for this condition will exhaust any unicorn as a unintentional spell uses much more magic energy than one that is done at will or by mere instinct and can even overtake a spell being cast passively by the caster.

_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-	

Hardcover was confused ‘why am I being blanketed with cotton candy? Why is the grass soft as a pillow? Why do I feel chocolate in my mouth?’ these thoughts pondered in his mind while looking at the horizon, he saw that everything was wrong, the sun looked like it was made of marshmallow, the sky out of jelly and the hills made out of either cake, candy or sugar “this has officially gone from weird to flat out insane” he said to himself.

“Glad to see you accept your sanity... or lack of it so well” a deep and familiar voice called to him.

“ACK” Cover jumped by the sudden appearance of another pony at this place.

“Surprised to see me student?” Princess Luna asked as she made her appearance in her dream form, there in her realm she stood as tall as Celestia, her horn and wings larger than her sister’s but with a more frightening appearance much like that of Nightmare Moon.

“Of course I am surprised Luna I suddenly find myself awake in this... place and you appear out of nowhere in that form”

“Why is it that you are such a scaredy cat? You have fought many other ponies even when they have presented themselves with weaponry and yet you jump at the sight of a spider or the sudden appearance of anypony from a dark spot”

“None of your business... is this your doing?” he said sitting in his spot and pointing his hoof at the scenery

“Of course not Student, what do you take me for?”

“A playful and prankster filly with which I used to play with until recently”

Luna’s eyes shot arrows at him, literally which he dodged taking seat just nearby from where he sat first “That will cost you a couple of nightmares”

“Not like I have any other kind of dream recently” he said looking at the strange floor below him with a pain filled stare.

Luna looked at him the same way he saw the floor “I know what you mean, in my rounds through this world I have found that your dreams have been mostly nightmares in the past months, mostly about him” Luna sat at his side and used her hoof so that their stares met.

“It’s painful to know… to know that maybe I could have done something more, something to prevent this” he struggled with the words, now he just stared blankly at the cotton candy blanket he was using until recently that seemed to move a little.

“You remind me of sister when you are like that, trying to fix those that are too far gone on their own and you don’t even realize that you need help to do so. Speaking of which how was the reunion?”

“Fine I think, they did caught wind of us not telling everything but we can manage”

“Why do you have to do so like this?”

Cover shut his eyes not wanting to say what he was about to say “Please Princess let me do this my own way”

Luna knew that he only used her title on certain occasions and that was when he wanted to drop a conversation “very well but hear me out, if something were to happen do not waste any time and call for me.... us, Celestia and me so we can help beside if something were to happen to Twilight Sparkle and her friends Tia and I would be so mad at you, they are our friends as well”

Cover pondered the weight of her words “Very well Luna, I will... now if you excuse me” he got up and stretched his back “I must enjoy this dream to its fullest, I can’t remember last time I had such a good dream”

Luna snickered “very well I’ll leave you with this dream and remember to send me a letter and to Merope as well, she has been worried sick ever since you left her with your parents”

“Tell her I said hi, and that maybe she can come here as there is another dragon that she can meet”

“Spike I presume”

“Why didn’t you tell me she had a dragon as well?”

“You never asked, besides that kind of information is classified for purpose of safety and all those things”

“Bureaucracy above all things, you both really need to fix that”

*Snickers* “We will try, see you soon student” Luna finally exited the dream realm leaving Cover to do as he pleased.

“COWABUNGA” he yelled as he leapt to the cream covered hills and for what seemed ages he enjoyed the sweet scenery like a foal the morning after nightmare night; he spent his time inside the sugar mines, the Cake Mountains, the cream river, the strawberry fields... it was a great dream ‘it must be because of the bakery... now that I think about it why did I even woke up below that cotton candy?’ he returned with haste and studied the cotton candy with some curiosity and saw the chocolate dripping from a side ‘that seems yummy’ he prompted a lick from it and let the fluffy candy fill his mouth... it felt wrong he gagged at the feel of the thing entering his throat.

Cover gagged at the feel of the strange object that got in his throat and woke from his slumber and saw that what he was trying to swallow was a piece of Pinkie Pie’s hair drenched in some drool, he gagged and got the hair out of his mouth and moved the mare away from him with a little push, thankfully she seemed to be a deep sleeper.

He got up and made his joints pop with a stretching; once again he was tired maybe thanks to the -Nightmare Spell- he most likely casted over while sleeping which he thought was -Memory Share- ‘there is no other way I would have dreamed of such a place and now I see that it was most likely her dream... does she ever stop thinking about desserts?’ the spell he had used at earlier hours of the day to help his best friend Soft Edge to draw his memories was taxing in its own way, lending his memories to others was dangerous, it was in a way like a mind reading spell and it could turn into a mind control if done correctly and with enough strength.

The clock read 10 A.M. in the morning and he thought of going back to sleep when suddenly an older mare appeared into the room “Pinkie Pie dear you must get uuuuuuuuup...” she stopped dead in her tracks and looked at the stallion in the middle of the room, then at the sleeping Pinkie Pie, back at him and she finally decided to walk backwards and close the door she just entered from... ‘Ok... now I will need to explain some things’ he sighed and made way to the bathroom ‘I guess you never get bored here in Ponyville’

After a quick visit to the bathroom he saw that Pinkie was still asleep so he decided to walk down the stairs and explain his presence... somehow.

Trotting down the stairs he began to notice the smell of freshly baked goodies which reminded him of breakfast ‘ok after my introduction I shall buy some breakfast, this is still a bakery of sorts and it will be good for my introduction to pay for something and break the ice’ he was now entering the exhibition room when he noticed Pinkie Pie talking to an adult couple whom in his little knowledge of ponies of the little village must be the cakes.

“And then he said I could sleep over him if I wanted to be warm and cosy and that is what I did and... oh there he is” she stood beside the stallion and wrapped her right foreleg around him “he is Hardcover an old friend of Twilight’s and my new friend” she smiled intensively.

“Why hello dear” talked the mare “I must apologize for my behavior earlier, you must understand that the... sight was quite… well...”

“I understand that it can be taken out of context but let me assure you that I am most respectful to all and every good pony in Equestria you can be sure that if I slept in Pinkie Pie’s room was because she offered to give me shelter and...”

“Well son what is it?” the older stallion asked.

“Just a quick question”

“Well shoot boy, what are you waiting for?”

“Just when did she come downstairs?”

“Oh it was after I walked out of the room; she came bouncing down the stairs and told us why you where in the room”

Cover stood there silent for a good 2 minutes his mind raging the events from last night to this very moment ‘ok this is weird, she was there when I got out of bed, there is no way.... maybe I need to consult somepony on the matter Twilight Sparkle must know something or at least have an explanation to it’ *grumble* hardcover could hear his stomach growl so loud everypony just snickered at the sound “Ahahaha well lookie it’s late so how about some breakfast?”

“You are posivelutely right about it; now stay here while I bake some breakfast” Pinkie Pie seemed to agree with Cover and she started bouncing to the kitchen.

“... Wait bake?” Cover said as he stepped in front of Pinkie.

“Well yeah I am a baker what did you expect me to do?”

“How about cook?” he asked sarcastically.

Pinkie Pie just sat there and started fidgeting with her hoofs and laugh nervously.

“You don’t know how to cook”

“Eeenope” she said casting her eyes aside to hide her shame.

He facehoofed “ok before you get baking I will make breakfast then I have to go to the library”

Pinkie’s face changed, it was weird and fearful Cover did not know why but she started stuttering “Bu but why do you have to go there?”

“There are some things I need to check with Twilight”

“But I wanted to try some recipes...” she now was sad and her hair lost some of it’s puffiness.

‘Great now she is sad... what do I do?’ he stared at her ‘Why is it so difficult to negate a request from a mare?’ he sighed “look I will go to the library and after I am finished I will teach you a recipe for a new dessert... is that ok with you?”

Pinkie’s face brightened and she jumped out of joy “YIPEEE! You heard that miss cake? A new recipe, oooh that makes me so” she was held down on the floor by Cover.

The cakes just looked at the scene with warming eyes, even though they had taken Pinkie Pie under their wing a long time ago to teach her how to be a proper baker, in a sense they had seen her grow like a daughter and they were happy that maybe she would soon learn something they could never hope to teach her, something that it had to be learned by oneself, that pained them and made them happy at the same time for even if it all went wrong, the experience would make her grow.

“Now let me cook breakfast and then we can keep on with our day” he left and started to prepare the breakfast which he decided it would consist on scrambled eggs, bread and some juice.

“Hey Pinkie, do you like coffee?”

“Not really”

“Why not?”

“It isn’t sweet even if you put a lot of sugar in it”

“hehehe well not if you do it the right way”

“Pinkie’s interest was piqued at the sudden statement, ‘how is it possible that coffee could be sweeter?’ did he have a special form of preparing coffee? Those questions lingered in her mind...”

Cover got out of the kitchen with a pan floating in front of him “wait, are you narrating to yourself?”

“Pinkie was taken aback ‘how did he know what I was doing? And how dare he interrupt my own narration?’ she was mad at him being so casual about it”

“Oh dear Celestia you are still doing it”

“He said with surprise look in his face”

... “I am going to go back to the kitchen, be right back”

“He said as he trotted back to carry on with his...”

“AND STOP THAT” he yelled from the kitchen.

The cakes tried to stifle a laugh.

Pinkie stopped doing so and just waited for her breakfast.

Soon after he got back with the breakfast, there was 2 cups of hot milk floating near him which Pinkie eyed with some curiosity “so where is the coffee?”

“Here let me fix that” he took the coffee powder and mixed it with the hot milk, and proceeded to put 3 spoonfuls of sugar to each and mixed them.

Pinkie eyed the mix with uncertainty “just 3? It will be soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo”

Hardcover’s patience tank was almost empty by now but he talked in a monotone voice “Pinkie Pie do not try my patience for I am more than willing to get out of this town and not teach you anything”

Pinkie sat straight and finished her statement “tasteless”

“Now would you give me some credit? I know what I am doing... now eat”

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It was half past 11 and Cover was trotting to the library, he had had a good breakfast and even showed Pinkie a way to have a better coffee, making it with milk made coffee easier to sweeten.

Now he had some flour tortillas and some chocolate mix for later on to keep on his promise with Pinkie as he pondered a thought that would always assault his mind ‘Mares are so incredibly difficult to deal with’ he soon came close to the great hollow tree that acted as library and hoped that Twilight Sparkle would be awake ‘well I need to have some real info of the elements, if I can keep it casual maybe I will also get some info on Pinkie Pie... I really hope that she can answer me, else I will go insane’

He prepared to knock on the door, but he remembered it was a public library so he let himself inside quietly so he won’t wake up everypony if they where asleep, he could wait.

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Fluttershy felt weak, tired, her eyes burned and her nose was humid yet she felt warmth around her which made her feel... safe, and it was so comfortable it felt like Pegasus feathers... there was something wrong, why was her wall green? Or so close? In fact, why was it moving as if it was breathing? Her mind suddenly recalled the events of the night before, her memories, her crying, and the Pegasus colt that held her when she was at her weakest.

‘High Rise is holding me’ her eyes opened widely in realization and she moved thanks to her nervousness ‘ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh he is holding me... and he is still asleep, oh Celestia, Twilight, Rarity, somepony help me, what am I supposed to do?’ her sudden movement awoke her guest.

“maaahummm”  High Rise woke and looked at the mare in front of him and realized he was still holding her and she was afraid, nervous he realized it must be because of him so he let her go “hey good morning Fluttershy how are you?”

Fluttershy leapt from her bed and tried to hide her embarrassment with her mane and behind her hoofs “I... I’m sorry”

“Sorry for what?”

She pointed her hoof to his chest and as she did so he noticed that his chest was humid with mucus, he poked the stain and saw what it was “ew, well this is certainly a new way to start my day” he looked at Fluttershy cowering a little trying not to meet his gaze “hey don’t be ashamed, if somepony needs to be ashamed is me, I saw you crying and held you even when you did not asked”

“But... still... I...”

‘Great she feels guilty, how quickly can her emotions change?’ “Look this is not that bad, if you could just lend me you bathroom I could use it to clean myself” he then thought of something to loosen her mood, he hid his face in his mane and hoofs “I mean... if you are... okay with it”

She noticed how he was acting like she was; she thought he was being cute that way ‘do I look like that when I am the same? That explains the light blushing on his cheek’

‘She sure takes her sweet time thinking things over’ “hey what about if you take a bath first then I can have mine, what do you think?”

“No please, you are dirty... and it is my fault that you are like that”

Rise looked at her almost disappointed “Fluttershy, even if I am dirty I really want you to bathe first, you were the one crying out gallons worth of sorrow... so please go, you said so yourself yesterday, I am a knuckle head and you won’t change my mind”

Fluttershy thought about protesting but she knew it would be a waste of time and so she floated to her bathroom.

_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-

After both ponies had taken their respective turns bathing they had gone downstairs, it was 10 minutes to 12 and Fluttershy was feeding her critters, Rise was helping her as he wanted to make himself useful to the mare that had given him shelter and was going to feed him, after minutes of labor he had wanted to talk to her... about anything “so I wanted to ask you”

“Yes... about what?”

“Well you see we are in the middle of October right?”

“Yes... at least that is what the calendar says”

“I figured as much”

“Figured what?”

“That you girls knew that we were hiding something that you wanted us near to see if you could squeeze the truth out of us”

“No that’s not right... well yes but, we agreed to just keep an eye on you, nothing else”

“Is that why Twilight Sparkle tried to make my brother stay with her?”

“....” Fluttershy silently analyzed what Rise had said, her friend Twilight wanted her guest’s brother to sleep in the library... “It is strange; I mean we all wanted to keep an eye on you but...”

“It looked like she wanted him to stay for another reason was it not?”

“... It did seem that way to me, the look in her eyes; it was different almost like...”

“Like what?”

“Well some time ago there was a show mare that came to town, she was called...”

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“So after I repaired those pieces of cloth I saw Twilight looking at them with that same look in her eyes” Fluttershy had finally ended the story to her guest.

“But did she ever try to send it to their owner?”

“Twilight says that she wants to give them to her personally but after contacting her once throughout mail she lost all contact with her... even if she sends an occasional letter and that she knows they are being received... there is just no response”

Rise sat silently... ‘Well Bro you just did what I feared...’ “Well I must apologize in advance”

She looked at him not knowing what had happened “Why... why are you apologizing?”

“My brother, it seems that his over friendly ways of talking and to interact with ponies have led him to sway your friend to have a crush on him... I really hate him for doing that, not that he realizes what he is doing, he is that dumb” a grumble sounded from both the mare and the stallion’s bellies.

The clock pointed 12:45 and Celestia’s sun confirmed the time “Oh my I totally forgot about breakfast, sorry”

“No it’s all right, hey do you want me to help you?”

“Oh I couldn’t ask you to”

“Nonsense, that way we can finish faster and eat earlier”

“But”

“No buts, Come on let us make something already, I am starving...”

“Something bothering you?”

“I wanted to know...  nothing”

“What is it?”

“Nothing really, it’s something I can ask any other day...”

“It’s about yesterday... isn’t it?”

“... Sorry I just... the way you cried, look I don’t need to know if you don’t want me to... but I advise you to tell somepony, that Twilight Sparkle seems like the type of pony you can go and tell her about the things that are bothering you”

Fluttershy stood near him “I will tell you, you are right in the fact that I need somepony with whom I can share all my feelings, and I have kept them locked for enough time... come let’s make breakfast”

_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-

Rainbow Dash had been looking to the roof of her own home angered over the conversation she had with her Foalhood Friend, the scene repeated over and over in her head; the colt sitting in front of him, his refusal to answer her questions and her friend the shyest and well mannered pony in all of Equestria... ‘Why did you do that Fluttershy? What am I supposed to do?’ he thought of going to see any of their friends... but whom? ‘Rarity? No, bad idea she won’t have a solution and she will scold me. Twilight? No she would do the same... and her dreamy eye for that chocolate stallion really makes me doubt... and since Pinkie and Fluttershy are out of the question the only option is Applejack’

Rainbow rolled to her side to be able to look through her window to the farm that her friend/rival owned, she had found herself staring at it more and more, thinking about her nonetheless. It was known to her friends that she was a marebian, they did not cared her sexual orientation, they had accepted her as she was but she had not shared everything with them, she had a crush… like a silly filly she had fallen for one of her friends.

‘If I go and tell AJ about what I did she would be so mad… and I love that side of her’ she shook her head ‘no, bad idea, she would be so mad she might stop talking to me… not worth the risk’

Her stomach grumbled in protests, she had not had eaten yet so she ultimately decided to go to Sugar Cube Corner, it was the obvious choice for when you do not have anything in your fridge… and your kitchen looked like 3 tornados had hit it in rapid succession.

She flew as fast as she could and arrived at the pastry shop and party central of Ponyville ‘maybe after eating something I will go and see Fluttershy… she needs to answer me some questions’ she entered the establishment.

_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-

The Cutie Mark Crusaders had already woken up, hungry and eager to start the day, not so much after they remembered they were meant to be punished for their actions the night before. Their thoughts were set aside as soon as they saw Hardcover asleep with his back against the wall of the library.

“Well Ah must say, this here is weird”

“It looks like he just… spent the night there. Twilight is a lame hostess”

“I do not think she could do something so… rude”

“Hey Applebloom what time is it?”

“Tha clock says, 1:15”

“Whoa we ended up sleeping most of the morning, and I wanted us to go to the mountain early and try rock climbing”

“Ah am sure that our families won’t let us go anywhere for ah while”

“Excuse me girls… what about him?” Sweetie Bell said as she pointed her hoof to the sleeping stallion that was kicking as if he was having a bad dream.

“Oh yeah, I had forgotten about him”

“What do yah wanna do about ‘im?”

Sweetie Bell pondered in though and came up with an answer “lets wake Twilight she will know what to do” their bellies grumbled showing that they all needed to eat something “and I would like to eat something before nightfall” the other 2 agreed.

The 3 turned their backs to trot up the stairs but stopped at the sight of Twilight Sparkle walking out the room with messy hair *ahumm* “good morning girls…”

“Good morning Twilight” the 3 fillies greeted in unison.

“Miss Twilight, why did ya make Hardcover sleep on the floor?”

Twilight looked at little Applebloom confused “what did you just say?”

The three pointed at the sleeping unicorn that woke up violently “THE ELEMENTS” yelled Hardcover waking up panting and sweating heavily.

The Crusaders took a step back, the way he had woken up yelling scared them, but Twilight was curious “good morning sleepy head”

“Ah Twilight how are you? ...and I think is afternoon”

She stifled a laugh “yeah you are right sorry... hey, what are you doing sleeping there?”

Hardcover stretched a little and cracked his spine once again that day “nothing… just waiting for you to wake up”

“He he I can see that, but why did you waited for me? And since when are you here?”

“… I wanted to ask some things to you, and I am here since half past eleven I think… what time is it?” Cover said scratching his head.

Twilight looked at her clock “1:20 pm why?”

“Nothing… hey you girls have just woken up right?”

The question reminded Twilight about that feeling of emptiness she had felt after waking up “well yes of course I am… how about you girls?”

“Well Miss Twi... I don’ really wan ta impose” little Applebloom’s stomach growled in unison with her friends “but a would appreciate to eat sumtin’ before mah sister arrives”

“Ok girls deal, now let me wake up Spike so he can make breakfast”

“What are you talking about?” asked Cover “why do you have to wake him up?”

Twilight nervously chuckled “you see I…”

“Dear Princesses Celestia and Luna… Is there a mare here in this town that actually knows how to cook?”

“Hey look sorry, I just…” she started to defend herself.

“Let all the cooks in the castle make your meals”

“I… I…” she sat on her spot and started fiddling with her hoofs.

“Never thought about learning how to properly cook anything beyond daffodil sandwiches so it won’t waste your time”

Twilight could not even look straight at him; she was embarrassed to the point of being unable to defend herself.

Cover sighed and got up “I will help you… so how about pancakes for breakfast?”

A trio of YAY’s were heard and the fillies went to the kitchen.

“Twilight I have to ask you just a couple of things after breakfast”

Twilight’s heart almost jumped from hearing that simple phrase “Sure, anything you want”

“Ok now, before they try making a mess in the kitchen” he nodded his head towards Twilight’s Kitchen and he trotted inside.

She just stood there looking at the stallion as he disappeared behind the door and thought to herself ‘why would he scream that? I mean is not like it is a secret that 6 mares are the living representations of the elements of harmony, thought we wanted that piece of information not to be spread, that may be the reason only the few ponies that wander the castle’s glass room knows who we really are’ she did not move an inch rambling through her thoughts when suddenly the stallion called for her.

“Twilight come here for a second”

“Coming”

At the kitchen she saw Cover sorting through all of the cabinets “what are you doing?”

“Looking for pancake mix, do you have any?”

“mmmhhhh…” she tried to remember but from her mind did not register anything.

Spike entered the kitchen still yawning from his slumber “We were supposed to go buy at the market this morning, now you will have to go buy something at Sugar Cube corner”

The stallion was left speechless, now he had to return to the bakery and would never get to ask the questions he wanted ‘I could always ask her any other day’ “well let us get going, my treat”

Twilight just had to interfere “Oh please no, if anything I want to pay for the breakfast, for making you wait for me here in the library”

“No, no, no, I did said I would make pancakes, and since you do not have mix, I am willing to pay for it”

“Just like Applejack says, no way, no how, I want to pay for the late breakfast”

“Nope, I will”

“I will”

“I will”

“I will”

“WILL SOMEPONY JUST MAKE A DECISION, I’M STARVING” yelled Scootaloo.

Both young mare and stallion took a step aside to look at the filly that had yelled, then they looked at each other and they half smiled finally Hardcover spoke “How about, I pay half and you pay half?”

“Sounds like a great idea” she answered.

Scootaloo pulled her lower eyelids in annoyance “finally we can get going; I was tired of all this mushiness”

Now Twilight and Cover blushed a little at the sudden remark, Cover went to the entrance of the library taking his saddlebags and opened the door bowing to let the mare and fillies to get out in a gentlecolty way.

“Well isn’t he quite the gentlecolt, Twilight how ya doin’?”

“Applejack how nice to see you, I am fine how are you doing?”

“Just fine, I am coming back from my market round and I came here to pick up Applebloom, the little filly needs to start her punishment sooner or later either” the cowmare said as she eyed her little sister.

Applebloom looked down to the floor in shame, that was a sight Hardcover could not bear with the sight of the filly so he did what he did best… getting in the middles of a problem he had no valid opinion, so he took a step in front, straightened himself, puffed his chest out “Applejack, I am sure you can relate to the reason she did such a thing, she was just trying to protect you, as family”

Applejack took her stare away from her sister up to the stallion near her, Hardcover could not see if said stare was either from amusement or annoyance “Boy you surprise me, they tried to attack you just yesterday, so how come you are defending them”

“Because they felt it was the right thing to do

“Look boy…”

The stallion was annoyed that she would not use her name “Hardcover, my friends’ call me Cover”

“Hardcover” The naming did not go unnoticed by the stallion “look at it ma way, even if I am thankful that she wanted to protect me an ma friends, what she did was dangerous, imagine that you were a thief, I am sure as hay you would have put resistance or even hurt ma lil sister”

“… I am not going to win this discussion, am I?”

“Nnnope”

Cover looked at the fillies with resignation in his eyes “sorry girls, she is right what you did was foolish and at worst suicidal, I let myself get caught because I was curious of your actions… do promise Applejack here that you will never do something like that ever again”

“We promise” the trio said.

Twilight Sparkle followed the discussion and took note of Applejack’s and Hardcover’s little discussion ‘this might be a good report on the magic of friendship’ her thought interrupted by the sweet smell of apple goodies that emanated from the cowmare’s selling cart “Applejack, what do you have here?”

“Well sugarcube I have some fritters, half a pie and a dozen of apples, why?”

“You see, we just woke up and we were on our way to Sugar Cube Corner, but you just saved us our trip”

“Gee Twilight it seems to me that you would not eat a nibble unless reminded to do so, now for everything I have it would be… 26 bits” Applejack raised her hoof in the general direction of the purple unicorn.

“Eleven, twelve, thirteen…” counted Twilight floating the gold pieces with her magic.

“And I have the rest” Cover said floating them to the apple farming mare “and I think is finally time to eat something” he said floating the apple based products from the cowmare’s cart.

“YAY” cheered the fillies as they followed the food they longed for.

At the kitchen Cover put the table so the fillies and mare could enjoy their meal but he knew that they would need something to drink “Twilight, do you mind if I check the fridge?”

Twilight nodded in response.

He trotted to the big fridge and opened it just to realize that it had no milk or anything in fact so he peaked his head from the side of the door “Cutie Mark Crusaders, guess what?” hoping to grab the attention of the mares attention as well.

“What is it Hardcover?” Applejack asked.

“Well you see, Princess here” he said pointing his horn at Twilight Sparkle’s direction “has no milk or anything drinkable here”

Twilight chuckled nervously “Spike already told you…”

Then all of the sudden a known Pink mare jumped from inside the fridge stratling the stallion “hey what’s up?”

“AGH…” yelped Cover as he jumped back sitting on the wooden floor “P-PINKIE… how, when, what?”

“Hey Cover, I wanted to know if you were finished here”

“…” he felt silent staring at her.

Twilight interrupted “Pinkie, I just woke up and Cover here was trying to give me and the girls something to drink”

“Need some milk?”

“If possible, yes”

“Here” Pinkie said as she grabbed a gallon of milk with her hoof from the inside of the fridge 

“Thanks Pinkie, I will be sure to go to Sugar Cube Corner after I visit Zecora later” Twilight said and smiled at friend.

“Okie Dokie Lokie, see ya Twilight, Applejack, Crusaders, Cover” and she hopped out of the library.

Cover was still sitting in his flank, not really doing anything but seeing the mares as they talked, and once Pinkie had left he managed to talk “Twilight… how did she?”

“*snickers* do not worry, you will get used to Pinkie Pie if you spent enough time in Ponyville, but if you have any questions you can always ask me”

Cover took seat at the table; he put his face between his hoofs and just said “Brace yourself Twilight Sparkle, for I have many”

> Side Story: Vices Chapter 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vice 2: Greed.

Rover had been working all day long; he and his pack had finished taking what little gems they could find in their old tunnels and where in the process of excavating more, he had wished they could find more than the meager numbers they were getting but after the incursion with that band of ponies and the whelp, they had had almost no luck finding anything that resembled a ruby or a diamond.

“Carry on guys. I need some fresh air” he told to the rest of the pack as he made his way upwards, none of his subordinates said anything aloud, but he knew they blamed him for their dire luck, after all he had been the one to brought that stupid white unicorn here.

_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-_-_-_-_-	_-_-_-_-_-_-		_-_-	

There he sat on the upper part of the mountain he and his pack calls home, sitting on a cold rock feeling the freezing winds of an early autumn; he did not dare look up to the skies, his eyes staring at the dirt beneath his feet, depressed over the turn his life had taken almost 2 years ago… ‘Or was it over? Who cares either way… they took all of our gems and with it our pride and luck’ hi curled his paw into a fist so tight that his nails started piercing his flesh and slammed it against the floor in a fit of rage.

“Why so serious?” an odd voice called to him, Rover got up by instinct, trying hard to see who was it that felt so threatening, he looked at a single pony, he was bigger than the ones he had seen before, it felt unnatural to call it a pony.

“WHO… WHAT ARE YOU?”

“relax my howling friend…”

“I am friend to no pony, now speak up before I decide to serve you as a main dish tonight” Rover tried to look brave; in reality he was scared and was mere moments to pass out.

“Well, well, well. It seems that you have some kind of grudge with my keen, I would ask what that grudge is about if I really cared but alas that is hardly the case”

Rover was getting angry, he… it was mocking him “Speak up pony, what are you doing here?”

“I came to visit you”

Rover was taken aback had he heard right?

“Yes you did hear right, I am here because of you, you see I am… how would you say? A seeker of talents… like yours, you, dear fella have something I desire”

“And that is?” now he relaxed his stance, but not completely.

“A talent for digging, a pack of soldiers which need gemstones, and must of all… a soul filled with an insatiable greed you must know that I could help you, the only thing I ask of you is for you to cooperate with me”

“I would never ask for help to one of your kin… unless of course you have something I am interested in”

The pony gave a slight smile from the corner of his mouth “you see the town just west of here? I know that in that puny little town by the forest, there are many, many jewels stored, the only thing you must do is get them”

“Ha, as if you could do it that easily, the unicorns there would strangle us with their freaky magic”

“Tsk tsk tsk. I would never have come here if I could not procure you the means to do so” his aura then crushed the rock the dog was sitting in, and from beneath the dust Rover could see a tablet engraved in it there were plans for a claw like glove.

“What good would this rock do to me?”

“Read”

A little skeptical about the order, rover found himself reading the instructions carefully and his eyes widened at the realization “this says…”

“It is what you need in order to counter those ponies down there”

“But”

The dog’s hesitation made him a little mad, he knew he had to do something drastic, his aura got close to the dog and just a tiny piece of it forcefully entered the creature.

Rover howled in pain, though it was short lived, he now had a new found determination and his greed finally took over the better of his mind “upon second inspection of the stone slab, I think it would take me a week to get the troops ready”

The pony gave a sly smile to his subject “very well, it seems that you have come to terms with my power, I can give you more later, but I do not want to be spotted so soon, do tell me, if we are going to work together could you tell me your name?”

“I am Rover, what would your name be?”

“D-…” he stopped himself from mentioning his old name he was not the colt he once used to be, he was much more than that, as he mused over for a while he finally came up with an answer “My name is…”


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Author's note: I know I am an irregular at updating but please hang with me, also I will be adding another story alongside Desire it will be called "Lunar Phases" and it will be the how did my OC ended up as Luna's student, and since the show is good with leaving plot holes for interesting characters it will help to explain why Luna did not knew what fun is, and what happenned to her in her absence from the public spotlight... I hope you can endure me as my mind rages through ideas and I am already thiinking about a shipping involving a certain crusader and some other... foal until I actually write it you shall one day see what I am talking about.

Once Again I apologize, I never though this would be easy, but I also never thought it would be this hard, still I am having a lot of fun writing this Fic.