Chapter 01: And So, My Journey... Begins? What?

Chapter 01: And So, My Journey... Begins? What?

Why is my head ringing? Goddamn, it feels like someone set off a grenade inside my skull. I dig my face further into my gloved palms, trying to make it stop. After some time, it finally begins to subside, and I open my eyes. The landscape in front of me is like a massive, swirling river - a river made of pulsing, green water. It's quite a beautiful site to behold, sure, but what is it? Why am I here? Why am I...

Standing right over there. And over there. And up there. What the hell is going on? There are... other me's, everywhere, moving around on their own. They have the same forward-spiked hair, same padded blue uniform, same heavy leather belt, same metal shoulder and arm guards. Some of them seem angry, others depressed, others pained, and still more completely manic-looking, but the one consistent thing held true - they're all me, or at least all look the part. They even have the same piercing, fluid-like blue eyes. Eyes the color of the sky. These eyes, they symbolize my status as... as what?

I can't remember much of anything. I feel like I should know a lot of things - what this green mist is, or why I'm here. I can't even remember my own name! Why do those other people all look like me? Are they thinking the same things I am right now? This situation is too messed up! I can feel something, though, in the pit of my stomach. It's definitely a feeling and not an actual memory. Is it... guilt? Over what? I try to push myself to remember, and my body shudders. It's like there's a wall there, blocking me, and my body is telling me not to tear it down. Instead, all I'm left with for memories are vague notions - notions of fighting. How long had I been fighting before I ended up here, in this place? Against who? Why? I nearly scream out in frustration from the jumbled mess inside my head, and then...

Then, I see her. A girl, walking between the other versions of myself. Talking to them? That's what it seems like, anyway. She looks incredibly familiar. Her long, dark hair sways as she moves, and when I catch a glimpse of her front, a bang is often swept forward, obscuring part of the right side of her face. My mind is screaming with recognition, but no name or memory comes forth. Just two very conflicting feelings. One's a feeling of warmth, like she's exactly what I need... and the other, a feeling of absolute dread, ringing in my head that I need to avoid her at any cost. Is she the one I feel guilt over? No, for some reason, that doesn't feel right, but I... Argh! Why is everything so damn confusing!?

My head rings again as I hear a voice, a voice that feels like its speaking directly into my brain. It's soft, like a whisper. A completely inaudible whisper. A whisper that makes my skin crawl. I watch the girl walk to each other-me, speak to them, see them enveloped in the soft glow of the stream around us as... something happens between them. Yank! Something pulls me back, away from the others, causing me to stumble. The voice continues to echo in my skull, and I can't help but crouch and grasp my head again. Make it stop! This time I really do scream out, from the splitting pain in my head and the nonsensical nature of this entire place!

When I look back up again, my doubles are coming together, slowly becoming... the same person? What's going on around here?! Yank! I'm pulled back again, further away from what's slowly becoming just two people - the girl, and a single 'me' with a solemn yet determined expression. Dammit, my head... I can barely see straight from the pain, never mind try to make sense of this. She checks him over, oblivious to the fact I even exist. That is, until she turns. She turns, and I step back again.

"Another one?" She pouts and puts her hands on her hips. "Cloud, what am I going to do with you?" Cloud...? She steps over to me slowly, and with each step forward she takes, I take an equivalent step back. Cloud, is that my...?

The voice in my head starts speaking again, causing me to grip my head as steps backwards become stumbles, barely keeping my balance. It's louder, but still inaudible. I look up now, and see the other-me standing, watching as I step back, and the girl steps forward, trying to reach me. Her pace is quickening as I continue to stumble back. The voice in my head is finally clear enough to make out features. It's a deep, heavy voice, and cold, with the slightest tint of malice... The girl is running toward me now, but I feel a final tug at my back, and I'm pulled over some kind of edge, falling, gripping my head helplessly as she reaches over the edge, trying to grab me but missing. Finally, I can understand a few of the words being spoken into my mind.

"Good," it speaks clearly as I fall deeper into the swirling streams of green all around, "I can still use this piece of Hojo's little failure..."

A... piece? To... what? The other-me? Hojo? I don't remember... the bits and pieces feel like they're being washed out of my mind as I close my eyes, and I'm encased in this calming, green stream. It feels like other things are being washed away as well - my body, becoming lighter. No, not lighter... I don't know... but something is being... removed. Something I shouldn't want - but something I need.

Let me sleep. I don't want to open my eyes right now. At first, the embrace of the stream is warm, beyond soothing, but slowly it becomes cool. a relaxing chill brushing against my skin. It even hums lowly, perfect for letting me drift into the sweet embrace of sleep...

Or did I sleep at all? I don't know. I'm awake now, and I'm wet and cold, and... feeling a tug at the neck of my clothes? I know my memories are missing in action, but that's definitely wrong! I shouldn't be getting dragged around anywhere! Is it that girl? The owner of that voice? 'Myself'? Everything feels like a giant haze, but my instincts are flaring. I need to push back into consciousness and see what's going on! I try to rouse, to jump up and face whatever's grabbed hold of me, but all I can muster is a groggy writhe and a small moan. My eyes attempt to refocus, but the sun is bright, light beading down onto my face as I turn my head to the side. Shit, when did it become high noon? I need to wake up, but damn, somebody turn out the lights.

As my eyes finally focus some more, a silhouette enters my vision. It's close to my head, and... it at least appears to be distinctly female, though obscured due to both the sun and my vision's half-recovered state. Her hair cascades down the outlines of her face. It reminds me a little of the one from before, but it's on the wrong side... Wait, from before? From where? All I can remember is being swept along that green current...

As my eyes adjust, I make out colors, slowly but surely. ...Her hair comes into focus, and it's... pink? Her hair is pink? The hell? As my eyes adjust further, I begin to notice something else about her – she's definitely not human. She has unnaturally large eyes, and some kind of muzzle! This gets my body going at last as I quickly roll and leap to the side, making some distance as I assume a crouching battle stance. I use my left hand for leverage, so I can use it to aide me leaping forward or back as needed, while reaching my right hand up to draw my...? My what? My instincts say there should have been some kind of weapon back there, but... nothing.

Pushing my confusion aside, I look at the creature that was pulling me again. She's... cowering, with her hooves over her face? Are those hooves? I narrow my eyes, watching her as she peeks her head out to watch me as well. I slowly lower my right arm, relaxing it, but maintaining my battle posture in case this is some kind of ruse. I may not have my weapon... whatever it was, but I can still make a cheap shot and flee if things get dicey. She, meanwhile, seems to be getting her confidence back, taking to a fluttering hover a bit off the ground with a pair of tiny wings I hadn't noticed before.

Her wide, blue-green eyes seem to be looking me over with a cautious, curious gaze. Why are her eyes so big? The wings are tiny, but the eyes are huge. It's... more than a little unsettling. And why is her coat... skin? No, that's definitely a fur coat, but why would it ever be a pastel yellow of all things? Is her coloration some kind of weird fashion statement? Something is definitely wrong here. My barely-functioning memory cycles through a few nasty creatures I can remember, but nothing even close to this comes to mind. Where am I? I bite the inside of my lip, and there's pain. It's definitely not a dream, at least.

“Um, hello?” She says to me sheepishly. She can speak... and the same language as I use? This normally wouldn't surprise me much... but it's clear I'm probably not even on the same planet I was on before. Then again, I can barely remember anything about that planet, so what do I know?

“Hey there, don't be scared now...” She continues, but if anything, she's the one that seems scared.

I contemplate replying, but decide to play stupid, softening my glare to hopefully make her feel at ease while I process the situation. She approaches slowly, closing the distance as she rests a hoof on my shoulder. It's a lot... softer and warmer than I'd expect a hoof to be. Huh. It's trembling, though, so I'm definitely not the scared one. She tilts her head, and we maintain eye contact for a few moments before she speaks again. Damn, those large eyes, that's going to take getting used to if there are more of these things.

“I've never seen a critter like you in the Everfree Forest before.” She says, in that calming voice of hers. Wait, critter? I'm not a godda... wait a minute. She's never seen a human before? This is getting a whole lot more confusing, and I've got the feeling it'll just get worse before it gets better... “Can you speak? Do you have a name? I'm Fluttershy, and we should really go get you dried off before you get sick, Celestia knows what you were doing floating down the river like that...” River? I guess that explains the change between silent and warm to humming and cold... and 'Celestia knows'? Do these things even use the same colloquialisms I'm used to? Maybe it's some kind of insane fever-dream. I felt pain when I bit my lip, but maybe those kinds of dreams play by different rules than the usual ones.

Though, the offer is tempting... I am getting cold in these drenched clothes, but I'm not stupid. I leap back from her, turning and quickly dashing into the forest. Maybe it's being too untrusting, but I'd rather see more of this strange new place before I mess up trusting the wrong creature and end up flambe'd. I don't think I would taste all that good, anyway.

“Wait!” She yells back after me, trying her best to keep up with me with those scrawny wings of hers. How do those even give her enough lift to fly, anyway? “The Everfree Forest is dangerous! You might get hurt!” She calls out, warning. Dangerous? I'm running from you to avoid potential danger, lady. Then again, right now rationality isn't my dominating emotion - nor is fear. Right now, I'm running on pure bewilderment, and I really need a place to sit down where I won't need to worry about getting my throat ripped out.

I look back, noticing she's already gone. She was slow, but she should still be at least visible behind me. Maybe she gave up? Is this place really that dangerous, after all? What have I gotten myself into...? Now that I'm essentially knee-deep in shit, the part of my brain that tries to think like someone who's not an idiot wants to reach out of my skull and punch me in the face. I sigh. Too late now. Hopefully some kind of civilization is in whatever direction I'm heading.

Eventually, I arrive at some kind of run-down temple... castle... thing. I have to cross a rickety bridge to actually reach it, and more than once I feel like it's going to snap out from under me. The building itself looks like its been through a war or three. It's overgrown with plants, the ceiling is missing in several areas, and many of the windows lay shattered. However, it's still better than being outside. I head in, and I can't help but admire some of the craftsmanship that's gone into it. The few windows that aren't shattered depict more of those quadruped creatures, in various designs and colors, though it appears many artistic liberties were taken with their forms. Some even have horns atop their heads. I can't imagine they built this structure without... well... hands, so... are they worshiped on this planet? But the one before... Fluttershy? That's a comically fitting name if I've ever heard one. She said she'd never seen a human before. Is there some other kind of creature who could have made this place? Did they make this place and eventually go extinct or something? What stained glass windows remain don't tell me anything useful. To me, they're just images, despite their craftsmanship.

The sun outside is starting to set, and all the running has left me tired. How long was I unconscious in that river, anyway? Or running, for that matter? It's all blending together in my head now, one long day of absolutely confusing gibberish. At least I have this place to bunker down in for the night. If this forest really is dangerous, the worst stuff most likely comes out at night, and I doubt I'll find better shelter without making it myself. I find some of the crumbled stones and huddle them into the corner, making a sort of barrier with them to hide me from anything that might wander inside while I sleep. Once I'm satisfied with it, I slump myself against the wall. Not the most comfortable of places to sleep to be sure, but better than being outside. Maybe I should have taken up that pastel yellow... thing on her offer. Too late now. I close my eyes, hoping rest comes quickly, but keep my ears perked in case any intruders happen by.

Chapter 02: Pastel... Pastel Everywhere!

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Chapter 02: Pastel... Pastel Everywhere!

A dreamless night. I was hoping I'd get lucky with yesterday being the dream. Oh well. Deep down I know I've been through worse, even if I still can't recall any of it. I feel like I'm being watched, but I can't find anything when I take a look around. Plenty of sunlight is filtering in through the high windows... damn, I must've slept a lot more than I should have.

Achoo!

...And the pastel thing was right. Now I'm sick. Exactly what I need right now. Only way this could get worse is if-

Grrruhghhh.

...For the love of. No, that's not a wild animal. That's my stomach. Eating, that's a thing, right. I'll have to set off. What that... whatever she was said before has me a bit concerned, but there must be some kind of civilization nearby. I'd rather not live off furry woodland creatures if I can help it. I push aside the various rocks of my makeshift shelter-inside-the-shelter, hopefully disguising the fact I spent the night there, then head off into the woods.

Now I can definitely feel it as I walk. Eyes. Watching my every move. I feel like I'm going to get jumped by a bunch of guard hounds or something. That won't be a pleasant experience to deal with unarmed. Guard hounds... I guess I can remember something, at least. Better than being completely blanked. Maybe that mea-

…

I just saw it. Something, jumping through the trees. And it did look like a guard hound, at least in terms of its shape. Though... it also looked kind of like a tree. Whatever it is must have some damn good camouflage to pull that off. I can feel them though, stalking me, that feeling of eyes on my back. Lots of eyes. I quickly move to a full run, deciding this is not where I want to be anymore. What I can't figure out though, is why they won't pounce. I'm not exactly well defended, here. Am I really that much of a strange and unusual creature to this... wherever I am, that even the pack animals are unsure if they want to pounce on me?

After a while of running, they seem to finally back off. I can see their vague forms retreating deeper into the woods. As I keep moving forward, I stop feeling their eyes as well, hopefully meaning they're gone completely. Good. There are plenty of other creatures in that forest for them to hunt, like this thing that looked kind of like a lizard-chicken hybrid. In retrospect, I probably should've paid more attention to the other forms of local fauna in case I'm stuck in here for a while, but the need to get away from my previous location was in charge, not my common sense. Oh well, whatever doesn't get recognized kills me later. Assuming the reason they stopped chasing me isn't a bigger preda-

Well. Definitely not a bigger predator. Unless a town's a predator, which I'm pretty sure it's not. A town with an industrial-scale treehouse in the middle. I'm pretty sure I've seen stupider things, so I'll go with it. All I know is right now, a town is answers... and food that's not a small lovable animal or potentially poisonous plant. I nearly break into a run, but decide to use more tact, lingering behind a tree to see exactly what kind of creatures inhabit this town. And what I see are more of those four legged pastel... things. Some with wings, some with horns, some with neither, but none with both despite the fact I saw images of such at that castle I stayed in last night. I suppose this means they're at least one of the main sentient beings in this wherever I am. But... how do they build things without hands? The lack of thumbs seems like it would greatly inhibit construction efforts.

I spend some more time taking things in. Their color patterns are completely ridiculous - yellows and greens and pinks and marshmallows and a veritable rainbow of other colors. I'm suddenly feeling like I'm trapped inside a little girl's coloring book with the variety I'm seeing, but the actual combinations are generally too well-coordinated to be something a little girl would do. Maybe they all dye their hairs and furs then? They do seem to have some kind of tattoo or embroidery or... something stuck square on their ass, though I can't make out what any of them are from this distance.

Then, I begin hearing footfalls nearby me and look around. That's when I realize... I'm hiding behind a tree directly next to the path into the forest. Idiot! Stupid, stupid, stupid! A bit more looking around confirms my fear - I've been seen. The one walking up the path I'm inadvertently 'hiding' on is one of the horned ones, some shade of purple with streaked hair. I suppose that confirms the dye hypothesis? It looks at me quizzically, eying me up and down in a way that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable as I begin wondering why I haven't just bolted it already. That's when I notice the small, purple lizard clinging to its back.

“Uhh... hey there?” It... she says to me? Either their entire species sounds like women, or I'm getting lucky in the field of four-legged suitors. ...No. Definitely not going there. She waves her hoof at me in what I can only assume is meant to be a friendly greeting, though she keeps a safe distance.

“Masterful greeting there, Twi.” The lizard on her back snarks. So there's sentient lizards too. This is just going to be one of those days, isn't it?

“Too weird for me, sorry!” I can't help saying aloud as I turn to book it again, back the way I came. This place just really is too messed up for me to deal with right now, so it's back to the woods. Some poor furry woodland creature is being turned into stew tonight. I probably should have kept my dumb mouth shut, though. Now at least one of their kind knows I'm more than just another forest critter that just looks really strange. Too late though, that ship's sailed. Now just to-

“Wait up!” A voice calls behind me. That 'Twi' thing's voice, as the lizard referred to her. I turn back behind me and sure enough she's chasing me at a full sprint... gallop? Bah. She's also doing much better at keeping up than the butter-colored one did. This could be a real problem. I take a moment to consider how I'm going to shake her. Nothing jumps to mind, though, considering I have no idea where I am and she's way too close to try hiding in the foliage. That's when I feel it again - the eyes, the ever-present eyes of those hound... things. And then, as we get deeper into the woods, I hear the scream.

Good news? No longer being chased by a purple horned whatever. Bad news? She's surrounded by those hounds. And apparently - they are made of wood. What the actual hell? Her horn is glowing, and she's put up some kind of bubble that deflects their pouncing at her, but they've got her surrounded. Unless she can walk back to her town like that, I think it's safe to say she's screwed. She's not even looking at me now. I can just leave and...

...It's times like this I hate having a conscience. I look around the nearby trees, breaking off a large branch and letting it rest in my hands. This feels... natural. I run back toward her, instinct telling me to leap as I bring the branch over my head. I'm able to come down with enough force to shatter the branch on the wooden hound's head, leaving more than a few visible cracks behind as it slumps over. Unconscious? Dead? Hell if I can tell. The others leap back for a bit, circling us and sizing us up with hungry eyes as I pull another, smaller branch from a nearby tree.

“Thanks for the help.” She says, her previously panicked face becoming a lot more confident as she turns back to the wood things. “Sorry if I spooked you before.”

It's now I notice the lizard peeking out from her hair. It looks terrified, though it's quickly becoming braver as it notices the hounds backing off. “Yeah, that's right!” It jumps up, shaking its fist. “The cavalry has arrived! You nasty old timberwolves aren't-” Oh dear god help me he's gonna get us killed.

“Spike!”

“Heh, sorry Twi...”

Now the 'timberwolves' are closing in on us. The little lizard's outburst pissed them off, most likely. At least six or seven of them, maybe more blended into the background. Who knows? I'm still busy computing the fact they're actually made of wood. One leaps for us, and Twi blasts it with a shot of energy from her horn. Right now I'll take what I can get and try to make sense of it later. I turn, intending to go back to back with 'Twi' to minimize terrible surprises, only to see a second one leaping right for us. I swing hard with my stick, stunning it but shattering my new weapon in the process. I don't have time to re-arm, though, as another lunges in my direction, and it's all I can do to dodge to avoid sharp, wooden fangs tearing at my flesh. As I recover, I'm able to grab a low-hanging branch off yet another tree, but these ones are too flimsy for much beyond annoying something with a hide as thick as a goddamn wooden dog.

I catch a glance of my new companion to notice she's back into her bubble, being hounded by four of the things at once. They really see her as more threatening than me, huh? Either more threatening or more delicious, but I guess the distinction is irrelevant right now. One of the timberwolves lunges at me again, and I swat it away with my meager stick, rolling back towards Twi and the original one I downed before. Already needing another new weapon, I grab the downed wolf by its hind leg, turning and swinging it directly into one of the wolves about to pounce at 'Twi'. The distinct crack of heavy wood smashing into more heavy wood rings out as the offending wolf becomes a crumpled heap on the ground. It doesn't take long for me to notice all their eyes are on me now. Using one of their own kind as a weapon is probably something they're both not used to and something they don't take all that kindly to.

Three lunge at me, intent on making sure I go down, and I ready myself. There's no way I'm blocking all of them and there's no space to roll, except into more wolves. Twi readies a blast for one of the wolves, but... suddenly my eyes are drawn to my left wrist. Specifically, to a pair of the inlaid gems on my bangle. One green and one blue. I can... remember...! On instinct I drop my makeshift timberwolf bat, closing my eyes and clutching my hands shut. I can feel the power... flowing... as I shoot my eyes open and open my hands, motioning them toward the wolves as my body exudes a green glow... the same green glow as before I arrived here. The two gems I'd taken note of seconds before are now also shimmering brightly. Suddenly, each of the wolves is encased in a ring of numerals and hangs in the air. The ones to the sides of us have paused as well, posed as if ready to strike but ultimately frozen.

“Quick, let's get out of here!” I turn to Twi, who has a bit of a confused look on her face as she nods and runs off back towards... whatever that town was. This time I follow, not wanting to deal with those things when they unfreeze.

“So... you can use magic?” Twi asks me as we run. When she says magic, I assume she means similarly to what she can do with her horn?

“Sort of.” I reply vaguely. In honesty, I still can't remember all that much about those gems or how they work. It was more like instinct took over and did what needed to be done. “...We better run faster.” I say, hearing the rustling from behind us. Clearly, she heard it too, as there was only a quick nod as we picked up our pace.

“Hey Twi,” the lizard on her back spoke up, “didn't you say a long time ago that timberwolves were noc... noctur...”

“Nocturnal, Spike, and yes, they are...” Twi replied. “Most of Everfree's predators are, so normally the daytime is pretty safe, even if you're still better off not going in there at all.”

“Then... why were they-”

“That's what I'm trying to figure out, Spike.” She replies, scrunching her brow in thought before turning to me. “Do you have any idea what's going on... err... sorry, what's your name?”

“Cloud.” I reply quickly. That's the name the girl in the mist gave me, I think. It's a good a name as any other, whether it's my real name or not. Just as I reply, though, we break free of the woods and make a beeline for that town I saw earlier, the other inhabitants giving me confused and scared looks that I really don't care about right now.

"Quick, we're almost to Ponyville!" Twi's pace quickens again and I be sure not to be left behind. Once we're within the town's limits, both of us turn back to make sure our pursuers are gone, but unlike last time, the wolves are right on the border of the forest, growling at us, tempting us to step back in.

“...That's new.” Twi says, the introductions seem to have become an afterthought for her. “Nothing ever comes right to the edge of the Everfree like that, usually...”

“They must be really mad at us then, huh!” Spike says rather cockily from her back, like we've just done some great thing.

Twi merely narrows her eyes at the thought, slowing to catch her breath. There's a good idea, I could use a bit of that myself. Breathing, that is. It feels like all I've done since I woke up yesterday is run, and run, and run some more. We slow our pace to a walk as we enter the town again, me receiving more stares from the locals and debating if I want to just say screw it and try booking it in a different direction.

“Hey...” Twi says, looking up at me. “Why don't you come back to the library with me to rest for a bit? Least I can do after you helped us back there.” She says with a bit of nervous looking grin. I nod approvingly. Rest would be good, and I can try to question her about where I am. I imagine from that curious look in her eyes she has similar motives for inviting me back. Not that she'll get much out of me, since I can't remember a goddamn thing. “Oh, my name's Twilight Sparkle, by the way,” she says, before motioning with one of her oddly flexible forelegs to the companion on her back, “and this little guy here is Spike.”

“Number one assistant, at your service!” He proclaims proudly, puffing out his chest. I think it's safe to assume at this point he's just a kid.

I merely nod at their introductions, which seems to have Twilight Sparkle a bit offput and nervous. What does she expect me to do, bounce around and sing a song? Soon, we reach that giant treehouse from earlier and she pushes one of her legs against it, opening the door that was clearly not meant to let in anything of my height. This giant thing... is a library?

“Welcome to the Golden Oak Library!” She says cheerfully, “I'm Twilight Sparkle, and I'll be your librarian today! Apologies about the door not being high enough, I'll talk to the management about that. Wait, I am the management!” She looks up at me with a cheerful grin, before it slowly turns sheepish and her ears lower and press against her head. “No good...?”

I let out a small laugh under my breath as I crouch to get into the large, book-strewn room, folding my arms against my chest. I kick the door shut with a foot and lean my back against it.

“You can take a seat, if you like.” She calls to me over her shoulder, already walking toward a desk in the center of the room as Spike hops off her back. “Spike, can you get us some tea going?”

“Tea? No problem! Number one assistant is on the job!” He gives her a salute as he runs towards where I imagine their kitchen is, and I look for a decent place to sit.

It's quiet for a moment, but Twilight is the one who ends up voicing the question on both of our minds. “So... what are you? I've never read about anything like you in any of my books before.”

Chapter 03: Back in Gaea, We Called 'Em "Chocobos."

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Chapter 03: Back in Gaea, We Called 'Em "Chocobos."

“Human?” Twilight Sparkle asks, tilting her head to the side in thought. “That's definitely something I'll need to look up at the library in Canterlot next time I go...”

I sip from my teacup, letting the creature muse to herself for a moment before speaking. “So, your turn. What're you supposed to be?”

She looks at me incredulously for a moment before speaking. “Come on now, surely you know what a pony is! Well, technically I'm a unicorn, but come on!” I simply stare at her blankly and sip my tea. Not sure what blend it is, but it's surprisingly good. “Really, never heard of one? Pegasus, unicorn, alicorn, earth pony, none of the above?”

“None of the above.” I reply, sipping my tea again.

Twilight's face almost looks horrified as she blinks silently for a minute, then reaches down and pulls out a thick textbook simply titled Equine Biology 101. Where the hell did she pull that thing from? “I need to get you educated, fast! Wait... do you even know where we are?”

“...Ponyville?” I reply sarcastically, raising my eyebrow.

“Oh... oh...” Twilight's eyes become wide as saucers. Something jumps through the unicorn's mind as she speaks again. “Even faraway countries know what ponies are and where Equestria is! Where are you from? What's it like there? Are you from some faraway planet? Is this a first-contact situation? Oh, oh, oh, maybe you're a time traveler! Or maybe from a parallel universe? C'mon, tell me!” She looks at me with pleading eyes. I sigh. It would figure I'd roll a nerd as my first contact in this place. I consider lying to her for a moment, but I quickly toss that idea aside. Even if I know where I am is wrong, I still need to find someone who can help me remember everything. Plus, she seems trustworthy enough - and even if she's not, I'm some kind of crazy creature they've never seen before. Anyone she'd tell my existence to would likely just write her off as loopy from reading too much science fiction, so what's there to lose?

“I don't remember.” I say curtly after letting silence hang between us for a minute. Her ears press against her head as she slumps back into her chair.

“You don't remember... anything?”

“Not a thing.” I reply.

“You've got to be kidding me!” She ruffles her hair with her hooves and slumps over on her desk. “I've got what may be one of the most important scientific discoveries in Equestria sitting in my library and he doesn't remember anything!”

“Sorry about her.” Spike says, giving an exasperated sigh. “She can get very... weird... when it comes to these kind of things.”

“You don't say.” I smirk at the lizard and sip down the rest of my tea as Twilight shoots up from her slumped position on her desk.

“I've got it!” She declares triumphantly. “I've got a spell I haven't used since Discord attacked that can help. It wasn't made for something like this, but I'm sure I can get it working to where it can get all your missing memories back in a jiffy!”

I freeze for a moment. No! No! No way! All my internal alarms are telling me not to let that kind of spell anywhere near me. I'm not sure why, remembering everything is exactly what I want, isn't it...? That's the whole reason I was truthful about not remembering things in the first place. And now, my insides are yelling 'cease and desist' up to my brain, whose starting to feel like it wants to punch everything and take a vacation. It's hard for me to stop the panic from showing outwardly as much as it is inwardly, but I manage aside from a sweat bead I can feel dripping down from my forehead. I'm sure she saw that. Dammit. My insides are still shaking, telling me to stay far away from that spell... but... why?

Knock, knock, knock!

Thank God! Salvation! ...Then I hear the voice on the other side of the door.

“Excuse me, Twilight? Are you there? Can I come in? There's something I really would like to talk to you about, you know, if you don't mind... It's about what you were supposed to come visit me about. I couldn't wait any longer.” The one from yesterday. They know each other? Ah hell, this could get complicated... though it seems Twilight's intent has been disrupted by her friend popping by. Looks like I owe the pastel butterball one. Or would it be two, now?

“Spike, can you get the door for Fluttershy?” Twilight asks her Number One Assistant as he hops down from his seat and moves for the door.

“Yeah yeah, I got it.” He quips as he pulls open the door, and the pink-and-yellow Fluttershy walks in. Twilight didn't get to explaining exactly what the difference between unicorn, alicorn, pegasus, and earth pony was, but by process of elimination, I feel safe saying that this would be a pegasus.

“Oh Twilight, you're never going to believe this!” She starts, in a low but excited tone. “I was taking care of my animals near the end of the day yesterday, and floating down the riv-” Her eyes finally drifted from the unicorn to me as she let out a surprised gasp. “Oh dear... I see you've already met.”

I give her a small wave over my tea cup.

Twilight's eyes drift between myself and the pegasus for a moment. “Wait, you two know each other?”

“Not really, but this poor thing was floating down the river, completely unconscious! Celestia knows what happened to it!” She explains with concern, quickly closing the distance between us and getting a bit too close to me for comfort as she puts a hoof to my forehead. “See? You did get sick! I told you to let me get you dried off and look what's happened now!”

“Uhh... Fluttershy...” Twilight starts, but it appears that this one, Fluttershy, has had her flipped switched, so to speak.

“What is it, Twilight? Can't you see, this one's sick an-”

“Do you mind?” I cut in quickly.

“Eep!” She backs up from me again, cowering back with her front hooves over her face. “Sorry...”

“It's okay, Fluttershy. He's just not a woodland critter...” I can feel Twilight rolling her eyes mentally as if to say 'how could you mix that one up?', but she seems to have decided not to say anything. She then turns to me. “Don't mind Fluttershy, Cloud, she can get a little... excited about taking care of things.” Fluttershy shoots me a sheepish grin from her cowering place on the ground as Twilight says this and I can't help but let out an exasperated sigh.

“She's not the only one who can get 'excited' about things.” Spike quips with a groan, saying exactly what I was thinking.

“What was that, Spike?” Twilight replies, shooting the lizard a daring glance.

“I... uhhh...” He takes a step back, twiddling his fingers together.

“Spike, why don't you get us all another round of this tea?” I decide to interject, trying to save him from the unicorn's ire as a bit of repayment for his amusing quip.

“Ohh, uhh, sure, I'll get right on that. I'll get a cup for Fluttershy too!” He quickly grabs everyone's teacups, rushing back into the kitchen to get more tea ready.

“So... um... it's nice to meet you, Cloud.” Fluttershy says, finally back on her fours. “I'm sorry about, you know, before...”

“Don't worry about it.”

“Oh, um, okay...”

“So, Cloud,” Twilight Sparkle starts again, “let me get that spell ready for you. See, Fluttershy, I'll be helping our new friend here get his memory back and then he can tell us abo-”

“...I think I'd rather remember on my own.” I cut her off. That freezing pit in my stomach is forming again from her trying to push that damn thing onto me.

“Why?” She replies, looking dejected at the fact she won't be able to interrogate her little alien. “I mean, I'd need to adjust this spell a bit, but it'd be much easier than-”

“I said I'll do it on my own.” I hold firm.

“Now, now, Twilight, you should know better than to be so pushy with your new friends.” Fluttershy admonished her. ...Really? This was gonna be a long day in Ponytown. Ponyville? Whatever.

Grrruhghhh. That fierce growl comes back with a vengeance and I'm suddenly thinking about what roast pony tastes like. I shake that thought quickly though – they're clearly... sort-of human, and I'm not about to devolve to cannibalism yet. Though... they're both looking at me now. They heard that. Lovely. And now the yellow one will-

“Oh no no, this is just no good!” Here we go... “Twilight, you can't starve the poor thing! What are you doing? Do I have to-”

My hand slumps in annoyance over my face. “I am not a furry woodland creature.” As I finish speaking, I turn to Twilight Sparkle, who echoed almost the exact same line as me. We give each other a bewildered look before turning back to Fluttershy, her now belly-pressed against the floor and looking up at us with a sheepish grin.

“Oh... sorry... again...”

“Don't worry about it, Fluttershy.” Twilight says with a sigh before turning her head toward the kitchen, raising her voice so her Number One Assistant can hear. “Spike! Can you get us some sandwiches with that tea, please?”

“Sure thing, Twi!” Her eager helper calls back to her from beyond the doors, and I can hear a few things begin to clank around with a distinctive crash at the end. “Uhh... I'm alright!”

Twilight giggles and covers her mouth with her hoof-appendage-thing. Are those actually hooves? Need to ask that sometime. That thing is so flexible it's kind of unsettling. It has to have at least 4 sets of joints or... something. It makes me kind of sick seeing the way these ponies can bend those limbs of theirs sometimes. At least I don't have any food in me to hurl up... yet.

Twilight decides to strike up some conversation with the animal lover, and I zone out a bit. Probably shouldn't have, but... you know, 'How are your animals doing?', 'Oh they're doing just wonderful Twilight, Mr. and Mrs. Badger had their third baby a couple days ago, isn't it wonderful?', so on so on can only be interesting for so long. Would Fluttershy be considered the equivalent of a cat lady here? ...Not sure I want to find out, honestly. After a few minutes, Spike finally returns with three sandwiches and four cups of tea.

“Not hungry, Spike?” Twilight asks as she begins lifting the items off the tray with her... 'magic', as she called it back in the woods. Good as name as any for whatever it is she can do, I guess.

“Nah, I had a snack earlier, I'll wait until dinner time, Twi.” He replies casually, shrugging as he takes the tray the cups and sandwiches were on and bringing it back into the kitchen.

I look down and the sandwich, seeing some greens sticking out and taking note of the fact it looks rather... flat. My hunger overtakes my logic though as I scoop it up and take a bite... and... this tastes like grass. Literally, this tastes like grass. I swallow slowly then decide to peek into the sandwich to find... a dandelion? ...Really? I slowly turn from the sandwich up to Twilight with a perplexed expression, looking on as she munches at her own sandwich like it's the best thing ever.

She swallows. “Is something wrong with your dandelion sandwich, Cloud?”

Really?

...Really?

I take a moment to think over my reply, considering she's basically my only friendly contact in this place right now, before asking, "Not to sound ungrateful, but... do you have something with meat in it?" Or you know, anything with more consistency than grass, but meat would be the best after all the running.

"You mean like, fish... right?" Fluttershy speaks up, shooting me another of her sheepish smiles, though she also looks noticeably... uncomfortable.

"Fish would work, I guess... but," I look to Fluttershy, and I can see Twilight shooting me a wide-eyed look of 'Stop! Halt! Cease! Desist immediately!', but it's too late, "what would really be good right now, is some chicken."

Twilight smacks her hoof to her face as the color quite literally drains from Fluttershy's hair and coat. She gives a barely intelligible 'ohnohewantstoeatmisterandmissescluckles' before toppling onto the floor, unconscious.

It's official.

If I don't become the legendary fisherman or something, I'm going to starve to death.

…

Some time later, Spike is poking absentmindedly at the still-unconscious form of Fluttershy going 'Hello? Anyone home? Fluttershy? Fluttershyyyyy?' over and over again as Twilight tries to explain to me that the ponies in Equestria... yeah, that's what she called it. Equestria. She's explaining how they're all basically herbivores.

“You see, Cloud,” I get the feeling she likes lecturing people, “earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, and alicorns are all herbivores by nature, lacking the necessary incisors of other species such as dragons or the creatures of the Everfree Forest required to properly chew meat.” ...Dragons. Something I feel a bit more familiar with. That's oddly comforting despite the fact I'm pretty sure I've killed most of the ones I've seen. “Furthermore, when Princess Celestia and Princess Luna brought harmony to the land, Equestria became a safe, sovereign nation for ponies, protecting them from other species such as griffons that would normally be their natural predators, and furthermore...” Sorry girl, tuning this one out too. Blah, blah, blah. This is more boring than the time I explained how I get around quickly to some guy and his dog, and a floating finger appeared over my head, and... wait, of all the things I could remember, why do I remember that?! I think I need a drink, but I bet the best I could get here is probably some apple cider or some weird concoction made out of hay with my luck. The weirdest part is, for some reason, that finger memory fills me with quite a bit of sadness. Why would a floating finger make me feel sad?

“Hey, hello? Equestria to Cloud? Did you get all that?”

Oh, she's finished! Thank God! I nod as convincingly as I can, and she smiles, seemingly happy with the fact she's taught me so much about the eating habits of basically every creature in Equestria.

“Oh, ohhh...” Fluttershy puts a hoof-appendage-thing to her face and wobbles as she stands up, finally roused. Probably a good thing she missed that lecture Twilight failed to give me. I bet she talked about some carnivores in far more vivid detail than I'd ever need to know. She'd probably make the poor butter creature throw up. “Sorry about that...”

“It's okay, Fluttershy.” Twilight assures her, moving in and stroking her head once with a hoof, giving her a cautious smile. “Now!” The unicorn turns back to me. I hope it's not another lecture. I'm beginning to contemplate going back into the woods and roasting a nice ferret right now. “About your memory! If you don't want my magic to help, we should start with what you can remember, and-”

“Hey Twilight!” A completely new, cheery voice calls from her front door, cutting her line of thought entirely. I turn myself to see a bright, pink-on-pink pony with poofy hair peeking around a slightly cracked door. “You know, I found out the coo-” Her entire train of thought seems to come to a screeching halt as her eyes meet mine. Her pupils shrink to a fraction of their former size as her eyes open wider, staring at me what I can only assume is wonder as I wonder for her health. That can't be natural, can it? “Ohh Twilight, you gotta introduce me to your new friend!” She exclaims, zipping from the door frame with unnatural speed and an audible woosh noise as she peeks around one side of my chair, then the other, then over the top, popping from place to place and looking me. “So, come on Twilight! Who is he? What is he? Who styles his mane? Why's he look all down in the dumps?” She turns to me, and I feel, honestly, kind of horrified. I don't think reality works that way, whatever you are. “Come on now, why do you look like such a party-poopy-doopy-pants? You see, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I know every pony in Ponyville!”

“Pinkie.” Save me, Twilight.

“You may not be a pony, but I'm sure if you're one of Twilight's friends, you'll be one of mine too in no time at all!” She puts one of her over-flexible forelimbs around my neck, turning to look out toward the rest of the room and panning her free limb around as if she's showing me something majestic.

“Pinkie...”

“And you know, one of the things I love doing most in the whole whole whoooole world, mister-poopy-doopy-pants, is making all my new friends smile! I'll make you into mister-super-shining skippy-pants! Or maybe mister-mega-awesome-glimmer-pants! Or or or, super-mega-awesome-magical-friendship-amazing-beaming-happy-skippy-jumpy-pants! Yeah!”

“Pinkie!” Twilight yells, finally getting the cotton-monster's attention.

“Oh, sorry!”

Does Twilight Sparkle count as an adult in Equestria? I think I need one right about now for what my brain just went through.

Chapter 04: I... What... How... Pink Is My New Least-Favorite Color.

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Chapter 04: I... What... How... Pink Is My New Least-Favorite Color.

I sigh, mentally reeling from my encounter with the pink pony still. She's currently hopping around in a small circle around Twilight, firing questions at her faster than a machine gun.

“Come on come on come on come on Twilight! Introduce us to your new friend already! Who is he? Where's he from? Why's he look so weird? Why's he all down in the dumps? Come oooonnnn Twilight!” Twilight merely reaches out a hoof, somehow grabbing Pinkie and causing her to stop bouncing, the two now nose-to-nose. The pink monster's eyes go wide and an uncomfortable looking grin spreads across her face while Twilight sends an annoyed look back at her. “Weeeeeeell, Twilight?”

“I don't know.” Twilight replies bluntly. I can't help but smirk at that. She shakes her head and turns away, probably realizing how cold her reply was as she sighs. “His name is Cloud. I don't know where he's from. He's a human – whatever that is. And he's probably all 'down in the dumps' because he's got amnesia.”

“Hoo...man?” Pinkie mouths the word slowly. “Wait, Twilight, you don't know what something is? That must mean he's some really rare kind of almost extinct species! Or or or, maybe he's an alien! Or a slider!”

“Pinkie.”

“Oh, sorry! Again! Hehe.” Pinkie scrunches up her brow, reaching a hoof up under her chin in thought. What she's thinking about, I'm not sure I want to know. Ever. “You know what this calls for, Twilight?”

“Pinkie, I don't see how a pa-”

“Not a party, silly! An investigation!” Pinkie runs off for a minute, coming back pushing another chair close to me, sitting in it... somehow... and holding a pad of paper and pencil in either hoof... somehow, wearing a plaid beret and low-rimmed glasses. “So, Mister... Cloud, tell me what you remember!”

“Uhhh.” I look to Twilight, and she merely shakes her head, doing what I can only interpret to be a shrug.

“Come on, you must remember something!” Pinkie says to me, narrowing her eyes.

I don't really have a choice here, do I? Twilight was about to ask me these questions before Pinkie barged in anyway, so it doesn't matter, I guess... “I remember... feeling like I was being dragged, waking up, and seeing your friend there.” I reply, keeping my composure despite how uncomfortable the pink pony makes me and motioning to Fluttershy, who gives a shy smile and waves her hoof slightly as Pinkie checks to see who I mean.

“No, no, no! Before that, silly!”

“Nothing particularly useful.” I reply. It's the truth, really – I used that magic back in the woods, but I don't really know how I did that. I remember a couple things like the floating finger incident, but... nothing remotely substantial. No faces, no names of people or locations, no really important-seeming events, nothing.

Pinkie sighs, thinking. “Asking around Ponyville won't help much. I know every pony in Ponyville, and I've never met anything like you before, so I doubt anyone else has!”

“I get the feeling nopony in all of Equestria has met anything like him, Pinkie.” Twilight says with a sigh before turning to me. “I'm sorry, Cloud, but we've really got no leads to go on here.”

I nod. It's not like I expected any of them to have leads, so I'm not really upset about it. Then again, I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about any of this...

“Um, excuse me?” Fluttershy asks meekly, taking the floor. “Twilight, um, why don't you try writing a letter to Princess Celestia asking if she knows how to help... you know... if you don't think she'll get mad...”

Twilight's expression quickly changes to being dazed for a moment, before she runs over and hugs the pegasus. “You're a genius! Why didn't I think of that? Not only does Cloud need help, but meeting him is a momentous occasion for all of Equestria from the looks of things! Even if the Princess can't help, she'll still want to meet him and... and... Spike!”

“On it, Twi!” The lizard salutes and runs off, quickly coming back with a parchment, quill, and ink. A letter? That'll take weeks, at least...

“Alright, Spike, prepare to write this down!” Twilight says, coughing to clear her throat as her Number One Assistant gets ready to write. Huh. Why doesn't she write her own damn letter? I could understand the other two but I know she can levitate that quill and write perfectly fine on her own. Unless she doesn't actually know how to write... that would be a funny thing. But if you can read as much as she seems to, you'd be able to write, wouldn't you...?

“Dear Princess Celestia,” the letter begins, “I'm sorry I haven't sent you a Friendship Report recently. Sadly, this letter will not be one, either. However, my friends and I have made a... discovery, of sorts, that we believe you'll be very interested in seeing first-hoof. Have you ever heard the word 'human' before, Princess? Apparently, it's a term for some kind of bipedal creature with cognitive abilities similar to a pony. I'd never encountered the word before today, and not only did I get the pleasure of learning a new word, I met one as well! From what I can tell, this is a monumental scientific discovery! The only problem is, he seems to have amnesia, though he is somehow completely fluent in Equestrian. We were all hoping you could shed light on what kind of creature he is, and maybe help us restore his memory! If not... I'm sure you'll, again, want to at least see him first-hoof. Eagerly awaiting your reply. Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle.”

A few thoughts come to mind as I listen to her dictate that letter – such as the confirmation that their limbs indeed end in hooves... of some kind. The name Celestia sounds familiar, too... it's the name Fluttershy said when I met her at first instead of 'God', I think. So Equstrians take their sovereign's name in vain instead of their deity's? Huh. Good to know, I guess? I'm tempted to question Twilight Sparkle on it, as I'm sure she can tell me far more than I'd ever need to know, but I get stopped as I watch Spike lift up the letter and douse it in wisp of green fire. The wisp causes it to disappear entirely before gliding out the window, presumably to this 'Princess Celestia' person... pony... whatever.

This makes me realize that Spike must be some kind of young dragon if he breathes fire, though this also makes me think, are dragons like postmen in this world? But Twilight mentioned earlier that dragons are carnivorous by nature, or at least I assume she was implying that by talking about their teeth. Fluttershy fainted at the talk of eating chicken... but this world's postmen are meat eaters? You know what, forget it. This hurts my brain. Speaking of my brain, the gears in my brain just all clicked together over a certain word Twilight used in her letter... “...'Creature', really?”

“Eh, heh, heh...” Twilight laughs nervously as she turns to me, “Sorry, Cloud, I sort of went into autopilot, I didn't mean... oh darn.”

“Forget about it.” I say, shaking my head, a bit bemused.

“The Princess should get that letter and reply soon, Cloud. Until then, make yourself at home in my library, I suppose. There's plenty of room.”

“Oh, oh, oh!” Pinkie Pie starts, waving a hoof at Twilight like a school kid. “I know how we can pass time until Celestia replies! Pick me, pick me, pick me!”

“A par-”

“A party!” She exclaims, cutting off Twilight as she rears up on her back legs and throws her forelimbs to either side in exaggerated pose, confetti, streamers, and noise makers all going off from behind her. Yes, behind her. I don't know why or how or where she was even keeping all that junk. I don't want to know where she was keeping all of it. “I'll go set up Sugar Cube Corner right now, and I'll invite all of Ponyville, and then Cloud can make all kinds of friends and stop being a mister-poopy-doopy-pants and-”

“Pinkie!” Twilight cuts her off. “That's... not a good idea. If you need to throw a party, at least... do it here. And only invite Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity.”

“But, what about you? And Fluttershy! And Cloud! It's his party! I have to invite him!” ...Really?

“Pinkie, you don't need to invite us because we're already here.” Twilight replies flatly.

“Oh, yeah! Duh! Well, I'll go get all my party supplies from Sugar Cube Corner and get this placed all spruced up in a jiffy-wiffy then!” Pinkie exclaims, before hopping out on all four hooves like a living pogo stick. Thank God it's gone... for now...

“Oh, I see how it is!” Spike pouts suddenly, crossing his arms and turning in a huff from the door Pinkie just exited from. “Don't worry about inviting good ol' Spike. I'm just chopped dragon liver here, apparently!” A dragon liver sounds delicious right about now.

“Oh, Spike, you know she didn't mean it like that.” Twilight says, scooping up her Number One Assistant into a hug. “It's just... Pinkie Pie.”

“Just Pinkie Pie, huh?” I can't help but chime in.

“Yeah... sorry about that, Cloud. There really is no other explanation other than 'it's Pinkie Pie', honestly. She's a very... special pony.”

“You can say that again...” I roll my eyes and sigh, slumping back in my chair. It's time for some damn relaxation before that monster comes back.

“Oh you poor thing...” Fluttershy starts, in what I'm sure is that voice she talks to 'her animals' in, as Twilight put it. “Look at you, you're so tired! Did that silly old Pinkie Pie tire you o-” As she goes to finish, I turn my head ever so slightly and dart my eyes to meet hers. “Oh... sorry... again again...”

“...You know what? Forget it. I am tired after that.”

I swear Fluttershy lets out an audible squee before flying up behind me and placing her hooves on my shoulders. “See, you can be cute! Now don't you worry your little head, Fluttershy will make all that stress go right away!” She exclaims, oddly confident as she begins massaging my shoulders with her hooves. For being something she's never seen before... and her not having, you know, fingers... she's pretty good at this massage thing. I look to Twilight lazily, and notice her smack her hoof to her forehead again before my eyes grow heavy and fall shut.

Just what I need to get that mind-rape out of my, well, mind. A nap.

…

...A nap that's not anywhere near long enough.

Prrrrm! The sound of a noise-maker rouses me, though my eyes are barely fluttering open and my vision is still basically nil, my head heavy. My vision is probably MIA because I don't want to be seeing the pony working said noise-maker.

“You think he's dead?” A new female's voice asks. "That'd be totally lame!"

“Why I never, Rainbow! Always so unladylike.” Another replies.

“Tarnation, fellas, will you two mares just git along now? I think he's a-rousin',” A third sounds like she's getting between the first two.

Now that my head's finally stopped feeling like it got hit by a freight train, it's time to place some mental bets on the owners of those voices. First one sounds like it might belong to a tomboy or something. Second one's easily a total priss - a better question would be, why she's in a backwater town like this? And the third one? Totally a hick. Well, my chips are down, so I begin rubbing the bleariness out of my eyes.

“See, Dash? He is most certainly not a corpse!” The one I've mentally tagged as the priss states.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever Rares. It was obviously a joke. Didn't you hear how loud he was snoring?” Tomboy. I get the feeling I'm quickly end up being the unwilling receiver of a party involving a whole bunch of people... ponies... whatever... that I'm not going to like very much. Forget the dragon liver, maybe I'll roast a few whole ponies as a bit of catharsis.

I finally get my eyes working properly, and turn my head toward where the trio of voices is coming from, three forms quickly becoming clear to my vision. One's orange and blonde, with freckles and a wide-rim cowboy hat, chewing a length of hay or wheat or something. I feel like I've never seen a more stereotypical hick in my life. One for me. The second's white with purple prim and permed hair that she clearly spends too much time on. Her noise is also held just a little bit higher than the others, which makes me smirk inwardly. Priss. The third... the hell? Cyan with sloppy, scraggly hair in every color of the rainbow... in order? No really, what the hell is this? I know the pink one doesn't make any goddamn sense but this is hair color. That just doesn't happen. The only conclusion I can get is that it's a tomboy that dyes her hair. Eh, close enough. “Three for three.”

“Three for three, what?” The cyan one asks, peering up at me. Shit.

Thinking quickly, I give the most misleading, believable, and well thought-out reply I can. “...Nothing.”

“...Right.” She totally believes me.

“Hey, you're finally awake, silly!” My insides freeze at that voice. “You almost slept through your own party you know, mister! I don't know how, you're sitting right in the center of it, but you came close!”

“Yeah, we were about to play pin the tail on your flank just to see if you'd wake up!” The rainbow-haired one snorts and laughs.

“Rainbow Dash!” The white one nudges her friend disapprovingly.

“So, Cloud.” Twilight's voice starts to my side. I turn to face her, and she's wearing one of those silly striped party cone-hat-things. Fluttershy and Her are both wearing the hats as well, and now that I think about it, the white and cyan ones were too. I suppose the hick isn't wearing one because she brought her own stupid hat. “These are my friends Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.” Twilight informs me, moving a hoof to motion towards Hick, Tomboy, and Priss in turn. As stupidly over-fitting as their names are, I kind of like mine more. “Girls, this is Cloud. He's the... 'very special guest' Pinkie Pie mentioned.”

“Well ah'll say he's a special one.” Applejack comments. “Ain't seen nuthin' like him before.”

“That's the thing!” Twilight replies. I swear she's about ready to squeal. “No one in Equestria has from everything I can tell! We're the first ponies to ever interact with this new species, 'human'! Isn't it great?”

“Too bad he can't remember anything from what Pinkie Pie told us.” Rarity says. “I'd be charmed to learn what sophisticated things a whole new species does!” Okay, babe, not to be downing myself here, but do I really look all that 'sophisticated' to you?

“Pfft...” Rainbow Dash snorts in reply to Rarity. “He's got no wings and no horn. These 'humans' probably can't do magic or fly, which means they probably don't have anything really cool they can do anyway!" She smirks and looks half-sarcastically at Applejack. "And if it's not cool or interesting, you girls already know its not worth my time.”

“Hey now, Dash!” Applejack says, sounding a bit offended. “You sayin' I'm lame, 'cuz I ain't got no horns or wings either?”

“You know what I mean, AJ.” Dash rolls onto her back, using her wings to hover-lounge in mid-air on her back. Okay, I'm not a pegasus biologist by any means, but I know how birds work, and those look like bird wings, and I'm pretty sure bird wings don't work that way. Bah. Forget it. I'm not going to try to make sense of this place anymore. Whatever happens, I'm just gonna nod and go with it. This is an endless supply of migraines waiting to happen trying to figure out what's going on here.

“Actually, Dash...” Twilight speaks up. “I'm not sure how, but he used magic when we were being chased by some timberwolves in the Everfree Forest earlier today. It was some strange spell I've never seen before that made all of them freeze in place for a while. Even the ones in the air – they just hung there, with no obvious glow of magic or anything. Honestly, now that I'm thinking on it, that's another thing I want you to let me investigate sometime, Cloud...”

I'm not sure if I'm thankful for your defense or skeptical of being your test specimen, Twilight.

“Okay... that is kinda cool.” Rainbow Dash admits, flipping in the air to be right side up. “Hey Cloud, you should show us some of the other magic you can do! I bet you could at least put on a better show than that flout who came to Ponyville that time!”

Grrruhghhh. My stomach's replying for me now. Lovely.

“Oh yeah, Cloud... you still haven't eaten due to that... incident, earlier.” Twilight says sheepishly, remembering the flower-on-bread she served me before. Apparently that's a pretty delicious sandwich by pony standards. Just tasted like grass on bread to me, though.

“I have just the thing to fix that!” Her voice says, my head being spun to the side by a pink hoof as she jams an entire cupcake into my mouth, wrapper and all, holding her hoof there until I begin to chew it.

“Pinkie!”

“Oh, sorry Twilight, you probably want a cupcake, too!” Pinkie says, hopping over to Twilight and thrusting one of the baked treats into her mouth, too.

I take a moment to slide the wrapper out of my mouth before resuming chewing on it. Now that I'm not eating the goddamn paper, it's actually pretty good. Did that pink monster bake these herself? I turn to look at the other ponies and all four of them are giggling, including Fluttershy. Since when are you amused at my expense, yellow one? You were one of my two friends in this bastion of insanity! I see how it is, you traitorous, flying stick of butter...

“Well, since party boy here's hungry, let's start this party with some sweets!” Pinkie exclaims, spreading plates full of cupcakes, cake, and other confectioneries around with her oddly limber hooves. It's almost like she actually has fingers. While she's doing that, I take a minute to glance out one of the upper library windows. It's pitch-dark out there. How long was I out? Hours? Goddamn...

Either way, there's some delicious looking, real food that needs eating in front of me. I grab a fork – too busy wanting this cake to even wonder why ponies would need such a thing, and slowly cut into it. I'm going to savor this. A delicious, white-frosting vanilla cake... I can't remember the last time I had one of these – but given the fact I can't remember much of anything else, that's not very surprising. I scoop the first mouthful onto my fork, delicately setting it in place so it doesn't fall off as I prepare to raise it up and-

Suddenly, there's an ear-splitting, terrified scream outside and all six of my pony compatriots are at attention.

…

Goddamnit.

Chapter 05: I'm On Fire, Baby.

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Chapter 05: I'm On Fire, Baby.

“W-w-what was that?!” Fluttershy quickly dashes under her chair, peeking out from under it.

“Sounds like somepony's in trouble!” You think, Applejack?

I'm already standing and cracking my knuckles. After the... stress... of today, I'm a bit itching for a fight. “We gonna go investigate, or what?”

“Yeah, let's go find whose causing trouble and kick their flank!” At least the rainbow-headed one is on the same page as me.

“And whose to say its even a somepony whose causing trouble, Rainbow Dash?” Rarity replies, flicking her hair back. “...Though, we probably should investigate.”

“Yeah.” Twilight Sparkle nods. “Alright girls! Err... girls and Cloud, let's go find out which pony's in trouble!”

“Hey, you're not leaving me behind, Twilight!” Spike starts up, jumping onto Twilight's back, causing her to sigh.

“Fine, Spike... we don't have time to argue if somepony really is in trouble. Let's get going!” With that, the eight of us are out the door and hitting the streets of Ponyville. The same voice from before lets out another shrill cry of terror not long after we're out the door, so we're able to quickly begin traveling the streets towards her. What we find, however, isn't what any of us were expecting...

A pale-cyan unicorn's running right for us, scared out of her mind as she's chased by... dear god, there has to be twenty or thirty of those goddamn wooden dogs. Fluttershy lets out an 'Eep!' and cowers behind the rest of us, though this time I can't blame her. That's a lot of dogs.

“What in tarnation are those stupid timberwolves doing in Ponyville?” Applejack decides to voice the question I'm sure is on all their minds. “Those varmints never leave the Everfree, and they sure as heck never come right into the center of stinkin' Ponyville!”

“No time to wonder about that, AJ!” Twilight takes charge. She quickly turns to Spike, “Spike, you and Fluttershy try to find anyone still on the streets and get them somewhere safe. The six of us will handle this and try to drive off the timberwolves.”

“But... Twilight, there's so many, I should stay an-”

“Spike, do as I say and get going!” She stomps her hoof as she speaks. The dragon looks unnerved at how demanding she's being and nods with a gulp, jumping from her back to Fluttershy's before the latter takes to the sky.

“So, Twilight, darling...” Rarity says with a gulp. “How exactly do you propose we 'handle this', anyway?”

“I... uhh...”

I look around, seeing a small stand of some kind with a wooden sign held up by two planks. Not bothering to read the sign, I quickly yank one of the planks free, causing the top of the stand to sag to one side as I grasp it in my hands for a weapon. “We hit them till they either run away or stop moving, that's how we 'handle this'.”

“Good as plan as any!” Applejack replies, digging in her hooves. “As long as we all spread out and keep our backs to things, these pesky critters won't be able to surround us well!”

As we fan out, there's a night-piercing howl that catches the attention of the invading wolves. They turn away from whatever prey they were previously chasing, all turning to us and snarling with their wooden maws. Lovely, they have a leader with a sense of priorities. As we fan out, trying to catch the timberwolves in open parts of the town, I peek around and it seems we've made a faux-buddy system out of it, and my buddy was... Applejack. The only one that seems to have no magic or special ability whatsoever. I don't have much time to contemplate over how this probably means I'm about to turn into a wooden-wolf gourmet dinner though as one lunges directly at us. I strike it with a hard horizontal swing, knocking it out of the air and sending it tumbling against the side of a house, breaking my weapon in the process. Right, wood on wood, my weapons won't be good for too many hits unless I find a pipe or something.

I turn to Applejack to make sure she's not losing any limbs just in time to see her buck one of the wolves square in the face, causing its head to tilt at a very unnatural-looking angle as it slumps onto the ground. Okay, maybe her special pony-power is 'hitting things really hard' or something. I can't contemplate it long, though, as I'm stuck diving and rolling forward to dodge more hungry wolves. Quite a few of them have their sights set on me, so I break into a run and begin scanning my surroundings. Seeing a particularly low-roofed house, I decide it's time to get some high ground as I run at it. I jump, my instincts telling me it should be an easy leap, and... smack face-first into the wall of the house, bouncing off it and tumbling to the ground. I quickly roll, getting to my feet and spotting four hungry wolves charging directly for my face.

Shit, think, those wolves are gonna be on you any second, Cloud.

I look to the gem-laden bangle on my arm. Eight gems total – green, blue, green, blue, green, yellow, yellow, red. The first green and blue pair were the ones that had glown and done... whatever they did... last time, but I can't remember how to make them work. Or any of the others, for that reason. Then it hits me.

I focus my thoughts to the second green-blue pairing. That pairing means something, the engravings on the bangle even have them connected. The green one. I need to tap into the green one. I close my eyes – a terrible idea by all counts in this situation – and begin concentrating, trying to 'feel' what the gem does. The last one I had used by instinct, a reflex brought on by combat. This time, though, I need to remember how to access them consciously. Remember... and the soothing sensation overtakes me, and as I open my eye I can see the green wisps and glows from before I came to this Equestria place, the ones that triggered last time I tapped into these gems. Then instinct takes over again, and I hold my right arm out, palm open facing the wolves who're now mere feet from me.

And what I see elates me almost as much as seeing the delicious cake still waiting for me back inside Golden Oak Library elated me – fire. Beautiful fireballs, arcing through the air, each with a different of the four wolves intent as their targets. They seem to know how terrible a wooden wolf being struck by fire would likely end for them, and quickly begin trying to juke the flames. Two succeed, ducking down a nearby alley between houses. The other two, though, go up like living effigies, squirming and burning and rolling around on the ground until they finally stop moving.

I smirk to myself. Excellent. Looking, I see the farm-pony still fighting, wolves beginning to congregate around her more than the others as she's now missing her tag-partner. I concentrate again as I begin running back to her. It seems to be coming easier with each use, as I don't even need to close my eyes this time to call up the green light and trigger the fire spell... that's the best thing to call it, a fire spell, and attack the timberwolves that're considering apple-pony stew a delicious midnight meal. Many of the attacks miss due to distance and my lack of experience controlling it, but enough hit to lead to a few more writhing wolves, causing the rest of their group to disperse.

“Well ah'll be!” Applejack exclaims. “Ya can do some magic! Mighty fine at it, too!” I suppose I'll take the compliment while it's being offered. “But how're the other's doin'?” She asks, surveying the landscape now that we have a bit of a reprieve. I look around with her, seeing Her and the cyan one fighting on one side. Rainbow Dash seems to be quite enjoying herself, swooping and diving and planting plenty of hit-and-run kicks from the air on the wooden wolves who're suffering a severe case of lacking-wings-itis, and the pink one is fighting... with a giant cannon... that shoots party supplies. Okay, I'm just going to ignore that and look to see how Twilight's side is doing.

The first thing I see is her and... was it Rarity? Yes, the white unicorn is named Rarity. And she's maintaining a shield around herself and Twilight while the latter blasts away timberwolves with her magic. Rarity must not be very good at it, though, as the shield is slowly cracking like glass, so that's the direction I head. The patter of hooves behind me tells me that Applejack is thinking the same thing. As I get close to them, I'm hit with it – an overwhelming feeling of wrongness. I know I should have a word for it, but I don't. It's long forgotten, with most of everything else useful. But why? Everything seems normal. Well, normal for a land full of magical pastel equines in mortal combat with wolves made of wood. And then, that normalcy goes right out the window, as a tentacle smashes against the bubble shield, sending Twilight and Rarity skidding rather painfully looking against the ground towards myself and Applejack.

“Are you gals okay?” Applejack asks them, looking them over and helping them to their feet.

“Ugh, those stupid wolves ruined my mane.” Rarity complains as she gets off and shakes off some of the dirt.

“Looks like yer fine." Applejack rolls her eyes and turns to Twilight. "You, Twi?”

“Yeah, but, where did that come from?” She ponders, looking toward the wolves they were fighting, who're now grouping up with the remnants of the ones Applejack and I were fighting.

“Ah'd guess from that one, there!” Applejack says, pointing? A hoof toward the cluster of timberwolves, and now I see it as well.

Inside the group of wolves is a single timberwolf, horribly broken looking and staring directly at me. It's... the badly injured one from earlier today. However, the broken areas have been filled in. Not fixed, repaired, or otherwise healed, but filled in – with decrepit, pulsing flesh, that clearly does not belong there. On its back are four foul-looking, tentacle-like appendages that were made purely from said decrepit flesh. It... also seems to be the source of that feeling of wrongness I was hit with not long ago. Well, it's definitely wrong-looking, so I can say that feeling was dead-on, but I can't shake the other feeling, the one that says I should know why it looks wrong. Maybe I should reconsider Twilight Sparkle's offer to use her magic to jog my memory...

“What's wrong with that timberwolf...?” Rarity asks, backing closer to the rest of us.

“My guess would be some kind of parasite.” Twilight surmised. “And if that timberwolf is their pack leader, it would explain the uncharacteristic behaviour in their entire pack... but I've never seen anything like it.”

Great, so today we're two-for-two on 'things the know-it-all's never seen before' if we include myself. Today's shaping out to be great. That only makes the entire situation nag at me even more.

And then, all at once, they charge. Without thinking, I raise my arm toward the incoming pack of double-digit wolves and concentrate on the first green gem. The green-and-blue pair glow and the clocks from before appear on each of the wolves in turn. This time, however, they don't stop in the air – they merely begin moving at half their speed instead. Do these gems have multiple spells or something? They completely froze last time. Dammit... it also seems one of them is completely immune to whatever this gem does – the only one I actually wanted to seal in place, the one with the crazy flesh and lashing tentacles.

Twilight and Rarity don't waste time taking advantage of the opening I've made, blasting down each of the inhibited wolves one by one with their magic, Applejack staying close to us and bucking down the wolves closest to us, while trying to stay out of range of the uninhibited wolf. As they fight, a trail of rainbow color sails into view, kicking out another of the half-speed wolves. I can only assume that means Rainbow Dash and Her sent the wolves they were dealing with packing.

I raise my arm again, though my head feels heavy and it seems a bit wobbly. I grab my left wrist with my right arm to steady it, focusing in on that second green gem again. One more cast of that fire and hopefully it'll be over with... I feel the light coming up, and focus on the wolves toward the back, wanting to fry them first and cut off their retreat. It takes a much larger exertion to use it this time, but the fire, well, fires, and sends a trail of flames through the sky, hitting three of the wolves and sending them toppling at half speed onto their sides. I resist the urge to laugh a tiny bit, the slow-motion collapses almost comical-looking, but – that was only three flames, and I had focused on far more than three wolves. But my body feels spent, wobbling now. Did this magic drain from me directly or something, even though it came from these gems?

It doesn't matter, though, as a bit of teamwork has most of the other wolves taken care of. Rainbow Dash grabs Applejack and quickly pulls her out of the way of a rather unwelcoming looking lash of tentacle from the lead timberwolf and back to the rest of us.

“It's not running like a normal timberwolf would when the pack's beat.” Twilight observes the obvious as the tentacled-timberwolf slowly makes its way to us, step by step. “Which means, it's safe to assume that parasite thing is what's in control...”

“Any more of that fancy magic of yours, darling?” Rarity asks me, but the thought of casting any more makes me sick. I'm completely spent.

“I'm spent...” I pant out, “If I had a weapon, I could...”

“Like this?” She cuts in, popping between myself and Rarity, fishing a large, metal pipe out of her mane and holding it out to me.

“That'd do.” I say, grabbing the pipe and turning it over in my hands. Heavy and sturdy. Perfect for splintering some wood and bruising some sick-looking flesh.

“See, Cloud, Pinkie's always ready for a party!”

“Pinkie...” Twilight starts. “What kind of party involves a giant metal pipe?”

“The kind where you need to use a timberwolf being infested by a parasitic eldritch abomination as a pinata, silly!”

“That's... a very specific... and uncommon party.” I can't help but think out loud as I grip the pipe between my hands in a fairly natural position.

“Like I said! Always ready for a party! Any party, no matter how rare, Pinkie is there!”

“I guess it's time to see what kinda candy's in yer pinata there, Cloud.” Applejack says, and I smirk, catching my breath. Finally, the kind of fight that I was looking forward to from the start. I charge forward, rolling under the lash of a tentacle as I smash the timberwolf across the face with the pipe, and I can see the beams of light from Twilight and Rarity hitting it to keep it stunned as I follow up with a second strike. One of the tentacles arcs horizontally and smashes me across the chest, though, sending me barreling to one side. Seems like stunning the main body doesn't stun the parasitic limbs...

Thankfully, it seems Twilight has caught on, and her and Rarity split their attacks, the former using her magic to blast the appendages protruding from the wolf's back while Rarity hits the main body. I get to my feet and grip the pipe, charging it as I kick off the ground and jump. Yet again, it's not the large jumping attack my mind and body were both expecting it to be, but I still bring the pipe up and crash it down hard squarely on the timberwolf's head, splintering it rather morbidly, considering it's a living being made out of wood. The body stumbles, still under the control of the parasite as I strike at the part where one of the tentacles is protruding from. Both mares behind me begin firing their magic at the tentacles as I continue beating the protrusion's base, again and again, wood splintering and breaking away with each strike. With enough strike, it falls off – the fleshy tentacle literally flops to the ground and begins squirming, no longer rooted to the main timberwolf body by anything.

The disgusting display causes us all to stop our attacks for a bit, giving the abomination the time it needs to recover, turn tail, and begin running back to the forest, literally beaten, broken, headless, and one tentacle short. What. The. Hell. Rainbow Dash and Applejack immediately begin giving chase, but a call of “Rainbow Dash! Applejack! Don't!” from Twilight stops them.

I, meanwhile, get the excellent idea of reaching down and grabbing the still-flailing tentacle in my left hand. This is one of my less fine moments, admittedly, much like closing my eyes while four angry timberwolves charged my face was also one of my less fine moments, but also much like that moment, something unexpected happens. The tentacle begins... dissolving... into some kind of goopey, flesh-y liquid, wrapping itself around my arm and allowing itself to be absorbed into my skin. I try to drop the thing, but my hand won't release it! Shit! But it doesn't feel like I'm being possessed by the left forearm of Cthulu or anything - instead, images begin flashing in front of my eyes. A large building. Fire. Machinery. Bits and pieces of an event I'm sure is important to remember but not enough to piece it together. When I finally look back to my hand, the entire tentacle is gone, and I'm sweating, panting for air as if I've just made the greatest exertion of my entire life.

The hell was that?

However, I do notice, I feel... stronger, somehow. I don't have time to contemplate it, though, as voices begin coming into focus.

"Cloud?!" It's Twilight Sparkle. Something starts shaking me.

"Hey, dude, you okay?" Rainbow Dash.

"Now, don't start sproutin' no tentacles like that varmint was!" Applejack.

"I dunno, Applejack, he might look cool with some tentacles coming out of his back, like, grawr!" The hellspawn.

"Not funny, Pinkie!" Rarity.

"I... I'm fine." I say after a little bit, shaking my head. "Everything's fine." I tell them, flexing my arm and spinning the pipe with a flourish before resting it on my shoulder.

"Ah... good." Twilight wipes her shoulder with a hoof. Okay, that's still really sickening to see, no matter which pony is doing it. Hooves should not bend like that. "Let's get back to the library, I'm sure Spike and Fluttershy are worried about us."

"And I'm sure party boy here wants his cake!" The pink monster blows into a noisemaker, putting a party hat back onto her head. For once, I'll agree with her.

The trip back to the library-tree is otherwise not particularly noteworthy besides Applejack and Rarity talking to me some about my magic... though, I can't answer too many of their questions since I still don't know much about how it works. Twilight mentioned wanting to do tests on it tomorrow, and that's something I'd be more willing to submit myself to at this point, since it seems like I'm going to need to remember those skills sooner rather than later. We reach the library and head inside, me deliberating waiting to be last in to both do a final check for crazy tentacle-wolf monsters and avoid what I had suspected might happen - and is totally happening to somebody - that being an overly concerned Fluttershy fretting over someone having some scrape or another.

I sit back at my place at the table and set the pipe beside me, picking up my fork. The others are talking about how Fluttershy and Spike helped usher a few late-trotting ponies back to their homes once the wolves diverted their attention to us, then how Fluttershy diverted themselves back to the library once everything seemed safe so Spike didn't inadvertently get himself hurt. Meanwhile, I'm engrossing myself in a far more interesting venture - my cake. Stupid wolves keeping me from it. As I take the final bite of the cake, Spike burps and a letter comes out of his stomach. Not even gonna think about how that works. Nope.

As Twilight begins to read, her eyes go wide. Well, wider than they already were. These ponies all seem to have huge eyes regardless. She reads the letter to herself first before beginning to read it out loud.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

Our Sister has deigned us to reply to your letter. As you may well be aware, she lowered the sun before its scheduled time on this day. This was after receiving your correspondence. What you have told us is not worrisome, but quite remarkable. Our Sister, your mentor, Princess Celestia, shall meet with you tomorrow after raising the sun to discuss both your finding and other important matters we have noticed taking shape in Equestria over these last two days. She has spent the day doing much research in the Canterlot Library before considering to reply, though she exhausted herself beyond the point she could muster the strength to sit and explain to me the fruits of her labors. This is why the sun lowered early, and why We write to you now instead of Our Sister.

We must also give you a warning, Twilight Sparkle. Something unknown and unseen to Equestria has begun stalking Our beautiful night. Please, yourself and the other Bearers, take great care after Our Sister's sun has set, far beyond the usual measures, and remain safe. Our Sister will discuss both these matters with you and the other Elements tomorrow in greater detail during her visit.

Your Friend,

Crowned Princess of Equestria and Mistress of the Night, Luna

"Sheesh, talk about long-winded." Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes once Twilight finishes reading. "And based on what just happened, that warning of hers is a little too late, anyway."

I smirk in agreement, then - wait, did she say raise and lower the sun?

Chapter 06: I Need Sunglasses.

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Chapter 06: I Need Sunglasses.

I decide its in my best interest to not ask about the whole raising-and-lowering-the-sun thing and just stick to enjoying the sweets. Twilight, however, is still fretting over the actual content of the letter.

"Oh no oh no oh no, the Princess is going to be here tomorrow, and this place is a total mess!" She frets as she paces along a well-grooved part of the floor. In another year or two it looks like that part of her floor will be the equivalent of an army trench if she keeps that up, but in this situation, I can't blame her too much. The library seems incredibly large by pony size standards, and Jubithulu over there somehow covered the place with an entire store's supply of party streamers and balloons that I hadn't noticed earlier.

"It's okay, Twi," Applejack replies in her drawl, "I'm sure we can clean it if we all work together. Besides, how many times has the Princess been here now? I'm sure she's... erm, used to it."

"That's right, dear." Rarity nods, holding her head up as she levitates some of the discarded party favors into the air and into a waste bin. "Besides, do you think we'd leave your home in such a dreadful state?" The emphasis on the word 'dreadful' makes me think she's also one of those crazy interior-decorator types who wouldn't pass up a chance to improve the feng-shui of Twilight's home.

"Yeah, Twilight, it'll be an after-party cleanup-party!" The pink puffball of terror says, skipping around on her hind legs, scooping up party favors in one forehoof while throwing confetti over her shoulder with the other. How?

I slump back in my chair and cross my arms as Twilight begins trying to explain why throwing confetti over one shoulder while cleaning it with the other isn't productive to the situation, and begin thinking to myself. Well done, Cloud, SOLDIER First-Class, being reduced to picking up streamers and balloons alongside what could pass for the main heroines in a little girl's television show. Wait, SOLDIER? The memory felt so close for a second, but now I can't pull it back. But, for some reason, that title, 'SOLDIER', fills me with dread and, what, shame? But why? Whatever it was, I was 'First-Class', wasn't I? It feels like I only ever seem to remember things when I'm not trying to. That's incredibly... inconvenient.

As I slowly come out of my thoughts, I look around, to see all seven of them staring at me. "Hellooooo? Anybody hooome?" She Who Must Not Be Named asks, waving her hoof in my face to grab my attention.

"Zonin' out on us there, sugahcube?" 'Sugahcube.' Ugh.

"Just thinking." I reply, wanting to brush it off.

"Were you... remembering something?" Twilight asks. Clearly I used the wrong choice of words for getting them to go along with my brushing it off.

"...No." I reply after a minute, something about this whole 'SOLDIER' thing making me feel too uncomfortable to want to talk about it. I can tell by that look on her face she doesn't buy it at all but she seems to be respectful enough not to pry and merely turns around.

"Alright, everyone," she starts, walking toward the center of the room and levitating some of the garbage with her magic like Rarity was doing earlier. "Let's get this mess cleaned up. Six sets of hooves and two sets of claws should be able to get this place cleaned up before the Princess gets here, I hope."

Claws? I can't help but look down at my hands for a second. Eh, close enough, really.

Some time later, after nearly being barreled over by a rainbow-colored blurs and avoiding pink pogo ponies, everyone else has finally left. Twilight and Spike have also turned in, with the former offering for me to stay at the library for the night. Better than the forest, I suppose, so I've taken the offer and have been laying along the floor of the library, a beam of moonlight glinting in through the window and across my chest, which is covered by a blanket that's at least a foot and a half too short to reach my toes. Still, it's something. I fold my hands behind my head, against the not so tiny pillow. I suppose the benefits of ponies having big heads is big pillows.

I close my eyes, thinking, sorting through the day's events, still fairly awake due to grabbing that nap earlier. The random words and images flash through my mind. Two stick in my mind above the others - that word, 'SOLDIER', and that flash of fire from when I touched that tentacle... thing. I try to focus on one, then the other, then both... maybe they're related? I can't tell, since when I try to focus on any of these kinds of things, they just kind of... get blocked. Like my brain wants to access some memory, but can't. And again, I find myself thinking back to Twilight Sparkle's offer to use her spell to essentially just fix it all for me and spare me needing to sort through them like this. That thought still fills me with inexplicable dread, but the more I try to do this for myself, the more I realize it might be my only option...

I awake with a start. I passed out? I'm panting, sweat beading down from my forehead, the pillow Twilight loaned me drenched. I feel like I've just had a dream - I can't even remember falling asleep, but some kind of dream... nightmare... would be the only reason to wake up like this. But it's already slipping and gone, even as I try to grasp at it in my waking moments. Dammit...

The window doesn't seem to be filtering light through now, and the sky looks to be a mix of reds... just before sunrise, I assume. Sunrise... "Our Sister, your mentor, Princess Celestia, shall meet with you tomorrow after raising the sun to discuss both your finding and other important matters we have noticed taking shape in Equestria over these last two days." I recall the excerpt from when Twilight read the letter aloud, and the phrase 'after raising the sun' sticks out again. Is this person, this 'Princess Celestia', some kind of powerful entity which controls the day and night cycle in lieu of stars and a universe? Like those old tales, where people believed that the gods held Gaia inside a glass dome? That would seem to be the most likely explanation...

Then a second except from that sentence strikes me - 'these last two days'. At the time the letter was sent, I had been roughly in this place - Equestria - for two days. Am I related to whatever parasite was controlling those timberwolves last night? Based on whatever happened when I touched it, that seems to be likely... either that, or the "Crowned Princess of Equestria and Mistress of the Night" was referring to me and not that thing, but I've only experienced one night before this one that I'm aware of in Equestria, not two, and I slept through it...

Or maybe I'm just thinking too hard, and it's something else entirely she's referring to, and the whole thing is just a giant coincidence. Normally, my logical brain would blast that notion out of the sky with prejudice, but with how this place has treated my logical brain so far, it's considering an indefinite vacation until I find a way out. However, it appears both Twilight and Spike are still asleep, so I take the moment to get up and stretch, knowing I'm likely not getting back to sleep after waking up so abruptly. Deciding to have a bit of courtesy, I fold the bedding and stow them near where I remembered Twilight getting them from, then turn over in my brain how one acts when about to have an audience with the being powerful enough to control an entire planet's day and night cycle. However, the more I think about it, the more I have the bad feeling that if I've ever encountered such a being before, I probably stabbed it a lot. And, from what I recall, this Princess Celestia is also Twilight Sparkle's mentor of some kind, so she likely wouldn't appreciate me trying to slash her to death with a butter knife.

I laugh at the thought of taking down an omnipotent being with a piece of kitchenware for a moment before thinking a bit more seriously. Would she be a... pony, like basically everyone else I've met so far? It's an interesting question, really. Though, if it's not a pony, what else would this 'Princess' be? I look down, and find myself absentmindedly pacing, helping Twilight dig that trench into the center of her library. I'm sure she'll appreciate the extra hand. Foot? Hoof? Whatever. I'm pushed out of my thoughts as I hear a door latch upstairs and a slow plopping down the stairs. That brings me back to one of the first thoughts I had after arriving in Equestria - how do they build things like this without, well, thumbs? I know the unicorns seem to have some kind of magic but that still must lack the precision of having hands.

"Oh, you're up early." The small dragon greets me with an absent wave of his claw and a yawn. "Twilight has me up early to prepare some pancakes so we can have breakfast ready when Princess Celestia arrives." He then stops and turns to me, raising an eyebrow, or whatever dragons have that pass as eyebrows. "You can handle pancakes better than dandelion sandwiches, right?"

"That'll be fine." I reply, trying to sound friendly, and he heads off into the library's kitchen. A bit of a wise ass, but he seems to have the mental age of an eight-year-old so I can't really hold it against him. Above I can hear the distinct sound I've now come to associate as hooves plopping against wood, meaning Twilight is likely in the middle of some morning ritual to wake up while Spike gets the food ready.

I take a seat on one of the small chairs in the room and relax a bit, deciding it's probably better not to think so hard this early in the morning. As I unwind a bit, I begin feel that distinct wave of nausea one feels from eating far too many sweets and far too little anything else. I guess the day before is catching up to me. So, not only am I meeting Climate-Controlling Pony Royalty who I'll need to resist mauling with a butter knife out of instinct, I'll also need to resist throwing up all over her face. This is going to be a fun, relationship-building experience, I can tell.

The trot-trot-trot sound coming down the stairs tells me Twilight is done with whatever morning necessities ponies engage in. "Good morning!" She says cheerfully. "Did you sleep well? You're up earlier than I thought you'd be!" She looks to me with that wide pony-trademarked grin then frowns a bit. "You... don't look to good."

"I'm fine." I wave an arm at her dismissively. It'd likely pass after getting some real food down - assuming that the pancakes here aren't made of tulips or something. If they are I'll be skipping the meeting with the land's fair princess for a night of fishing on the lake.

She gives me an unconvincing smile, buying my story about not being ill about as well as she bought me not remembering something the night before. "Alright then. The Princess is usually quite punctual, so unless she has prior engagements she'll be here not long after raising the sun. So if you have to use the washroom or something, it would be best to do it early." There's something I'd completely forgotten about the day before. You'd think nature would catch up with you but I guess the... events of the day took priority. "I have to go over the morning's checklist to be sure everything is perfect for when she gets here, and Spike's pancakes should be done soon, so don't take too long!"

...Checklist? I didn't just roll a nerd, I rolled the nerd equivalent of a natural-twenty. At least she's one of the more bearable ponies I've met here so far. I could be stuck with the buttery one, Fluttershy, at wherever she lives. I get a shiver at the thought of living with the pony cat lady as another of her furry woodland creatures and find the washroom after a bit of roaming. Of course, it's pony sized, so getting business done and washing off the previous day's dirt in what ways I can is far more difficult than it needs to be.

After... somehow... taking care of that business, I mentally decide I'll be using rivers for cleaning whenever possible and head back out to the smell of pancakes. Real pancakes. Today might not be a total loss, just mostly of a loss. As I head out, following the waft of delicious food, I overhear Twilight explaining their game-plan to Spike.

"Okay, Spike, now if I've timed everything out correctly, this tea here should finish brewing right as you finish cooking the pancakes." She explains, and as I find them in the kitchen I see her walking over to a teapot. "And, if I do my part correctly, I can finish making sure the first floor books are correctly placed and alphabetized at the same time. And, if I've gauged the position of the sun correctly, by the time all that is done, and you've set the table with everything, the Princess should be arriving in her carriage, and we can all enjoy a nice breakfast as she explains everything she's found with us."

Twilight nods to herself in satisfaction as she darts out of the kitchen and toward the bookshelves, and I'm stuck looking at her kind of dumbly. That's... some serious obsessive planning there. I decide to take a seat at the table. "Uh, is she...?" I begin to ask once Twilight is clearly out of earshot, figuring her Number One Assistant could shed a bit of light on things.

"Always so obsessed with everything being perfect?" Spike completes the question for me. "Yup. You... get used to it." I suppose it'd be impossible not to after living with her long enough, but still...

I consider thinking on things a bit more, but hold to my earlier decision that thinking this early in the morning is a terrible idea. Instead, I just wait and listen for the delicious sounds of food. It feels like I have a bit of an eating problem, being this obsessed over food, but after not eating for at least twenty-four hours, only to bite into a sandwich filled with dandelions, the value of edible food becomes that much higher.

As sun begins glinting brightly through the windows, Spike begins setting the pancakes onto some plates. Seems like if anything, Twilight's timing of Spike's cooking speed and the Princess' speed at... raising... the... sun... is fairly spot on. Spike begins setting the table for four, with proper utensils, sugar, and such, as I glance out toward the main room of the library to see Twilight still darting between the shelves to make sure everything visible is perfect. After a moment, she walks back to us, just as the small dragon is splitting the pancakes into four different plates.

"Well, Spike," She pulls out a check list with her magic and begins talking, almost to herself despite calling the dragon by name, "we've got the pancakes ready, the shelves checked, the table set, the tea's almost to a boil... if all goes well, Princess Celestia should be here... now."

As if on cue, there is a rap on the front door of the library, followed by the whistling of the teapot that drowns it out after two knocks. Okay, assuming that's the right person at the door, she might be a natural-twenty nerd, but she's at least damn good at what she does.

"Coming!" Twilight calls out, rushing to the door as Spike sets out the teacups and begins pouring. Coffee would have been much better, but beggars can't be choosers, as they say. "Oh, Princess! You're right on time!" Twilight says, a bit louder than she needs to, I assume so Spike can hear her and finish up what he's doing. I can't see the door from where I'm sitting, though, and I'm fairly certain she can't see me, either. I hear them talking a bit, but the tone is a bit lower, so it's hard to make out what they're saying. The clop of hooves against the floor - one set apparently adorned in some kind of metal shoes, from the sounds of it - indicates they're heading in this direction. That solves one mystery, at least - this Princess Celestia is hooved, meaning she's likely a pony as well. I shift a bit, not really nervous, but... aware of the repercussions this meeting could have if my butter knife fantasies were to come to fruition, let's say.

As they round the corner, I see Twilight is dwarfed by a large, white... unicorn? No, it has wings. Was this the fourth kind, alicorn? Maybe. The point is, it's big. Almost as tall as I am when standing at full height. The mane and tail are a mix of pinks, greens, and blues that flow and twinkle slightly despite there being no wind or weather whatsoever acting on it. Kind of ethereal looking... though for something that apparently raises the sun, I suppose being somewhat ethereal isn't completely out of the question. Well, I suppose I should show a powerful, regal, and at least partially ethereal being the due respects. "Hi." I wave a hand at her very slightly, my head having been resting on the other for a while now. Elbows on the table, not the best manners, but what are they going to do, bite me? ...Then again, these things might just bite me, so maybe I should control which witticisms I use out loud.

"My, my, my," the Princess starts, turning to Twilight, "you certainly did find something interesting yesterday, didn't you, Twilight?" Twilight, however, is simply glaring daggers at me.

"Cloud! How can you be so rude to the Princess?" Well, she's a little bit mad. I bite back the sarcastic reply of 'it's easy, like this' forming on my tongue and just stay silent, though.

"It's fine, Twilight, he is a stranger to our land here in Equestria, and certainly an... odd creature." She eyes me with a lot more scrutiny than I remember any of the other ponies using, which I suppose is to her credit. Her and Twilight take adjacent seats at the table, and Spike takes the one opposite Twilight, leaving me with sitting directly across from the Princess. This can't get awkward at all.

They begin small talk as we finally begin eating, but I'm too busy focusing on trying to consciously pace my eating speed to hear more than a few bits here and there. It seems they're just catching up on missed time, from what I gather. As we're about partway through, though, Twilight shifts the talk to the reason the Princess is actually here. "So, Princess Celestia... did you find anything of use in the Canterlot Library? Princess Luna said you did the research yourself in the letter she sent last night."

"Ah, yes, my faithful student," the Princess closes her eyes in thought and sets down her magically-held fork. "My research was... inconclusive."

"You mean... no records at all?" Twilight seems to gape, her fork levitating in place and a bit of half-chewed pancake visible.

"Nothing called a 'human', no, dear Twilight." Celestia confirms. "Nor can I recall coming across any imagery under a different title that resembles him, now that I see him for myself." She turns and eyes me again. Something about how she's eying me though, is... off. I don't like it at all. Is she lying? Does she have another reason to look at me so suspiciously? I'm not exactly good at reading pony faces, so it's hard to tell based on her expression.

Twilight doesn't seem to notice her distrustful glances, though. "So we really do have a first contact situation!" She exclaims excitedly, causing the princess to giggle to herself. They have a rather personal relationship going, it seems like.

"Yes, my student, that we do, but that's not the main reason I came to you today." The Princess explains, taking control of her utensils in her magic again and cutting off more of the pancake to eat. "As I'm sure you're aware, my sister mentioned more than just my attempts to find information on your new friend in your letter."

Twilight's face fell in thought for a moment, before it clicked. "You mean, the 'other important matters' Princess Luna mentioned? The ones about the night being... dangerous?"

"Yes." Celestia nods to herself. "It's quite worrisome. It's like a black shadow has fallen over the night. It's hard for me to explain, my student. I suppose the best way to phrase it is that, a malicious consciousness has taken root in Equestria, a kind we've never experienced before. At first, I was worried your... 'discovery', would be at least part of that." She turns to me again. For a moment I feel like that explains her distrust, but if that were the case, she wouldn't still be giving me those looks. "But, as I can see, it must be by coincidence that you found him when you did. Though," she turns to me, "how did something like you come to Equestria? I can only assume through some form of magic, as no creature in any land is like you."

I'm about to respond, but Twilight cuts in before I can finish chewing the delicious pancakes my body says I'm eating far too slowly. "Like I mentioned in my letter to you, Princess, he can't seem to remember much of anything about himself or where he's from."

"I see..." Celestia replies, raising a hoof to her chin in thought. I look away quickly, the odd flexibility of their hooves only looks more sickening when it's displayed on a far larger mare like Princess Celestia, and I don't want to spoil the remainder of these pancakes at any cost.

"The strangest thing, Princess, is that he can use magic! Without a horn!" Goddamnit, Twilight, that's not going to help her be less suspicious of me.

"Oh, really now?" She looks to Twilight, smirking, but I can quickly feel her eyes glance back to me. "What kind of magic is that? You didn't mention any of that in your letter."

"Well, when I first found him, he was near the edge of Ponyville, you see..." Twilight starts, recounting our meeting in the Everfree Forest, or at least that's what I assume it's called since that's what everyone else has been calling it. Twilight, however, didn't mention the glow my gems made when casting the magic on the timberwolves. I can only assume she didn't see it.

"Really now, Twilight?" Celestia replies after Twilight explains the fact the spell I used had some kind of visible manifestation, and didn't seem to leave a lingering visible effect the way a unicorn's magic aura does. She 's been adding little quips like that through the entire tale, nodding and occasionally sipping at her tea. She's apparently an expert at listening while shielding her actual opinion of things.

"Yeah, after that we were able to get back to Ponyville and into the library." Twilight went on. "From what I can tell he used the magic subconsciously, but later that night when the timberwolves came back it seemed like he was doing it actively and everything!"

"Came... back?" Celestia raised her eyebrow and tried to shield her expression by taking a well-timed sip of tea.

"Yeah... it was weird, a whole group of those things came into Ponyville later that night, and based on how they acted when we came out, it was almost like they were hunting us down."

"And how did you get out of that one, my faithful student?" Celestia asked, regaining her normal poise.

"Well, at first we only heard some screams near the library, so we didn't know what was wrong, but Cloud, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash wanted to help whoever was in trouble so we went out, and then they were everywhere!" Twilight flung her hooves into the air dramatically as if to emphasize 'everywhere'. "One of them was really weird, though..."

"Hmmm?" Celestia edged her to continue, sipping her tea again.

"Weird, as in it was a wooden dog with an eldritch horror strapped to its back." I finally decide to speak up. I might've been better off just not talking, but I was getting bored just listening to Twilight's overly-dramatic storytelling.

The Princess turned to me, "Like I said, there's a malevolent presence that stalks the nights in Equestria." She says, sipping her tea again. "So what did you do?"

"I hit it with a pipe until it stopped moving." I replied deadpan, and I must have tickled the Princess' funny-bone because for a split second I can hear her choke on her tea she was in half-sip of before quickly recovering, though the quick ping in her impervious social armor is clearly noticed by Twilight as well.

"Are you okay, Princess?" Twilight asks, fussing over the incident.

"Yes, I'm quite okay, my student." She nods to her. "That was just not the... answer I was expecting."

"Yeah, but Cloud beat it up while we held it back with magic, and even knocked one of the tentacles the thing had coming off it clean off!" Goddamnit Twilight no. "The strangest bit happened when he tried to pick up the tentacle, though." Goddamnit. Twilight. "It like... went inside him. It was really kinda gross. But..." She turns to me for a moment, "he seems fine, at least for now."

And now Celestia is eying me openly. God. Damn. It. Twi. Light.

"Really?" Princess Celestia asks, though this one was clearly rhetorical. "Then, the feeling he's been giving off since I arrived makes sense..."

"W-w-what do you mean, feeling?" Twilight seems to be realizing what she just did. "He hasn't had anything weird happen since the incident, if that's what you mean!"

"No, that's not what I mean." Celestia sighs. "I won't say I'm not concerned... the feeling I've been getting is the same one Luna and I have felt, but in him it seems to be... subdued? I'm not sure, Twilight, but I don't think either of you are in immediate danger because of it."

"Then why the distrustful glances?" I decide to ask bluntly, putting her on the spot.

"...I'm sorry, those were unbecoming of me." She states after a moment, going back to sipping her tea. Dodging the question, I see how it is. "I apologize."

"Forget it." I motion a small shrug, finally sipping my own tea some. Two can play this game.

Celestia quickly uses the opportunity to change the subject. "My sister has begun night patrols once she's finished raising the moon and setting the stars." She says, turning back to Twilight. So, this one raises the sun, the other raises the moon? I guess the names make sense, then. "The activity of the... creature, we're calling it for now... peaks during the nights when I rest from the day's work, so she feels it more keenly than I do. She says it gives her enough pause that she wishes to hunt it down herself."

"Isn't that... dangerous?" Twilight asks. Pretty fair question, really, I mean if the person that raises and lowers the moon gets killed by who knows what, that would cause a bit of imbalance in Equestria, wouldn't it?

"Yes, but... she says the things she feels are too powerful to allow normal ponies to try and handle." Celestia sets the teacup down, closing her eyes. "It's very possible that you and the other Elements got lucky fighting a weaker manifestation of whatever creature is prowling Equestria, since it doesn't seem to be one singular entity." She then looks out the window for a moment, then back to Twilight. "I'm sorry, my student, but I must get on with my duties. Please take care." She slowly gets to her feet, sharing some kind of embrace with Twilight which I assume is some form of pony affection as she slowly walks to the door. At the door, she stops, and turns back, looking at me. "And Cloud, welcome to Equestria. Know that day or night, the light of the Royal Pony Sisters watches over you." ...That bitch. I can't help but narrow my eyes slightly as I give her a nod, and she turns back to the door, which Twilight has now opened with her magic. Outside I see a regal-looking cart emblazoned with the symbol of the sun, with a number of pegasus ponies strapped to it in front. "Hopefully next time we shall meet under better circumstances, my faithful student."

I head back inside, letting the two say their goodbyes while I mull things over in my head. What the hell is her problem? What is she hiding? That was so clearly a veiled 'we're watching you' statement if I've ever heard one. But I'm not the crazy parasite going around latching onto things, so why is she watching me? I fold my arms and sigh, the meeting going about as well as expected but leaving me far more tired than I thought it would.

After a few minutes, I hear the door shut and the sound of Twilight's hooves against the floor, alone. She trots around to my front, looking up at me. From the look on her face, I can guess that Celestia's... trepidation of me was lost on her. She seems like she's normally sharper than that, but I suppose adoration for a teacher can cause you to miss the undertones you would normally pick up on. "So, Cloud," she starts, "what do you say about testing out your magic some more? Or maybe..." she looks down at her hooves, "maybe you've changed your mind on that memory spell?"

"Maybe later." I answer vaguely, scooping up that discarded pipe from last night as a just-in-case and slipping it under my belt. "I need to walk for a bit."

"Oh, alright," she replies, "maybe I could-"

"Alone." I say, cutting her off. Then, realizing how harsh that must have sounded to her, I add "...Sorry, I just need to think for a while."

"Oh... alright." I'm heading for the door, but I can feel that sad, ears-pressed-to-head look boring its way into my back. "Will you be back later? I'd really like to see how that magic of yours works. Magic is kind of a big interest of mine..." She trails off.

I wait a moment, considering. "Maybe." I finally reply. "Testing my magic is probably a good idea." And it is - but not here. After that... encounter with the Princess of the Day, I feel like I should be keeping as low a profile as possible, at least for a while, which means out of this town. Hopefully it won't upset Twilight too much for her first contact to slip back into the dark where it came from.

Chapter 07: Something's Coming from the Sea!

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Chapter 07: Something's Coming from the Sea!

Luckily for me, my departure from Ponyville seems to have drawn far fewer eyes than my entrance to it, and I'm eventually able to slip back into, what, based on the position of the sun is, should be the forest south of Ponyville... which I think is the Everfree? It looks like around the same place I came out the day before, but it's a bit hard to remember details since I was busy being chased by barking tree trunks with legs.

If it is the Everfree Forest, it's... quite a bit more hospitable than last time. Might have to do with the fact I'm some strange foreign creature that's proven it's not food last time I was here. I pull the pipe from last night out of my belt and twirl it in my hand like a police baton. For some reason, handling it like this makes me feel pretty relaxed.

I peer around me every so often, checking through trees for anything that might be silently sneaking up on me. One time, I swear I see a striped pony, but it doesn't see me as far as I can tell so I just keep going. The idea is to get away from them, not near them, after all. Which reminds me, Celestia. The way she kept looking at me before. I still can't figure it out. There's definitely something going on that went unsaid during that conversation...

Argh! Forget it. There's no way I'll be able to figure it out, not while I'm barely able to remember anything about myself, at least. I place my free hand into my pocket, then notice... there's something in there. Between the distractions from yesterday and the heavy fabric of my SOLDIER uniform, I must not have felt them before. Small, circular objects. More of those gems? As I pull them out, I notice that I had just done it again. 'SOLDIER uniform'. But it's still just words, until I can remember was SOLDIER is. I look into my palm, having pooled the small objects from my pocket - it's indeed more of those gems. Eight more. Red, green, green, green, green, blue. blue, yellow. But... what are they?

Argh! Again! So, in total, two reds, three yellows, four blues, seven greens. Based on experience and that feeling from a few seconds ago, the blue ones need to be paired with the green or red ones to do anything, but not the yellow ones. The yellow ones don't pair. I remember that. The green ones often also contain multiple spells, but not the red ones. The yellow ones let me use the green and red ones in ways I wouldn't normally be able to. The blue ones are similar, except they only work if paired off with a green or red. As has become usual, since I was trying to remember what the gems are and not how to use them, the basics for how they work come flooding back, but not what their name is or what they're made of, which feels like the most important thing for... some reason.

I furrow my brow in thought and put the gems safely back into my pocket. I'll have to try and experiment with them once I've found a place to rest. Maybe using them more will push my memory a bit more, like what happened last night with the timberwolves. Speaking of finding a place to rest - how long have I been walking? The trees seem to be much thinner than I remember them being in any part of the Everfree that I've been in so far, and the sun is way further along the sky than it used to be. I suppose that means I'm at least nearing the other side of the forest... hopefully that also means that if Twilight and her friends come looking for me, I won't be found.

I look around for a place to rest for a bit, and my eyes catch what appears to be a small clearing a distance off the beaten path. It even has a little stream running past it, so I begin making my way through the brush and trees. If I'm lucky, it'll be nice and unoccupied, and I can stretch out and begin figuring out how I can rig together a usable fishing rod. But wait, me, lucky, yeah, no. Someone or something is already there. I can hear them. Oh boy, they're a screamer, too. How didn't I hear that from the road? Do the damn trees really muffle sound that well?

As I pull through the dense growth and the clearing comes into view, I see the source of the noise - a blue pony with a rather extravagant looking hat and cape. It's hard to tell which kind she is since the cape and hat cover where wings and horns would normally be visible, but she has this unmistakable, grimy look to her like a kid who spends far too much time playing in rocks - the kind that takes far more than a single bath to get rid of. Maybe an earth pony pretending to be a wizard?

"Aaaand now, mares and gentlecolts, stomp your hooves, because here comes tonight's main show, featuring the Grrrrreat and Powerful Trrrrrrrrixie!" She exclaims, raising onto her hind legs as fireworks come up from the grass around her and explode dangerously low into the air, the whizzing not even passing the treeline. I'd comment on the danger of setting off pyrotechnics so low to the ground, but I can't even see where that display came from - the ground seems completely untouched.

She pulls off her hat, making a mock-bow to no-one in particular, and I see the distinctive horn protruding from her forehead. A unicorn? Then why is she so... dirty looking? I can't imagine an otherwise well-kept unicorn with magic and a wizard's outfit would enjoy rolling around in the dirt.

"Now, sit, and be amazed, everypony! The Great and Powerful Trixie shall regale you with her awesome magic, and tales of danger and heroism!" She continues, grabbing her cape and motioning it in front of her with one hoof, still remaining upright on her hind legs. A stage performance of some kind? A rehearsal? No, that still doesn't explain the dirt... maybe this is some local pony who lives nearby, running off to some secluded spot where no one would find them in order to imitate some famous Equestrian showgirl... showmare? I'm beginning to realize how many of the people, ponies, whatever that I've met are female now, though, as I drum over this bit of vocabulary.

I sheathe the pipe back on my belt and rest, hidden by the bushes, deciding to see where this is going. Plus - I'd likely not find a better spot to camp out and fish, so I may as well wait for her to go home instead of busting my ass when I don't have any idea where I'm going to begin with. With any luck, maybe she'll even be a good impersonator and the show will be entertaining. The fireworks were pretty if not set of dangerously low, and she rolls her r's well, so it's off to a good start at least.

The tricks, however, are pretty boring - standard parlor tricks like pulling a small flock of birds from her hat, or popping a deck of cards out of thin air and doing some fancy shuffles. Okay, maybe not quite standard, there's a bit of actual magic involved, but still pretty lackluster based on my previous experience with unicorn magic. Though, most of the tricks do involve her standing on her hind legs for extended periods to either hold objects, motion her forehooves as if she's conjuring something, and so on. I suppose her dexterity for supporting herself on two legs is at least impressive.

"Thank you, thank you!" She bows to the applause that's surely ringing in her head. "And now, The Great and Powerful Trrrixie shall share with all you lovely ponies assembled here tonight with a daring tale of heroism! Yes, prepare to be amazed by the tale of when The Great and Powerful Trixie saved the city of Manehattan from a powerful dragon! That rose from the sea!" She swishes her cape with a clear intent to show off and captivate the audience in her mind before motioning with her forehooves towards where she must imagine the seats to be. "...Now, now, everyone, hold your applause until after hearing the tale."

Manehattan? Ponyville... and the city that the Princesses supposedly reign from is named Canterlot? I can't help but facepalm for a moment in realization of pony city-naming conventions while the pony prepares to go into whatever tale she's talking about.

She spends a moment on all fours before rearing up again, the fireworks seeming to emanate from nowhere again before exploding above her. This time, however. the colors hang in the air as her horn glows and she moves her forehooves. The colors split apart in the air, like paints for a canvas, and some begin to take shape in the sky, creating the cartoonish outline of a large city. Maybe she does have a bit of skill beyond standing upright, after all.

"T'was but a peaceful day in Manehattan, the ponies of the city all going about their busy days." She begins her story. "Little did they know, however, that a certain unicorn in their midst had been practicing many dark magics!" A swirl of colors fly from the swatches she has held in the sky, forming a purple unicorn with a dark mane and tail. "This unicorn, dreadfully strong but foolish, dabbled in magic far beyond her abilities, unbeknownst to the other residents of the fine city of Manehattan." The purple unicorn's horn glows in a lighter purple hue, shooting a small line of color to the side of the image of 'Manehattan'. "And in one great burst of magic, the foolish unicorn mare sent a ripple into the oceans near Manehattan's coast, and awakened a powerful draconic beast!" Some blue swatches of color float forth, adding more detail to the ocean around Manehattan before a tall, bulky, green dragon with grey spines rises from the ocean next to it. "Whether the beast was created by the unicorn or simply awakened, Trixie shall never know, but it reared its head, ready to unleash a terrible blast upon Manehattan!" This is when the audience would likely gasp, if it weren't in the mare's mind, as a blue streak of light shoots from the form of the dragon towards the city, merely to be blocked by a purple bubble, of lighter shade than the one used by the first unicorn, as a second, azure unicorn holding a star-tipped wand moves into the frame.

"However, the attack was blocked by yours truly, The Great and Powerful Trixie, the one mare whose unicorn prowess can stand up to even the mightiest dragons!" She swishes her cape and manipulates the images again, the unicorn representation of 'Trixie' waving its wand, showering the dragon in smaller stars from its tip and causing it to slowly disappear. After this, the visage of Manehattan also disappears and the two unicorns are enlarged and given more detail. The distinctive cape and hat of the person casting the illusion are recreated in great detail, while the other is given an oddly familiar striped mane. "And then, The Great and Powerful Trixie did battle with the unicorn foolish enough to cast such a spell, knowing she must subdue her and turn her over to the Royal Pony Sisters!" The two ponies in the illusion above fire slightly different colored beams of purple from their horns, locking in the center. "She was a mighty foe, assuredly!" The beam slowly moves toward the figure representing the pony on her 'stage'. "But The Great and Powerful Trixie was mightier!" She exclaimes as the beam reverses direction, the point of clashing slowly moving toward the purple unicorn until it strikes them, and causes the image to disappear.

"And this, dear mares and gentlecolts, is how The Great and Powerful Trixie saved Manehattan from an almost certain doom!" The mare bows, and her illusory copy in the sky does the same, to the applause likely ringing in her head. Except, as her head shoots up, I realize all too late that the applause this time isn't all in her head - I had absentmindedly applauded, in reflex to a show that was kind of entertaining. "Who's there?!" She exclaims, her eyes going wide for a split second before narrowing them. "Who dares to attempt a free viewing of one of The Great and Powerful Trixie's awesome displays of magical prowess!"

And this, as they say, is when one exits, stage left. I can hear the sound of hooves running toward my hiding spot as I dive into the brush, trying to stay unseen since outrunning something with magical ability seems like a terrible idea. Instead, I slowly slink through the brush, trying to be quiet and close the distance between myself and the beaten path to hopefully throw off her search. The tell-tale "A-ha!" and a tug on the back of my clothing's neckline tells me, however, that this plan failed in likely the same way that just trying a full run would have. Since I'm being dragged around like a kid about to be disciplined, though, I decide to fold my arms and play the part as I feel myself being pulled through the last of the brush and out into the open field.

"What pony dares to peek upon the practicing sessions of The Great and Power..." her words trail off for a moment as she walks over to my front, and we make eye contact. "You're... not a pony. Or anything Trixie has ever seen before."

"A magician and a detective." I can't help but jeer at her.

"Why yes, The Great and Powerful Trixie is quite perceptive!" She boasts, raising a hoof to her chest in what I assume is a confident pony gesture and shooting me a shit-eating grin. Yeah, so perceptive...

"And humble."

"Ah, but if only there were an Element of Harmony for Humility, it would definitely belong to The Humble and Perceptive Trixie." Elements of Harmony? Something about the word 'Elements' seems vaguely familiar but this doesn't seem like the kind of pony I should be asking for information about things. "Wait..." Her eyes narrow, stopping herself from bathing in the perceived praise for a moment. "Do you dare mock The Great and Powerful Trixie?!" She accuses, extending a hoof in my face.

I raise an eyebrow to her. "So, you're actually the 'Great and Powerful' Trixie?" I ask, not trying to veil the sarcasm.

"Why, of course! Did you not see the magnificence of my magical prowess just now?" She takes a few steps away before turning back to me, rearing back onto her hind hooves and veiling her cape around herself theatrically. "You're in the presence of Trixie Lulamoon, the greatest showpony, no, greatest magic user in all of Equestria!" She flings her cape back as if to accentuate her point, sending up another round of fireworks, this time punctuated by trumpet calls which I assume are also from her magic. All things considered, being able to do that on-demand isn't entirely unimpressive, either.

I think for a moment, then decide to feed her ego a bit. "Well, it was an impressive display at the end." I say, before smirking. "But I question that 'greatest magic user in all of Equestria' bit." This could prove to be a good opportunity to get a better handle on whatever magic these gems can let me do, if I can get her into some kind of a pissing contest. I mean, a dirty unicorn that fancies herself a stage performer encounters a weird unknown creature on the edge of the Everfree Forest that can use magic? Based on what I've heard about the Everfree Forest from Twilight so far, people wouldn't see that as a noteworthy event, and she doesn't seem like a particularly noteworthy pony, so it seems like a great chance to have a bit of fun without much risk for me.

"Oh, really?" She narrows her eyes and gets back on all fours, walking up to me. Seems the challenge stuck more than the praise. "And what would a horn-less... thing like you know about magic?"

I finally decide lying on the ground sucks and switch into a cross-legged sitting position, which puts me roughly eye-level with this arrogant little mare. I open my right palm and turn it upward, concentrating on the second green gem on my bangle, not tapping into the paired blue gem this time. A soft, green light surrounds me for a moment and a small fireball appears, floating just above my palm. I wasn't expecting it to be that easy - I guess I'm getting better at this. "I would prefer not to be called a thing, Miss Trixie." I comment as she looks at the swirling ball of flame in my palm, willing it up into the sky and causing it to explode just above the treeline, like a small firework of my own.

"Ah, 'Miss Trixie', hm?" She muses, taking a step back and sitting on her haunches. "Well, well, well, it seems someone raised you with manners when you were little." She peers over me, studying me for a moment. "Trixie demands to know how you did that!"

"...Hmm?"

"That fire! It looked like real fire! But there was no light indicating you teleported it from somewhere else! No glow like a unicorn's horn! Just that little green light, which didn't even seem to come from you!" She leans forward slightly, speaking a bit lower. "What is your secret? Trixie must have it! If Trixie's illusions could be made that real, her shows would be unrivaled in all of Equestria!"

"But... I thought you were already the greatest magic user in all of Equestria?" I reply, raising an eyebrow, knowing that there's two kinds of people who are as boastful as this mare - the ones with so much skill, they can't contain it, and become fat off their own ability... and the ones with no talent at all. Her reply should make it clear which category she falls into, though I already have my hunch in that regard.

"Well...!" She says defensively, turning her head to the side with a 'humph!', "...even the greatest magic user in Equestria can always learn new tricks!"

Bingo. "Is that so?"

"Yes, it is so!" She turns and glares at me, then notices my palm is open, beginning to form another fireball, more slowly this time. She leans in closer, backing away suddenly when she feels the heat coming off it. "That's... not an illusion, is it?" She asks tentatively, then looks down to my wrist, noticing the glowing of the green gem.

I turn my hand toward the river, standing and shooting the fireball into there, detonating it once it hits the water and hoping to scare up some dinner without actually needing to fish. No dice, though. "It's not." I finally reply and sit back down, and I can see now that her eyes are stuck clearly on my bangle.

"Those little stones!" She finally says after a moment. "They're some kind of magic conduit, aren't they? ...Trixie must have them!"

Well, this is a development I definitely should have seen coming but didn't. Hopefully I can weasel out of it without having to do anything I'm going to feel bad about in the morning. "Uhm... I'm sure you know I'm going to say that I can't give them to you, right?"

She squinted her eyes in frustration. "Of course Trixie knows that!" She rises to her hooves, pacing. "But there must be a price you could part with them for? Every pony has a price, so Trixie is sure you do as well!"

"Nope, sorry." I reply quickly. Selling these seems like a great way to leave myself screwed over when I piss of the wrong unicorn. Or wrong anything from the way this place has been shaping up so far. "They're not for sale, either."

"Hmph!" The mare huffed and turned her head away for a moment, before slowly turning back to me. "...What else can they do?"

"Hmm?"

"Trixie sees different colors! They must do different things!" ...Point. Too bad I still only have my vague remembrance from earlier on that one.

"I'm... still figuring that part out." I say. "I just got them recently, you see, I haven't tested them all out yet." All aboard the bullshit train, next stop, hopefully not face-down in the river over there.

"Hmm... Trixie understands." She nods, before standing up and stomping her hoof in proclamation. "Clearly, this means you must test them and learn their capabilities!"

"How come I feel like you have ulterior motives?"

"Ulterior motives? Moi?" She gives another of her grins and turns her head to the side, flipping her mane. "Do you truly think The Curious and Helpful Trixie would stoop to such a low?"

Maybe I'm being a bit too mean. The more I talk to her, the more I realize she actually is this 'Trixie', and not just some fan, and, based on how she looks and the fact she's practicing all the way out here, probably more than a little down on her luck. I begin popping the blue, red, and one of the yellow gems out of my bangle, setting them in my pocket, and replacing them with the remainder of the green ones. I can remember that the green ones cast the basic spells, so they're the ones I need to test first. As I finish setting them in, I can see Trixie leaning over my shoulder, eyeing the changes I'm making to the bangle curiously.

"Why seven of the same one?" She asks, leaning in, "Trixie assumed they were color-coded."

"They are, sort of." I explain, thinking that maybe saying it out loud will help push some new memory up regarding the gems. "There are multiple kinds, which are coded by color, then different ones inside each color. These green ones are magic..." this time the sentence didn't just keep going like I was hoping it would, so I sit for a moment, trying to force the name of the gems to the front. Nothing.

"Hmmm...?" The azure mare leans in closer, waiting for me to continue my explanation.

"The green ones are for casting magic. Different ones contain different spells. Sometimes one can contain two or more related spells." She nods at the explanation as I run my fingers along the gems. "Time... Fire, which you've seen... and these five, I haven't tested yet."

"And what's that yellow one for?" She asks, motioning a hoof to the eighth gem on the bangle.

"Nothing in particular." I answer, though something pulls at me, making me think it might have a reason to be there over the other gems. "I just only have seven magic ones." Her mouth forms a little 'oh' shape. She sits, looking at me expectantly as I run my fingers along the gems in the bangle. I consider trying to feel out the third gem and see if I can get its magic to work, but curiosity overtakes me. "So, why are you out here?" I ask, seeing if I can get her to spill what's happened to get her into her current state. It's really none of my business, but it's nice to talk to someone whose not fussing over me in one way or another for a change.

"W-what do you mean?" She's caught off guard by my question. "You know full why Trixie was out here! You saw it yourself, she was practicing for her next stage performance!"

"No." I quickly reply. "I mean, why are you out here?" I motion to her and the field as I ask the question, hopefully giving her a better idea of what I mean with the added emphasis. When she simply blinks at me without answering, I decide to elaborate it a bit more. "You're good at telling stories and animating them with your magic, so why out here in the middle of nowhere, looking like you've done nothing but play in rocks for months?"

She opens her mouth, likely to retort the fact I just indirectly called her dirty, but waits a moment, chokes, and stomps her hoof in the dirt. "...It's all that stupid Ponyville's fault." She finally says, lowly, low enough I can barely hear it.

"...Ponyville?" Now I'm interested - granted I was only there for one day or so, and really only met six ponies and a dragon while I was there, but the town seemed nice enough. I didn't expect her to open up at all, but maybe she feels the same way I do, that it's just nice to talk to someone whose not judging or expecting anything from you.

"Yes, Ponyville!" She stomps again. "And that stupid unicorn, Twilight Sparkle!" I nearly laugh, but I see her pained expression and hold back. Now I know the coincidence in her story earlier likely wasn't coincidence, but I can't imagine what could have happened. "Trixie went to Ponyville with her wagon stage, back when she had one, to perform her routine for those backwards hicks!" Damn, girl, that's some strong language for all the sunshine and rainbows I've seen here so far. "But then, some stupid hecklers climbed onto Trixie's stage, during Trixie's show, and called her a fraud and a liar and a braggart! The Great and Powerful Trixie, a fraud, a liar, and a braggart?!"

"They might have you a little on that third one." I can't help but quip. She gives me a 'hmph!' and turns away for a bit, looking at the flowing water of the river nearby.

"...Maybe..." Trixie finally resigns with a sigh. "But it's part of the act, the stage, the flair! To make ponies look at you with wonder, that's what being a showpony is all about, is it not?"

"That's true," And it is. "A showman's job is to entertain the crowd."

"Yes, you get it!" Her eyes light up for a bit, then she looks down again. "Too bad no one else seems to... I showed those hecklers that The Great and Powerful Trixie is the greatest, most skilled equine in all of Equestria! And I told them a riveting tale, much like I did here, of how The Great and Powerful Trixie saved Hoofington from an ursa major! But then, two of those dumb kids from Ponyville got egged on by one of those hecklers to actually get an ursa major and bring it to Ponyville! How dumb can you possibly be to even try that?!"

She looks at me, trying to gauge my reaction, but considering I don't even know what an ursa major is, I don't think I'm having the surprised expression she was expecting. Not wanting to completely disappoint, though, I try for the save. "It would be like someone going into the watery depths of Manehattan and trying to summon you a giant sea dragon to defeat, right?"

She nods. "Yes..." She closes her eyes a moment. "I've never vanquished a sea dragon or an ursa major." She looks at me, like she's expecting some kind of snide remark, but I just stay quiet and let her continue, merely noting the change in her speech. "So, these kids get this ursa major, and bring it back to Ponyville, and of course, there's nothing I can do to send it back to the Everfree Forest, and my stage cart gets crushed. But then, Twilight Sparkle shows up!" The part I've been waiting for, I won't lie. "That Twilight Sparkle... argh!" She's suddenly gone from sad to more than a little angry in a matter of seconds. "She knows just how to pacify the stupid thing and bring it back to its cave! And then... after completely showing up Trixie in every way, she tells everyone it wasn't even an ursa major! Just an ursa minor that was cranky after the two stooges interrupted its nap!" She shakes a bit where she's sat. "That Twilight Sparkle... she made Trixie out for a fool who could not even vanquish a baby!"

Now I kind of understand. She had gone to Ponyville to entertain, only to get heckled repeatedly, then have her main attraction - her storytelling - thrown in her face as she was shown up in public. "But... as bad as that was... that would only make working in Ponyville difficult, wouldn't it? Couldn't you go to other towns?"

"Trixie tried..." She isn't crying, but I can tell she wants to with how badly she's shaking. "But the story spread faster than Trixie could gallop! Soon all of Equestria believed The Great and Powerful Trixie to be just some hapless fraud, out to tell tall tales of her grandeur! No one would see my wonderful shows anymore! I look so dirty because I had to spend months farming rocks to rebuild myself even this much!"

Farming... rocks? I decide not to ask. "But you're back to it now, aren't you?"

"...Yes, sort of." She continues staring absently at the river. "I want to head down to Appleloosa. It's a long way away but its a small, newer town mostly of earth ponies. Hopefully they will... not have heard the stories, and will appreciate the finer points of Trixie's magic!" She sighs again, seeming to finally get control of herself. "From there, Trixie can get herself a new stage cart, then slowly make her way to a larger city like Fillydelphia or Manehattan and rebuild her reputation!"

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out for yourself." I comment, laying down on my back and folding my hands behind my head like a pillow. "I assume you'll need the river to try and wash off the grime from months of farming rocks." Fishing... can wait until tomorrow.

"Yes!" She says, before turning and seeing me. "But first!" I see her get up on all fours and walk over to me, before sitting a few feet to the left of my head. "You still owe Trixie a show!"

"A 'show'?" I raise an eyebrow. "I'm not that kind of guy, sorry."

She takes a minute to compute the implication of my reply and stomps her hoof. "A magic show, you idiot! Not a late-night Las Pegasus showing! You still need to test the rest of those gems, no? And who better to help you than The Great and Powerful Trixie! Besides!" I turn my head to look at her. "You got a free preview of Trixie's newest act! It's only fair you show her something in return if you're not going to pay the bits!"

I laugh for a minute and slowly stand back up. I guess she's right. I focus on the third green gem, one of the new ones I added to the bangle earlier, and begin getting an idea for what kind of magic it is. I raise my hand to the sky above the lake and let the glow of the gem flow through me as the sky crackles - and then, without warning, a bolt of lighting comes down and strikes the river. I turn my eyes from the sky down to the water and smirk as I see things bubbling to the surface. It's starting to look like today will end with everybody winning - I won't need to fish after all.

Chapter 08: (Not) Interesting Gemstone Feng-Shui.

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Chapter 08: (Not) Interesting Gemstone Feng-Shui.

Time, Fire, Lightning, Ice, Barrier. Now that I'm using them, the names of the individual gems are coming back, at least. I didn't actually test Time again when putting on a 'show' for the 'Great and Powerful' Trixie, but these are the ones I could get to trigger effects. Luckily for my new companion, I tested the 'Ice' gem on a nearby tree and not the river, so we didn't end up freezing it, merely creating a rather shiny, blue tree that's now slowly melting in the setting sun instead.

Right now I have the gems laid out on the grass, counting them again. Seven green, four blue, three yellow, two red. The greens are separated into two groups - Time, Fire, Lightning, Ice, Barrier, as well as the remaining two I couldn't get to cast. Not due to a lack of trying - any attempt at it simply hit me with an overwhelming sense of tiredness, as if they were pulling on some kind of nonexistent energy reserve to try and do whatever they do. The blues are also separated into two groups - the two I know the effects of, and the two I don't. The two I do know seem to do the same thing - that is, they cause the 'paired' green gem to cast multiple times simultaneously. The two I don't, well... I'm beginning to reconsider the premonition I had about them requiring a weapon similar to my bangle. While my mind is telling me they would be better in a weapon, they might not be useless after all.

At that thought, I remove the bangle, turning it over in my hands and finally giving it a good look over. Now that I'm giving it a scrutinizing look, it's actually quite ornate, with eight 'slots' where the gems fit in. The slots seem to be paired off - into two groups of four, each pair connected with some kind of ornate engraving. So, I could fit four 'pairs', eight individual gems, or some combination thereof. Just the right amount of pairings possible, looking at my gem stock. Behind me, I can hear the splash of water and clatter of hooves indicating that my current companion's finished her third attempt at trying to wash the grime of the 'rock farm' off herself.

My brain still can't process the phrase 'rock farm', but I'm finding not understanding this place to be more and more common the longer I'm here, so I don't dwell on that thought much. Returning to the laid out gems, I scoop up the one, 'Time', and set it in the bangle, and pair it with one of the two blue gems that I know the function of. This area seems relatively safe, but that's no reason not to be prepared, and this combination seems to be one of the strongest in a fight of the ones I know. Next, I inlay the 'Lightning' gem and pair it with the second blue gem. Trixie had a much more surprised reaction at the ability to control lightning than fire, claiming it as something 'only pegasus ponies can usually do', so this combination seems more useful than 'Fire' pairing I was using earlier - if only for intimidation purposes.

"Trixie must ask, now that she feels like a hundred bits, where did you get those?" I hear the voice ask from over my shoulder as the hoof-falls close in. "If you cannot sell them, Trixie could easily buy some of her own!"

Not giving up that angle, huh? "They're a... family heirloom."

"And... they must be set in that bracelet to work?" She asks, and I turn to look at her, seeing the raised eyebrow and pointing hoof.

That's... actually a good question. I pick up the gem 'Ice' into my free hand and concentrate for a moment, seeing if I can feel out whatever it is that allows me to cast spells with them. After a moment, I feel the distinctive sensation of the magic swelling up and see the gem glow, pointing it to the tree I froze earlier in the day and covering it with a second, thicker sheet of ice. "Looks like I don't." I finally reply. "Though using it like that was definitely more work."

"Aha! So Trixie could use them!" Her eyes glint with a hint of greed for a moment before a quizzical look replaces it. "Wait a Celestia-damned minute. They're a family heirloom... and you barely know what they do or how they work?"

Yeah, I think the 'family heirloom' cover was a terrible idea. I can feel the the entire thing sinking already. "I just received them recently."

Her eyes narrow. "...Right. Your story is about as believable as the time Trixie prevented an entire pride of manticores from attacking Las Pegasus and running off with all the showmares in the city."

"I don't see what's so unbelievable about that." I smirk as I set the 'Fire' gem into the bracelet alongside one of the unknown blue gems, hoping it does something useful if I need it.

"Your sarcasm does not go unnoticed by The Gracious and Perceptive Trixie, but," I see her shadow move, and the sound of hooves moving toward where she set aside her cape and hat, "it shall go unpunished... for now."

Punished, huh? I decide to just let it go, and set 'Ice' and 'Barrier' into the remaining two slots on the bangle. I don't know what that fourth blue gem does, but I'd rather have the full option set than risk trying to test both blues out at once when it's possible they might do nothing at all. Still not exactly trusting my new clearing-mate, I sweep the remainder of the gems back into my pockets, having the sudden premonition that I've had these stolen from me. A lot.

Rolling onto my back and resting my hands on my head again, I watch the sky enter its twilight hours. Suddenly, I realize I don't have much of an idea where I'm going. I suppose I could follow the river... though with my luck it'll empty out into an ocean and force me to turn around.

"Hey!" Trixie's voice snaps me out of my thoughts after a few moments, and I roll my head over in her direction. She's stacking random branches and sticks from the nearby trees with her magic. "Light this! Trixie gets cold at night!"

I let out a small sigh. "That's not a very nice way to ask for people to do something for you."

"Do you not also get cold at night?" She asks as I hear her stoop next to her bundle of kindle.

"I'm used to it." I reply, rolling my head to look back up at the sky.

"...So is Trixie." The reply is low enough that I can barely hear it, and I hear the ruffling of her cape as she tries to hide under it like a blanket.

After a few moments I begin to curse my conscience, rolling slightly and using the magic from the 'Fire' gem to light the wood. It's not like I mind a bit of warmth, anyway. I turn and look back up to to the sky, thinking again, sorting around the bits of fragmented thoughts in my head. For a moment, I think she's fallen asleep before she finally speaks again.

"You know, Trixie could keep you around. Your abilities are... useful." Not the 'thank you' most people would give, but I can't say I expected it.

"I'm not a pet just because I'm not a pony, you know."

"Yes, but The Great and Powerful Trixie could use a slightly less Great and Powerful Assistant," she shifts a bit, I assume getting closer to the fire, "especially one whose skills keep her warm at night like this."

"Not interested." A go-to answer for all red-flag situations.

"Ah, that's... too bad." Did she expect me to say yes or something? I imagine that if her situation is as bad as she's described it being that her situation is lonely and not so easy, but right now I have my own problems to deal with.

The coming night sky in Equestria is quite a sight, at least. I can recall from my... conversation with Celestia and Twilight that the former's sister, Luna, 'raises the moon and stars' or something like that. Does that mean she hand-crafts each night sky, or is there some kind of template they use? Or maybe, it's a total load of bullshit meant to keep the peasants in line. I can't help but crack a smile at that one. It's not like I see a pair of alicorns up there, micromanaging the shift from day to night.

I turn over, putting my back to the fire and putting the thoughts from my mind. It's not particularly important, anyway. I begin trying to push my memory over the threshold, so to speak. I have all these little fragments, such as 'SOLDIER', and these gems, and those flashes of memory from yesterday night, and they all seem connected in some important way... but it's like one key part is missing.

"Hey." Trixie's voice snaps me out of my brooding again.

I roll onto my back again, turning my head to face her. "What is it?"

"Trixie was just thinking..." That's an activity that never ends well for anyone. "And, well... she never got your name."

I turn back up to the sky. "What's in a name, anyway?"

"What, did your family not give you that heirloom yet?" I bite my lip to stifle the laugh but can't, and soon I'm laughing out loud. The muffled sounds next to me indicate she's having about as much luck with it as I am, though she's trying to cover the sound by laughing into her hooves or something.

After we calm down a bit, I turn back up to the sky, thinking. "Dusk." I finally reply after a moment. That's a name that seems pretty in-line with the naming conventions of this place.

"Dusk?" She answers as I turn my head to face her again. "Dusk...?"

"Just Dusk."

This time, it's her turn to look up at the sky. "Okay then, 'Dusk' it is." Well, shit. I guess with my track record, I better avoid politics and real-estate when I get out of this place. "It's been... nice, 'Dusk', but Trixie supposes we go our own ways tomorrow."

"I suppose so." I reply, closing my eyes. I hear a small nestling sound in her direction and a satisfied 'mm', after a few moments, so I assume she's done the same. Good timing, too, since it feels like sleep is coming soon. Hopefully this time, I can get more sleep than last night.

My eyes open slowly, and I rise up to my elbows, then a sitting position. My head is still heavy as I rub my eyes and begin looking around. Everything is... green. Pale green. Flowing like water...

I shoot up to my feet and begin looking around. This place feels familiar. So familiar... and empty. Shouldn't there be more people here than just me? I take one step forward, and then another, wading through the green river of... nothing, it feels like. Energy? It pools around and away from my hand like water when I try to touch it, but it seems to have no weight or resistance. No substance at all.

I can hear voices now, whispering. I can't tell what they're saying but they come from all around, almost as if they're coming from the green... stuff... itself. I reach my hands forward, as if to plunge them into the faux-liquid, and notice all the Materia in my bangle glowing, reacting to the green stuff, the... Lifestream. Materia? Lifestream? I close my eyes and think, trying to soak in the new information. Pieces are beginning to fall into place. If I can keep concentrating, maybe I can...

Movement. My eyes shoot open as I look around. There. A shade. I pull my arms back instinctively, reaching for the weapon that should be on my back, but isn't. The movement stops as it notices I've noticed it. I narrow my eyes at its form, nearly as tall as I am. I wait. I know what it is. I know who it is, even if I can't remember their name. The shade will walk towards me. I know it wi-

It lunges, and I roll to the side. I prepare myself, expecting it to attack me, but it merely keeps going, bouncing down into the Lifestream and disappearing. That's when my brain clicks. The shape of the shade was wrong - I had been expecting a man. A man with a long, wicked blade. Instead, the disappearing shade has the speed of a chocobo, but the body shape of a guard hound, or foulander, or...

My eyes shoot open. Sweat drips from my face despite the fact the fire's kindle is long gone. The sky indicates we're still in the dead of night as a crescent moon hangs overhead. I turn my head to the side to see that Trixie is still there, now huddling under her cape for warmth as she sleeps. Feeling I won't be getting any of my own any time soon I begin checking the trees nearest the clearing for any more good wood to burn. It doesn't take long to find, and soon I've gotten another fire going. I notice the sleeping unicorn slowly scoot herself toward the fire subconsciously and decide its good enough as I head back to where I was laying earlier. At least this time, I can remember the dream - or parts of it - specifically, those two words, 'Lifestream' and 'Materia', as well as that shade. A shade that doesn't quite match anything I've seen before. Well... everything except...

I dismiss the thoughts again. It's important to be remembering things, maybe, but in the end, it's just a dream, and I'm sure I'll have more. That's how the precedent seems to be going, even if this is the only one I can remember up to now. For how badly this day started, the rest has gone really well - no incidents traveling the forest, no incidents with the sleeping mare by the fire, no incidents with horrific eldritch abominations, and most importantly, no incidents with jubilant equine abominations. Other than the small wrinkle of the dream, the day has easily been the most relaxing since my arrival in Equestria, so I lay my head back, deciding to keep it that way, and head back to sleep, able to go undisturbed the rest of the night until the sun rises.

"I thought you weren't interested in being The Great and Powerful Trixie's slightly less Great and Powerful Assistant, hmm?" She asks me the next day, as we walk the path toward Appleloosa.

"I'm not." I'd taken some time earlier in the morning to consider my options, and while I want to keep a low profile, traveling with someone who actually knows where they're going seems like a better idea than just following the river and praying, at least for the time being. "We're just heading in the same direction." Smooth.

"To pick up another family heirloom?" She raises her head in the air and looks back at me over her shoulder, as if to say 'I'm onto you'.

"Yeah." Seems a good an answer as anything else I can come up with.

"Ohh, Trixie gets it!" I raise my eyebrow at her as she shakes her tail at me. "You don't want to admit it, but you've succumbed to The Gorgeous and Alluring Trixie's feminine charms!"

"Definitely not interested."

"Well! How rude!" She 'hmph's and turns her head fully up to the air, trotting a bit faster to pull some added distance between us. "For that, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall not allow you near the fire tonight!"

"...I make the fire."

"Whatever!" She exclaims, pulling even further ahead. Goddammit, 'whatever' is my line.

Chapter 09: I Guess Barret Was Wrong, After All.

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Chapter 09: I Guess Barret Was Wrong, After All.

The following day begins passing without issue. The road ends up taking us to some railroad tracks, which we end up walking along. Deciding I need info, I try to masterfully and tactfully ask my current traveling companion, the 'Great and Powerful' Trixie, for some basic information, like how long this walk to Appleloosa is going to take. I can feel that shit-eating grin through her hat as she tells me it's an overnight trip... by train.

"And you're just going to walk there?" I ask. I know she has four legs and all, but that's a hell of a walk for a down-and-out stage performer with no belonging besides a gaudy hat and cape.

"Trixie does not have much choice if she wants to revive her magician's show, does she not?" She raises her head in the air proudly. "The show must go on at all cost, after all."

"There's not a closer place you could start with?"

"Trixie told you already!" She lets out an audible 'hmph!'. "She must start in Appleloosa because of its recent establishment and distance from Ponyville, and... everywhere else." The last words trail off a bit. And after a moment, she sighs. "Maybe this is a bad idea."

"Staying near me for long periods of time usually is." I can't resist quipping, though she continues on as if I said nothing at all.

"Trixie is thinking it might have been better to stay a rock farmer." The grating third-person referential isn't slipping, but the depression seems to be slipping through the cracks again. "The only place Trixie feels safe performing is Appleloosa, where hopefully nopony will know her, but... if they don't take kindly to her wonderful performance, Trixie will be no better off than the day she was ran out of Ponyville."

I look to the train tracks for a moment and close my eyes. A memory comes to me easily, vividly. "Trains are really depressing, you know?"

She stops walking at the abrupt change of subject, looking at me. I keep walking, forcing her to continue her trot next to me instead of ahead of me. "Trains? Of what relevance is trains? The only depressing thing Trixie can think of about them is the fact Trixie cannot afford taking one to Appleloosa."

"What I mean is," I continue before she can dwell on that last sentiment, "when you don't have a lot, it's a lot like being on a train. It's fast, and it's convenient, and it's easy, but... it can feel like you're stuck, unable to go anywhere but where the rails take you."

She looks from me, to the tracks, thinking. "Trixie finds this... surprisingly deep, for one like you."

"Calling me a country boy, are you?" I ask, stretching and resting my arms behind my head.

Her eyes narrow. "Maybe she is."

"Then you'd be right." I answer as her eyes narrow and she gives me that staple shit-eating grin of hers.

"See! Trixie knows all!"

"Ah, is there nothing I can hide from the 'Wise and All-Knowing' Trixie?" I stretch my arms out. "Next she'll tell me what I intend to have for lunch."

"Keep talking like that," She narrows her eyes at me, "and the 'Wise and All-Knowing' Trixie will predict your lunch as nothing when she throws all those extra fish you packed up a tree."

Cold.

We walk some more, the trees along the track casting some cooling shadows. We seem to be well beyond the border of the Everfree Forest now, but Equestria seems to have no lack of greenery outside it. Trixie said earlier when I was weaseling information from her that Appleloosa is a desert town, though, meaning these lovely walking conditions won't last forever. I suppose even a nice land like Equestria has its... rough spots. After a few more moments though, I begin to hear the low rumbling of a train coming from behind us. Behind us - and, I can only imagine - toward Appleloosa, at least to a degree. I glance ahead of us again and at a tree that's particularly close to the railroad tracks, smirking at the idea forming in my head.

"Hey, Trixie, do you trust me?" I ask, knowing we don't have much time to, uh, 'discuss' this course of action.

"Uh... Trixie supposes a little. Why?" The confusion in her face is replaced by surprise as I quickly wrap an arm around her midsection, scooping her up as she flails her legs wildly. "Hey, put Trixie down!" She complains as I tuck her under my right arm.

"Stop squirming and hold tight!" I tell her as I run forward, a spell from the 'Time' Materia triggering almost entirely on its own as my speed increases. I feel three legs grip around my arm - the fourth I assume holding her hat - as I leap and kick off the tree's trunk, reaching my left arm up to grab a higher branch and swing myself onto it.

"What are you doing?" She nearly hisses as she squirms in my arms again. "Why are we in a Celestia-damned tree?!" I creep along the branch, moving as forward as I feel safe as I crouch into a leaping position.

"You know how I said trains are really depressing because they can never leave the rails?" I ask her, and the realization of my plan dawns as her eyes go wide. "I meant that, but sometimes it's nice to just go with the flow!" And with that, I leap, aided by the Time spell, toward the speeding train that's passing underneath.

Now, I just need to stick the landing, and - well shit, the tops of these train cars are curved. My foot slips along the arched roof of the cart below as momentum pulls my leg out from under me, the effects of whatever spell I used not long before seemingly passed. I tuck the small unicorn under my arm to my chest instinctively, trying to prevent her from getting too badly scuffed as I fall and begin sliding diagonally along the tops of the carts. Looking quickly for somewhere to get purchase, I see the raised portions of the cart's roof to my left and reach out. My fingers dig in, trying to grip the slick surface to no avail as momentum continues to send us sliding along to our inevitable tumble back to the ground.

Suddenly, I hear the crunch of metal, and my fingers stick. Looking at the cart, I see the faint purple glow of Trixie's magic disappearing from the spot my fingers are now dug into, having warped it enough to give me purchase.

"Are you insane?!" She yells over the winds and sounds of the train's tooting. Though honestly, the train isn't moving all that fast for a train - so I'm guessing her yelling is more due to being royally pissed. "We could have been killed!"

I hoist us forward using the grip Trixie made. After that encounter with that... thing in Ponyville, I am quite a bit stronger. I lift Trixie up to the flat part of the railcar's roof, pulling myself up afterward and flopping onto my back. It's pretty hot from being out in the sun all day, but that's not so surprising, and the SOLDIER garb is fairly good at blocking out the worst of it. I turn my head 'up' to check on my companion, and nearly get a face full of her mane as she rotates onto her side, trying to use her cape to put a layer of protection between herself and the metal roof of the railcar.

"Weren't you the one who was depressed about not being able to take a train to Appleloosa?" I smirk upside-down at her as she finally settles in and looks at me.

"This is not Trixie's idea of taking a train!" She huffs, closing her eyes and looking away.

"Would you rather walk the rest of the way?" I ask, relaxing, though the constant motion and sporadic bumps of the train make this entire idea still feel a bit sketchy.

"...No." The reply finally comes as she pulls off her hat, using it as a makeshift pillow and gripping it tightly in her hooves so it doesn't blow away. The brim brushes slightly against my head as she shifts it around.

"Me neither!" I look off to the side as the trees whiz by. "Hopefully this thing doesn't have to make a stop any time soon."

"Ah, that's where your plan is safe, Sir Dusk," She states with a bit of regality, a small blue blur out of the corner of my eye indicating the motion of a hoof. "Appleloosa is, as far as Trixie is aware, the only pony settlement in this direction that's connected to the rail system. The split for Dodge Junction was a while back."

"And there's... nothing else connected to this rail system between here and Appleloosa?" I can't help but question her assertion. That seems like such an... odd choice.

"Not that Trixie knows." She answers. "The Badlands are also in this direction, you see, and dragons are often seen there, so ponies tend not to develop on this side of Equestria."

A sensible decision. "Though I hate to tell you, we'll have to get off this train a little early."

"And why is that?" She asks, and by her shifting I can tell she's looking at me now.

"Aside from the fact what we're doing is probably illegal," I start, shifting my head to look up to the sky, "I'm sure you've noticed that I'm no pony, or anything that you're used to seeing in Equestria."

"Right... it would be hard for Trixie not to notice."

"And as I'm sure The 'Astute and Perceptive' Trixie," Oh boy, I can feel the daggers being glared into my skull already, "must realize that just walking into a town of country ponies with some weird thing they've likely never seen before is a terrible idea." Actually going all the way to the city with her really hadn't been my intent earlier, but now that I'm laying on the train - may as well.

"Yes," I can see her mane flap a bit into my vision as she nods, "that would cause problems both for you, and for Trixie's ability to make her return performance."

"So, I'll need you to head into the town ahead and get me something I can wear as a disguise." Simple enough plan, right?

"...And what do you expect a pony town to have that could disguise someone of your... stature?" ...A simple enough plan that was quickly complicated by an equally-simple inquiry.

I stew on this for a moment. "What about something like a hat and a large cloak?"

This time it's her turn to stew. She seems to understand my intent - the larger items would be vaguely 'normal' on someone my size. "But your uh, body structure, would not be hidden."

"You could just pass me off as 'The Gallant and Gentlemanly Dragon Dusk', no? As long as no one can see the features, no one can question it." This being conjecture of course from seeing Spike's role as Twilight's assistant - I can only assume at least some dragons walk upright when older.

"...Less 'Gallant and Gentlemanly', more 'Stoic and Intimidating' would be Trixie's recommendation, so that nopony causes any issues with you." I let out a small laugh at that one. Point taken, I guess.

Time passes, and one thing's for sure - this will be the last time I sleep on top of a train rather than inside it. While getting and staying asleep is a terrible experience, it's compounded by us sleeping in shifts so we could be sure the other didn't roll off the side of the railcar or anything. There is the silver lining, though - we're both awake to see Appleloosa roll into view from the distance.

I roll onto my stomach, careful to keep myself from slipping from the moving car before taking a tentative step to one knee. Trixie makes an audible gulp as I brace myself with my hands again, setting my other foot under me and slowly rising to a standing position, using my arms to maintain my balance until I'm sure of my footing. I slowly step forward as Trixie makes her way onto her own hooves, noticeably less sure of herself, and still trying to grip her hat in one hoof.

I take a breath, considering the best way to get off a speeding train as she looks towards Appleloosa, the only thing not whipping past the train at reasonably high speed. "Just hold onto your hat." I tell her, crouching down behind her and wrapping an arm under her on either side.

This time she doesn't struggle as I hoist her to my chest, pressing her left forehoof into my arm and the right to her hat. "A mare could get used to be treated like this, you know..."

"Don't count on it." Before giving her a chance to respond, I tuck her tight to my chest and turn my back to the right side of the cart, kicking off and jumping backward. I have no illusions of sticking a landing off a moving train while tucking an azure pony to my chest, so this time I'm just trying to land on my back and minimize the impact. Luckily, simpler feats are easier to accomplish, and this one goes off without a hitch as the horn from the train blows. In fact, it seems even our timing on exiting the train is pretty damn good - we still seem to be far enough away that no one in the city should have seen that if they were looking toward the train, but... close enough.

I take a moment to catch my breath after the impact before getting to my feet and taking in the lay of the land. It's... less desert-y than I've been lead to believe, though the abundance of apple trees makes me believe its been terraformed to be this way. Luckily, it appears they're not ready to actually pick the town's namesake yet, so I begin looking for a particularly shady tree to take a seat under so we can enact the next phase of our plan.

"Yes, my 'Gallant and Gentlemanly' Dusk," the bundle in my arms pipes up as I locate a particularly large tree nearby, "you are learning well! Carry Trixie!"

She's also 'learning well', it seems like, since she easily lands on her hooves when I drop her faster than a sack of potatoes. The bit that's surprising is the lack of abusive commentary as she trots over to the same tree I had in mind and takes a seat. I sit down next to her. "Don't get too comfortable," I remind her, "you still need to head into Appleloosa and get what we talked about."

"Trixie has been thinking about that..." She says, pulling out a small pouch and spilling the contents onto the ground. "She may not have enough disposable bits to cover the kind of clothing you'll need."

"Just do what you can." I reply as she magically scoops the coins - bits - back into her pouch. "Anything is better than nothing, after all."

"But of course!" She stands up, stowing her pouch away again. "Trixie owes you for saving her several days of walking!" She raises her head up int hat proud way she likes to do. "She shall not return empty-hooved!"

She trots off toward the city and I'm left alone for the first time in a while. All the distraction has only allowed for half the usual stewing on my inability to remember things than usual. A nice change of pace, all things considered. There are plenty of things I can stew about while I wait for Trixie's return, of course - things such as the Lifestream, and its relation to both the Materia I use to cast magic and the title SOLDIER, but my thoughts drift elsewhere.

Specifically, to the ponies who I originally met in Equestria - the nerd and the flying butter stick, erm, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy, specifically. The others I hadn't spent too much time with, but I can imagine Twilight Sparkle hasn't taken kindly to my disappearance - she did genuinely want to help. Then the second one, Fluttershy, she seems the type who would freak out if any of her animals were missing for so much as half a day, and I have the odd feeling she considers me one of her animals still whether she says so or not. I feel a twinge of regret over leaving suddenly, but with how Celestia spoke to me earlier that day, I still can't say it wasn't the right decision. Right now I'm beginning to wish my memory back harder than I have in days, if only to know whether something locked deep down there would help me get a better idea of what she's hiding.

Then a funny thought runs into my mind. What if I'm just overreacting and being paranoid, and she's not hiding anything at all? That would make this a family sitcom-level misunderstanding, but that seems unlikely... even if I ignore everything she said and her mannerisms toward me, the look in her eyes whenever we made eye contact betrayed enough to make me suspicious. Either way, I've been able to avoid crazy pink party ponies so far, so even if everything I'm suspecting is wrong this trip will still have a plus.

After a while, I'm pulled from the eve-darkening murk of my own thoughts as a cloth is thrown unceremoniously over my head, following by the soft thud of something hitting my shoulder before falling to the ground. "You should count yourself fortunate to be traveling with a mare as bit-wise as Trixie!" Shit, how did she creep up on me like that? Did I get that stooped into my own thoughts that I didn't hear her approaching hoofsteps?

I stand and pull the cloth item off my head, holding it up in front of me in either hand. Looking it over for a minute, I surmise it to be a pony-proportioned, yet incredibly pony-large poncho, with ornate red weaving covering the basic tan cloth. It also has a hood and some upturned cloth where the face for a pony would be - this is a noticeably quality piece of clothing, meant to ward off the sun and sandstorms during long desert treks. I spend a few more moments looking it over before slipping it over my head, adjusting it a bit to get it to rest on my shoulders. Its equine origins make it rest fairly oddly on me, the front half merely reaching toward my waist line while the back half goes down closer to my knees. Still, as I motion around, stretching my arms out at various angles, it seems suitable for ensuring the exposed skin on my arms and other things local ponies might find odd stay covered, so it'll do.

I pull the hood over my head and begin fumbling around with the cloth meant to protect the face. Due to my noticeable lack of a snout, this doesn't go very well until I notice the other thing Trixie brought back - a deep, wide-rimmed cowboy hat, with a tie for fastening it to your head under the chin. I scoop the hat up and begin doing some fancy manipulation with the face-protecting cloth, getting it where I need it to be so that only my eyes are easily visible before using the tie of the cowboy hat to secure it in place. The cowboy hat itself is a bit too large for my head, so it sits somewhat low, but this is probably to my advantage, as I can tip it forward and easily hide my eyes and small bits of visible hair as well, essentially covering anything that the poncho can't.

"A thank-you would be nice." Trixie breaks me out of my disguise-building thoughts as I hear the impatient tapping of a hoof.

"Sorry. Thank you." I reply, turning to her now that I'm satisfied with how everything is set up. "This is simple, but more effective than I expected it to be."

"You should learn to expect only greatness from Trixie!" She stomps her hoof and puffs out her chest. "She is 'Great and Powerful' for reasons beyond her unrivaled magical potential!"

"Right..." I begin making some final adjustments to the poncho fabric near my face, trying to shape it like what I would expect the snout of a dragon equal to my stature to be like, which causes me to suddenly appreciate all that extra fabric that was making things difficult not long ago. The fact no snout is actually there should hopefully not be an issue since the ponies will all be looking up at me from below - just gotta fake it to make it, as they say in showbiz. "Ready, pahdn'r?"

"...Don't ever do that in front of Trixie again." Tough crowd.

Chapter 10: Pipesmoke.

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Chapter 10: Pipesmoke.

Well, I can safely say my new attire matches the locale. I feel like I've just stepped onto the set of a western filled with pastel ponies and some other large, horned, hairy creature.

"Buffalo." Trixie whispers to me. "At least, Trixie thinks they are buffalo, she has not seen them first-hoof before."

Okay, how did she know I didn't know what they were? She can't even see my face in this getup, and at her angle I'm pretty sure she can't even see my eyes. "How did you-"

"We've been over this," She flicks her head, causing her mane to sway in front of her face, "The Great and Powerful Trixie knows all, and sees all, even if what she knows is the fact that you don't know something!"

I... think she figured out this is my first time in Equestria. I've been so good at hiding it, too. "So, where are we going, Great and Powerful one?"

"Flattery will get you everywhere, dear Dusk." I'm sure it will. "First, we must find a prime piece of unoccupied real estate to... borrow... for Trixie's grand return show!" She trots up ahead of me, getting a lay of the town and how the ponies flow to and fro, and I can imagine her plotting the best place to start acting in order to draw the most eyes. What's nice, for once though, is that I'm not the one drawing eyes - at least not as many. I still stand out like a sore thumb, and most of the passer-by give me some looks, but without anything visible that indicates I'm not from Equestria, they seem ready to dismiss my presence much faster than the citizens of Ponyville were.

"Shouldn't we... get a room at an inn or something?" I mean, she was sleeping on a grass field two days ago and on top of a train last night, but this is still a good question to ask. At least it feels like it is until it leaves my lips.

"We need bits for that, do we not? And to get bits, Trixie must wow the audience!" She moves her hooves dramatically, even though she must know I can't actually see what she's doing since I'm walking behind her. "Plus... Trixie... sort of spent all her spare bits on that ensemble of yours. The braided poncho was too pretty! Trixie could not control herself!"

...Right. Not letting her manage my checkbook. I sigh. Giving her shit right now isn't going to help much. "It's definitely cool looking, at least." I assure her, giving the poncho a bit of a dramatic flip of my own, but careful not to let anything beyond clothing be visible.

"See? Just let Trixie handle everything and stop asking questions!" Hopefully buttering her up isn't a mistake. I just need to pray the added ego will help improve her confidence in her 'return performance', since I'd rather not sleep in the middle of a goddamn desert. "Here!" She finally proclaims after a bit more wandering.

I... don't see what's so special about this spot compared to any other random sidewalk we could be on, if I'm being honest. Looks like a dirt sidewalk in front of stereotypical wooden buildings to me, just like everywhere else in the town. But, I guess she's the 'expert'. She directs me to a spot between a pair of buildings and asks me to watch from there. Something about not wanting to intimidate the audience. Not a big deal, alleyways are shade and a building to lean against instead of standing or sitting in the sand.

She sets out a small tin in front of her, I assume for collecting bits, and paces a few times. I can see her mouth moving, so I assume she's doing some sort of psyche-up performing ritual even though I can't hear the words. Though, now I can hear her. I'm sure people three towns over can hear her. Holy shit, she can yell.

"Welcome, mares and gentlecolts, today you shall be amazed by the wondrous feats of The Grrrreat and Powerful Trrrrrrrixie!" She's on her hind legs, doing that cape thing she likes to do, producing a bouquet in her forehooves and throwing it to the first pony she catches looking at her - a rather confused looking mare.

From our walk-around earlier, this town has some unicorns and pegasi, but its primarily earth ponies, and their lack of familiarity with magic is starting to show. Trixie's quickly garnered a small group of ponies around her, I can catch the occasional clang of a bit being dropped in her tin to get her to perform some silly spell or another. She seems to be in her element, and the crowd's eating it up. I do have to wonder where she pulls all that stuff from, though. As far as I've been able to tell, unicorn magic seems to mostly be like some form of telekinesis, so that stuff has to be kept somewhere for her to be able to use it in her act. But I guess a good magician would never divulge her secrets.

I'm brought out of my thoughts with her next loud proclamation, though. "And now, The Great and Powerful Trixie reaches her grand finale! Gather 'round, mares and stallions, fillies and colts, for your host shall awe you with a tale of spectacle and heroism unlike any you've heard before!" She rears up onto her hind legs and the invisible trumpets blare, the fireworks shooting out and exploding in the sky as she prepares her 'paint' swatches. The crowd grows a bit larger as she goes into the tale she was rehearsing when we first met - about the giant sea monster being summoned by not-Twilight Sparkle and attacking Manehattan.

The story is even going well, the audience is sitting, looking up at the sky as she draws the city and the unicorn magician. There's even a gasp as the monster rears up from the 'sea'... and then, the illusion in the sky breaks, the color disappears, and there's another gasp from the audience. Looking down, I see Trixie pulling herself back to her hooves, an apple stuck to her horn. As she steadies herself, another apple comes into view and nails her square in the side of the head, knocking her back over. I peek out from the alley, looking for the offender who should know damn well you don't throw apples at people. In the street, there's a pair of stallions pulling a rather large cart of the things, and they have that universal look of loathing plastered onto their faces.

The crowd has also noticed them, and an imposing-looking pony with... a mustache... comes from the crowd. I take my position leaning back against the wall again, watching.

"What in tarnation are you two doin'?" The mustached pony looks a little bit pissed. "Y'all should know better than ta throw apples at a lady!"

"Sheriff Silverstar!" The one on the left points a hoof at Trixie, whose now rubbing the side of her face and likely wondering if anyone got the bus of that number. "That harlot of a unicorn came 'round back when I lived in Ponyville." Oh boy. "Her stupid tall tales almost got the town crushed flat by an ursa minor!" Chalk that up to one tale Trixie didn't make up, I guess.

"Ah dun' really see how a little lady like this could pull that off." The sheriff replies, placing a hoof under his chin and looking back to Trixie. "And besides, even if she did, that's no reason ta be chuckin' perfectly good apples at a lady who is clearly tryin' to make an honest livin' givin' other ponies some entertainment." Some common sense, something that's seems to be rarer and rarer the longer I stay here in Equestria.

"Honest? Honest?!" The second stallion looks incredulous. "Do you really think that egotistical little filly saved Manehattan from a sea-monster, sheriff? That's what she said about saving Hoofington from an ursa major! When the little liar got called out on her stories, she went out and brought an ursa to Ponyville to prove them wrong!" Not quite how I remember being told this story, but if that's how its being spread, things are starting to make more sense. "If that girl Twilight Sparkle hadn't been there, whole town would've been crushed! You want her to lead a sea-monster here to crush us, Sheriff Silverstar?" ...But I'm still wondering where he expects anyone to find a sea-monster in the middle of a goddamn desert.

The sheriff shakes his head in a clearly 'I don't get paid enough for this shit' fashion. "Will you two just git?" He asks exasperated. pointing a hoof. "Next time I catch y'all wastin' perfectly good apples by throwin' them at nice young mares I'll be puttin' ya both in the lockup for a week!"

The two stallions make their discontent heard, but the grumbling sounds are too low for me to hear at this distance. Looking back to the 'stage', Trixie is finally on her feet, straightening her cape and hat as the crowd dissipates and the sheriff walks up to her. Trixie's hat sits awkwardly on her head due to the apple still stuck to her horn as she and the sheriff engage in a hushed discussion. She has that look in her eye as well as the two talk - based on how much those apples likely bruised her pride, I'm sure the fact she has one stuck to her face isn't even registering.

I wait for the sheriff to leave, then slowly make my way over as she scoots herself onto her haunches and pulls the tin of bits close to her. She looks at me, but there's nothing either of us can really say right now, so I simply sit down next to her. After a moment, I reach across, pulling the apple off her horn. She looks at it, likely dumbfounded over not realizing it was even there as I turn it over in my palm, eventually turning the impaled side to my face and taking a bite out of it. "You know, your horn is an excellent flavor booster."

"Shut up." She replies bluntly, trying to stick an angry expression on her face. After taking some deep, choking breaths, though, that anger quickly disappears. Levity zero, depression one. "Well... that went better than the last time Trixie did a performance. Only two apples, this time." I can see her small frame trembling a bit.

"...Only?"

"Last time Trixie did her show, it was ten. And some tomatoes. And a watermelon." What the hell is wrong with these people? "Trixie was a head of lettuce short of being The Great and Delicious Fruit Salad!" She puts a forced smile through, trying to control herself. "I-improvement is good, right?" She sniffles, struggling to keep her composure. "...Oh, who is Trixie fooling?" She takes in a jagged breath. "It's hopeless..."

"So what if it's hopeless?" I shift, drawing my right leg up so I can rest my arm on my knee, my subconscious nagging at me as I ask that question. "It's what you want to do, right?" I can't help but cast my eyes down a bit, but this pull at my subconscious is different than usual. It's the same kind of pulling that made me originally refuse Twilight's help all the way back in Ponyville.

"...Yeah." She seems to be pulling herself together. "Trixie just does not want to end up on a rock farm again, or in one of those seedy joints in Las Pegasus, or worse..."

"Everything will turn out fine." I lean against the building behind me, relaxing and looking up at the sky. Clear, high noon. "Besides, it looks like you were doing quite well before the dynamic dumbass duo showed up."

She turns to the tin of bits, her eyes starting to finally light up a bit. "Trixie was! She did not realize just how full the tin had become!" She pulls it up to her face with her magic, and I can hear the coins rummage as she surmises how much money is inside. "Yes... this is good. This will cover the night's lodging, the train to Dodge Junction... and..."

"Dodge Junction?"

"Yes, that is the other town in this neck of Equestria, remember?" I did. "The... courteous Sheriff Silverstar asked Trixie to very kindly vacate Appleloosa by tomorrow. And just as kindly asked her not return for a repeat performance." And here I've been, thinking him sensible. "Hopefully, we can reach there before the word of those two stallions spreads from Appleloosa and show the populace that Trixie is the best magician in all of Equestria, and assuredly not bringing abominable creatures to the towns she visits!"

One word stuck out of that entire rant. "We?"

She lowers the bucket back to the ground, and there's a small jingle of coins. "Well, you are Trixie's not-quite-as-Great-and-Powerful not-quite-a-drake assistant Drake Dusk!" Drake Dusk? It has a better ring to it than my original Dragon Dusk quip did, at least. "You must surely accompany her to Dodge Junction to ensure the next performance is flawless."

"I don't even assist you in your performances."

"You assist Trixie in... other ways." She replies, getting to her hooves and levitating the tin of coins beside her.

Now that she seems to be less immediately depressed, it's time to see if I can press the big red button. "I told you yesterday, not interested." For a minute, there's silence, a very awkward silence that makes me wonder if I hadn't been as effective in my provocation as I hoped. Then the the weight of a tin full of freshly-earned bits slams against the side of my head, sending coins spilling out everywhere.

"Y-y-you...! Argh!" I pull myself back up as the clink of coins rings out, the tin having its contents refilled. "Infuriating imbecile!" I brush the dirt from my poncho, shaking my head to get rid of the ringing sensation from just getting clobbered by a small blue unicorn. "Come! As Trixie's not-quite-as-Great-and-Powerful assistant, you must accompany her as a responsible guardian until she has consumed enough cider to forget she recently had an apple stuck to her head!" I'm not actually getting a choice in this, am I?

After a bit more meandering around, we find a saloon and head inside. I get the usual looks, but the disguise is still proving its worth as the ponies quickly turn back to what they're doing. We take a seat at the bar, and a quick glance around shows that we're still getting looks - but now they're aimed at her. I suppose the buzz from the incident not long ago is already spreading around the town. I'm guessing she didn't take long to notice either, as she pounds down a mug of cider and is quickly getting a second one poured.

"Anythin' for you, bub?" The barkeep asks me, after pouring The Great and Alcoholic Trixie another mug.

"No thanks." I reply, waving a hand from under my poncho, careful as ever not to show anything not covered in some clothing or another. The barkeep nods and leaves, and I hear the smack of a mug against the wooden counter.

"How can they think Trixie would bring an ursa to Ponyville just to feed her ego!" She was starting to loosen up, but neither her face nor eyes showed any of the telltale signs of any intoxication whatsoever. She's probably almost as good at binge drinking as she is at storytelling, with how things seem to go for her. "Trixie admits she can be a bit... boastful... but she is not a fool!"

"Didn't you say two kids lured that thing in?"

"Yes!" She exclaims, downing the rest of her drink. "Barkeep! Trixie demands another!" The barkeep looks more than a little annoyed, but walks over and refills the mug, half of which quickly disappears. "However," Her voice lowered back to a conversational tone, "many ponies do not know of the fact two... overeager fans lured the ursa minor to Ponyville... and those that do, they blame Trixie, either saying she tricked them into doing it, or that her fantastical stories influenced their young foal minds. It's ridiculous!" And there goes the rest of the mug. "It isn't Trixie's fault that their parents were lackluster enough to allow their foals to run off into the Everfree alone and come back with a Celestia-damned ursa minor! Barkeep!" Damn, that's a lot of vitriol coming out. I'm not sure what I can even say to that, though.

"Shouldn't you slow it down a bit, lady?" The barkeep asks as he pours the... third mug? Fourth? I'm already losing count, and I'm sure she's not keeping any. "Celestia ain't even set the sun yet and yer already lookin' to get plastered more th'n my walls."

"Trixie will have you know she is a responsible mare who knows her limits!" She retorts, downing another half a mug.

"Sure y'are, lady..." The barkeep mumbles. He looks to me, but all I can do is shrug and shake my head.

"Hey! Do you dare doubt The Great and Powerful Trixie?!" I'm kind of doubting how she can still form coherent sentences as she yanks on the side of my poncho with a hoof. "Trixie and her slightly-less-Great-and-Powerful-assistant will have you know they once saved Baltimare from an invasion by the merwolves!"

"Merwolves?" The question comes from a few stools down, said by an older looking unicorn, slowly sipping at his own drink. "Baltimare has never been attacked by any 'merwolves', miss 'Great and Powerful' Trixie. No such thing even exists."

"Oh really?" The empty mug slams back on the counter, and at this point the barkeep doesn't even wait for the order before filling it back up. He must know the type. "And how would you know, mister?"

"Because I study exotic and magical creatures." I rest my head in my palm, not sure I even want to see how this is going to end.

"Then you must not be very good at it!" The reply comes with the distinct sound of chugging and the slamming of a glass. "Because then you would know the merwolves sleep on the bottom of Horse Shoe Bay, only exiting hibernation once every three-hundred years to find ponies to bring back to the bottom of the sea for their next meal!"

"That's more ridiculous than some of the dumb monster tales parents tell their foals." A more calm clink of glass-on-wood comes with this reply. I can't bring myself to look in their direction at all, and from the looks of it, neither can the barkeep.

"But it's true!" More chugging, more slamming, the pouring of more cider. "My assistant here can verify it!" Oh hell no. "Poor Drake Dusk here lost his tail protecting Trixie from a surge of angry merwolves with tridents! Things caught his tail and ripped it clean off! Weapons were cursed so magical regeneration was impossible." ...Okay, at least her crazy exaggeration is giving me a cool backstory.

I decide to look over at them, but now the other unicorn is looking at me, pointing a hoof. "And you're tellin' me the thing with you's a dragon? A little bit small, ain't he?"

I go to open my mouth, but Trixie answers first. "He's a runt, curse that took his tail also stunted his growth." For being on about five mugs of cider too many, she's doing pretty good at riding the seat of her non-existent pants.

The unicorn merely peers. "Got any proof for any of that stuff you just spouted?"

Trixie turns to me, speaking in a whisper. "Quick, do something!"

"Like what?" I reply, equally hushed.

"Prove you're a drake! Use fire or something!" I sigh, but indulge her by opening one of my palms where its visible to the unicorn, forming a small fireball in it, the glow of the Materia covered by my poncho. "See!" Trixie spouts, turning back to the unicorn and pointing a hoof at him. "It is like Trixie said! How else would Trixie's assistant be a dragon with no tail?"

"Lady," the unicorn replies calmly, but with a tone of finality, "even if your 'assistant' there is a drake with a tail that was cut clean off by a cursed trident exactly how you said, it surely didn't happen in Baltimare."

"And why's that?" She raises an eyebrow.

"I work in Baltimare. I'm just here on vacation." Trixie wordlessly downs an entire mug of cider. I bury my head in my hands disapprovingly. Both of us miss the unicorn getting out of his seat and coming over to us, and nearly miss the clang of a couple bits on the counter. "Nice story though. Would probably be easier to believe with a bit of polish and one of those fancy light shows you do."

The unicorn walks out of the bar as we both stare at the money for a moment. "Looks like you can still get fans, after all."

Her eyes linger on the money a bit more as the barkeep fills her cider. Once he moves away, her eyes turn to the drink for a minute, her head leaning on one hoof. She grabs the drink with the other and holds it out to me. "Cider?"

"No thanks."

"Suit yourself." She tips her head back and the next mug disappears.

Needless to say, by the time the sun is setting, I'm cradling a blacked-out drunk unicorn in my arms. The barkeep didn't seem too bothered when she blacked on on top of his bar. It must be a semi-common occurrence for him. Though, he did say Trixie set a new record for how many ciders a mare could down before blacking out, and nearly beat the stallion record as well.

After a bit of meandering around the town, I find a cheap place to get a room for the night, deciding to skimp Trixie's bits by only getting one room instead of two. The keep gives me an odd look, but I just let him think whatever he wants and take the room. I set Trixie's unconscious form onto the bed and cover her before slouching down on the floor, leaning my back against the door. Sleep, however, doesn't come as easy as I hoped it would, leaving me to hear the pained groans of a small pony with the onset of a hangover as she tosses and turns in her bed. Tosses, turns... and after a while, the sounds of an argument from outside. Stupid window's open.

I walk over to the window, deciding to look at the scene unfolding below out of that morbid curiosity most people have. On one side, I see the mustached pony from this morning - the sheriff - and on the other, a small group of things that are clearly not ponies. Hulking things that walk on two legs, roughly my size, maybe a little smaller on average, though their actual size varies. Looks like seven or so in total. Some kind of crime gang? Poor sheriff's got his hands full tonight, it looks like. Not my problem, but I decide to listen in.

"Now listen here, you varmints!" The sheriff says, slowly backing up. "There ain't no gems in this town for you! We only farm apples here! Now git!"

"We smell the gems, you lying little horse!" One that appears to be the leader snaps back. "A strong smell of many beautiful gems, much like these!" The.. whatever it is pulls out a large, two-sided, bronze-colored sword, with eight very familiar gems inlaid along the blade. "You see, we've come a long way, attracted by the delicious scent of these gems and a little... direction, sheriff. So, we don't intend to take the long walk back home until we get everything we can."

Well. Shit. I guess it is my problem after all. I recognize the weapon and the eight gems along its blade instantly - not that it would've been rocket science if I hadn't. I quietly close the window and exit the room, checking to be sure my trusty anti-timberwolf pipe is still fastened to my belt as I head out to give the sheriff a little bit of vigilante support. I straighten my hat as I exit the building, the advancing gang and receding sheriff both past its doors and not noticing my exit. There's only one way worth getting their attention in this setting, I decide, seeing the one with the sword debating whether he wants to put it to use.

"Hey!" I call out, standing in the middle of the road, behind the gang. They turn around and I pull the pipe off my belt, twirling it between my fingers of my right hand as I hold up my left arm from under the poncho, intentionally making my bangle full of Materia clearly visible. "If you're gonna use that sword on anybody, you better start on me."

Chapter 11: Duel at High Moon.

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Chapter 11: Duel at High Moon.

"And who do you think you are, cowpony?" The one holding my sword snarled, waving the weapon threateningly in one hand. Getting a better look at them now, they're wearing vests and look not entirely dissimilar to some kind of hound.

I let one of the green Materia on my bangle glow, and a streak of lightning comes from the sky, striking the area between myself and these hound-people and causing them to flinch back a step. "I think I'm the guy you're going to give that sword to if you don't want to get hurt."

Their leader guffaws. Not the reaction I was banking on, I admit. "We come all this way, and some funny guy in a hat wants us to give up our booty?" He holds the sword up so that I can see the side of the blade, the Materia along it glinting in the moonlight. "Ain't gonna happen!"

I open my left palm, forming a fireball, something I've gotten quite good at doing. "I'd reconsider if I were you."

The cronies look taken aback slightly by my display, but the stupid lead dog simply grins. "You think you're all fancy with your tricks, don't you?" Then my eyes go wide as one of the Materia along the sword's blade also glows green. "Well, you're not the only one with fancy tricks at this rodeo, cowpony!"

I chuck the fireball at them and dodge to the side, ending up inside an alley as a stream of acid spurts in my direction, sizzling along the sand of the Appleloosan street. This... is going to make things difficult. If I'm lucky, the stupid mutt hasn't figured out how to use all the Materia on that blade yet. I grip my trusty pipe, hearing the approaching footsteps of the gang. Hopefully that sheriff didn't get himself melted. Deciding I need tactics over brawn, I run along the alley and behind the buildings.

"Come on out, big boy!" I can hear the leader jeer, alongside the clanging of barrels being knocked over as they search my previous location. "If you want this here sword, come and take it, because we're not leaving without those gems of yours!"

Bloody hell. I need to figure out a way to split them up. I could group them up and try using Time... but if it doesn't work for some reason, or one of the Materia on the sword can block it, then I would be really dead really fast, so that's out.

"Bud! Toto! Any sign of him?" The leader calls out to his gang. I've successfully made my way around behind the group, peering at their backs from around a building. The sheriff is also missing, but I can't tell what's become of him. All I can see besides my pursuers are the burn mark from my fireball and the smouldering trail of the acid. Well, besides three of my pursuers, that is - only the one with my sword and two others are visible in the streets. The rest must be searching for me in nearby alleys or on adjacent streets.

"Nothin' yet, Beethoven!" One that sounds like he's in a nearby alley responds.

"Well keep searching!" Beethoven orders. "We ain't leaving this town without those gems of his!" I decide to make my move, bursting from my hiding spot back into the street while there's an opening. Wordlessly, I hold up my hand and concentrate on the Materia, 'Ice'. With the chill of the desert night, it doesn't take long for me to make the magic do what I need it to, forming ice around the ankles and legs of Beethoven. "He's nearby!" The leader barks, beginning to use the sword to smack at the ice and try to free himself. His lackeys begin turning their heads, eventually spotting me with a snarl.

I raise my hand again, preparing to give them all a nice shock, but a weight barrels into my side, and I can hear the snarling teeth as I turn to face the mutt that tackled me. Definitely hounds. I grab his maw with my left hand, trying to keep him from sinking his teeth in as I begin smacking him away with the pipe. It takes a few good hits but I finally get him to slacken his grip enough that I can kick him off. I don't have time to see if I've knocked him out or not though, as I can hear the two who were accompanying Beethoven almost on me.

I duck into another alley, but... dead end. I can see the lumbering forms of my two pursuers enter and block my escape, and more yelling behind them. The rest must have gone to try and free their leader from his icy entanglement.

"Will you brutes keep it down out there?!" I hear Trixie yell from the building I got us a room at. Why did she have to wake up now? "The Highly-Inebriated and Slightly-Hung-Over Trixie is trying to sleep!"

I can hear a snarl of 'Shut up!' from Beethoven and a far more terrified scream from Trixie, followed by the sounds of goop and sizzling. Throwing caution to the wind, I cast the Time spell, catching both approaching dogs and freezing them in place as I rush forward. I smash one into the side of one of the buildings with my pipe, kicking the other in the stomach and sending his still-frozen form out into the main road as I barrel out of the alley.

I turn to where Trixie and I are staying, only to see the window melting away from green, goopy acid. Shit. Hopefully she dodged that, somehow. I take stock of the rest of the situation, seeing Beethoven and two of his lackeys still smacking at the ice around his ankles - but the final lackey is engaged in a tussle with sheriff Silverstar. Looks like he didn't run away after all. As much as I want to check on Trixie, right now there's only one priority - getting that sword. I tap the Time Materia again, finally getting the hang of how to utilize the different spells on-command as I lunge forward with over twice my usual speed.

The two on his sides barely have time to register my charge as I shoulder-ram into Beethoven, breaking him free of his icy leg shackles myself with an audible crunching sound as we both barrel to the ground. I grab at the sword with my left hand, prompting him to grip it with both of his, not letting go as he lunges his face forward, trying to sink into me with his razor-sharp teeth. Thinking quickly, I do the first thing that comes to mind and jam one end of the pipe into his open mouth, leaning down on it and applying pressure. He bites down on it, trying to stop me, but he soon realizes his jaw isn't strong enough to hold back my full weight and lets go of the sword, gripping the pipe with either hand in a desperate attempt to stop me crushing the back of his throat with it.

And that's the only opening I need. I grip the sword with my left hand, no longer having any competition, and kick down into his gut, leaving the pipe behind as I bounce back to my feet. Taking quick stock, I can see why there was such a loud crunching sound, as his legs splay at rather unnatural looking angles on the ground. I file him as no longer being a threat as I grip the sword with two hands and turn to face the remaining dogs.

The one I pipe-beat is still lying on the ground. Okay, definitely knocked out. The one that Silverstar was fighting is also dropped. Right now he's running from the two that were trying to free Beethoven, while the other two are on their feet but still looking bewildered. So, only four left, and Silverstar is still in the fight. Should be simple enough. Not wanting to accidentally risk hitting Silverstar with magic, I tap the Time Materia again and rush forward, swinging the blunt side of my newly acquired blade into one of the dogs' face. I don't want to kill them, after all. It's not like they're monsters, just criminals.

The one I hit stumbles, his buddy seeing the end result of my swing and snarling at me instead of Silverstar. The remaining two seem to have regained their wits and join them, snarling at me as the sheriff pony takes a stance by my side. "Thanks fer da help, pardn'r."

"Don't thank me till we're done." I narrow my eyes on the dogs, hefting the heavy blade in both my hands and pointing it at them. "If you four know what's good for you, you'll pick up your buddies and scram." I'm beginning to get fatigued from constantly using the Time spells, but there's not much I can do about that right now. Hopefully, I can just intimidate the rest into leaving.

Instead, all I get are more snarls. "After what you did to Beethoven, punk?" One taunts as their paws open, showing their sharp claws that glint in the moonlight. "You're gonna be lucky if you ever scram from this town."

I step back and dig my foot in, still not wanting to get lethal on these guys but not seeing any alternatives. Thankfully, I don't need to decide as a barrel comes flying in from the side of my vision and nails all four of them, shattering and smacking them into the front of a building.

"And that is for disturbing the sleep of The Great and Exhausted Trixie!" I turn, and see that she must be good at making stage-left exits, since there's not even a singe on her cape or hat.

"So you're not a puddle of pony ooze! That's good!" I call over to get her attention, since her eyes are solely focused on the mangy mutts she just barreled over.

"Dusk! Trixie wondered where you ran off to!" She slowly saunters over to us, as if she didn't pound down three towns worth of cider less than a few hours ago. She looks around, seeing the mess of burnt sand, remnants of acidic goop, and remaining dogs scattered around everywhere, then looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "Care to explain what's going on out here?"

I look to the group of four dogs again, only to see them getting back on their feet. By the digging of hooves I hear, I assume Silverstar also sees them. "Just a little animal control." I don't look back, so I don't really now how well that quip went over. The dogs lunge at me with a sudden second wind, and I quickly raise my left arm to meet them, casting the 'Barrier' spell and causing them to bounce off, hitting the ground. "Last chance, mutts." I feel a bit shaky on my feet, but I try my best not to show it as they claw back up again.

"Either y'all mosey into my lockup," Silverstar steps forward and narrows his eyes, "or, we can rough ya up and mosey y'all into it ourselves after we knock you out." They back away a step, then lunge again, this time all four directly at me, clearly wanting to do this the hard way.

I put up the Barrier a second time, but as the third one smashes into it, it shatters, and the momentum of the fourth one sends them all crashing right into me. I keep a tight grip on my new-found sword with my right hand as we tumble to the ground, a distinct lack of claws tearing into my flesh. It seems their smack into me was just as unexpected for them as it is for me. They don't get a chance to recover and go on the offensive, though - the load quickly lightens as Silverstar bucks two of them off me, and Trixie uses her magic to hurl the remains of that barrel at the other two and bludgeon them unconscious before unceremoniously tossing them aside.

"You okay, mister?" The sheriff asks, looking down at me now that the dogs are taken care of. Trixie is giving me an equally concerned look.

I raise a hand into the air and give them a thumbs up, before realizing they probably don't know what that gesture means. "Yeah... I'm good. Just gotta rest a bit."

Trixie puts on one of her big-ass, shit-eating grins and rises up to two hooves now that she knows I'm not about to be dead. "See, it's a good thing The Great and Powerful Trixie was here! You would both have been kibbles 'n bits without her!"

"Uh... lady?" The sheriff looks at her, raising an eyebrow.

"What? Trixie took care of four diamond dogs in one attack! Well, partially took care of! My slightly-less-Great-and-Powerful assistant may be strong, but you both together only took care of three!" She flourishes her cape, and I can't help but sigh despite my fatigue. "That means that it is quite objectively a victory for The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrrrixie!"

He looks at me, and I give him the best shrug I can while lying in the dirt. "Well, look lady..., Ah'm quite sorry about before. Thanks to you and your... 'assistant' here for lending me a pair of hooves."

"As long as you know that Trixie is not what the rumors would lead you to believe she is!" She replies with a definitive 'hmph!'. Then, her eyes widen and she stomps her hooves excitedly onto the ground. "Ohh! Now Trixie has a new story to tell in her stage shows as well! One that's actually true!" Both the sheriff and I give her a look. "...Not that... any of Trixie's stories aren't true... of course... heh."

"Riiight." The sheriff knows not to press this one, smart man. "Ah'm gonna get my deputy back up and have him help me drag these boys to the jailhouse. Y'all have a nice night, and thanks again." He tips his hat to us both before heading off, dragging one of the unconscious 'diamond dogs' or whatever toward his jailhouse. Hopefully he collects the entire set before they wake back up.

I plant the blade of my new sword into the ground, using it for leverage to slowly rise back to my feet. My head's still spinning a bit from having to use so much magic in one go. Seems like Time and Barrier take a lot of effort to maintain. Once I feel steady, I pull out my new weapon and show it to Trixie, her eyes immediately darting toward the Materia. "Guess there was a new family heirloom for me in Appleloosa after all."

"All Trixie knows is that you are definitely showing her how to use some of those pretty gems of yours now that you have over twenty of them!" She stomps her hoof and throws her head into the air. After a few steps, she looks back at me. "...You look sick."

"I'm fine." I assure her, spinning the bronze-colored sword in my arm. Much more natural feeling than the pipe. It takes me a moment to find a good angle to fit it into its sheathe with the poncho on, though. I'll need to reposition that later. "I just need to rest."

"Good! Because Trixie is not a fan of awaking before dawn, no matter how pretty Princess Luna makes the night sky." She yawns. How the hell is she acting like she doesn't feel a damn thing from all that booze she drank less than six hours ago? "Come, Dusk, we shall return to the room. Trixie prefers her windows open at night anyway."

"That's a bit more than just the window open, you know..."

She shrugs. "It just means better airflow." That's... one way to look at it, I guess. Always focus on the good things in life, or something like that, I assume?

Sleep comes far more easily the second time around, and as I enter my dreaming state I find myself back in the pale green light of the Lifestream. It feels like my dreams always bring me here, when I can remember having them. This time, though, it's different. Things are... clearer, at least, in my head. Is it because I have the sword again? I hadn't noticed anything while awake, but it did feel... familiar. Natural. And now connections are quickly being made in my brain.

First Class, the highest rank in the elite military group, SOLDIER. My rank. SOLDIER, whose members are infused with power drawn from the planet - its Lifestream, like what I find myself in now - after its been condensed into a form known as Mako. This results in the distinct, waving sky-blue eyes, as well as a level of heightened physical ability. Mako can also be condensed into another form, which can be used by most people to do feats of 'magic' - that is, Materia. Materia, which draws on the wisdom of the Lifestream to manipulate the nature around it, resulting in phenomenon like fire, lightning, ice manifestations, time manipulation, and a myriad of other effects. The Lifestream itself is essentially the 'blood' of the planet - the life-force of every living thing, along with their memories, knowledge, and emotions. This is what the Materia draws on, the 'wisdom of the planet'. So, for Materia to function, it-

...

Something's definitely not right. I can see it as I glance around the Lifestream. A shadow, a small, wispy shadow, hugging the 'ground', trying to stay out of sight. A shadow that reeks of rot. The soft green glow of the Lifestream makes hiding its movements difficult though, and I'm able to catch the faint glimpses of its form, as long as I know where to look. Following the shadow as it glides around, I eventually see it again. Not it, as in the shadow - but it, as in the massive shade I saw last time I was here. The one that's similar to a foulander or a guard hound. I've lost track of that other shadow entirely - but this one seems far more important. Maybe they're the same thing? I can't really tell. The shadow opens a pair of massive, pure white eyes, and stares at me, as if peering into my soul, and I take a step back. I reach behind me for a weapon, and this time the hilt is there. Of course its there - I just got it back.

I pull the weapon around in front of me... but its not the same sword I retrieved from the dogs. This one is larger, with a single-sided blade, and only two slots for Materia. Two very empty slots for Materia. It looks ornate, yet old, with many small cracks along the blade, as if its been in service a few years too many. It makes a comfortable, familiar clinking sound as I hold it two-handed in front of me, staring down whatever this... thing is, that should definitely not be here. We eye each other for seconds... minutes... hours? It's hard to even tell. But, eventually, it charges me, head lowered. I don't hesitate. What would he say if I hesitated against something like this? I bring the heavy blade in my hands along for a sweeping horizontal slice as the shade leaps into the air, clean over my head.

I quickly turn, brandishing the blade for a swing behind me, but its too fast - its already cleared the length of the blade, despite this being the kind of weapon meant to take down chocobo cavalries. It leaps again, and dives into the Lifestream, just like last time, and... its gone. I clutch the weapon in my hands, panting heavily. That... thing, whatever it is. I need to figure out what its deal is. It's still hard to tell whether its causing these dreams and their flashes of memory, or trying to stop them. I keep the blade held out in front of me, battle ready as I close my eyes, intending to rest my reeling brain for a second.

When I re-open my eyes, I'm back in the room Trixie and I are staying in, leaning against the door the way I fell asleep, the wall across from me still completely missing. The only thing that's different is that I'm holding the sword I recovered from those dogs in front of me the same way I had been holding the one in my dream. I take a look around, seeing if I actually swung the damn thing in my sleep... but I don't see anything that appears to have suffered damage via a giant sword, so I'm guessing I didn't.

I can remember the dream vividly though. The details about SOLDIER, Mako, Materia, and the Lifestream... the creeping shadow... and the large shade, the one that's never the one I expect it to be. What the hell is going on? I wipe the sweat from my brow and peer out the window, the glints of sunrise very slowly making themselves known on the horizon. Trixie rolls over in her sleep, pulling the blanket over her face with a hoof to avoid the coming sunlight. I put the sword back in its sheathe and tip my cowboy hat down, shifting myself ever so slightly to try and avoid their rays as well as I head back to what's, this time, a dream-free sleep.

Chapter 12: Stuff That'll Blow Up In My Face Later.

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Chapter 12: Stuff That'll Blow Up In My Face Later.

"Now, Trixie finds it so much nicer to be on the inside of the train this time!" She's looking out the window, watching the whole bunch of sand and nothing pass by. "Don't you agree?"

We were quick to get a train to Dodge Junction the next day. We still planned to leave regardless of the sheriff's change of heart, but the reaction to the inn now sporting a hole in the wall of our room did little for Trixie's reputation. Silverstar, for his part, put noticeable effort into squashing the rumors about Trixie in Appleloosa. Chalk one up for us? At least I found the time to adjust the harnesses for my recently re-acquired sword, moving the sheathe from near my right shoulder to along the small of my back. Like this, the cloth of my poncho doesn't block drawing and sheathing, and I can easily draw it without exposing my arm if need be. Right now though, I simply have the sword sitting on the floor of the cart between our seats.

I wait a minute before replying. "It's definitely less hot." I can't say I'm any better than she is, watching the whole bunch of sand and nothing pass by myself. After a while, I can't help but ask. "How are you-"

"Not suffering the horrible after-effects of enough alcohol to drop a small manticore?" She gives me one of those looks.

"...Yeah."

"Ah, Dusk, a magician must never tell her secrets." She gives me one of those grins. "But... okay, just this once! It's simple really. Trixie developed herself a spell for quickly working against the... unwanted after-effects of heavy adult beverage indulgence."

"You would develop a spell for that."

"And what, may Trixie ask, is her dear assistant trying to imply?" We both turn from the window, looking at each other as her eyes narrow slightly.

"That you have a problem."

"Hmph!" She crosses her hooves and looks away. "Trixie has no such problems! She simply enjoys partaking in a well-earned indulgence after a performance!" I continue to look at her, and she looks back at me for a minute, before pouting and resuming looking at the wall on the far side of the cart. "Okay, maybe Trixie has a small problem. But she is a grown mare, and all ponies have their vices!"

I lean back in my seat. "I suppose they do."

She slowly turns her head to look at me again. "...No boring and overstated lecture on the dangers of indulgent drinking?"

"Nope." I reach down and pull my sword up onto my lap, looking down at the Materia along it. "It's not my problem as long as you don't black out next time."

"Trixie knows her limits!" She 'hmph's again. "She... simply pressed past them yesterday, because she knew her assistant was there to allow her extra indulgence."

"Right..." I take stock of the Materia types. This is the first time I've really gotten to look at the blade since recovering it last night. Another eight of those 'paired' slots to hold Materia. This time, the setup is green-yellow-green-green-green-blue-red-blue.

"So, are you ever going to tell Trixie what those little gems are?" Her voice pulls me out of my thoughts.

And now I act on probably the worst idea I've had all week, pulling out one of the green Materia I'm not using from my pocket. I toss it to her underhanded and she quickly catches it in her magic, levitating it close to her face and looking it over. "Like you said, they're a sort of magic conduit." Her eyes focus purely on the Materia, turning it over in her magic as it glints in the sunlight. "Each gem is like a bit of magical knowledge, compressed into a crystal form, which you can access and cast spells from."

"Trixie understands... like a teeny tiny spell book." She's squinting at it, pulling it closer to her face.

"...Something like that. That's one of the ones I couldn't get to work, so be careful with it."

She turns from the Materia to me, raising an eyebrow. "You're... allowing Trixie to keep it?"

"Borrow." I clarify. "Just be careful not to blow up a city block and actually earn your reputation."

"The Cautious and Safety-Minded Trixie knows to treat all magical objects with utmost delicacy!" She does her usual 'hmph!', turning her head up and away.

"Of course." I lean back in my seat, staring back out the window again. After a few minutes, I hear her shuffle around, and take a look back. She's shifted her posture slightly, her face scrunching into a tell-tale look of concentration as the piece of Materia floats near her head. "...I don't think accidentally blowing up a train is much better."

"Shush!" She replies, not opening her eyes. "Trixie is being careful! She is merely trying to concentrate and understand the way magic flows through this gem! It's made of some kind of crystal that Trixie has never handled before." I would imagine not. "She must understand the way magic flows through it before she can tap into its power, like any magical object!"

"Uh-huh." I turn back to the window, regretting this decision already but deciding to just let her do whatever it is she's doing. With any luck, if things start exploding I can grab her and run before anyone notices we're involved. Thankfully for me, though, we make it to Dodge Junction without her making the train explode, though she spends remainder of the train ride focusing on the Materia with her magic. I have to nudge her to make her realize we've even reached our stop, and the yawn I receive makes me think she fell asleep holding the damn thing. That can only end in great things, surely.

"Trixie thinks this shall be a great day!" Well, she's suddenly chipper, as she stretches out her limbs and tucks the Materia under her cape. "Mid-afternoon is the best time to do some magic! We just need to hurry off and find a spot to set up Trixie's newest showing!"

I sheathe my blade in its new position across my back and follow close behind her, filing in with the other ponies exiting the train. As we step onto the boarding area, though, Trixie and I both notice something neither of us expected to see in Dodge Junction. Trixie vocalizes it before it even finishes registering in my brain, and I'm sure I can hear the sound of windows shattering down the street. And seven towns over.

"Twilight Spaaaarkle!" Trixie points an accusatory hoof, while I try to sort out all the kinds of complications I've just unwittingly stepped into. "Why are you here?! Come to ruin The Great and Powerful Trixie's performance yet again?"

"Ah, heh, heh, hi Trixie..." Twilight gives the screaming mare in her face a timid smile and a waving hoof. "How unexpected... I didn't think I'd run into you here!"

"Ain't changed a lick, either, still sees herself as the center of the world." Applejack chimes in. The other four of Twilight's friends appear to be absent.

Twilight just sighs. "Sorry, Trixie, I'm just here to meet a fri..." Her eyes finally leave the seething form of Trixie long enough to notice me. Our eyes lock for a few moments, and it doesn't take long for her to recognize who I am. "Oh, Cloud! There you are!" Great. How did she even know I was here?

Applejack whistles. "Well hooowdy. Look'it you, all fancy, if y'all were a stallion I'd say you was tryin' ta impress me."

"Ah, Trixie picked out this ensemble herself!" She moves over to Applejack and beams proudly. Well, the unintentional ego massage certain dispelled that anger. "The embroidery along the front really makes it pop, don't you think?"

"Wait..." Twilight takes a moment to think. "Cloud... you've been traveling... with Trixie?" She turns from me to Trixie with a perplexed expression.

"Cloud?" Trixie moves over to me. "Dusk, what're they... wait a minute." Trixie's own expression goes from perplexed, then back to angry. "All this time, you've been friends with Twilight Sparkle?!" I hope aspirin is a thing in Equestria. I'm going to need it by the time the day's done.

"Dusk?" Applejack looks me over again. "Geez, Cloud, is that gitup yer wearin' meant ta be a disguise? That's... mighty clever of ya, really."

Twilight shakes her head, ignoring both of them. "Cloud, I've got good news. I think I finally finished that memory-"

"Not interested." I start walking along the nearest street.

"I know you said you didn't want it, Cloud, but when you left I sent a letter to Princess Celestia-"

"Will someone please tell Trixie what is going on?" She stomps her hoof, but Twilight just keeps going.

"-and continued working on the spell in case you changed your mind. After it was finished, I suddenly received a reply from Princess Luna telling me to meet you at Dodge Junction and-" Well, that confirms that suspicion at least, so I've heard enough.

"Don't really care." I pick up my pace, but the clatter of hooves tells me all three behind me picked up theirs to match.

"Dusk? Sparkle? Will someone please tell Trixie what is going on?!"

"Will ya shut up already Trixie? It ain't none of yer business!" Oh god now they're all yelling.

"But Cloud!" Twilight isn't giving up, goddamn.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie demands information regarding Twilight Sparkle's dealing with her assistant!" And she's only getting louder.

"Wait... assistant?" And there goes Twilight's train of thought. I'll need to thank Trixie later.

"Yes!" Trixie runs up in front of us, turning and raising onto her hind hooves. "The Great and Powerful Trixie has begun her return tour after recovering from your humiliation of her back in Ponyville, Twilight Sparkle! And, she has found help with things outside the performance, from her slightly-less-Great-and-Powerful assistant Dusk!" She sets herself back on all fours. "Though, unbeknownst to Trixie, you've already met."

"....Yeah, we have." Twilight nods, then looks at me. "But, Cloud, what about the tests we need to run on your magic? Don't you want to do those, at least?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Twilight Sparkle." Trixie replies for me. "Under The Great and Powerful Trixie's excellent tutelage, my dear assistant has already mastered a myriad of impressive magical abilities!" She gives them that shit-eating grin she loves so much, but it drops when even I'm giving her a look of 'really?'. "Okay, it wasn't quite so much tutelage, but the point remains! He is clearly unrequiring of and uninterested in your services, Twilight Sparkle!"

"Trixie... you don't understa-" Twilight quickly gets cut off.

"Of course Trixie does not understand! Neither of you will tell Trixie what is going on!" I can hear that typical 'hmph' again.

"Cuz it ain't yer problem, Trixie!"

"It's not your problem, either." I cut in, starting to get sick of this.

"Look, Cloud, I'm sorry for being so pushy, but," Twilight's voice is lower, more pleading, and my mind can visualize sad look she's wearing right now, ears pressed against her head, saving me the effort of turning around and seeing it in person, "there's more than just the memory spell to talk about, so, will you hear me out, please?"

I stop for a moment, thinking. Then, a small idea crosses my mind. "Trixie."

"Yes?" Comes the confused reply.

"We have enough bits for a room for the night, right? We'll need to postpone your return performance until tomorrow."

"But, if Trixie postpones, then-!"

"-Then everything will be fine, because you'll have an on-stage assistant who will do a big part in restoring your reputation." Trixie looks at me confused, as I look a certain lavender unicorn. "Isn't that right, Twilight?"

I lean against a nearby building and look between Trixie and Twilight. Twilight seems confused at first, while Trixie is about to burst a blood vessel. It takes a minute, but finally...

Finally, Trixie's ear-splitting scream redoubles my need for those aspirin. "What?! How can you expect Trixie to work alongside the pony that ruined her career?!"

"Ruined... your career?" Twilight looks at her, perplexed.

"Yes!" Trixie hmphs, "After the run-in with that ursa minor, word has spread across Equestria that Trixie is... less than Great and Powerful! Trixie had to work on a rock farm to save up enough money to begin traveling again thanks to you!"

"Well, ya wouldn'ta been so down 'n out if ya weren't such a-"

"AJ!" Twilight cut her off, probably a good thing. She then looks from me to Trixie for a minute, and a small smile stretches across her face. "So, you'll hear me out?"

"We'll talk once we've off the street." I pull off the building and fold my arms under my poncho, beginning to walk down the street again.

"And what about Trixie's say in all this?!" Trixie shouts, following us. "Just what do you think you're doing, assistant?"

"Assisting you."

Twilight and Applejack giggle lowly to themselves while Trixie continues shouting. "Trixie does not see how having her arch nemesis share a stage with her could possibly assi-" She finally stops yelling. I can imagine the gears slowly slipping into place and turning in her mind. "...Very well. Trixie shall accept Twilight Sparkle's cameo in her performance at her assistant's recommendation, on the condition that all control of the show's details are left purely in Trixie's hooves."

Applejack rolls her eyes and sighs. "Well, fine then, let's git back to the inn. Y'all seem pressed fer bits, so let me do the talkin' an' I'll try and getcha a discount."

The walk to the inn is filled mostly with Trixie pouting while Twilight and Applejack talk amongst themselves. Applejack does succeed in convincing the owner to give us a discount on the room, so I assume she's been to this part of Equestria before. Big surprise there. Once we've got our room, I lean against one of the walls while Trixie hops onto the bed, the remaining mares shutting the door behind them and finding some spots to sit down.

"So, Cloud..." Twilight begins.

"Why do you keep calling him Cloud?" Trixie cuts in. Well, that's two words longer than I expected Trixie to make it.

"Because that's his name...?" Twilight replies with a confused look, prompting Trixie to look at me.

"Trixie is beginning to think you merely look up to the sky and tell ponies that your name is the first thing you see up there, Dusk."

I shrug. "Does it really matter?"

"Trixie supposes not. Though she shall continue to call you 'Dusk'. She finds it to be a far more fitting name!" She turns her attention back to Twilight. "Continue, Sparkle."

"Oh... kay..." Twilight raises an eyebrow at Trixie before turning back to me. "Anyway, the real reason we came out here wasn't just the memory spell, or to see about your magic..." She sighs.

"Wait... memory spell?" Trixie turns to me again.

"Trixie, wouldya stop interruptin' every five gosh-darned seconds!"

"What? Trixie simply seeks to know the full extent of her assistant's dealings with Twilight Sparkle!"

Ignoring them both, Twilight continues. "Cloud, the real issue is that the Princesses are both worried about you."

"I had no idea." I shift slightly, then decide sitting with my back against the wall is more comfortable than just leaning against it.

"This is serious! When I first wrote to Princess Celestia saying you disappeared, all I received back was a small letter telling me that I didn't need to worry about finding you again." Her face wrinkles a bit in concentration before continuing. "I wrote a few more times trying to get her to explain why, but I never got a reply, so the six of us tried to find you anyway, thinking maybe something happened. In between search sessions, I worked on trying to adapt the memory spell to something that might work to help you. Not long after I put the finishing touches on it, I received another letter, but this time from Princess Luna, instructing me to find you at Dodge Junction."

"Well, you found me."

"Yeah, and the timing of the letter made me think I was supposed to use the spell on you." Twilight's eyes turn to the floor. "It didn't actually say to, though, now that I think about it... but..."

"But?"

"It also said that it was too dangerous for you to be wandering around on your own in Equestria anymore, especially at night. Princess Luna's been especially paranoid about the night being dangerous lately..."

"Well!" Trixie cuts in. "It's a good thing he has not been traveling alone then!"

"I think," Twilight continues, as if Trixie didn't say anything, "that the Princesses want you to return to Ponyville."

"You mean so-" I quickly get cut off.

"Trixie's not-so-Great-and-Powerful-assistant cannot return the Ponyville!" Trixie stomps her hoof on the bed. "Trixie will not be able to perform there!"

"No one said ya had ta come with 'im." Geez, it's like the two got into some bad fight at some point with how much Applejack seems to hate Trixie.

"Of course Trixie would have to go with him!" Trixie's reply comes with the usual 'hmph'. I'm beginning to think I can make a drinking game out of that reaction of hers. "What kind of magician would Trixie be if she abandoned her precious assistant to her arch nemesis and some country bumpkin?"

Applejack narrows her eyes. "Precious assistant, huh?" Her eyes turn to me. "Got somethin' yer not tellin' us, big fella?"

"I keep telling her I'm not interested." This time, I catch the incoming lamp flung at my face and set it down next to me. I'm starting to get good at this.

"Trixie apologizes for the uncouthness of her assistant."

"It's... quite alright." Applejack does her best to stifle the laughs that are visibly coming up. Probably trying to avoid being the lamp's second target. "Besides, ya two would hafta pass through Ponyville at least once yer done here in Dodge Junction, if ya keep travelin' by train. Ya were comin' off the incomin' from Appleloosa, and the other places 'round these parts aren't connected to th' rail system yet. Unless ya wanna be walkin' 'round the desert tryin' ta find the other towns, that is."

"It would be better than risking becoming The Great and Delicious Fruit Salad again!" Another metaphorical shot of the metaphorical whiskey there.

"Great and Delicious Fruit Salad...?" Applejack raises her eyebrows. "Do ah even wanna know?"

"You can tell the Princesses that I can take care of myself." I cut in, trying to save Trixie from going down that road again.

Twilight sighs. "Can you at least tell me why you don't want me to use the memory spell on you?" That sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach comes back. I look Twilight in the eyes for a moment, trying to think of how I should reply, but she seems to be able to read my eyes. "...There's something you don't want to remember, isn't there?"

...

"Trixie believes her assistant tires of your persistent questioning, Twilight Sparkle." Trixie speaks up after a few moments of awkward silence. "So, let us move on to planning the show tomorrow, hmm?"

Applejack gives Trixie a bit of resistance over changing the subject at first but Twilight agrees. Something I don't want to remember, huh? I suppose that makes sense. Though, the pit in my stomach isn't fear, it's... something else. Dread? No...

I catch bits and pieces of their conversation about tomorrow's performance in between my musings. Something about competing in an 'illusory duel' where Twilight and Trixie take turns weaving an impromptu story using those sky visuals Trixie does. I can see all the kinds of ways that can backfire on her already, but it doesn't surprise me that she'd want to end the show with some kind of 'duel' designed to fuel her ego. After a bit more planning and bickering beyond that, Twilight and Applejack finally leave for their own rooms.

"So," Trixie turns to me, after closing the door behind our 'guests' with her magic, "why did you not tell Trixie you knew Twilight Sparkle?"

"Because it didn't matter."

"Didn't matter?!" Aspirin please help. "Trixie told you what Twilight Sparkle did to her career!"

"And I only knew her for a day." Now that the other two are gone, I slide my sword from its harness and set it against the wall so I can sit more comfortably. "It's not like I knew she'd come hunting me down."

"Still!" She paces for a few moments then jumps back on the bed. "What was Sparkle talking about? Memory spell and such?"

"...I'd rather not talk about it."

She peers at me for a moment over the bed. "...Very well." She levitates her hat and cape onto a nearby stand and makes herself comfortable. "Trixie must rest for her performance tomorrow. She intends to outshine Twilight Sparkle on the stage to both rebuild her reputation and show everyone she's the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria!"

"Good luck with that." I shift my hat down over my eyes and slump a bit more against the wall to get comfortable myself.

"Hmph! You will see! The Great and Powerful Trixie does not need luck! Especially not with illusions and story-craft, her own home field!"

I mentally check off another drink as I hear her flop over on the bed. Sleep comes faster than it did in Appleloosa, must mean I'm getting better at sleeping up against the walls of dingy hotel rooms. The bit that's troublesome though, is the dream. Not that the dream itself is unexpected - not anymore. What is unexpected is the vividness. This time, it's not the flowing green of the Lifestream I find myself standing in.

Chapter 13: Ponies, Dragons, and Bears - Oh My!

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Chapter 13: Ponies, Dragons, and Bears - Oh My!

I'm standing at the entrance to a small town. It's so small, can it really even be called a town? It looks like its been built at the foot of a mountain range. The buildings all beige or white with red roofs, encircling a small town square with a water tower at its center. Along the ground and buildings, however, I can still see the thin green wisps of the Lifestream, as if its seeping through whatever dreamscape my mind's created.

"It's an almost perfect replica. Do you like it?" The deep voice makes my blood run cold and my body freeze. Its mostly emotionless - but with just enough of a tint of malice to be noticeable. My mind screams to reach for my weapon, to run, to do anything, but my body won't move at all. The most I can do is a small twitch of my head and a glance with my eyes, but all I get in return for the effort is a familiar rotting smell and the small, tendril-like trails of that shadow from the dream before. "Now, now, no peeking."

I feel a hand press against my back and I'm compelled to walk forward, into the town. I try to say something in reply to the thing pushing me forward, but my voice catches in my throat. It's like I can't do anything. Whatever's behind me keeps talking. "It's good for the two of us to finally be alone. Now I can fix your memory problem... directly." I will my body to resist in any way it can - anything this thing wants can't be good! As we move across the center of the town, my insides choke. It feels like something's trying to burst through, but is being pushed back down and can't.

"That memory isn't important." The voice behind me keeps compelling me forward. "Keep going." We pass the other side of the town's square, and a large, gated mansion looms in front of us. It's ominous, and... slightly distorted looking. Is that due to this being a dream? "That one... no, you don't need that one either. Not yet."

Finally, I'm able to break free of the thing's influence enough to at least speak! "What do you want?!" Cool first line, Cloud. They'll totally listen to that.

"I'm just taking a direct approach while I can." Huh, I guess they will. "Showing you will work much better than trying to slowly drip the memories back into your thick skull."

We walk past the mansion, and the path ahead of us... distorts into Lifestream? Whoever is behind me keeps us walking towards it, through it... and soon, we're standing on solid rock, mountain spires rising up on different sides of us. The hell was that, my mind's take on a jump cut?

"Do you know where we are?" The voice asks, and I can finally turn my head, if only slightly.

My eyes take in the bleak spires, which have their own spires and spike-like protrusions coming up from them. It's almost like staring at the evil castle of the villain from some children's book. Except, it's real, and it makes my entire body shudder in recognition. "This is... Mt. Nibel..." My eyes continue to wander, until the find the one thing that doesn't belong - a large, cylindrical, man-made structure. There are numerous pipes which stem from the main body, digging into the ground, and the whole area has the deep green glow of the Lifestream despite the wisps no longer being visible. It looms almost cartoonishly high over me - another effect of the dream-state, like the mansion? "And this is... the Mt. Nibel Mako Reactor, the one we-"

"Good, now get going." The voice cuts me off with a shove and forces me to climb the stairs. As we walk, the staircase itself seems to get longer and steeper, as if its resisting our climb. After what could have been anything between minutes and days, though, we finally reach the top, and the doors to enter inside open on their own. Inside is bleak, industrial, innumerable pipes coming from machines that line either side of another large staircase. The entire area is lit in a low, deep red. The red of a service light? No, it almost looks... bloody. I begin taking in the details of the machines the pipes attach to, noticing that my 'guide' is pushing me up the stairs and towards one of them. They have some sort of... window, on them. The hell are they, ovens? Why would they need a viewing window?

"Take a look inside and find out." The voice says, pushing me towards one of them. Can it read my damn mind, too? I lean on the machine a moment for support, steadying myself. Though, up close, it looks more like... a capsule. I consider turning to see the face of whoever or whatever has been pushing me along, but I already know my head will likely stop obeying before they come into view. Instead, I move directly in front of the capsule and press my head against the glass, trying to see through the murky substance inside to see whatever I'm supposed to be seeing. For a moment, there's nothing, but slowly... a shadow forms. A very... inhuman shadow, with a blurred outline and a long face. My eyes widen in recognition as its own pure-white eyes burst open - the shade I've been seeing in the previous dreams!

I don't have time to do anything beyond recognize, though, as the door to the capsule bursts off, hurdling me backwards, off the platform, bouncing off against the pipes of the capsules below before landing face-down on the floor with a painful thud. I begin to turn my head up to see what just happened, and insult adds itself to injury as the door to the capsule slams down onto my back, pinning me to the floor. That's just great. I press my hands to the floor, trying to push my upper body up enough so I can see what's going on, even though I can feel my consciousness wavering. Up on the second ledge, I can see the two forms, though they're blurred.

My attention focuses on the four legged one first, as it stares down the other form. Its... definitely not a guard hound or a foulander, now that I can see its side profile. It has a single, long horn coming from its forehead. I sort through everything in my head that it could possibly be, but the only thing I can think of that comes close is... a unicorn? But why would a unicorn be in my dreams? Besides, its... too large.

I turn to the second form, but... its gone. Shit... I gasp for breath and collapse against the cold, metal floor of the Mako Reactor, not seeing much point in resisting the embrace of sleep anymore as I black out from the pain...

...And awaken with a start in our room back at Dodge Junction. The sun is filtering brightly through the window - it's long past dawn this time. What the hell was that? The other dreams were nothing like that. The names of the other places are slowly coming back, too - Nibelheim and the Shinra Mansion. Shinra is... the organization that controls SOLDIER. Bah. 'Showing will work much better' my ass, I have a few more names without context and a couple links but that's it. Unless... that shade...

Trixie rustles on her bed, mumbling to herself. "The Great and Powerful Trixie requires five more minutes of sleep..." She even sleep-talks in third person? That's... dedication.

I can hear the clopping of hooves outside the door, though. Some people at this place are starting to wake up, so I reach for my sword and shift into a more upright sitting position so I can return it to its sheathe in case someone decides to come in uninvited. I fold my arms under my poncho and lean back against the wall, deciding to at least rest my eyes for a few more minutes.

A few minutes later, a deep yawn and shuffling emits from Trixie's bed, then finally the clanging sound of hooves against floor to warn the world she's awaken. I keep my eyes closed under my tipped hat as she walks towards me, yawning to herself again.

"Still asleep, Dusk?" I decide not to answer as her hoofsteps turn toward the door. "That's good, Trixie must freshen up before she can allow the public to see her." The door creaks open, and the hooves move into the hall, following it down. The yell comes a few moments later. "This place only has one washroom! You better not be hogging it to try and get an advantage in our showmare's duel, Twilight Sparkle!"

I decided to tune out the noise of the place while Trixie moves in and out of the room repeatedly, presumably doing whatever she does for her morning rituals. Soon, I feel a hoof pressing against my shoulder, shaking me.

"Dusk! Wake up!" It's kind of nice having a pony-shaped alarm clock, really. "Trixie will require your presence for her duel with Twilight Sparkle!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up." I shake off the last bit of drowsiness and get up. The room's empty beyond my magical alarm clock, though it doesn't stay that way for long as Twilight and Applejack make their way inside.

"Y'all ready in here?" Applejack asks. "A certain blue somepony made a point of doin' this before lunch, after all."

"It's fine, AJ." Twilight steps forward. "Besides, I'll get to do stage magic! I've only really done that sort of thing for Spike." She seems... a bit happier about this than I expected. "I don't like showing off, but it'll be fun to practice something new!"

Trixie gives the excited unicorn a leer and steps forward. "Right... and where is your stage attire, Sparkle?"

"...Stage attire?" Twilight looks at Trixie quizzically before realizing what the latter is talking about. "Oh! I think I have something!" Her horn glows violet and there's a small flash. Once my eyes focus, I see Twilight... wearing the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in my life. It's clearly meant to be a wizard's hat and cape of some kind, deep blue with details of the stars and the moon, but it has bells all along the frills, and... "Do you like it?" She asks, striking a pose.

"Sparkle..." Trixie gives her a quizzical look that likely mirrors my own. "You have a beard."

"Oh!" She quickly pulls the beard off with her hoof, making it disappear again with her magic. "Sorry about that! This was my costume for Nightmare Night! It's supposed to be Starswirl the Bearded!"

"Trixie can tell..." For once, her and I are on the same page, as her tone is seeping with 'are you seriously going to wear that?'. "One moment, if you please, Sparkle." She turns away from Twilight and Applejack, motioning for me to stoop down to her as she whispers in my ear. "Why did you think this was a good idea? She is going to embarrass Trixie!"

"So? You'll just look better by comparison, won't you?" I'm getting too good at stroking her ego, I think...

Trixie's eyes narrow as she smirks. "Yes, yes Trixie would." She turns back to the pair near the door. "Okay then! Hopefully you are ready for Trixie to show you how to please a crowd, Twilight Sparkle!" Trixie raises her head high and exits the room, Twilight nearly skipping after her in the excitement to do something new. Either this is going to go better than I hoped it would, or I'm going to be carrying around an unconscious Trixie again tonight. At least it'll keep Twilight busy for now.

Applejack, however, stays behind for a minute, giving me a look and pointing a hoof at the two exiting unicorns. "Are ya, uh, sure this was a good idea?"

I shrug as we begin following them out. "Nope."

As we head outside, I can hear Twilight and Trixie discussing the details of the show some more. Trixie is... surprisingly calm, now that she's in her element. I guess she's one of the types whose married to her career - the show must go on, co-starring with career-ruining arch-nemesis be-damned. We wander around the town a bit with Trixie leading, and I can see her eying different roadsides and buildings, trying to find the place she thinks the show will attract the most attention.

"Here!" She finally exclaims, slamming her hoof on the ground. Again, it all looks the same to me, but I guess what do I know? I move and take a seat in front of the building opposite of where Trixie's decided the 'stage' will be, while Applejack sits where Trixie instructs her as 'an indicator of where the masses should sit'. Her and Twilight discuss a few final things, Twilight disappears from the stage in a puff of violet magic, and Trixie waits a few moments for there to be some passer-by and sets out the bit-collection tin.

"Hello, dear mares and gentlecolts of Dodge Junction! Welcome and be amazed! For not only shall you be able to witness the amazing feats of The Grrrrreat and Powerful Trrrrixie..." She throws up her hooves, flourishing her cape. "But in a once in a lifetime showing, she shares the stage with Ponyville's own Twilight Sparrrkle!" In another puff of violet smoke, Twilight appears beside her, reared on her own hind legs, but clearly not as used to standing almost completely upright the way Trixie seems to be. The surprising thing is that the introduction lacked all hesitation - I suppose I was right after all, anything for the show.

Trixie pulls a deck of cards from her cape, Twilight pulling them up in her magic and shuffling them before returning them to Trixie. Trixie then moves up to Applejack and offers the deck, fanning it out. "Pick a card, my little pony, any card!" She says, as if Applejack were just any other pony in the crowd... which is now up to Applejack and a couple of ponies giving the pair strange looks. Applejack gives her a confused look and pulls a card from the deck. "Good good!" Trixie continues, "Now show it to the crowd, but not to us, then return it to the deck!" Applejack gives a hesitant laugh and shows the card - a red face card, though I can't see which suit or value - to the few other people watching then returns it to Trixie's deck.

Trixie then returns to the 'stage' with Twilight, who both take off their hats as Trixie dumps the deck into Twilight's hat. They both hold their hats out theatrically, the openings pointed toward each other as their horns glow with violet and pink magics. Then, a stream of cards like a snake bursts from Twilight's hat, and into Trixie's. A stream... that never seems to stop. The stream begins to change shape, creating loops, coils, figure eights, and other shapes in the air as it continues to stream between their hats, changing directions at seemingly random intervals. Trixie finally reaches out with a forehoof, touching one of the cards and causing the rest to drop to the ground as the magic fades, then holds it to Applejack.

"Is this your card?" Trixie asks with a smug smirk, and it's definitely a red face card, which a nod from Applejack confirms to be the correct one. "Excellent!" A proper crowd of about ten ponies is gathering around them now, as the deck glows with magic and all filters into Trixie's hat, which she then replaces on her head.

Twilight, however, leaves her hat off, reaching inside it. She then pulls out a bouquet of red roses, and offers it to Trixie. "For you!"

"My, my, Twilight," Trixie feigns a blush, "what will the fans think?" Trixie takes the bouquet, putting it into her own hat, when both begin to hear chomping sounds. They both look up with a quizzical expression to Trixie's hat, which is quickly levitated off her head as Trixie puts a hoof inside to see what's going on. When she draws her hoof back out, the bouquet is being eaten by a small, brown rabbit. "Huh... how did that get in Trixie's hat?"

"Shouldn't it be eating carrots or something?" Twilight asks, putting her head closer to the hat invader.

"No matter!" Trixie exclaims, quickly tossing both the rabbit and the bouquet aside. "Let's see what else is hiding in Trixie's hat!" Trixie dives one forehoof in, holding the hat steady with the other as the hat makes obnoxiously and cartoonishly loud rummaging noises. Eventually, Trixie pulls her hoof back to the sounds of flapping feathers. "Birds..." She says as they fly off and she digs her hoof back in. "Tumbleweed..." She pulls out a tumbleweed, throwing it onto the road, a gust of wind blowing it along the trail out of town. Trixie digs her hoof back in and Twilight's eyes go wide. Suddenly, Twilight is pulled up through her own hat and out through Trixie's. "Twilight Sparkle..." Trixie looks to the hat, then back to Twilight. "What were you doing in Trixie's hat?"

Twilight shrugs and gives a sheepish smile as Trixie drops her, the bells on Twilight's costume ringing as she collects her hat again. The crowd's grown much larger now, and they're stomping their hooves on the ground in appreciation of the trick. Both place their hats back on their heads and give a small bow, before turning to face each other, jumping back to make some added space.

"And now, mares and gentlecolts!" Trixie begins, turning back to the crowd.

"We begin the final act of our performance today!" Twilight continues. Kind of surprised Trixie is letting Twilight even have a speaking part.

"Yes , The Great and Powerful Trixie, along with The Magnificent Twilight Sparkle..." for just a second, Trixie's face flinches, but she catches herself like the professional she claims to be.

"...Shall dazzle you with a great tale of exploits and heroism!" Twilight finishes the intro as both raise onto their hind legs, fireworks shooting up from the ground and exploding, the colors hanging in the sky in Trixie's usual fashion for her final showing.

The two turn to each other again, both their horns slightly glowing. She doesn't say it out loud, but I can see Trixie's mouth form the words 'Its time to duel' as her horn glows brighter. "Our tale today starts in the lovely Horse Shoe Bay, where Trixie had intended to take a lovely weekend off after saving Baltimare from the evil of the merwolves!" Oh god, not this shit again. The colors swirl in the sky, forming a passable drawing of a small bay in the sky, and the outline of Trixie wielding the usual star-wand in one hoof as she lie beside it.

"But then," Twilight doesn't miss a beat, quickly copying the spell to draw in the sky, "The Great and Powerful Trixie's rest was interrupted by an evil wizard, bent on revenge!" The colors swirl, and a second unicorn - lavender and wearing its own cape and hat, much like Twilight - appears in the sky beside Trixie.

Trixie's eyes narrow, and her sky form rises to its hooves. "It was true, Trixie's rival had appeared before her, bent on ending their competition once and for all. Trixie called on all the might of her wand, wanting to quickly vanquish this dangerous foe!" The form of Trixie in the sky waves its wand, stars shooting from the tip toward Twilight's doppelganger, who effortlessly dodges the attacks.

"Ah, but her rival knows all of Trixie's strategies, and has come prepared to settle this once and for all!" Twilight's horn glows as more colors swirl in the sky. "Wasting no time, Trixie's rival summons her familiar, a mighty dragon!" And behind her sky-form, a large, purple-and-green dragon forms behind her, breathing a green flame at Trixie's copy.

Trixie's hoof stomps, and her copy darts along the sky, away from the dragon. "Trixie, ever the resourceful magician, doesn't let this deter her, and while deftly dodging the dragons attack, summons her own familiar - the dreaded ursa major!" In the sky, a large, blue bear with a sparkling body is drawn from Trixie's canvas of colors and swipes at Twilight's dragon. The two clash as Twilight and Trixie's horns both glow brightly. Claw swipes, flames, a ballad of fury as the two make-believe monsters clash together. Eventually, the two make one final clash, and both titans dissipate, leaving two panting unicorns on the ground, mirrored by two panting drawings of unicorns in the sky.

"With both familiars vanquished, Trixie's rival sees her opening, and unleashes her final, most devastating attack!" Twilight locks eyes with Trixie as her copy begins sending a beam of light towards Trixie's.

"Seeing no alternative, Trixie unleashes her own attack, and the two clash in a brilliant display of magic!" Trixie's expression is determination and grit, while Twilight is wearing a steady smirk. The two beams continue to collide, colors from the palette swarming to the spot where they meet as the buildup of 'energy' between them becomes larger, steadily growing until there's a 'pop!', and the colors explode out, washing away both the drawings of Twilight and Trixie.

On the ground, both Twilight and Trixie are left panting, as one pony begins stomping their hooves. Then another. Soon, there's a loud roar of hoof-stomping as the two turn to the crowd they'd nearly forgotten about entirely and take a bow.

"Thank you, everypony! The Great and Powerful Trixie and The Magnificent Twilight Sparkle hope you have enjoyed their performance!" Trixie pulls off her hat, sweeping it aside as her bow deepens, Twilight mirroring her as the bells on her hat chime.

Twilight stomps her hooves excitedly as the crowd dissipates. "Ohh, Trixie, I see why you like this now, that was fun!"

"Yes, quite..." Trixie turns her head away. "Trixie's career is quite enjoyable. It..." Her voice trails off as Applejack walks over to them, but Trixie's eyes are firmly on the tin, her eyes wide. She babbles incoherently for a moment before levitating the tin in her magic, running over to me. "Dusk! Dusk! Look at this!" Trixie thrusts the tin of bits in my face, some flopping out to the ground from how full it is. Her eyes are nearly tearing up.

"See what happens when you listen to your assistant?" I give a small laugh, but she seems too happy for even my jibe to get to her. "Let me carry that." I grab the heavy tin from her, cradling it in one arm under my poncho as Twilight and Applejack run up.

"Well, ah'll say, Trixie, ya've, uh, improved." Applejack absentmindedly scratches behind one ear with a hoof.

Trixie sniffles before turning and proclaiming loudly. "Look out, Equestria! The Grrrreat and Powerful Trrrrrixie has returned! A few more performances like this, and her wagon shall return as well! Let us celebrate with some fine dining!"

Chapter 14: Plan C? Never Heard Of It!

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Chapter 14: Plan C? Never Heard Of It!

Thankfully for our collective pocket book, the closest thing this backwater cowboy town has to 'fine dining' is a small shanty of a building that can barely pass itself off as a restaurant. We seat ourselves at a small table in the back, Trixie and myself on one side and the Ponyville pair on the other, getting a mix of the usual murmurs and glances in my direction, plus a few waves from ponies that must've seen the show earlier. At least the fact most of my body is covered in this poncho means most ponies simply turn away after a couple seconds, treating me more like that one-legged guy a mom might tell their kids not to stare at rather than some freak of nature. Not blending into any crowds any time soon, but at least not raising suspicions either.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle, and, err..." Trixie starts, looking to me for help.

"Applejack." The earth pony shoots Trixie an annoyed look.

"Right! Please enjoy yourselves!" Trixie sweeps her hat off and bows as much as she can with a table in front of her. "Consider this meal on Trixie's tab as compensation for your aide in today's successful performance." She's trying hard to maintain a happy expression, but her face contorts ever-so-slightly into a glower at Twilight.

"Ya got all those bits an'-" Applejack immediately gets cut off by a lavender hoof in her face.

"It's okay, really Trixie." Twilight gives Trixie a sheepish grin. "I had fun. That's enough, right, Applejack?" The hoof lowers from Applejack's face tentatively.

"...Right." I feel like I should be fighting off the tension in the room with my sword, never mind cutting it with a knife.

"Ah, but Trixie insists!" She returns her hat to her head and picks up the menu with her hooves. Still wondering how they do that. Magnets? "Trixie would feel wrong if she did nothing to attempt returning the favor." She pulls the menu up over her face, and it contorts slightly, not sure if it wants to be happy about success or glare holes through the skulls of the ponies across the table. The unbridled jubilation from the giant tin of money must have worn off.

I pick up my own menu, look at it, then promptly set it back down. Might as well be reading scribbles. Not sure how speaking the same language but writing a completely different one works, but it's another quirk I guess I can chalk up to the lack of thumbs. Time for Plan B - order last, copy whichever order sounds most edible. The last thing I need is to deal with Trixie realizing I can't read - at least as far as Equestria is concerned.

"So, Trixie?" Twilight sets her menu down slowly, looking expectantly at Trixie for a few moments until the latter slowly lowers their menu.

"Yes, Sparkle?" Trixie replies, happy-mask back on, though with an eyebrow raised.

"So uh, does this situation, uh..." Twilight stammers a bit, "does it mean we're friends now?"

"Friends?" Trixie theatrically raises a hoof to her chin and looks to the side. "Hmm... you ruined Trixie's career in Ponyville, yet also helped rebuild her career in Dodge Junction..." She lets the pose fall, turning to Twilight. "I suppose that would change our status from 'arch-enemies' to at least 'neutral', wouldn't it?"

Twilight beams at her, a bit of nervousness showing through. "I suppose that's still an improvement, heh..."

"Yes, it is! Reputation lost is hard to regain with The Great and Powerful Trixie!" She flicks her mane to the side with a hoof. "However, in your case, I shall be The Generous and Forgiving Trixie."

"Why, how mighty generous of ya..." Applejack mutters as she sets her own menu down.

"Of course, it's in the title! Or were you not listening to Trixie just now?"

Thankfully, the waitress, a pale-yellow unicorn, walks up before that line can go any deeper. "So, uh." She glances up from the paper she's levitating in front of her, looking from Trixie to Twilight and back again. I can only imagine she's wondering what idiots would dress up like wizards in the middle of a desert. Valid question, really. "What can I get y'all folks today?"

"Trixie would like some cider and your finest hayburger, if you would please." She sets a hoof on her menu and slides it to the waitress. Hayburger? That sounds pretty inedible to me.

"Same." Applejack mirrors the motion.

Twilight furrows her brow for a minute before sighing. "Me too, please."

...Well, Plan B just lit itself up in a ghastly hellfire and tossed itself screaming out the nearest window. Time for Plan Bullshit. It's a lot like Plan B but has no frame of reference. "...Fruit salad?"

The waitress merely looks to her pad, taking notes. "Cider too?"

"Yeah, thank you." Disaster averted as I place the menu of what may as well amount to glyphs for me on the stack with the others, the unicorn levitating them away and into her uniform.

"It'll just be a few minutes then."

I let out a small sigh, then turn back to see all three mares staring at me.

"Cloud, hun, you okay?" Applejack asks, leaning forward and peering at me through my disguise. "Yer sweatin' a bit."

"Just the heat from wearing this stuff so often."

They seem more than happy to buy that excuse, thankfully.

"So, Dusk," Trixie adds extra emphasis to the name, "Trixie has been thinking, thanks to you. Maybe we should go to Ponyville and attempt a showing. A successful showing there would do wonders for Trixie's career, no?" She shoots me a sideways glance and a grin. I can hear my bus outside, waiting for me to be thrown under it.

Twilight lets out a small gasp and clops her forehooves together. "Really?"

"I'm still not doing letting you do it, Twilight." I reply coolly, shooting a sideways glare at the mare beside me.

"Still! The others will be happy to see you're doing okay." And her gaze switches from me to Trixie. "And I'm sure if we show them an act like we put on here in Dodge Junction, everyone in Ponyville will see that you've changed, Trixie!"

Trixie quickly shifts her eyes back to Twilight, her collected-but-happy facade slowly cracking as an eye twitches. "You... wish to share the stage with Trixie again?" Karma, bitch. The underside of this bus has room for two.

"It'd be fun! We'd have to do a far more complex act, though, with the kinds of things Ponyville is used to..." Twilight puts a hoof under her chin and thinks for a bit, then turns to Trixie. "That is, if you don't mind me helping again?"

"No, of course not!" Trixie laughs sheepishly, struggling to keep her demeanor. "Trixie would be flattered, really!"

Applejack narrows her eyes at Trixie but says nothing. It must be as obvious to her as it is to me that Trixie is only agreeing for the sake of her career with that glower she's firing. Like I said, I should be fighting off the tension in this room with my sword. Luckily, the waitress returns with our orders before the situation hits critical mass, placing out the three burgers and salad and four mugs of cider. I wait for the waitress to leave before adjusting the snout-shaped collar of my poncho hood enough to eat comfortably.

"So Trixie," Twilight starts as Trixie begins munching on her burger, using her food as an excuse to hide her expression from the inquiring mare, "any ideas on crazy tricks we could do to wow Ponyville?"

"Trixie... will need to think on it." She replies after swallowing, looking down at the reflection of herself in her plate. "As you said, Trixie will need to devise far more impressive acts due to Ponyville's recent... experiences."

That's the second time they've brought that up - the hell happens at that town, anyway? I can vaguely recall that when Twilight was going on about the memory spell the very first time, she brought up something about a 'Discord', whoever or whatever that is. Maybe I'll ask sometime. Right now I'd hate to interrupt the show. The conversation, though, moves to different concepts for tricks and illusions that Twilight thinks might amaze Ponyville, while Trixie squirms in her seat and does her nervous laugh so often it's almost like someone's tickling her with a feather or something. A quick look at Applejack tells me her eyes are narrowed, enjoying the show as well, for as much as Twilight seems completely oblivious to it. We soon finish up, putting the money on the table as Applejack and Twilight get ready to filter out.

"Hey," Trixie says, her voice low, "you two head back to the inn. Trixie needs to speak to her assistant for a moment."

"Uhh, sure." Twilight gives her another of her sheepish grins before heading out with Applejack, leaving the two of us at the table.

I look around for a minute, then lean in closer so we can speak without being overheard. "What is it?"

There's a small pause as Trixie looks into her now-empty food plate, staring at herself, until finally, "Trixie... does not think she can handle this."

"Hmm?" I rest my elbows on the table, careful of the poncho as always.

"During the show earlier. Trixie... was the second fiddle." She looks at me, and seeing the confused expression through the layers of clothing, continues. "Magically, she means. While the tricks were of Trixie's making, much of the magic fueling them was Twilight Sparkle's. Trixie could never do something like pull another unicorn out of her hat like that!"

"So why not learn how to do it?" I shrug.

"It's... not that simple, Dusk..." She sighs. "It is not a matter of not knowing the method. Like Trixie said, she conceived much of the act, including how the magic works."

"So you don't have the magical muscle."

"Something like that."

"Can't you train it like any other muscle?"

"To a degree," She looks up at me a second time, and I can see the dam ready to burst open. She sniffles before continuing, "but for that, Trixie would need a training partner, and while definitely powerful, your magic is..."

"Likely to light you on fire? I noticed." Time to make the stupid suggestion. "Why not Twilight Sparkle?"

"Twilight Sparkle?! The mare who ruined Trixie's career?!" She slams a hoof on the table, barely able to contain her voice. "First the show and now this! You're supposed to be assisting Trixie, not-"

"I am," I lean back in my chair, "by showing you when you end up doing things the hard way because you're too proud for your own good." I slide the chair out and get up, stretching my back as much as I can without lifting my arms, the bit tin still hooked securely under one of them. "But it's like the drinking. All I can do is make you aware of it. What you do about it's not my problem." I'm really not cut out for this pep-talk business, but I think I'm getting used to it. With someone like her, sometimes you need to wiggle the knife a bit before you can pull it out cleanly. "What good is having a rival if you don't use them to make you stronger? It's not like they need to know they're doing it, after all." I hear her exhale but I don't wait for a reply, leaving her at the table.

As I head outside, I see both Applejack and Twilight plopped down outside the building, looking up at the sky. It's midday still, though, so they're not stargazing. As I'm about to ask them what they're looking at, I turn my head up, and quickly see it for myself - the entire sky has small, glimmering threads of green sewn through it. Green like... "Lifestream..." I end up muttering out loud to myself, causing both mares to look at me, finally alerted to my presence. I turn to them, pointing a thumb up at the sky. "That's not normal, is it?"

Both of them slowly shake their head in the negative and I scrunch my brow in thought. Even if this place has a Lifestream of its own - possible, with how much magic there is - all I can remember about it says that the Lifestream is like a planet's blood - it should be under the crust, sometimes bubbling up into fountains, not in the goddamn sky. As if in reply to my most recent thought, the sky pulses a deep green for just a second, before returning to its original hue, with only the trace threads going through it, only just enough to be noticeable. I look around and others in Dodge Junction are looking up as well, so it's definitely not the three of us sharing a mass hallucination from spiked restaurant food or something.

Hoofsteps sound behind me after a moment. "...Trixie has been thinking, and-" She pauses abruptly, her gait pausing with it. "-and what's wrong with the sky?"

"No idea..." Twilight replies, getting off her haunches. "But... we need to get back to Ponyville. If it hasn't already gotten to Canterlot this is definitely something worth alerting the Princesses over. If it has, its possible Princess Celestia may want my help devising a spell or something to stop it."

"So basically, skip the inn, take the overnight back to Ponyville?" I simplify her thought process.

"Yeah." She nods, then turns to Trixie. "You don't mind, right, Trixie? It's probably better for you and Cloud to come with us now, if you're still coming to Ponyville that is." At least one of them is trying to be friends.

Trixie's eyes widen a bit, finally realizing that I wasn't the only one there, and quickly regains her composure. "No, Trixie would be glad to return to Ponyville, post haste!" She gives Twilight a confident smirk and flick of her mane, but this time it's harder to tell if she's faking it or not.

We make our way quickly for the train station, Trixie keeping pace with me but her head raised. I'm getting a vibe that she's more than a little pissed at me, but she's not reacting as bad as I expected her to, all things considered. She doesn't voice anything, though, and both Twilight and Applejack are walking a bit ahead, lost in their own conversation. As we reach the train station, we realize the light show must be freaking everybody else out because we're some of the only people boarding. There are a few others, but for all intents and purposes we may as well have the train to ourselves. We find some seats with a good window view. Applejack and I take the window seats, while Twilight and Trixie taking the aisle ones. We end up sitting around for another thirty minutes of awkward silence interspersed with Twilight asking Trixie some questions about stage performing before the train finally begins moving.

The train rattles down the tracks as the sun sets. I'm leaning with one elbow on the windowsill, resting my head in my palm, before feeling a weight rest against my side. Passed out unicorn? Check. Twilight giggles slightly, but decides sleeping early is a good idea after seeing Applejack reclined, her hat covering her face. I don't see much point staying awake either, if I can get myself to pass out, and prepare myself to be chucked into another one of those crazy-ass dreams.

Instead, what I get is flung against the side wall, an azure unicorn on top of me, now flailing wildly from being abruptly woken up like that. It doesn't take long to see that the cart - and most likely, the entire train - has been tipped onto its side. My ears ring from the crashing sounds of both the cart and whatever's slammed into it to topple it over like this. It feels like every other day, something dumb happens as soon as night falls. This is getting ridiculous.

"W-w-what's going on?!" Twilight looks around, trying to crawl away from Applejack as the bells on her costume jingle. Really, why is she still wearing that? I mean, I get Trixie's a narcissist that's married to her job, but shouldn't Twilight have returned that getup to her magic pocket dimension or whatever by now?

"Sugahcube, ah do believe our train has been tipped like a cow out to pasture." Applejack chimes in, getting to her hooves and straightening her hat.

"Well, Trixie believes this train company will be owing her a re-" Trixie gets cut off by the sounds of scraping and footsteps on the new 'roof' of our railcar, shaking and putting her hooves around my waist. "Protect Trixie! She is too young and beautiful to be eaten!"

Applejack rolls her eyes. "Talkin' like that just makes ya sound like Rarity."

"Hmph!" That got Trixie to let go, at least. "Trixie will just need to show these cretins that she is more powerful than a pony with a nest for a mane!"

"Well, there's yer cretin, Trixie." Applejack points her hoof up, to what used to be the far window, where what appears to be some kind of blue coeurl-looking thing is peering into the car at us, though its features appear to be... unnaturally distorted.

"That's... a chupacabra!" Twilight looks up at it, almost curious. "But... something looks wrong with it. They shouldn't even be attacking po-"

The sound of the window smashing cuts that sentence short.

Chapter 15: I Hate Cats.

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Chapter 15: I Hate Cats.

Of course, the big snarling thing comes crashing through the window to the chorus of three screaming ponies - and lands right on my face. I grab its maw as it snarls at me with fangs whose sharpness I'd rather not contemplate, as its breath hits me - its that rotten stench. The stench that I've smelt in my dreams, and from that one timberwolf back in Ponyville.

"What is that thing?!" I turn my head away from the uninviting teeth long enough to see Twilight pointing a hoof at it, looking on with bewilderment as I try to keep my face intact.

"T-T-Trixie thought you said it was a chupacabra!" The hero who valiantly saved Baltimare from the merwolves, yep.

"But chupacabras don't look like this! They're blue and purple and all furry in the front." Twilight put a hoof to her muzzle and coughed, the others doing the same. She's right, though - if that's what a chupacabra is, this isn't that. Its blue is pale, going on grey, and there's no hair, or fur, or anything. Simply rotten-looking skin.

"Ahn it smells like it died." The smell apparently isn't in my head, either.

"Is it a..." Trixie's eyes go wide looking at it, "z-z-z-zombie?"

Applejack narrows her eyes at Trixie. "Ah think ya've been listenin' to yer own stories a bit too much there, Trix."

"Less hypothetical talk about an imminent undead apocalypse, more getting this thing off my face?" I'm starting to be able to see my own reflection in these damn teeth.

"Oh, right!" Twilight snaps into action, grabbing the thing with her magic and hurling it out the window it came from as I press against the wall-floor-whatever of the upturned train car, panting slightly. I take a moment then begin getting to my feet as we hear the continued steps and clawing of more of those things on the new-roof of the train. God, there's gotta be tons of them up there.

"Uh, Twi." Applejack starts, looking up to the source of all those sounds. "Any ideas in that head of yers to get us outta this one?"

"Uh..." Twilight spaces for a second, as we begin to hear the shifting and yelps of the passengers on the other cars. This train's mostly empty besides us, not completely empty. Shit. "The other passengers!" She finally speaks, realizing the same thing I just did. I reach a hand back and grip it around the hilt of my sword, thinking. "We need to-"

"Twilight." I cut her off sternly, and she looks at me. "Think you can use that shield or whatever or did when we first met to keep the people on the train safe?"

"Yeah, easily, but-"

"Then you three do that. I'll take care of things." I punctuate my statement by drawing my sword, spinning it absentmindedly in my fingers and earning looks from Applejack and Twilight.

"Where did you get that?" Twilight asks, following the glint of the Materia along the blade with her eyes as I continue spinning it.

"Does it really matter?"

"Wait you jus' wait a cotton-pickin' minute, Cloud!" Applejack looks up at me, stomping a hoof. "It's a darn rodeo out there, yer gonna get torn up goin an' playin' hero by yerself!"

Playing hero, huh? Thinking back to Appleloosa, I guess I do like doing that. Holding my left palm open in front of me, I do my standard trick: Fireball conjuring, something Applejack and Twilight haven't seen yet. "I'll be fine, I've had some Great and Powerful help getting the hang of this."

Applejack looks at the flaming orb with a simple 'oh' on her lips, with Twilight sporting a more curious look, and... "Aha! So you admit Trixie's influence in your new-found magical abilities, assistant!"

I flick my wrist and dismiss the flame. "Don't get ahead of yourself, now."

"So what are you going to do?" Twilight asks. Girl asks all the questions I haven't even considered the answers to yet, I swear.

I look around the cart, remembering we're riding in the cart directly before the caboose as a plan quickly formulates in my mind. "I'll distract them by going out the back. Then you three can secure the rest of the train." Their looks are still skeptical. There's an argument on the edge of Trixie's lips but she doesn't voice it, Twilight seems uncertain despite her question prompting my explanation, and Applejack looks a mix of impatient and worried.

After a few more thuds and thumps on the 'ceiling' of the car, I decide to ignore it and move for the door. There's no more time to be debating this unless we want them coming to us - and I, at least, don't have room to fight on a lopsided, pony-sized train. I reach for the handle and begin fighting with it. It's awkward to move at this angle, but eventually it gives and I'm able to open the door like a giant hatch to the outside world. Luckily, it opened with the door above me instead of below, because as soon as I'm starting to step over the threshold I feel a weight pound onto it. Can't even let me out of the train, can they? At least the caboose being in their way is giving them slight pause.

I hear the snarling and the pound of a second weight on the door and decide now's a good a time as any to book it. I kick off the door frame, rolling and using the Time Materia to increase my speed. Two dull thuds sound out behind me, but I don't look back yet. First, distance. As I run, I can hear more thuds against the ground. That's when I turn my head to look at exactly what I'm up against.

It's also when I realize this is going on my ever-growing list of terrible ideas.

They're all leaping from the overturned train. Are they after me specifically, or something? I have enough trouble being surrounded with an excessive number of female ponies, I don't need to add rabid and potentially zombified chupacabra-things to my list. Deciding I've made enough distance between myself and the mob of angry cat-things, I turn, swinging my sword with a flourish to try and scare them into backing off. As I swing, a crescent beam fires from the blade, smashing into the front-most of the pack and dissipating among them, causing several in the front to topple and the rest to slow and snarl at me. I'll need to add that one to the list of skills I have to remember how to do consistently.

For now, though, I need to figure out how to get out of a setup pulled straight from a bad action movie. I take a few steps back as I grip my sword in both hands, trying to count how many there are. Twenty? Thirty? I stop counting somewhere between 'too many' and 'I'm going to miss my throat', a volume that shouldn't surprise me considering they overturned a moving train. Well, it's not like I'm going to go down without a fight. I take a moment to check my surroundings - one aforementioned overturned train, a couple of cactus, and a lot of sand. No good cover. I haven't been able to test these Materia on this sword yet so they're basically worthless. If that fight with those 'diamond dogs' or whatever was any indication, trying to use group magic on this many bogeys at once will just lead to exhaustion and lack-of-throat-itis. I'm going to need to get creative...

Sudden inspiration strikes, and I do something I've never done before. That is, I conjure a fireball, throw it in their general direction, then run like hell. Though, I do have an idea - the first cars on the train are the engine and the fuel, with no risk of passengers besides the workers. Hopefully, Trixie and the others have gotten everyone round up, so I can use those two cars as cover. As I run, I look over my shoulder to see the horde of angry not-chupacabras gaining despite the Time Materia still increasing my speed.

Quickly, reaching the engine car, I dive and cast the Lightning Materia around the corner. I press my back against the car, not bothering to look, though there's the distinct flashes of light, crackles, and yelps of pain signifying something just got roasted. So now, hopefully, I'm only dealing with too many to count minus a few instead of just too many to count. Slightly better odds. That's when a goopy, melting sounds hit my ears from the direction I cast Lightning. That's... very not normal. Nor are those sounds of dry heaving I hear from the other side of the engine car. The distinct clink of claws-against-metal makes sure to let me know I don't have time to be thinking this over, though, and I get moving again. A quick cast of Ice against the desert sand puts down a slippery layer to slow them down as I turn to my goal - the back half of the locomotive car, where the fuel is stored. The coal is spilling out the overturned top like a black, rocky hill, and I call on the Time Materia again as I make my move, quickly bounding up the slope and on top of the train.

Kind of ended up taking myself full circle here - but this is far more than I expected when I came up with this terrible plan. I chance a peek at where the Lightning I cast earlier landed, and see several grey, gurgling puddles along with the scorch marks from the lightning itself. Any thought I can give that gets quickly snatched away though as I hear the beasts clawing their way up the coal, a few at a time. I know they can probably get up here from other angles but this will at least provide a funnel without needing to deal with the obstacles of a train car's interior or with ponies that need defending. I decide to improve my odds with another cast of the Ice Materia, freezing over some of the coal and the back half of the locomotive to make their climb more difficult. After another deep breath, I raise my sword, knowing this isn't going to be pretty.

The first one finally makes its way to the top of the car and leaps, and I don't hesitate on thrusting the point of my sword into its gut. Going non-lethal in this situation is just another path to lack-of-throat-itis, so there's no other options. What catches me by surprise is the splatter - not the red blood as I was expecting, but rather greyish-black gunk not completely dissimilar to what I saw at the lightning marks. I kick the beast off my sword with one foot and raise my blade again, this time going for the horizontal slice as the next one leaps. I hit it cleanly, my blade digging deep into it and the wide swing knocking it from the side of the train. Another quickly meets a similar fate, but then they stop charging. They've realized their need for numbers even in this small area and are grouping, attempting to pounce me with multiples at once. I take a few steps back and grip my sword in front of me, preparing myself as my eyes dart around and see a few noteworthy things all at the same time.

First is the corpse of the one I stabbed through. It's... melting into goop. Stranger is the one beast I see still on the ground near the engine - its different from the rest, looking more 'natural' and in the colors Twilight described originally, though twisted and with a single long, whip-like limb protruding from its left side. It's in the throws of a heaving cough, and eventually spits up a glob of flesh onto the desert sand. Once I realize what's going on, the sight becomes horrifying - the bit of flesh is twisting itself, forcing itself into the shape of the things currently assailing me. It's enough to nearly make me throw up.

The third of note is probably the one that fills me with the most dread - a cactus hurdling through the sky at the group of monsters on top of the train with me, held in a pinkish aura as its used like a club. I quickly turn to see the wizard-clad owner of that aura, the one pony I was hoping to not see outside the train, though also probably the most likely.

"Ahah! Fiends!" Trixie straightens her hat and makes another swipe with her prickly cudgel. "Do not worry, faithful assistant, The Great and Powerful Trixie shall save you!"

"Trixie, what are you doing?!" I yell down, my eyes quickly darting between her and the pack of beasts. "Do you realize how many of these things there are?!"

"Sure Trixie does! There's..." Her eyes turn from the ones on the train with me to the giant mass of them near the engine, most of which are eying her up to be a far easier mark than I am. "...Oh." Yeah, 'oh'.

"Get up here!" I yell down to her, barely noticing the resumed attack of the monsters in time to knock another away.

"Trixie... uhh... okay..." Why is she so nervous? Twilight teleported fine earlier, so even Trixie must be able to go a small distance, no? Her horn glows, and there's an explosive sound and a large puff of smoke, which clears to reveal... Trixie trying to scramble up the sloped side of the car's ex-roof with her hooves. Goddamnit, Trixie.

"Can't you teleport or something?" I yell down, smacking away another of the beasts. Luckily they're still only coming a few at a time. I imagine a combination of my ice layer and Trixie's hapless performance are to thank for that.

"Trixie... uhh..." Nope.

Then I hear her scream and look to the ground again. Most of those things have decided to switch to the easier mark. Just great. I turn from the remaining ones on the roof and tap the Time Materia again, leaping down and scooping her up in my left arm. "Hold on!" I command as I move her to my back, positioning her so she can wrap those overly dexterous forelimbs ponies have around my neck. And now, I need to wonder how something that literally eats grass can be so damn heavy. Her weight is way more noticeable now that she's clinging to my neck - how can something so small seem to weigh nearly as much as I do?

I can feel her head shift as she looks behind us. "They're gaining! What do we do?!" Goddamnit Trixie you don't need to yell in my ear.

"I won't be able to get on top of the train again." I reply, starting to feel the fatigue from so much magic use. I dart my eyes around, looking for anything useful in the landscape. "There's no cover out here, either..."

She sighs into my back. "Trixie just wanted to help..."

"Maybe you still can. Can you make shields like Twilight?" I ask her, trying to cut off her depressed stupor before it starts and figure a way out of this mess.

"Trixie can try!" She replies, her depression seemingly forgotten as quickly as it came.

I stop and turn back to the things charging us, brandishing my sword with a threatening swing that sends another of those beam-like attacks into their crowd. "Good. I can't use much more magic, so do what you can to protect us and hold on tight."

"What?!" She yells into my ear, gripping my neck tighter.

"We can't keep running." I tell her, keeping my voice steady. "Once I'm spent on magic, they'll catch us easily. We'll have to fight our way back to the train and get inside." Really going full circle on this terrible plan, but I'm almost spent, we'll need to hope Twilight has the train under control and see if the unicorns can take care of this mess.

"A-and what if Trixie c-c-cannot do the shield?" Her voice wavers as her grip gets even tighter, the monstrous things in front of us recovering from my previous attack.

"Better not to think about it!" I ready my sword and charge in. Better to take the initiative and keep them on their toes. If Trixie can do something to defend us then maybe this will work...

Over my shoulder I can see the pink glow of her magic. From the corners of my eyes I can see something begin to form around us, so I take a glance away from my targets to see exactly what - and what I see, is what may as well be a pink turtle's shell appearing around our sides and back. Not the full on bubble-shield I was hoping for, but it'll cover our blind spots. Hopefully it'll be enough.

I tap into my last reserves of magic, giving Time another cast, along with a grouped Lightning, focusing on the center of the beasts. It has the desired effect - striking some and causing most of the rest to bounce out of the way, leaving an alleyway of scorched sand between myself and the train. In the small window of opportunity, I see the 'hatch' of the train I originally exited from opening, and a lavender form I quickly recognize as Twilight Sparkle raising a shield.

"Cloud! Trixie! Hurry up!" She yells to us, her horn aglow as she begins running towards us.

Good, if we can just get to Twilight... a slam against my back tells me that's not going to be easy. Trixie's shield takes the hit, but I hear the cracking of glass. It isn't going to last through too many more smacks like that. The fiends still ahead of us also begin moving in, and I hear Trixie grunt and pull her head back as I swing for the fences, smacking one aside. Then another. Then another. Intermixed with plenty more smacks against the shield on our collective back. And through it, I can still hear that damn dry-heaving, meaning that weird one is only making more of these things. I bat another away, only to see a second leaping at me. I pull my left arm up in defense, my bangle thankfully lodging into the thing's ugly maw, though I still wince as a few teeth dig into my flesh.

"Trixie!" I yell back to her, stabbing the stupid thing latched onto my arm in its stupid gut. "Rip this thing off!"

I feel her head shift and hear a small gasp. "O-okay!" The pink magic envelops the jaw of the now-dead fiend, pulling it open with a quick wrench and sending the body tumbling to the ground as I use the side of my sword to smack away another with a one-handed swing. Then, I feel another smash against our back and the full sound of shattering glass. There goes the shield. Shit.

From behind us, I begin hearing yelps, and Twilight's eyes shoot open in surprise, though she thankfully doesn't stop running. Neither do I, and in a few moments Trixie and I are quickly under her bubble-shield, my back thankfully devoid of giant not-cat-creatures. I turn back to see what Twilight is so surprised about as I stoop down and let Trixie off, and I see an unexpected cavalry - dark pegasi in midnight armor. armed with spears, diving and taking pot shots at the big pack of things. After a moment, I notice the strange detail about them - they don't have normal pegasi wings, but bat wings.

"That's... Luna's Royal Guard!" Twilight helpfully answers my unvoiced question as she points a hoof.

Several of the totally-not-zombie-chupacabra begin attacking our shield, causing Twilight to jump out of her stupor and redouble her magic, and I feel Trixie's weight press against my side. Twilight's shield, however, succeeds in holding them back, allowing the flying bat-pony-things to pick them off. It's a bit... unsettling to see ponies use lethal force, really. They've seemed so peaceful so far - but then again, Trixie's anecdotes of her failures often involve ponies throwing entire watermelons at her, so I can't help but wonder. Some midnight blue beams hit the back-most group of the monsters from the sky, and I turn up in time to see a large, winged form come down like a lead weight on top of the one with the fifth limb with a sickening crunch, the noise causing both Twilight and Trixie to wince.

As I look at the darkened form, I see its eyes open - pure white with magic as it unleashes a bubble-shaped surge of midnight blue energy to quell whichever beasts are still moving, the sand now looking more like a road of sizzling tar and goop from the strange decay their bodies undergo. The gruesomeness of it silencing the remaining beasts isn't what gives me pause, however - its the one doing the silencing. The shadowed black form, with deep, white, magic fueled eyes... I grip my sword again and take a deep breath, though I let it hang by my side as the white light fades from the eyes of the form across from us, the bat-ponies landing nearby as it begins walking nearer.

"Princess Luna!" Twilight calls out, lowering her shield and running toward the midnight-colored alicorn. "What are you doing here? How did you know we needed help?" And there goes the question machine-gun.

I take the moment to stoop down and look to the mare huddling at my side, pulling her hat aside so I can get a better view of her face. "You're not hurt, right?"

She looks up at me for a moment, but quickly puts her mask back on and gives me a trademarked 'hmph'. "Trixie is fine, assistant! This excursion is nothing she can't handle!"

Oi vey. I let out a small sigh, pulling her hat back over her face. "You're not the only one who was scared, you know."

She pulls her hat back up with a hoof, but I miss the look she gives me - I'm already turned to the approaching princess, whose walking with Twilight Sparkle at her side and levitating the body of that five-limbed chupacabra behind her. "Ah, Cloud!" Twilight runs up to me, motioning to the alicorn that's about a foot shorter than I am. "Meet Princess Luna! Princess Luna, this is who I wrote Princess Celestia about a while back."

I peer into her eyes, which narrow and look up into mine, before a look of recognition takes over her face. "Ah," she says, letting go of her magic and letting the body she's carrying hit the ground with a plop, "the one with the strange dreams. We are familiar with him."

Chapter 16: Twenty Questions, Less-Than-Twenty Answers.

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Chapter 16: Twenty Questions, Less-Than-Twenty Answers.

Her words imply something that should be impossible. I grip my sword tight in one hand, then relax. Something messed up is clearly going on, but it's not stabbing time yet. "How-"

"-do We know thy dreams?" The Princess completes my question for me, giving me an amused grin. "We are the Princess of the Night. As Our Sister's student may have explained, We raise the moon and set the stars, but there are other duties Our title entails. Such as quelling these monsters," She motions to the mangled chupacabra body, whose unnatural limb is still twitching, "or quelling nightmares by walking the dreams of Our subjects."

My eyes narrow on her as she smirks. That confirms what the large shadow in my dreams has been. Though, before I can speak, Twilight cuts in. "Princess Luna... your speech patterns are slipping again."

"Oh!" The Princess lets out a small giggle. Geez, talk about a mood shift from Warrior Princess. "Thank you, Twilight Sparkle. We... I slip into old speech patterns sometimes when stressed."

Twilight lets out a small laugh of her own. "It's no problem, Princess." Great, so I learn Miss Midnight over here has been slipping into my head without my consent, and everyone's just stuck in a giggle fit.

Princess Luna turns to Trixie, and my head follows. "You may rise, Loyal Subject." Apparently this whole time, Trixie's been in what I assume is the four-legged equivalent of a bow.

"T-thank you, Princess!" Trixie straightens her hat and she returns to a normal position. No spiel about being 'Great and Powerful'? You'd think advertising to royalty would get you some word of mouth.

"So, Twilight Sparkle," Princess Luna turns back to Twilight, giving her a quizzical expression, "why are you dressed as Starswirl the Bearded? It is not suitable combat attire nor is it Nightmare Night."

"Oh! Long story..." Twilight gives a few nervous laughs and a shy grin.

"And not the story we need to hear right now." I cut in, trying to stop this from going completely off topic. "Why have you been in my dreams?"

"Do you not enjoy idle conversation where you are from?" She fires back, strolling casually between myself and Twilight. "Very well. Surely, you have noticed I am not the only presence in your dreams."

"Your point?"

"My point is, simply, to look upon the sky." She looks up, and I do the same.

It's the night sky, interwoven with the green strands of the Lifestream, similar to this afternoon. Not normal, but what is it supposed to mean to me? "Stop being vague and just tell me what's going on." This is getting annoying already.

"Look to the moon." Comes the short reply. I turn on my heel slightly, finding the moon, and now I can see something's very not right - the Lifestream is going behind the moon, not in front of it. Looking to some of the brighter stars, its going behind the star plane as well. What the hell? "Do you see it now?"

"Princess Luna?" I hear Twilight's voice, though my gaze is still transfixed on the moon. "What's going on?"

"You know that green mist, do you not?" Princess Luna asks me, ignoring Twilight.

"You know the answer to that." I fire back, still not able to break my gaze on the moon. "I don't see how this answers my question."

"Most ponies beyond My Sister and I have not been able to see it before tonight." She explains. "It slowly becomes more visible as the blight spreads."

"Blight?" Now we're getting somewhere.

I hear her hoofsteps so I turn to her. She's standing over the body she dragged along with her, though the unnatural limb and other mangled parts are beginning to move in greater fervor now. "That which has infected this poor beast's body. You have also encountered a similar creature in Ponyville, as I understand." I nod, and she continues. "It is like a parasite, killing its host and taking over its body. It deforms it then uses that body for its own purposes. Given enough time, it becomes stronger, and can begin replicating." She turns back to me. "You've seen the results when left unchecked."

"Yeah, a real party." I dart my eyes out of reflex for a certain pink pony demon to appear at the mention of the word 'party', but I'm safe. "But I still don't get what-"

"You also bear the blight." Luna cuts me off. "That is what it has to do with you. My Sister and I can both feel its presence inside your body, but it does not do what it does to these poor creatures. Instead, it is the other shadow in your dreams."

"How can a parasite be in my dreams?" Okay, now this is getting really weird.

"I describe it as a parasite, but that is not truly what it is." Princess Luna explains. "It is more like... a magical consciousness, as far as I can surmise. It operates on victims much like a parasite, but it is of one uniform consciousness. And when you sleep, that consciousness attempts to manipulate your memory, as far as I can discern."

"What purpose would that serve?" Really, really weird.

"I do not know." She admits. "I do not understand the meaning of the words or images it forces into your dreams, or whether they are real or fake. I just know it is controlling your dreamscape when I am not there to intervene." She sighs, and turns again, looking over the waste of now-gooped corpses that are beginning to blend into the desert sands entirely. "And, as you experienced last night, the demands of hunting the parasite in the waking world make it increasingly difficult to hunt it in the sleeping one."

Alright, so I have a crazy parasite-thing in my brain. Not the news I wanted to hear right after finishing fighting for my life. "Then what am I supposed to do?"

"The answer to that is why I sent a letter to Twilight Sparkle when I did." She replies, leaving her back to us.

"So I was supposed to use the memory spell!" Twilight exclaims, then shoots me a sheepish look in reply to my glare. "Sorry."

"Yes." Luna turns back to us. "My belief is that if Twilight Sparkle can return your correct memories, you will not be lead astray by anything that thing attempts on your mind."

"And what if I say no?" At this point, I feel obligated to refuse it just for how much people keep trying to force the damn thing onto me.

She gives me a hard look. "Then you must know I cannot babysit your dreams any longer."

"That's my problem, then."

"Princess!" Twilight speaks up again. "If all that is true, why did Princess Celestia tell me not to find him when he left a few days ago?" I'd completely forgotten about that until now. That's a damn good question.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle." Luna sighs. "My Sister is... of a different opinion than I about this situation. I have walked your friend's dreams, and seen he lacks harmful intent, but My Sister has been scouring restricted archives for knowledge in which I lack. It has made her decidedly less trusting on this matter." She takes a moment to collect herself. "I have barely seen her since her trip to your library, Twilight. When I do, she is far too exhausted to properly discuss these matters with."

"So that's why Princess Celestia hasn't replied to my letters lately..." Twilight scrunches her brow in thought, placing her hoof to her chin as she looks to the sky. "Do you know what she's been researching, Princess Luna?"

Luna merely shakes her head. "As I said, she and I have not spoken in quite some time. If hunting this blight were not so tiring I would have already forced the matter myself."

I feel a hoof pressing against my leg. "Hey, Dusk..." I turn. I nearly forgot Trixie is even here with how uncharacteristically quiet she's been until now. She points her hoof to my left side. "You're... bleeding." I follow her hoof, and there's a small pool of blood under my left arm.

I pull back my poncho to avoid getting blood on it and raise my arm. Looks like that thing got me a bit better than I thought it did. I flex my arm a bit, moving my fingers and wrist to be sure everything still works. It only hurts a little right now, but I suppose that's the fading effects of adrenaline. "It's nothing. I'll just wrap it up when I get the chance."

Trixie's horn glows, and I feel something land rather unceremoniously on my head. I stick my sword into the sand then reach my good hand up to see what it is, and find a small rolled bandage. "The Wise and Prepared Trixie is used to traveling alone, so she is always prepared!" Somebody's back to normal. With a quick word of thanks, I begin wrapping up the chewed bit of my forearm.

I look up as I finish wrapping the bandage, only to see Luna giving us an amused expression. "And this is why I do not understand My Sister's position. I do not see what harm you could mean to our little ponies."

"Ah thought I saw a Princess out here!" Applejack's voice booms from the direction of the train, cutting off whatever train of thought Luna's comment was intended to lead to. I turn and see her waving a hoof as she approaches, the few other passengers of the train slowly congregating outside the train and taking up that bowing posture Trixie used earlier.

"How are they all doing, Applejack?" Twilight asks. "No mass panics after I left?"

"Naw, t'was fine," Applejack replies, "though they were talkin' up a storm about ya when you ran out there, Twi. Seemed mighty impressed when ya blocked all them varmints with yer shield." I can hear Trixie fidgeting in the sand, but she doesn't say anything.

"Yes, you all did quite well." Luna nods, slowly walking toward the overturned train. I hear the sound of hoofbeats and wheels and turn, and see a bat-pony drawn chariot land near us. "You four were going to Ponyville, correct? You may take my personal carriage there. I'll sort out the matter with the train."

A quick look down to Trixie reveals her sitting there, her jaw trying to hit the floor at the thought. I grab my sword and re-sheathe it as the Princess gives a laugh to Trixie's reaction, then we file in.

"Thank you, Princess Luna." Twilight pulls off her hat, setting it on the floor of the carriage so it won't get blown away. Trixie does similar with her hat once she chooses a place to sit, though Applejack leaves hers on.

"Do not mention it, Twilight Sparkle. Besides, what would My Sister say if she heard I abandoned her faithful student in the middle of a desert?" The Princess turns to face me. "I do not know your reasons for refusing Twilight's aide, but I recommend you reconsider. I believe from what I have seen in your dreams that you're also related to what is happening in Equestria."

Instead of acknowledging her newest attempt to foist that damn spell on me, I motion to the writhing mass of ex-chupacabra on the ground. "What are you going to do with that thing? It's doesn't look particularly dead yet."

"I'm still trying to find a way to kill the parasite." She replies, turning to it as it flails its unnatural limb. "As I've said, it appears to be magical in nature, so mere force will only quell it temporarily. Until there is a way to exile or destroy it, I've had a safe location in Canterlot made to house these creatures." She turns back to us. "Regardless, I shall force this matter with My Sister in the coming days. Things are developing too far for them to be ignored any longer." Then she turns from the chariot, and as soon as she steps away the bat-ponies begin their take off.

I lean back, though Trixie is quickly hanging off the side of the cart, watching the ground recede with a hoof in place to hold her mane from her face. Twilight giggles lowly, watching Trixie act like a kid in a candy store as our ride only gets higher and faster. "So, Trixie, you've never flown before?" She asks over the high winds.

Trixie leans a bit more off the side. "This is wonderful! Trixie is beginning to wish she were a pegasus!"

"Well jus remember yer not!" Applejack yells, keeping a hoof on her hat so it doesn't fly off. "Cuz without Rainbow here, ain't none of us gonna catch ya if ya fall off the side!"

Trixie huffs. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is not some foal!" She pulls herself back from the edge a bit regardless.

The rest of the flight is particularly uneventful, besides from a few bits of turbulence that nearly did send Trixie off the side. Thankfully, it's long into the night when we touch down in Ponyville, directly outside the Golden Oak Library. We give the bat-ponies a quick word of thanks as we get out of the chariot and they head back the way they came. Off to retrieve their Princess, I assume.

Twilight unlocks the door with her magic, slowly creaking it open and revealing a dark, empty library. "Spike likely went to sleep hours ago." She whispers, just loud enough for us to hear. "Let's try not to wake him."

"Let's?" Applejack asks back in her own whisper.

"It's too late for you to walk across town to Sweet Apple Acres, AJ." Twilight replies, "and it's not like Cloud or Trixie have anywhere else they can stay tonight."

"The Great and Powerful Trixie shall accept your hospitality." Trixie says in a whisper of her own. I'm surprised her voice comes in anything other than 'talking' and 'holy god my ear drums', honestly. "Come, assistant, farmpony, we must not force our host to wait on us." She turns, and begins following Twilight into the dark library, trying to take in the shelves of books despite the distinct lack of light.

"Farmpony? Why ah oughta..." Applejack mumbles, taking third, and I crouch in after her. A final peek at the moon before closing the door indicates the night is roughly half over.

"Are you not a farmpony?" Trixie looks over her shoulder, raising her eyebrow.

"Ah am, but ah have a name, ya know..." I can easily envision the daggers Applejack is glaring at Trixie at this moment.

"Oh, right," Trixie pauses for a barely noticeable second, "Applesack."

"Applejack." Tonight's ending in a catfight, isn't it?

"Girls!" Twilight hisses over her shoulder, her horn glowing as she tries to retrieve some extra pillows and blankets from a cabinet with her magic so she doesn't wake her Number One Assistant.

Applejack takes a few steps back and turns to me. "How can ya stand bein' friends with that mare?" She asks, her voice low to the point only the two of us can hear it. "She's such a..."

"You get used to it after a while." I reply, deciding not to expose the bitchy behemoth's soft underbelly to Applejack's potential prodding.

Twilight lays the bedding down near us and beckons us to huddle around her. "Alright, Applejack, you can sleep upstairs in the guest bed with me. Trixie, you and Cloud can use these and sleep wherever you want down here." She motions to the pile of pillows and blankets she pulled out.

"Jus' dun be makin' too much noise down here, you two." Applejack chimes in, giving us a queer look and a grin.

"How many times do I need to say I'm not inter - gah!" I get cut off by a glowing pink pillow to the face.

"Be happy it is not Trixie's library, or that would have been a bookcase!"

"Good to know..." I pull the pillow off my face. "Though I don't think I want to know what kind of books would be in your library." That one earns me a blanket to the face.

I can hear Twilight and Applejack trying to stifle their laughter as I pull the blanket off as well. "Okay, then." Twilight starts, her and Applejack heading for the stairs. "You two try to get along and get some sleep."

Trixie turns to me once the pair has disappeared up the stairs, levitating all the remaining blankets and pillows in her magic. "Alright, assistant, you have your share of bedding, now shoo, the Great and Exhausted Trixie claims this floor space!"

At this point I'm just going to be happy I even have one pillow and not bother arguing as I find a nice spot under a window to get some sleep.

Chapter 17: Defenseless Pancake Ponies.

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Chapter 17: Defenseless Pancake Ponies.

The dreamscape. I'd forgotten Princess Luna's warning as soon as she'd given it. I quickly begin scanning my surroundings. It's not the vague Lifestream I encountered in my early dreams, nor Nibelheim, nor the Mako Reactor. It's... a cave? No, it looks more like a crater. The winds are howling around me, and I plant my sword into the rock path beneath my feet for leverage. My sword is the same as last time - a huge, worn chocobo-killer type weapon, with two Materia slots and a single-sided blade. The rust and cracks along it have become thicker as well. Not enough to threaten the integrity of it as a weapon yet, but definitive signs of use and age.

The path behind me cuts off to a sheer wall. I guess this dream doesn't want me backtracking. Using my dream-sword to steady myself against the winds, I push forward. There's a haze pushed around by the winds, a sickly green, which prevents me from seeing too far ahead, but as I traverse the path, I find it to be mostly straight. After traveling... I don't really know how long, I begin to see a shape in the distance. A dark blur among the haze and winds. I hear the wind begin to whip around me and I dig my sword deep into the rock below, gripping the handle tightly as a gust hits me, trying to push me back. I clench my eyes shut against the wind and do my best to stand my ground, not wanting to get blown off to who-knows-where.

My sword nearly comes loose, but I stand firm, and open my eyes as the gusts die down. The shadow I saw before is closer now. Still too far for me to make out its details, but close.

Then I hear it. The same voice from my last dream, deep and level, only slightly tinged with its malicious intents. "This is an interesting place for your mind to come back to, isn't it?" It's coming from that shadow. It sounds like its coming from everywhere around me at once, but I know its the voice that goes with that shadow. "Do you remember what happened here?"

This is what Luna warned about, isn't it? Time to handle this in the only way I know how. "Shut up."

"My, my," the voice replies, though the voice is slowly warping into a feminine one - one which makes no attempt to hide its malicious edge, unlike the previous one, "is that how a vessel should talk to its craftsman?"

"Vessel," I snap back without thinking, "not puppet?" Puppet... where did that come from?

I get a shrill, drawn out laugh in reply. The shadow hasn't moved an inch meanwhile, but my mind is still set on it being the owner of both these voices. "You think you're worth being called a puppet? You're just debris, scooped up and given new purpose."

"Then get out of my head!" I snap, drawing my sword from its place in the ground and swinging it in a fluid motion, slamming the blade against the ground and sending three beams cutting through the ground. They part the mist easily, racing towards the shadow, which does... nothing in reply. They hit it, but it simply parts like any other piece of the mist as they continue fruitlessly along the path.

My efforts just get another cackling jeer from the disembodied voice. When it speaks again, its returned to the first voice - the deep, male one. "And that's why you're less than a puppet. You just flail around like a child without a little pony princess holding your hand."

"Shut! Up!" I drive my sword back into the ground in frustration, panting, sweat trailing from my brow. After a few moments of panting and disconcerting silence, I ask. "If I'm so low, why are you even here?"

"I thought you said to shut up?" The voice jeers.

I grip my sword's hilt tight in both hands and let out a scream. "Don't play games with me!"

"Do you remember what happened here?" The question comes again.

"Of course not." I reply, panting to catch my breath again. The damn thing knows very well I don't remember this place at all.

"Would you like to remember?"

I can remember Princess Luna's words vividly. 'And when you sleep, that consciousness attempts to manipulate your memory.' It couldn't make this ploy more obvious if it tried. "Go to hell."

It's this voice's turn to laugh, a deep, sinister, yet genuinely amused chuckle. "Are you so quick to trust that little pony? You only met her a few minutes."

I finally get myself standing back upright and pull my sword from the stone, preferring to have it at the ready if the wind isn't coming back. "She's not acting like a paint-by-numbers villain in the middle of my dreams."

"That just means I'm honest, and she's not." The reply comes quick. "Besides, I gave you the truth before, remember?"

"What?" Something about the voice's reply tugs at my inside.

"I guess you wouldn't." This time the voice wasn't disembodied. This time the voice was behind me, and I could hear its steps coming up to me. I try to turn my body, but it's suddenly locked up. "How about this, little vessel? I'll give you... a gift, and you can decide who to believe for yourself."

"I don't need your gifts." I fire back, though my body can do little more than grasp uselessly on my sword's hilt, unable to do anything useful.

A hand presses down on one of my shoulders, and I can feel something cold and sharp press against my back. "We insist." The weight of the person behind me shifts. "Now, it's time to wake up."

My eyes shoot open and I immediately clutch at the front of my chest. There's a sharp pain running from my back to my chest, where in my dream, I'm certain a sword had run me through, but there's no physical wound. The light from outside is filtering through the window eagerly now, the sun high in the sky as I relax back onto my makeshift bed - that is to say, the single blanket I secured from Trixie the night before. I'd merely flopped on top of it and shoved my pillow under my head, not bothering to remove the poncho getup despite not needing to wear it at Twilight's library.

I hear steps coming down the stairs. Not the distinct pattering of hooves, but the clacking of claws. Spike's the first one awake, it seems. Not surprising with how the previous night ended up going. I slide my hat over my eyes to block out the sunlight, deciding to rest a bit more before-

"Gah!" Or not, courtesy of said dragon. "What are you doing here?!"

"Hmph!" And there's Trixie. Of course she's involved. Why would she ever miss a chance to yell? "We are Twilight Sparkle's guests, little dragon! Now, if you don't mind, The Great and Exhausted Trixie is returning to sleep!"

"Yeah, a likely story, as i-" His retort stops. "...Wait, we?" For a few moments its silent, then I hear Spike shuffling around in my direction.

"Yo." I give him a wave from my position on the floor.

He takes a minute to register my voice. "Cloud? That you under that mess?" He asks, and I can hear him slowly walk towards me along the floor. "That explains why Twilight and AJ are back. I saw Trixie and thought she broke in!"

"Hey, Trixie is not some common criminal!" The yell comes from across the room. "It should be an honor to have one as esteemed as The Great and Powerful Trixie in your midst!"

"Coulda fooled me..."

"Don't mind the banshee." I assure him. "She doesn't bite, she's just loud." My excellent wit is rewarded with a high-speed pillow to the head, which I promptly stack on top of my original one. "Even dispenses free pillows."

There's a familiar 'hmph' from across the room as Spike speaks. "Yeah well, I was just going the bathroom anyway. It's the weekend and the girls aren't up yet unless Trixie woke them just now, so I'm just gonna read comics."

"Good, it's too early to deal with this anyway."

"Yeah, no kiddin'." Spike replies with an exasperated sigh as he heads off to take care of his business.

So time to take some mental inventory. Applejack clearly doesn't like Trixie. Spike clearly doesn't like Trixie. and suddenly a certain quip Rainbow Dash made when I first met her comes to mind, 'that flout who came to Ponyville that time', makes me think she doesn't like Trixie. With how they're reacting, she must really have been involved with a giant bear somehow messing up the town once. I let out a drawn out sigh, seeing in my mind's eye exactly how this day is going to progress.

Within a minute, the sounds of hooffalls from Twilight's stairs meet my ears. The banshee woke up somebody it sounds like.

"Is everything okay down here?" Twilight asks with a bleary yawn. "I heard yelling..."

"Your inconsiderate little pet woke Trixie from her beauty sleep, Sparkle!" Here we go. I pull my hat back and lean up on my forearms. Trixie is giving Twilight a half-conscious glare, and Twilight is scrunching her face, trying to control her annoyance as she puts on the fakest smile I've seen in a while.

"He's not my pet, Trixie, he's my assistant." Twilight replies, clearly using an effort to keep her voice level. "Spike, my Number One Assistant."

"Yeah, that's me!" Spike calls out from the bathroom, his voice mixed with the sounds of running water.

Trixie huffs and stands up, realizing she isn't getting that sleep she wanted. "Well... my assistant is cooler."

Twilight gives her a nervous laugh and looks to me, and I give her a shrug. "Sorry if Spike woke you, Trixie, I'm sure it was an accident."

"It was no accident! He called Trixie a criminal!"

"I said I thought you broke in, sheesh!" Spike slams the door shut behind him as he walks up to the two mares, annoyance plastered on his face. "It's totally different!"

"The law is innocent until proven guilty," Trixie starts, levitating her hat from beside her sleeping blanket fortress onto her head, "but with reputations, it's guilty until proven innocent, and then sometimes still guilty. Remember that, little dragon."

"My name's Spike." He grumbles, turning to Twilight. "Please tell me she isn't staying here. She's somehow more annoying than last time! What's she even doing here, anyway?"

"Spike, she's-"

"The Grrrreat and Powerful Trrrrrixie is preparing for her return performance in Ponyville, young one!" She trots up to Spike, petting his head with a hoof. "And your owner here is going to have a cameo in Trixie's performance!" She turns and gives Twilight one of her smirks. "Isn't that right?"

"I told you Trixie, Spike isn't my pet."

"Yeah." Spike thinks to himself for a moment, claw on his chin. "She's basically my mom." Trixie's face contorts into an expression of confusion. "Anyway, I'm getting hungry, I'm gonna make pancakes. I'm sure we woke AJ up by now anyway, so may as well."

Trixie looks between Twilight and Spike as the latter heads into the kitchen. I, meanwhile, take the moment to shift into a full sitting position and take off my hat and hood for the first time since I've started wearing them. Feels good to be free!

"Uh, Sparkle..." Trixie stammers, making strange gestures with her hooves. "...Mom? Does that mean you? With a dragon?" Trixie gives Twilight a queer look. "It's not Trixie's place to judge, but aren't you a little... young?"

Twilight quickly plants a hoof onto her face and shakes her head. "No, Trixie. I hatched his egg as part of my entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, that's all."

"...Right." Trixie takes on her usual expression. "In any case-"

"Wait a minute!" Spike yells from the kitchen. "Did she say you're getting on stage with her, Twilight?!"

"Yes, Trixie did! Is that such a problem?!"

"I'll explain later, Spike!"

"Will y'all varmints stop yellin'!" A bleary-eyed Applejack yells from the top of the stairs, slowly making her way down. "Ah was hopin' ta catch up on some sleep since today's my day off, but y'all make more noise than that dumb contraption those darn Flim-Flam brothers brought on our farm that time."

"Trixie sympathizes with your inability to sleep, farmpony." She motions a hoof to the kitchen. "She was also awoken by Twilight's youngling."

"Ah was talkin' about you, mainly." Applejack gives her a tired glare. "An' mah name's Applejack."

"Oh, right. Trixie apologizes, again." She gives Applejack a sheepish grin, then turns to me. "Assistant, why are you so quiet?"

"What do you mean?" I haven't even done anything yet this morning, sheesh!

"Trixie has learned your ways, Dusk." She walks slowly over to me, casually motioning a hoof as she talks. "Normally you chide Trixie every chance you're able. When you are quiet, that means you are plotting." She reaches me and leans in, eyes narrowing. "So, what are you plotting?"

"I'm not plotting anything." I take a moment and pull the poncho over my head, deciding I might as well air out a bit while I have the chance. "I'm just watching you suck at making friends."

Trixie gives me an expression of pure rage while both ponies behind her break out into stifled laughter. "You... you... argh! Sometimes Trixie wonders why she even keeps you around!" She turns her back to me and trots toward the table, which Spike is quickly adding some extra chairs to in-between cooking. She then turns back to me and raises an eyebrow. "Oh, Trixie remembers why now." Her horn glows, and before I can tell what she's up to, I'm nailed cleanly with the giant pile of pillows and blankets she hoarded to herself the night before. "Much better! Trixie is looking forward to the delicious aroma coming your kitchen, Sparkle! It smells like your youngling can cook!"

"Assistant." Twilight corrects her. Again. "And yes, Spike is an excellent cook for his age. I'm quite lucky to have him around." The three mares take seats at the table as I dig myself out of the blanket fort I'm stuck under, Twilight giving Trixie a proud smile.

I finally take a seat of my own at the table, and Trixie turns to me again. "So why have you never cooked for Trixie, assistant?"

I slouch an elbow onto the table and rests my head in one hand. "Don't push your luck."

"Hmph!"

"So, Twilight," I turn from the showmare to her, "are there any places around Ponyville that aren't used very much?"

"Uh... maybe?" She gives me a confused expression. "Why?"

"We can catch up on that magic testing you wanted to do." I reply, her face quickly lighting up. "I still have plenty of spells I need to test."

"We could always just do it here in the library." Twilight motions toward the open-ness of the room. "There's plenty of room, and I do most of my testing in here, so nobody would notice anything too unusual."

"Twilight." I look at her, raising an eyebrow. "We're inside a giant tree full of books, and most of my magic so far has been lightning and fireballs."

Her face contorts into an 'oh' for a moment, before she begins thinking. "We could always see if Fluttershy knows a spot you think is safe. She lives on the outskirts of Ponyville and spends most of her time tending her animals, if you remember, so she likely knows a few spots for when she wants to be by herself."

The butter-colored crazy cat lady? Well, at least it's not pink.

"Breakfast is served!" Spike announces as he walks in, somehow balancing five plates of pancakes on his head and two small arms. Trixie sniffs the air rather audibly and looks towards the meal, earning a look from the other two ponies at the table, but says nothing as the plates are set down.

"Hey Spike, how do you feel about heading to Rarity's for the day?" Twilight looks to her Number One Assistant, as we all try to filter out the sounds of Trixie attacking her food. "We have to head to Fluttershy's for the day to do some important magic research so there won't be much to do around here by yourself."

Spike nods, mouth full of pancakes, then swallows. "Alright." His gaze then quickly turns to Trixie, and all of us follow it. "She's a loudmouth, but at least she appreciates good food."

Trixie suddenly turns up, giving a cough and a sheepish grin. "Trixie, uh..."

"Don't worry about it. We understand." Twilight gives her a nod "Your... assistant wasn't much better the day we found him, either." Hey!

"B'sides," Applejack cuts in, "now y'all got a new story for yer show! 'The Gluttonous Unicorn Devours the Defenseless Pancake Ponies'!"

"AJ!" Twilight gives her a scornful look but Applejack can't resist laughing at her own joke. Trixie, meanwhile, looks sheepishly back down to her remaining pancakes, and begins eating them at a far slower pace in a failed attempt to save face.

The rest of the meal passes fairly quietly, with Applejack mentioning she'll need to return to her farm instead of coming with the rest of us. As she's talking, I find myself pawing where the exit-wound from that dream stabbing would be again, and I'm left wondering exactly what the 'gift' I received then was. So far, nothing unusual has happened, and despite it easily being the most vivid dream yet, it's the one that's given me the least information to remember things with. Though, one bit does stick out at me - would that Princess Luna have her own agenda? She seems to trust me more than her sister, but... I guess that's a bridge we cross when we reach it. Even if she does, there's nothing I can do about it right now. Right now, it's one step at a time, which means sorting through whatever 'gift' I was given and seeing if I can actually use any of this new Materia.

After we finish eating, I spend a few minutes restoring my poncho-and-hat ensemble. I've been in Ponyville without my 'disguise' before, but better safe than sorry. Spike and Applejack head off a bit ahead of us, the former to wherever Rarity lives, presumably, and the latter back to her family's farm, which I have a sneaking suspicion is an apple farm with how Equestria has worked so far. Twilight fills some saddlebags with some books before we head out ourselves.

The trip to Fluttershy's, however, starts off... interesting. For once, I'm not getting the strange looks as we walk down the street - Trixie is. She holds her head up high from the murmurs and glares of the people we pass on the street, though I presume Twilight's presence with us stops them from acting on anything. After a few minutes, Twilight slows her walking pace to come up next to Trixie.

"Just ignore them." She whispers. "We'll show them you're not all terrible when we knock their socks off." Do ponies even wear socks?

"Trixie is not worried." Trixie lowers her head to speak her reply lowly with Twilight. "She was expecting worse than this. Besides, what does it mean to you anyway?" She turns to face Twilight with an untrusting look. "Why are you so eager to help Trixie? You've already gotten what you wanted, no?"

Twilight rolls her eyes. "Look, I know we got off on the wrong hoof. Maybe we're not 'friends', and maybe you're loud, and arrogant, and selfish, and a bit mean, and..."

"Are you quite done?" Trixie cuts her off, raising an annoyed eyebrow. I can't really argue with any of Twilight's points there, though.

"Oh! Sorry..." Twilight looks away for a moment. "What I was trying to say is, I think under all that is a pony who deserves a second chance, and I got to see why you like performing so much in Dodge Junction. That there's more than just your ego that goes into it. Maybe the other ponies in Ponyville can also see if if there's a show that doesn't end in the town getting stomped by an ursa minor. There might even be a speck of a good pony buried in there somewhere."

"That is... observant, Sparkle." Trixie returns her gaze to the road ahead, which is nearing the edge of town and coming up on a place I'm more than familiar with now compared to the rest of Equestria - the Everfree Forest. "Do as you like."

They fall into silence as we finish the walk to a small cottage on a hill, which I presume to be Fluttershy's. There really are animals basically all around this place. 'Crazy cat lady' might be a conservative descriptor, now that I see it first hand. After a moment, Twilight reaches out a hoof and knocks on the cottage door. "Fluttershy, are you home?"

Chapter 18: Unicorns Can Do Magic, Who Knew?

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Chapter 18: Unicorns Can Do Magic, Who Knew?

"Fluttershy?" Twilight knocks again. "It's Twilight!"

"Just a minute..." a soft voice replies from the other side of the door. Twilight fidgets a bit while Trixie and I both take the time to get a better feel for the cottage's surroundings. There's bird houses in the trees, animal-dug holes in parts of the yard, at least one chicken coop, a bear in sunglasses laying on its back and sunbathing, and... wait a minute. I don't get much time to look at that last one as the door to the cottage creaks open and Fluttershy's face peeks around the partially open door. "Hey Twilight, what can I-..." Her voice trails off as her eyes fall on myself and Trixie.

"Oh!" Twilight quickly realizes the problem. "Fluttershy, you... might remember Trixie from the last time she was here in Ponyville?" Twilight motions a hoof to Trixie, who appears to be sizing up Fluttershy silently.

"Oh, yes, I do... she's the nice pony who came to Ponyville and put on a magic show that time..." She smiles meekly. "A-and turned Rarity's mane into a rat's nest... oh, it was so hard getting Ms. Squeakums out of there..."

"Ah... right." Trixie coughs. "Trixie apologizes about that incident."

"I-it's okay, really, though you should probably apologize to Rarity. It was her mane, after all."

Trixie's eyes narrow slightly. "Of course, Trixie shall... remember to do so, when the opportunity arises."

Fluttershy nods. "But Twilight, I thought you said you and Applejack were meeting Cloud at Dodge Junction?" Her gaze switches to me, but she never ends up meeting my eyes. "W-whose your other friend?"

Twilight rolls her eyes. "You just answered your own question, Fluttershy."

Her eyes finally meet mine, and before I can tell what's going on, she zips out the door and pushes me inside her cottage. "Look at you! All bundled up! It's because you're cold from not having fur, isn't it?" I try to resist her, but she's... deceptively strong. I can also hear Trixie's muffled snickering behind me.

"Uh, Fluttershy, did you forget? I'm not a-" My sentence is cut off when she places a pair of strong hooves onto my shoulders and presses me down onto her couch. A three-foot butter-colored pony with a momma bear complex just overpowered me like it's nothing. Well then.

She deftly pulls off my hat and poncho, tossing them into a folded pile next to me, and places a hoof to my forehead. "Good, you don't seem sick anymore!" She pulls back, fluttering in the air in front of me as she scans me with her large eyes. After a moment, she notices the now-bloody bandages on my wrists, swooping in and pulling my arm up in her hooves. "But you're hurt! You poor thing! Whoever put these on didn't do a very good job, either! Now you just wait right there while I get some supplies and we'll clean that right up!"

Fluttershy quickly disappears up a flight of nearby stairs, the sounds of rummaging audible from the floor above. The snickering to my left now gives way to a full out roar of laughter, and I turn my head to see Trixie struggling to stop herself rolling on the floor in a fit. Finally getting some control of herself, she jumps up on the couch next to me, pointing a hoof at me and waving it mockingly. "Aww, did widdle Duskie get sick? Does he need mommy-wommy to give him a check-up?" Her jeer is complimented with a second fit of laughter as Twilight gives a defeated sigh and slumps onto her haunches.

I shoot Trixie a deadpan expression. "I should light you on fire."

"Then Trixie would turn you into a toad!" She raises her head and gives me a smug look. "Then you could stay here with all the other little animals!" Said smug look quickly breaks down into another laughter fit as a yellow blur barrels back down the stairs and scoops up my arm.

"Okay, now just hold still!" Fluttershy gets to work, pulling off the old bandages. Before they've even touched the floor, I can feel the sting of disinfectant as she cleans the wound and the tying of fresh bandages across my arm. "There, all done!" Fluttershy gives a satisfied nod, scooping up the old bandages while Trixie's mouth hangs slightly open.

"Trixie is... impressed by your first-aide knowledge, pegasus."

"Oh, it's nothing really! Sometimes my animals can get in the most awful scuffles so I need to fix them up quickly." Fluttershy's cheery demeanor softens as her voice begins to trail off. "Also, um, it's Fluttershy, please, if you don't mind..."

There's an audible slapping sound, and a quick glance shows Twilight's hoof firmly planted against her face. "Fluttershy... bah, forget it." She shakes her head. "Fluttershy, we need your help with something."

Fluttershy, well, flutters from me to sit near Twilight. "Why, of course Twilight. What is it? Nobody's hurt, are they?"

"No, no, Fluttershy." Twilight shakes her head. "We need to know if you can show us a safe spot near the forest that other ponies don't really go to." In reply to a quizzical look from Fluttershy, Twilight continues. "We need to do some magical tests that aren't safe to do inside the library."

"Oh." Fluttershy thinks for a moment, putting a hoof to her chin.

While the two are exchanging, I get a better look at the bundled bandages in the pegasus' hooves and notice a bit of black gunk on them in addition to the blood. It looks to be the same color as the muck those creatures spewed whenever I should have drawn blood against them. Lovely, I can't wait to get crazy-cthulu-chupacabra-kitten-rabies.

"Hmm... I know a nice spot on the river that might work." Fluttershy speaks back up after a few moments. "There's not many trees or anything. But I'll need to tell the animals to leave for safety, won't I...?" Why is there always a river involved every time I come to this forest?

"That would work..." Twilight nods. "Can you show us where it is, Fluttershy? That is, if we didn't catch you in the middle of caring for your animals or anything?"

"Oh it would be my pleasure, Twilight." Fluttershy gets up on all fours. "I've already put food out for them all and I think Angel Bunny is off taking a nap." Fluttershy quickly disposes of the old bandages and heads for the door, motioning us to follow. I take the moment to put my hat and poncho back into their now-familiar positions before we leave, just in case.

The walk from her cottage isn't too long, following the edge of the forest to the river. We pass plenty more of Fluttershy's animal projects, things from bee farms to more curiosities on par with the sunbathing bear from earlier, though at this point I'm not seeing much value in taking mental note of them. I really do need to stop trying to make sense of this place.

"Here it is." Fluttershy says as we crest the top of a small hill, the river at its far foot, a few scattered trees from the Everfree forest to our left, and the occassional rock. Still wondering how or why you'd farm those...

Fluttershy spends a few minutes calling out to the few small critters making their homes in the nearby trees to ask them to leave in case of a magical mishap. Surveying the area from the top of the hill some more, I can see that her cottage is still in viewing distance, so it would be easy for her to see us from a window should all three of us spontaneously combust. A likely scenario, given my company.

"You should be all clear now, Twilight." Fluttershy says once she's finished talking to the local squirrels. "Try not to damage anything though, Mr. Squirrel wasn't happy about being forced to leave for a while."

"We'll be careful, Fluttershy." Twilight reassures her. "Promise."

"You need not worry about magical mishaps while The Cautious and Safety-Minded Trixie is here, dear Fluttershy." Right. "While she does not know Twilight Sparkle's track record, she has a very low rate of catastrophic spell failure and only one destroyed town under her belt!"

"Yes, I know..." Fluttershy replies in a hushed voice. "That's why I said be careful, please." With that the small pegasus takes her leave, and I begin wondering whether this spot was chosen for being secluded or for being within viewing distance of her cottage.

"Hmph!" Trixie pulls the Materia I lent her from her cape with her magic and sits herself down on the slope halfway between the top of the hill and the river bank, turning the green gem over as she peers at it.

It doesn't take long for Twilight to notice the Materia and quickly be in front of Trixie, gazing at it as the latter continues turning it over and staring at it with a furrowed brow. "That's one of those stones, isn't it?"

"They're called Materia." I inform her as I unsheathe my sword and lay it on the grass. Next to it I begin lining up the different Materia I've collected - first from my pouch, then from my bangle, and finally from my sword. I make a row for each color of Materia in my possession - ten Green, six Blue, four Yellow, and three Red, not counting the one Green Materia that Trixie currently has in her possession.

"How do they work?" Twilight's inquisition comes like clockwork as she moves from Trixie over to me. "And... why does Trixie have one?"

"Because, Sparkle," Trixie interjects, "Dusk has entrusted his Great and Powerful companion with unlocking the magical potential of this particular stone, as it is beyond his abilities."

"I explained this to Trixie earlier," I begin, cutting off that argument before it begins, "Materia is essentially crystallized knowledge. With the right approach, you can put that knowledge to use to do things like the magic you've seen me use before."

"So, like a teeny tiny spell book?" Twilight asks as she peers closer at the Materia.

"That's exactly what Trixie said they were! It seems in this subject, you're the one walking in my shadow, Sparkle!"

"Trixie," I cut in, "if I could turn your ego into electricity, I could power all of Ponyville with it."

"Only Ponyville?" She replies, turning her head away from me. "Trixie thinks her ego would at least handle a small city, thank you very much."

"Anyway." Twilight pulls the conversation back to the original topic. "What do you need to do in order to make them work? You don't exactly have magic like a unicorn does so I'm guessing you don't flow magic energy through them."

"Based on the bits and pieces I can remember," I scoop up one of the Green Materia - Lightning - and turn it over in my fingers, "it's kind of like... flowing your life energy through them. It's why I get fatigued after using the magic inside them too much." I look over to Twilight and see her with a notebook in front of her, wherever she got it from, her horn glowing as she furiously scribbles down notes about this new form of magic she's clearly not encountered before. "For example, I can just hold the Materia in my hand like this, and..." I stand up and turn, facing my palm towards an empty patch of grass. The Materia in my hand glows, and the soft green aura appears around me for a moment as a lightning bolt manifests, streaking out and striking against the ground with a clash of thunder. "As long as you can visualize what you want to do in your mind's eye, if the Materia is capable of it, it'll happen."

"So why was Trixie never given this complex explanation before, Dusk?" The annoyance-tinged question cuts off what would've been the next part of my explanation.

"You never asked?" Though that reply isn't entirely honest. While much of my explanation is made of bits and pieces I've scrapped together from my memories, they're weaving themselves together a lot more cooperatively than usual. Maybe this is what the dream last night meant when it referred to a 'gift'? Making it easier for my memories to string themselves together?

"Hmm." Twilight's thoughtful murmur cuts through the awkward silence as her face scrunches. "So not entirely different from unicorn magic... those... Materia, you called them? They seem more like catalysts when described that way."

"Maybe." I sit back down and pull my sword across my lap, setting the Lightning Materia into one of the paired Materia inlays, and one of the Blue 'All' Materia into the adjoining slot. "Equipment like this sword and my bangle use these inlaid slots and a special construction to allow people to have access to more Materia than they would normally be able to hold." I stop my explanation and take a minute to sweep my eyes along the field again. For some reason, part of me expects to see a disembodied pointer finger floating around above us, but thankfully I'm not completely insane yet, so I continue on and try to play the pause off. "These connected slots allow two Materia to interact directly when one of them is used, which can create more powerful effects in a pinch." I stand up again, holding my sword limply in my right hand, clenching my left. Once the energy has reached it's peak, I release my hand, motioning it toward more empty patch once more as a multiple arcs of lightning race out, slamming into the ground and singing the grass.

Twilight nods and pulls herself up from her notes. "I see..." She places a hoof under her chin in thought. "And the different colors of these Materia are the different kinds, right?"

"...Right." It takes me a second to confirm, taking a breath as I gaze over the assortment of Materia again, some of their uses coming back to me in quick succession, even if their names immediately don't. I quickly move to confirm the information forcing its way into my head, removing the two Materia in my sword and replacing them with a different Blue Materia along with the Fire Materia. I concentrate on them for a moment then swing the blade in a horizontal arc, watching as the blade bursts into flames temporarily, before resuming its original form as if the fire never touched it.

Twilight jots a few more quick notes down. "Let me try!" She exclaims as I see the Lighting Materia get wrapped in a lavender glow and levitate over toward her horn.

"Trying to surpass The Great and Powerful Trixie again, Sparkle?" Trixie quips. "She will have you know that these gems are not as easy to utilize as her assistant makes them look, and she-"

Her sentence is cut short by a resounding bang of thunder as an arc of lightning flies out from Twilight's horn and into the sky. We both look to see Twilight with the Lighting Materia pressed against the tip of her horn, stomping her front hooves quickly in front of her with an excited look on her face. I then turn to Trixie to see a venomous glare that makes me wish I could be anywhere else at this moment.

"Hmph." Trixie quickly regains her composure, avoiding one of her patented freakouts. "It is merely because that one is far simpler than Trixie's own, Sparkle." She turns back to the Materia in her own grip and presses it against her horn in a way similar to Twilight, clearly trying to imitate her. "Do not become smug and think you have bested The Great and Powerful Trixie in this exploration of new magical properties!"

Twilight, thankfully, takes it in stride and giggles into one of her forehooves. "I can show you how to do it with this one if you want, Trixie. Though..." Twilight yawns. "it's... a lot more draining than I expected, given how easily Cloud can use them."

Trixie drops the Materia I left in her care at her hooves and scoops up the Lightning one from Twilight, pressing it to her horn instead. "It is clear that you just lack magical stamina, Sparkle! Trixie shall show you how it is done!" She turns her head skyward, similar to how Twilight aimed hers before. "Now work, you infernal green gemstone of Trixie's ire!"

"You see, Trixie," Twilight stands up and begins pacing, full lecture-mode apparently engaged, "the trick is to focus your thoughts, and resist the urge to try and use the spells with your unicorn magic, as Cloud described."

"Trixie got that far, Sparkle."

"Right. So, just close your eyes and concentrate. When I did it, I was able to make a... mental connection, for lack of a better term, with whatever magic resides inside the Materia." Twilight's pacing changes direction, making alternating half-circles around Trixie's sides and back, avoiding the front for obvious reasons. "From there, you can just will your thoughts into it, and it takes some of your energy, and then it just... happens."

"I expected a far more scientific explanation than that from you of all ponies, Sparkle." Comes Trixie's annoyed reply, her eyes shut as she does her best to not lose her concentration due to the conversation.

"I would need to do much more testing to make a more scientific explanation than that." Twilight replies. "Things like these don't exactly exist anywhere in Equestria for me to draw comparisons with, except for possibly the Elements of Harmony." There's that phrase again. Trixie had used the phrase 'Elements of Harmony' when I first met her as well. Some kind of magical artifacts native to this place then? Maybe I need to flip the tables on Twilight and be the one asking about Equestrian magics at some point...

My train of thought is cut off by a second bang as the Lightning spell erupts again, this time from Trixie's horn, cutting its way into the normally pale-blue sky, which is currently tinted the most barely noticeable touch of green from the Lifestream behind it. "Ahah! Trixie is victorious, as usual! Take that, stupid green magical orb thing!" Her proud declaration is soon followed by a yawn mirroring Twilight's. "Though she now understands what you meant by fatigue, Sparkle."

"It's strange, isn't it?" Twilight stretches her four limbs and resumes her pacing. "It's not like the exhaustion from using too much unicorn magic. Cloud said they run off life-force of some kind, so maybe the... stuff he's made up of magically is different enough from ponies that he can use it repeatedly without rest and we can't?"

"Stuff, Sparkle?" Trixie looks at her with a raised eyebrow as the Materia is released from her grip and falls to the hill at her hooves.

"Simplifying, Trixie." Twilight says, still pacing. "My friends say it's something I need to work on."

"Trixie does not require your simplification, Twilight Sparkle! She knows how magic... stuff... works!" The tell-tale 'hmph' strikes once more as Trixie turns her head away from the other unicorn, though a thought hits me as I process Twilight's hypothesis.

"The diamond dog who had this sword before me had no problem using the Materia, though." If it's true that them becoming fatigued is a 'magical stuff' problem, shouldn't it also affect them?

"...Diamond dogs were using the Materia?" Twilight turns to me with a concerned expression and a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, we encountered some in Appleloosa, not long after I first met small, blue, and cocky over there." I begin to explain.

"Trixie is not 'cocky', Dusk!" Said small, blue, and cocky butts in. "She is merely knowledgeable and confident in her abilities!"

I ignore her and keep going. "We spent the day there after creatively borrowing a train ride from the Everfree Forest, and Trixie was able to get a small performance in that let us pay for the night's inn and the train to Dodge Junction. That night, though, I heard a commotion outside and saw the diamond dogs hassling the sheriff and waving this sword around." I hold up my most recently acquired 'family heirloom' so Twilight can get a better look at it.

"I see." Twilight nods. "And I assume the sword was full of Materia when the Diamond Dogs had it as well?"

"Yes." I continue. "I tried intimidating them with my Fire Materia, but they replied by using a Materia called Poison to nearly melt off my face. Not the most pleasant experience. But the sheriff and I got them in the end."

"Don't you dare leave out Trixie's accomplishments, Dusk!" The peanut gallery hollers. "She got the high score that night! Four mangy mutts with just one barrel!"

"I suppose it makes sense if diamond dogs were near Appleloosa, they would seek out the Materia. They have a thing for rare gems, but that's quite a bit away from where they usually hunt for them." Twilight muses, having herself become an expert at ignoring Trixie's outbursts rather quickly. "Though, how would they know how to use the Materia? Even I had to have you explain it some before I could use it." Her hoof reaches under her chin as she mulls it over, trying to think of a solution to the connundrum. I look towards the river again, that hoof flexibility still giving me a bit of a shudder.

"Maybe they also have a teacher." Trixie chimes in, this time with far less arrogance, and we both turn to her. "Who is to say that Dusk is the only of his kind in Equestria?"

"Possible... but who else would be in Equestria?" Both Twilight and Trixie turn to me as Twilight asks her question, as if she expects me to answer.

I shrug. Meanwhile, Trixie levitates one of the Red Materia up and to her horn, and I get a sinking feeling in my gut as Trixie changes the conversation topic fast enough to give everyone present whiplash.

"Now that Trixie has mastered the green gem, she shall unlock the potential of the red gem!" Her eyes close as she concentrates, her magic aura gripping tightly around the Materia. "Watch and be amazed!" Her eyebrows furrow, a bead of sweat drips from her forehead, and after a moment the soft green glow of a spell casting emanates around her, the Materia letting off a dull glow. Before she can put enough energy into it for a spell to come out, though, she drops it, panting, a sound that's only interrupted by a small clink of gems as the Red Materia lands on top of the Lightning Materia and slowly rolls to the side.

"You okay there?" I ask, turning to her. She does look more strained than I've ever seen her.

"The red ones are worthless!" Trixie spits out. "No spell can be worth that much energy outside of opening a direct portal to Tartarus itself!"

Twilight laughs. "We should get back to Ponyville soon, anyway. As much as I want to keep experimenting with these," her eyes and a hoof pan over the collection of Materia on the grass for a moment, "if we intend to put on another magic show for Ponyville we'll need to talk to Rarity about costumes and decoration, and Pinkie Pie probably has some party supplies we can make use of for something."

Not the pink one.

"I suppose you are right, Sparkle." Trixie replies, having collected herself and now straightening her hat and cape as she levitates the Materia I gave her back into her pocket. "Assistant! Clean up the pretty magic gems so we can continue on our quest to rebuild Trixie's career!"

I shoot her a glare that she replies to with a proud smirk then turn my attention down to the Materia. I place the Lightning Materia and All Materia combination into my bangle along with the Time and All combination. Those two have been too useful to risk losing should I be disarmed. With them I place one more of the Green Materia - the 'Poison' one that Beethoven nearly gooped me with - along with another Blue Materia to experiment with later, then the Barrier Materia and a final Green Materia I've yet to test. In the sword, I-

"Hurry up! Trixie grows impatient, Dusk!"

I quickly note to replace my ear drums later as I place another Green Materia and Blue Materia combination to test with, two Yellow Materia at random, and slot in the Red Materia and Blue Materia combination in the final two slots. The lattermost combination is the same Red and Blue combination that was in the sword when I found it, something inside telling me not to remove it. I slip the sword into its sheathe and scoop the rest of the Materia back up into my pocket. With a small sprint I've caught up to the others, who've moved to the top of the hill and are ready to begin the trek back to Ponyville.

"Let's meet up with Rarity first." Twilight says once our group is assembled. "We can have her decorate the library and use it as an impromptu stage for the performance. Maybe we can even get matching costumes!" Twilight clops her front hooves together cheerfully.

"Trixie likes her costume just fine, Sparkle!" The blue unicorn retorts. "Besides, Rarity, that is... the white one that the pegasus before spoke of, who Trixie turned the mane of into a nest, is it not?"

"...That did happen, didn't it?" Twilight responds, deflating slightly.

"Trixie feels she will not be so eager to see Trixie's career be rebuilt, nevermind play a helping hoof in the act."

"It'll be fine!" Twilight replies, said deflating already gone as she beams. "Rarity's the most generous pony I know! I'm sure she can forgive and forget!"

I let out a sigh. Hopefully I can get as far from the brewing storm as possible, because I can already hear the 'choo-choo' of a train bracing itself for the wreck that is yet to come. Or at least, I did hear it, until the conductor put it on warp speed and it came at us in the form of a blue blur with a rainbow trail.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaims, having cut us off in a blur of speed. "Did you see the crazy reverse lightning show? I was taking a nap and-" Her eyes move from the lavender unicorn to the azure one and she leaps forward, quickly becoming snout-to-snout with Trixie. "You!"

Twilight sighs. "Rainbow, it's fine. The lightning was just us. I was doing some testing of a new kind of magic with Cloud and Trixie. I'm sure you remember Cloud," she finally turns and sees the two blue ponies locked in their staring contest, neither backing down, "and I see you remember Trixie."

"How could I forget? She came in here all running her mouth then totally embarrassed Rarity and Applejack!" Rainbow Dash finally pulls away from Trixie. "Why is she here, anyway?"

"Trixie remembers it as you coming on stage to heckle her show and being sent away once you had the fact your heckles were unfounded demonstrated to you." Oh boy, here we go.

Rainbow Dash glares at Trixie with crossed hooves, hovering in place with her wings. Before she can retort, however, Twilight cuts in to save the day. "Trixie is here because she's friends with Cloud, and now she's friends with me. She's also sorry for her behaviour last time she was here in Ponyville, aren't you, Trixie?"

"Dusk is Trixie's assistant." Trixie 'corrects' Twilight. "And yes," she fumbles for a moment, "Trixie... apologizes for being unnecessarily rough while handling your heckling of her premiere performance in Ponyville."

"Some apology..." Rainbow Dash grumbles, still glaring at the showmare.

"More importantly!" Twilight cuts in to continue her rousing act of friendship heroism. "Trixie and I are putting on a grand magical stage performance tonight, Rainbow Dash! Isn't that exciting? We did one in Dodge Junction yesterday and it was so much fun!"

"Wait a minute." Rainbow Dash begins processing the new information. "Last time she was here, she got Snips and Snails to drag an ursa minor into the town, and this time you want to get on stage and help her?"

"Come on, Rainbow Dash, that was just an accident!" Twilight replies. "It's not like Trixie brought it here herself, or like she didn't at least try to stop it."

"Quite." Trixie agrees.

"She also ran away like a scared little filly and let you fix her mess." Rainbow continues, not letting Twilight wriggle Trixie out of blame so easily.

"...Quite." Trixie agrees again far more quietly, shrinking back slightly.

"It'll be fine, Rainbow." Twilight assures her. "Trixie's not a bad pony deep down, just a bit... rough around the edges."

"Only she has as many edges as one of those ten sided square... things."

"You mean a decagon?" Twilight raises an eyebrow.

"Yeah, one of those." Rainbow Dash nods smugly.

"If you're so worried, Rainbow, why don't you just come with us?" Twilight offers. "We're off to see Rarity anyway, I'll need her help with decorating the library for the performance."

"I'm preeeeeeetty sure Rarity hates your new friend even more than I do." Rainbow Dash replies, looking at Twilight quizzically. "You know how she gets with her appearance and her frou-frou... stuff." Rainbow Dash, for her part, though, stops blocking our path, instead hovering lazily above us as we continue our walk back into Ponyville.

"Trixie will just need to apologize, then." The abnormally quiet blue unicorn comments. "Once she explains that she apologizes for making such an uncouth and low blow at her appearance during our impromtu duel, and explains she should have handled the situation by turning the dress she made by destroying Trixie's property into rags instead, all shall be cleared up, and we can get busy with entertaining the Ponyville masses!"

"You... might want to leave out that last part." Rainbow Dash replies as she narrows her eyes at Trixie.

"Perhaps..." Trixie places a hoof under her chin in thought at the recommendation, and both Twilight and I can't help it when our hoof and hand make respective contact with our faces. This wreck is going to need a bigger train.

Chapter 19: I've Met A Terrible Fate, Haven't I?

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Chapter 19: I've Met A Terrible Fate, Haven't I?

"So why does she keep calling you Dusk, anyway, Cloud?" Rainbow Dash asks from her upside-down hovering position above the rest of us. How does she keep doing that? Wings don't work that way!

"Because that is the name he graced Trixie's majesty with, dear prismatic pegasus!" Trixie answers for me without missing a beat, one hoof to her chest. "Besides, it is a much better name than 'Cloud'. Who would want to willingly be named after a tool used for inferior pegasus magic?" I feel like there's some inter-ponies-species-relations stuff being touched on here that I need to stay as far away from as possible.

"You know," Rainbow Dash flips to flying right-side up so she can look down at Trixie, "we haven't even finished walking from Fluttershy's to Ponyville and I'm already regretting this whole 'giving you a second chance' thing."

"Does it really matter?" I interject, "Until I get my full memory back, there's no way of knowing whether either of those are my name anyway." A bit of a lie, as my name was among the first things I remembered, but if it'll stop this...

"See! It's a pointless discussion anyway, pegasus." Trixie raises her head high as we enter Ponyville proper. "So I shall continue to address my assistant as I see fit, and you may continue to utilize inferior naming conventions, if you wish." It never ends with her.

"And that's another thing!" Rainbow Dash continues, "What do you assist her with anyway, Cloud? She's a stage magician without a stage!" Ouch.

"Rainbow!" Twilight scolds, getting Rainbow's attention and using her eyes to motion to Trixie, whose expression has become noticeably darker.

"Ah... sorry. I didn't mean it like that." Rainbow rubs the back of her head with one hoof. "I just don't see what you would... assist Trixie with, Cloud."

"Well, there was this one time..." I begin, a smug smirk hidden by my poncho's hood, however...

"Do not speak of that, Dusk!" Trixie cuts in. "And for your information, pegasus, Dusk is a wonderfully helpful assistant, much like Sparkle's pet drake."

Rainbow Dash sniggers and flies out in front of us, turning to me. "Sounds like someone has some Great and Powerful Dirt on the Great and Powerful Trixie, huh?" She smacks my shoulder with one hoof. "Guess we know whose really top dog in this relationship!"

"We're here!" Twilight cuts in a bit too eagerly as we reach the outside of an ornate, multi-story building with a carousel motif, denying me another chance to see if I can make Trixie throw something. The pinks and purples of the walls and draping overhangs are accented with a checkerboard pattern, yellow curtains framing each of the windows, and a single carousel pony is emblazoned above the door.

"Interesting design." I note to myself. Thinking on it, it's really quite a bit morbid - it's like a human making a playground ride based on you riding other humans, then someone else using that as a motif for their shop. The fact this doesn't seem to bother these ponies any makes me wonder quite a bit what their upbringings are like...

"Welcome to Rarity's Carousel Boutique," Twilight explains, "hot spot for all your fashion needs in Ponyville!" I suppose the carousel ponies could be viewed as mannequins of some kind, but... a clothing store whose entire outside motif is mannequins? That's really not any better.

"Are you sure your special talent isn't informercials, Sparkle?" Trixie quips in reply. "So your friend is a dressmaker, Trixie doesn't see how this translates into properly outfitting a magician's stage." Her head turns up to further examine the design of the boutique. "Though she shall admit to the originality of this building's design." That's it, originality. Not creepiness. Not at all.

"Don't be so quick to judge, Trixie." Twilight replies as she gives a knock on the door with her hoof. "Just wait and see." If Rarity decorated the building herself, I can at least see the merit of wanting to her to help with the layout of the stage. There's nothing wrong with the building in that regard, just hopefully whatever she does with the stage is less chill-inspiring.

"That's assuming she'll even help you two, Twilight." Rainbow does a small, impatient flip in the air. "My bits are still on Trixie getting beaned in the face with a ponnequin." Ponnequin? I guess they wouldn't be called mannequins here. The thought of Trixie getting nailed with one the second the door opens does require me to suppress my tickled funny bone. It'd probably be more than a little painful, though it might at least teach her to not throw things at other people so much.

Trixie opens her mouth to reply but is cut off by a yell from inside. "Come in! Come in! We're open!" calls the exasperated voice I remember as Rarity's from inside the building.

"Hey Rarity, it's Twilight!" Twilight pushes the door open and leads us inside, Rainbow Dash making a casual-looking upside-down beeline toward the far corner as the rest of us step toward the center of the main room. The room itself is strewn with mirrors, various spools of fabric, and a number of sewing and fabric machines. In the side of the room furthest from Rainbow Dash is the boutique's owner, hunching over a table as she works on a project.

"And what are you supposed to be doing?" I ask, turning to Rainbow Dash, who's floating over quite a few of these 'ponnequins' which, honestly, look far creepier than their human counterparts. I can't exactly say why, but something about them is just...

"Getting as far away from the action as I can." Rainbow loops back right-side up and comes down for a landing on top of one of the ponnequins, lounging about as I turn back to the pair of unicorns who've made their way almost all the way across the room to the store's owner. "You should probably join me, that getup you're wearing will probably send her into 'fashion disaster' mode and make things even worse."

"I'll be fine." I assure her with a wave of my right hand. How bad can this really get?

"Ah, Twilight dear, I'm a bit busy on a big order that's come in," Rarity finally replies after getting her next row of stitches in, "Spike should be back any time now, if you're looking to pick him up. He's just getting me some more supplies."

"It's not that, Rarity." Twilight walks a bit closer, Trixie approaching in her shadow. "I just need a bit of help with something."

"Oh, what's that, Twilight?" Rarity sets the next layer of fabric onto her table with her magic. "Spike told me you've been putting up with quite a handful of a... guest... ever since you came back to Ponyville."

"Yeah, about that..." Twilight starts.

"Trixie has done her part to be a perfectly amicable and hospital guest, thank you!" ...And Trixie finishes. I decide Rainbow Dash's idea isn't looking half-bad right now and sit crossed-legged at my current place in the room instead of joining Trixie and Twilight.

Rarity slowly sets her fabric down and turns to the other two unicorns. She's wearing a pair of wide-rimmed, purple glasses with what appear to be inlaid gems. "Ah! Hello again... Trixie." The tremble of her voice allows a small amount of the bile she feels for my poor, blue companion seep through what's clearly a well-worn, businesslike exterior.

Trixie, for her part, pulls her hat off her head with one hoof and sweeps it under her chin as she lowers her head. "Greetings, Rarity, friend of Twilight Sparkle. I believe our last meeting ended on less than friendly terms, to my deepest regret."

I can't help but turn my head to Rainbow Dash, whose mouth looks like it would be on the floor if her chin would allow it. A quick turn back to the main event shows Twilight isn't doing much better. I suppose Trixie would be more than capable of matching Rarity in bullshit-amicability.

"Less than friendly terms, indeed." Rarity's eyes narrow. "Luckily, Fluttershy was a great help in helping me salvage my 'rat nest', as you called it."

"Trixie deeply apologizes for that." She resumes her normal stature, hat back on her head. "While it is not to Trixie's personal tastes, she can see the supreme effort one must take to keep their mane like that. After her experience on the rock farm, it took a might equal to shaking the heaven's to keep even Trixie's naturally beautiful tail and mane at their top form."

Rarity shudders. "A rock farm!" Her eyes turn to her mane, which she strokes with one hoof to bring into better view. "I can only imagine the kinds of soot and dirt that could sully a mane there..."

"Quite." Trixie allows herself the smallest of triumphant smirks. "It taught Trixie the error in her ways in regards to the reply she made to your heckling. Your mane needn't be the innocent victim in our contest of unicorn skill."

Her eyes return to Trixie, a bit softer now, though her business mask is still clearly in place. "Yes. Imagine how you would feel if I had weaved my outfit from your cape and hat and not your curtain."

Now Trixie is on the defensive, her eyes turning back to the star-studded cape along her back. It's beginning to feel a lot like watching a pair of chess grandmasters making and endless series of bluffs to see who makes the mistake of moving in first. "Mm... these items have quite a personal value to Trixie. She would not forgive such a transgression."

Rarity's the one smiling smugly now. "Then you know why I'm not about ready to forgive you." She ends the conversation by turning to Twilight, who until now has simply been watching their conversation with a stunned expression. The smile then becomes warm. "So, what did you need, Twilight?"

"Ah.... hah... heh..." Twilight laughs nervously, trying to find anything to focus on that's not the marshmallow mare in front of her.

"The dynamic duo there want to put on an over-the-top magic show in Ponyville and need your help turning the library into a magic stage." I decide to push the subject for them, as neither unicorn seems anywhere close to able to spit out their purpose here after that exchange.

"Ah! Cloud, is that you over there?" Rarity looks over the two unicorns to me before walking around them to close the distance. "What on earth are you wearing? I swear, you're even worse than a pony stallion when it comes to having any fashion sense at all!" Behind her, Trixie's defeated look as quickly been replaced by a glare at the comments over the western ensemble she picked out for me, though she thankfully remains silent.

"It's fine." I assure her. "Just something so ponies will just think I'm a heavily clothed diamond dog or a drake or something. And besides, it's comfortable."

"Yes, but... a tan poncho with red highlights to contrast a blue uniform? Did you buy this in Appleloosa or something?" She's finally up to me, pulling on the fabric of my poncho with her hooves to inspect it. "This is absolutely dreadful! Even the quality on this thing is second-rate!"

Trixie's glare replaces itself with a scowl. I think Twilight finally notices, however, as she chooses this moment to jump in. "Yeah, Rarity, like Cloud said, I need a bit of help dressing up the library for a stage performance. Trixie and I want to put on a magic show there to make up for the, uh, last time she was in Ponyville."

Rarity faces Twilight again. "So... that's why she's here." Rarity sighs. "Look, Twilight, I don't know why you're associating yourself with her, but I'm having no part of it."

"But Rarity, come on," Twilight's face becomes pleading, "she made a mistake, she apologized, and the bear-"

"Wasn't her fault." Rarity finishes. "I'm quite aware a performer is not responsible for the actions of two unattended children, Twilight." Her head shifts to face Trixie. "The problem is you're too naive, Twilight. You're not experienced with the crowds of large cities such as Manehatten the way I and undoubtedly Trixie are, but her apology was quite disingenous, and I have no inclination to reduce myself to aiding a fraud."

"Trixie is no fraud, seamstress!" Trixie stomps her hoof. There's the Trixie I know and loathe. "Her shows are all genuine feats of magic and props designed to amaze and enterain the young and magically disinclined, interwoven with inspiring tales of heroism!"

"I meant your character, not your show, dear." Rarity walks past them and back to her table. "You don't have any true remorse for the harsh actions you take against your hecklers, so there's no way to know you won't do it again. Let's not ignore the fact you also put quite a bit of effort into lying to my face for your own gain, which also tells me there's no counting the amount of lies you've told to get here."

"I..." Trixie stutters. A loss of words for her is something new. Lack of third person is also something new.

"Now unless you wish to place an order in with the Carousel Boutique, Trixie, I believe our conversation is finished." Rarity turns her machine back on and grips the fabric again with her magic, returning the project on her table and leaving a whiplashed unicorn behind her.

"Trixie, are you okay?" Twilight turns to her, apparently also noticing the change in Trixie's vocabulary.

Trixie, for her part, is staring at her hooves. Something about their exchange leaves her looking entirely defeated in a way I'm not used to seeing.

"I told you she wasn't gonna help." Rainbow Dash says lowly, though loud enough for Twilight to hear and shoot her a look meant to convey the message of 'now is not the time for that'.

Trixie begins walking towards the exit of the boutique. As she nears my side she stops for a moment, and takes a deep, shuddering breath. "Let's go, Dusk. I told you this plan of yours to return to Ponyville would end badly."

Her voice lacks its booming confidence, replaced with a low timber indicative of the emotions she's barely holding back. I look her over, searching for a way to salvage this situation, but my social prowess isn't up there with my fighting prowess. I turn to Twilight, hoping the unicorn is better suited to dealing with these situations, but it's clear this isn't anything close to the result she expected, either. I clench my hands for a moment, a small pit forming in my stomach as I realize how little I can do in this kind of situation.

As I'm looking between Trixie and Twilight, I hear Rarity's machine stop again and turn to her. She's stopped her work and has her head turned to watch the pair of magicians, but says nothing.

"Trixie..." Twilight walks up beside her. "It'll be fine. We'll just find another way to get the library spruced up on time, won't we, Rainbow Dash?"

Rainbow, for her part, looks to the duo like a deer caught in headlights. "Uh... sure." Looks like I'm not the only one ill-equipped for this situation.

"My problems are a bit more than capes and curtains, Twilight Sparkle." Trixie responds, her voice continuing to waver as she tries to make the remaining march from the center of the room to the exit.

"Quite right!" Rarity exclaims behind them with a clap of her hooves. "They're also lighting and seating arrangements!" I look to the white unicorn and can't help but raise an eyebrow from under my hood. Clearly I've missed something in their social entanglement.

Trixie turns back to her. "What are you...?" Trixie's questions are silenced by a marshmallow hoof on her mouth.

"Hush now. Less questions, more planning!" She turns to Twilight. "When's the big debut?"

"So you're going to help after all, Rarity?" Twilight's usual smile is back on her face now as she stamps her front hooves excitedly, then slowly stops. "Erm... we were going to perform tonight, if we could."

"That short notice?" Rarity asks in reply, pulling her glasses up to her forehead. "We've got to get our stars in tip-top looks, though there's no time for a spa treatment so I'll just need to work some of my magic and..."

"Why does everyone in here look so mopey?" Spike's voice asks from under a pile of spools and threads at the front door. "I'm gone for ten minutes and this place gets more depressed than a hole in the ground!"

"Everything's fine, Spike!" Twilight shoots over to her Number One Assistant, as Rarity pulls up his bundles in her magic and levitates them wherever they need to go. "Rarity just agreed to help us set up the big show! Isn't it great?" Yeah, that's what just happened.

Twilight claps her hooves as Spike looks with a raised eyebrow between Trixie and Rarity. "Really?" He asks, sarcastically. I see he knows the score around here, at least.

"Quite 'really', young dragon!" Trixie beams with her head held high, her usual swagger restored. "The gracious host of this fine establishment was more than understanding in Trixie's endeavor to return her career to a bright and shining future!" Does she have a mood switch or something? Can I clap my hands or tug her tail or something to make her moods change on demand? Being able to flip your mood that quickly can't be natural.

"But... didn't you have that big order due tomorrow, Rarity?" Spike asks, looking at the giant piles of cloth Rarity just finished arranging. "How are you going to do both that and this?"

Trixie takes the opportunity to move to Rarity, draping a hoof over her shoulder while using the other to motion in front of her as she talks. "Forget those other guys, just think of it! The Return of the Great and Powerful Trixie, touring across all of Equestria, all props, costumes, and stage dressings furnished exclusively by Ponyville's Carousel Boutique! The business deal of a lifetime, if Trixie says so herself!"

"...One step at a time, Trixie." Rarity replies, narrowing her eyes and slowly unhooking Trixie's hoof from her shoulder. "Though my Spikey does bring up a good point... but I'll find a way. There's not an order big enough to stop Rarity when her friends need assistance, after all!"

"Ah yes, the indomitable spirit of a proud unicorn!" Trixie proclaims, hoof extended to the air. "Maybe yourself and Trixie are far more similar than the surface level leads one to believe!" I don't think she's taking that as a compliment, Trixie.

"So, will Cloud be participating in this show?" Rarity asks, her eyes moving to me. "Because there's no way that costume wi-"

"Not happening." I cut Rarity off before she can begin a tangent on that topic again. "The Great and Powerful One knows I don't do stage performances."

"Sometimes Trixie laments the uselessness of her newfound assistant, indeed." Trixie's eyes move from myself to Spike. "Trixie bets that Sparkle's dear assistant would assist her in a stage performance."

"As long as Twilight doesn't try sawing me in half." Spike shrugs. "I wouldn't mind having a swaggy mustache again, though." He gives a dopey grin and rubs under his snout. I'm not sure I even want to know what he's talking about at this point.

"See!" Trixie points to the dragon dramatically, turning to me. "Why can you not be more cooperative and assisting, Dusk?"

"Because I have self re-" I start.

"That's it!" Twilight smack one hoof on top of the other, lighting the proverbial light bulb and making all eyes turn to her. "We can have Spike and Cloud help us! We could do all kinds of more complicated tricks then, couldn't we, Trixie?" Oh hell no.

"And I could make them the most marvelous matching outfits!" Rarity chimes in, pulling out a measuring tape and beginning to fit Spike. Nope. Nope, nope, nope.

"This is so not happening." I get up, trying to beat a hasty retreat for the door when I feel the tug of magic on my ankle. I topple forward, catching myself with my arms as my ankle is dragged back towards my newfound unicorn harbinger of doom.

"You're not escaping, assistant! This was your idea, after all!" Trixie tugs towards her with her magic, pulling me up into the air by my ankle and turning me to face her. Her smug grin is even worse when viewed upside-down. "Trixie is going to enjoy this."

I turn toward where Rainbow Dash was lounging moments before and see nothing but a toppling ponnequin and a rainbow streak reaching from her previous perch all the way to the front door, which is now swinging open.

I'm screwed.

Chapter 20: A Clown's Tale.

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Chapter 20: A Clown's Tale.

Well, the good news of my predicament is that I've successfully avoided going to see the pink party monster. I'll be content to never see that particular pony ever again, thanks. The bad news is I'm now sitting with Spike inside the library, the outside having been decorated and turned into a makeshift stage after the three unicorns all decided a magic show inside said library has just as much of a chance of setting everything on fire as me throwing around random Materia. Which I am, apparently, now expected to use in this magic show of theirs. These aren't the problem, however. The problem is-

"Man, we look ridiculous!" Spike complains as he walks from the bathroom, wearing his version of our matching costumes. Our shared humiliation comes in the form of a harlequin set with interchanging red and black diamond-spaped rows from collar to ankle, complete with a needlessly frilly white collar, stupidly pointy shoes, and long gloves with their own 'comical' frills. The shoes and gloves are also both adorned with bells that jingle as we move. Spike's set and my own even come with full-face masks of a small drake with twisted expressions, topped with a hat that itself bears two bells. Fittingly, Spike's mask bears a laughing face, while mine bears a crying one. Spike's even has a fitting in the pants to cover his tail, as to prevent the illusion of the jester being broken by it.

"This is all your fault, you know." I'm sitting next to the door, legs and arms crossed, glaring at the baby dragon from under my mask. My previous attire is piled nearby, the sword and loose Materia resting on top. I'm still wearing the bangle, though it's hidden under my costume, its Materia loadout changed yet again in preparation for this 'show'. Why did I ever think this was a good idea?

"My fault?" Spike huffs and points accusatorily. "We wouldn't be doing this if you hadn't dragged Trixie back with you and let her fill Twilight's head with her magic show junk!"

"You're the one who made the mistake of saying yes when Trixie asked if you'd help Twilight with that 'magic show junk' and gave Twilight this idea, remember?" I mean, I'm not wrong here.

"How was I supposed to know that," Spike motions with his two hands as if to pick up a box at his left, "would turn into this?!" he completes the hand gesture by 'moving' said box to the right.

"The same way I was supposed to know Trixie would send Twilight down the path of showmareship?" I fire back, taking a moment to shift my head left and right to loosen up my neck.

"Bah, this sucks!" Spike throws up his arms. "We both look totally lame! I can't believe Trixie talked them both into this!"

"You saw that glint Trixie had in her eye for me. And once Trixie had her started, Rarity wouldn't stop with her," I put on the worst impersonation of Rarity to ever exist, "Ooooh, Spikey-Wikey will look absolutely adorable in this!"

"Shut up with that already!" I can feel Spike glaring at me from beneath his mask as his arms cross. "I still can't believe she even based the masks on my face."

"If we're lucky, maybe these things will terrify the audience into running back home and we can just not do this." I hope. I dream. I wish. I pray. I feel like I've done worse once.

"Fat chance, with our luck." Spike grumbles.

I get up to stretch as the show is supposed to be starting 'soon' and Rarity will summon us when it's time. My eyes set on a familiar star-speckled cape and hat set hanging near the door of the library. In the end, Rarity convinced Trixie that it would be good for the duo to wear a matching set of stage clothes instead of Trixie's standard set and a Nightmare Night costume, and Trixie relunctantly hung her previous garnments here to retrieve after the show. I don't see Twilight's previous costume hung anywhere, but I'm guessing Nightmare Night is a holiday, so it's probably in a box on the library's second floor or something. As for the new costumes, neither Spike and I have caught a glimpse of them, yet.

"It could be worse." I mention to the disgruntled dragon after a minute or two of basic stretching to get some kinks out. "At least they can't see our faces."

"Cloud," Spike starts in reply, dropping his hands to his side, his face turning up to me. "There are currently two creatures in Ponyville that walk on less than four legs."

"Yeah, we're screwed." I sigh and lean my back against the empty wall, one of the only areas that breaks the illusuion that the inside of the tree is held up by nothing but a never-ending supply of bookshelves. "I'm not sure I want to know what I did to deserve this."

"Speaking of," the small dragon walks up beside me and leans against the wall as well, "what's got you avoiding Twilight about the you-know-what?" That's something I'd nearly gotten through the entire day not needing to think about at all, a first with Twilight Sparkle around. At least it's just Spike asking and not a pushy unicorn with the spell likely half-primed at all times.

I decide to indulge his curiosity a bit. "You ever have that pit in your stomach where you know something's wrong, but you have no idea what it could be?"

"Yeah..." The dragon replies as he turns his head up to me.

"It's kind of like that. A big... something, where the only thing I know about it is that I don't want to know about it." I close my eyes to think for a moment, though he can't see that through my mask. "And if it's something that stops me from being able to just hang out with you all like this, I'd rather put off knowing it a bit longer."

"I... guess I understand." The dragon nods. "But how did you end up being friends with Trixie of all ponies after you left? Last time she was here she was the most un-friendly thing I can think of!"

"Everyone seems to ask that. She really left a bad impression here, huh?" I turn my head back up and stare at the ceiling for a minute. "Trixie is... a lot like a coconut, if you have those here. Breaking through the thick outer layers can be difficult, but deep inside there's just enough good to make it worth the effort."

"How do you know so much about making friends with people like her?" Spike asks. "You seem like a very standoff-ish kind of guy."

"You just answered your own question." I move from the wall and head to the window, curious to the progress of the show-to-be, only to remember that one of the giant purple curtains of the stage is blocking the view.

Trixie calls it her 'stage-in-a-can', a spell where she can use bits of wood such as tree branches to build a small stage when her cart is incapacitated. With some donations from bits of the Golden Oak Libary's tree that Twilight insisted needed trimming anyway, Trixie quickly magicked together a stage that might get a bit cramped for two ponies, a dragon, and a human, but was raised adequately and had the provisions needed to put up curtains and other essentials. After the structure was completed, Rarity ushered Spike and I into the library to change into these... ridiculous... things... while she went about taking care of the stage's decor and having Trixie adjust bits where necessary. At some point, the curtain layout was finalized and since then the front windows of the library have been mostly useless.

It's at that moment that Rarity pokes her head through the library's front door. "Hey boys, you can get out here now, stage is set and you're on in five!" She disappears as quickly as she appears, leaving the door slightly ajar to get back to whatever it is she's doing.

"Ready to face the music, partner?" I ask, turning to Spike.

"Let's just get this over with." He replies with a small groan as we head outside, pulling the door open to reveal the back end of the stage.

Small wooden steps lead up to a pair of respective azure and lavender curtains, both decorated with a plethora of stars. Rarity's already vanished to who knows where, though there are hooffalls on the stage above, indicating at least one of the performers is there. From my position, the structure itself looks surprisingly sound given its method of creation. I turn my head skyward to see the night sky is back in full glory, including the highly visible mist of the Lifestream behind the stars and the moon once more. The green hue, however, is stronger than the night before. Whatever's going wrong up there is clearly getting worse.

"Ladies and gentlecolts!" A voice booms out, but it's not Trixie. Instead, it's Twilight, leading me to believe she can either magically amplify her voice, or unicorns with magical talents automatically secondary in eardrum destruction. "Tonight the Golden Oak Library and Carousel Boutique present a one of a kind performance!" She's... really getting into this. I would've marked her as far too bookish to go into this so hard.

"Yes, Ponyville, tonight only," Trixie takes over, "witness a once in a lifetime performance as The Magnificent Twilight Sparkle and The Great and Powerful Trrrrrixie set aside their rivalry and indulge you in a grand display of magic and showmareship!"

"But wait, there's more!" Twilight cuts in. "We also have a pair of awe-inspiring magical assistants, ensuring tonight will be packed with tricks you may never see again!" Maybe Trixie's right. Her special talent might just be informercials.

"Yes, come out, assistants!" Trixie calls as the curtain pulls open. Spike and I turn to each other one final time as we begin approaching the steps, neither of us quite knowing what to expect. Please let the crowd be tiny.

The crowd... isn't tiny. Nor are they running in fear at our terrifying getups. Quite a few are sniggering though, and I can feel my nerves tighten as the pit in my stomach grows. Just what I need, stage fright. I take a few deep breaths to dispel what I can of it. I'm going to get both of these unicorns for this. I take a few more seconds to look around and get my bearings with the stage. There's not a lot of room to move, that's for sure. The curtain layout is the same as from behind, of course, though now I can see that the lavender curtain frames Twilight's 'side' of the stage, while the azure one frames Trixie's, the stars on them twinkling in the near-direct moonlight they're receiving. As for the duo themselves, Trixie is wearing a hat and cape set reminiscent of her old one, the same lavender color as Twilight's curtains. The hat contains many of the same twinkling stars as the curtains, as does the cape, though on the cape the stars are arranged to frame a glistening embroidery of Trixie's wand and crescent curtain cutie mark. Twilight's azure set is much the same - stars, with the cape bearing an embroidery of her six-point-star cutie mark as its defining feature. Rarity has quite outdone herself with the aesthetics here. Too bad Spike and I look like idiots. The two bow, and we quickly pick up on it and both do the same, indicating the start of the show. As they say, in for a penny...

"And now, for our first trick!" Trixie announces, pulling out a familiar deck of playing cards. I suppose it's good to start safe. "Let us begin with a warm-up, dear Ponyville." She walks to the front of the stage and bends herself down to a small, blonde-maned unicorn filly riding on her mother's back. "Dear child, would you please choose a card?" Trixie asks as she fans out the deck, and the filly plucks out a card, staring at it. Trixie folds the rest of the deck back up and levitates the card so the rest of the crowd can see it, and none of us can.

At that moment the magic changes from Trixie's to Twilight's as the cards go flying off into the sky above the crowd. They rise up into the night and then disperse, a cyclone of cardboard forming and breaking apart again and again as the crowd's heads tip up to watch. The cards come together, backs to the ground as they form a red exclaimation mark to keep the crowd's attention, then flip back again. They swirl and flip their backs down, now pink, as they form a butterfly that begins gently flapping its wings and flying across the sky and toward the library. As it reaches the point above the stage it breaks again, swirling into a tightly wrapped vortex. Behind me, Trixie taps me casually with a hoof to nudge me to do something, and with the Materia they asked me to bring there's only one thing I can do.

The cards have again unfurled themselves, backs-down, in the shape of a rainbow that extends far beyond a mere fifty-two playing cards as I open my palm and summon forth a fireball. The green glow catches the eyes of some of the crowd, then more, then the rest as I hurl it up into the sky towards the cards. They tighten into a cone-shape and launch at the fireball like a drill, smashing through it as it explodes. The now flaming cone of playing cards hurls itself head-long at Spike, who belches out a stream of green fire through a special hole in his mask and begins burning the cards to bits. After a moment, he hiccups, then turns his head up, and with a powerful belch there's another burst of green fire, and the seemingly hundreds of playing cards fly forth again, up into the sky as they burn up in a mix of red and green flames. As they burn up, the cards explode into differently-shaped fireworks, filling the blue-yet-green night sky with mixes vibrant colors. One forms a lyre, another forms a set of butterflies, still another an hourglass, a fourth a set of party balloons that give me a shudder. Are these the cutie marks of each of the ponies in the town? That's... impressive.

At that moment I feel Trixie jump her way onto my back, her hooves holding my shoulders as her magic tugs at my collar. What the hell is she doing? I feel her hoof shove itself down the back of my costume then pull itself back out as she legs go and plants all four of her hooves onto the stage again. In her magic, I see... a playing card... that she hovers over to the unicorn filly that chose it originally.

"Is this your card, little one?" She asks with a gentle but carrying stage voice as the filly giggles and nods her head. Trixie leaves the card with the small unicorn and returns to the stage, flourishing her cape in the process as the crowd. "And this is just act one, dear Ponyville!"

Trixie and Twilight both take a bow as the distinct sound of stomping hooves emanates from the crowd. As the hoof-clapping-whatever these ponies do dies down, the back curtains part slightly as a familiar pink abomination makes her way on stage, pushing a cannon, and giving me a wave once she's set it up between the showmares of the hour. That damn well better be a wave of goodbye. Please. This is bad enough as it is.

"While we've amazed you with our first trick, dear audience," Trixie starts as she pulls up from her bow.

"We want to be sure everyone has something to remember tonight with!" Twilight finishes, turning to her cotton-monster of a friend. "Pinkie, if you would please."

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie replies as she gives a hard pull on a string at the back of the cannon, and it fires a wave of confetti above the crowd, thick enough to nearly block out the sky.

The mass of confetti quickly glows violet and pink as it's gripped by a pair of magical auras, and the bits of confetti begin to writhe, twist, and turn before slowly raining to the ground. What falls, however, isn't exactly confetti anymore. From my position, I can see origami figures of unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, dragons, at least one buffalo, and a number of other shapes I can't identify, as well as two single larger confetti-origami figures made of pure black and white respectively, clearly meant to represent the pricesses of the sun and moon. The ponies in the crowd quickly begin snatching them up as they fall, the various poses of each figure making them not too dissimilar from collectibles, except made from confetti.

"And now that we're cleared out all that confetti that got stuck in our cannon," Twilight motions to it, Trixie following suit.

"We can get on to what it's really here for. Want to see our assistants fly, Ponyville?" They're getting really into this finishing each other's senten- wait what the hell did she just say?

I reel for a minute and turn to Trixie, bending down to her and whispering. "What the hell are you planning?"

"It'll be fine, Dusk," she whispers back, trying her best not to let annoyance break her confident visage while on stage, "just do it."

"Just do it?" I look back at her, knowing she can't see my upturned eyebrow. "It's a goddamn-"

There's a boom and I'm snapped away from my hushed conversation with Trixie to see Spike sailing up into the sky straight-up, and at top speed, Twilight watching him as he soars up to what have to be deadly heights.

"We already fired Spike, so get in there!" Trixie gives me a whispered command and begins pushing at me, causing me to trip and fall into the dumb thing face first, my weight making it fall over sideways.

The cannon quickly rights itself, and I can feel my legs dangling up in the air as I thrash them, not wanting to resign myself to this fate but not finding any way to give my arms purchase to let me out. After a moment I can feel the force being put on the back of the cannon as the rope is tugged, and there's an ear-splitting explosion as the cannon fires, but whatever it uses for launch doesn't vaporize my face instantly... or even damage my outfit. I imagine it's some kind of crazy Equestrian magic cannon bullshit, or given its owner, crazy poofy cthulu bullshit. My stomach lurches as the ground, the stage, and the unicorn I fully intend to exact payback for this over shrink as my height grows.

Then, suddenly, my momentum stops, and everything goes black. I can feel ground beneath me again, and I'm on my hands and knees now. Did I black out? Die? The booming voices nearby tell me neither is the case.

"And now, dear audience, watch as our assistants reappear!" Twilight exclaims and light returns to my world in a whirl of cloth. I take a look around and I'm back on the stage again, next to Spike, both of us between Twilight and Trixie, who are holding their capes in their forehooves as if they just revealed something hiding behind them. That something being us. I don't want to know how. I'm just happy to be on land again.

My heart's beating out of my chest and it's difficult to catch my breath after a scare like that. Apparently Spike's not doing any better, either. Trixie's idea of 'need to know basis' on tricks for the assistants to make them look more genuine is going to result in me having a heart attack. Then again, I'm certain she only made up that bullshit rule so she could have me do whatever she wants without me being able to protest.

As I get back up, however, I notice something strange. On one of the rooftops is a figure - a humanoid figure - draped entirely in black, darker than the space behind it, like a shadow. The sounds around me seem to die out, even those of Trixie and Twilight's booming voices announcing their next act. My eyes are locked on the figure, my body tensing. I feel like I've seen this before, before... I forgot everything, even if it's not exactly the same as my subconscious is telling me it should be.

My head rings. The ear-splitting, whining sound from my dreams, except this time in reality. I would clutch at my head, but my body refuses to listen, refuses to move at all. Staring at the... thing... is like staring into an abyss. Something that shouldn't exist, but does. The best way I can describe it would be a blemish or an absence. Intense wrong, given a physical form.

At that moment it moves, launching itself into the air effortlessly, at a speed paralleling that of my recent cannon fire. At the crest of its jump, moon to its back, it unfurls like a cloak, though no form appears to be underneath, leaving it much like a bat against the moon. Quickly, tendrils launch from the figure, heading toward the stage. My head finally moves again, and I look to everyone on stage as the world comes back into focus. How can they not see that? I turn back to the figure to dodge, but after a moment I notice I'm not the target of its ire.

"Trixie!" I yell, finally out of my stupor and cutting whatever she was rambling about short as I tackle her, clutching her to me and rolling off the side of the stage as the tendrils crash into it, the wood snapping under their force like twigs. After that, for just a moment, everything is silent.

"What are they!?" A mare's voice yells from the crowd. They? I pull myself from a stunned Trixie and look back over the stage and past the crowd of ponies. There's now a swarm of the cloaked shadows, at least five of them.

"Run!" Twilight's voice yells over the various murmurs of the crowd with authority and it breaks up, not needing to think twice or question who gave the order as they disperse.

I crawl back up onto the stage as the ponies flee elsewhere, staring at the cluster of shadowed figures.

"Do you know what they are, Cloud?" Twilight asks, her horn brimming with magic that's clearly no longer meant for show as she keeps her eyes locked on them as well.

"No idea." I reply, half-truthfully. "It went for Trixie."

"Trixie noticed..." The unicorn grumbles as she crawls back onto the stage herself, repositioning her hat. "Trixie is sure she never wronged a group of cloak-wearing tentacle creatures, though. She would quite remember doing that." I'd damn well hope so.

I scan through the remnants of the crowd as they tighten around the stage defensively. The remainder of Twilight's friends stick around, even the floating butter stick, as well as several others. The big, red one with the green apple cutie mark looks particularly strong. Others, such as the brown stallion that owns the hourglass cutie mark from the fireworks show are also here, but most of them are ponies I've never really seen before, outside of a quick glance this morning while walking to or from Fluttershy's. It's probably a good thing so many chose to stay, though, as when the shadows step foward, it becomes apparent they're not alone.

Hulking, bipedal figures I've become quite familiar with appear from behind several nearby houses as well - diamond dogs. This time they're all wearing crafted armor, with metal plates to cover their heads and chests, each clutching a gem-tipped spear. Three in particular stand out even among their ranks - ones whose forms I quickly associate with the names Beethoven, Bud, and Toto, though there at least six others. My eyes quickly dart to Beethoven's legs, which I distinctly remember snapping in a very irreparable way. They're not covered, nor visibly damaged, but the flesh on them looks... wrong. Sickly, and wrong. And different, as if it's not the flesh of the legs I damaged, but a completely different set altogether. This situation... it's raising questions far too quickly, but I'm snapped out of my thinking by Spike.

"Hey Cloud, looks like you'll need these!" The young dragon says, dropping both my sword and my loose Materia at my feet on the stage. Looks like the kid can tell trouble when he sees it, all right. I scoop up the sword, some of the slots empty from needing to rearrange Materia for the magic show, and shove whichever Materia I can reach first into the slots. The rest go into the pockets of the harlequin suit, hopefully deep enough to prevent them from falling out, in case I need to try changing out midway through fighting for my life.

"I can smell you, even if you look ridiculous, varmint!" Beethoven yells, his group of diamond dogs and weird shadow things coming closer.

"These are the same guys from Appleloosa." Trixie narrows her eyes at them, as the four of us jump off the stage and group up with the others, Spike now clinging to Twilight's back. "Did they follow Trixie and her assistant all the way here?"

"More importantly," Rainbow Dash moves over to us from the crowd, hovering above us as she speaks, "I'd like to know who their creepy friends are."

"Should've given us those gems like we asked back out in the sands, big boy." Beethoven cackles slightly as he talks, though it sounds strange with a, well, dog's, inflection. "Now we've been told to give you a nice long dirt nap, and all your little ponies buddies that get in the way, too."

"Oh, I knew you were brutes!" Rarity's giving them an exceptionally powerful stink eye as she readies her magic. "I never thought you were that kind of brute, though!"

The eyes of the diamond dogs turn to Rarity, and most of them besides Beethoven shrink back. Their leader, however, just laughs louder. "Well, aren't you the little white one we captured that one time? Caused a bit of a stink, as I remember it." His eyes narrow, gaining a murderous glint as he licks at his lips. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Chapter 21: Wardrobe Malfunctions.

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Chapter 21: Wardrobe Malfunctions.

The grips the diamond dogs have on their spears tighten as they move in, a slow, militaristic advance that easily conveys their intent. My attention doesn't linger on them long, though, the quick movement of the cloaked figures making them supplant the muttlancers in importance. The robes take to the sky and approach from above, their cloaks all unfurling to unleash an attack similar to the one that nearly skewed Trixie initially.

Twilight's quick use of a barrier bubble around the stage deflects the assault of arcing tendrils with resounding thuds, her expression crunching but the barrier not showing any visible damage. The creatures land and continue their dart towards the stage, slithering like shadows around anyone attempting to block their path at ground level, paying them no attention, focused solely on their goal. A goal that, for whatever reason, is apparently the little blue unicorn at my side.

"Trixie would like to know why they all seem to be aiming at her!" It looks like said little blue unicorn noticed their ire hasn't changed targets.

"Are you sure you didn't try performing magic in Tartarus or something, Trix?" Rainbow Dash fires at her as she enters a fighting stance in mid-air, preparing to fight them up close.

"Trixie is sure! She would remember defeating the Cerberus to gain access!" She replies as she lowers her head, horn glowing with whatever spell she thinks is going to be useful. "And Trixie's name is not 'Trix', it is 'Trixie', 'The Great and Powerful Trixie', or 'Supreme Excellence' only!"

"We're just gonna... all pretend you didn't say that last one." Rainbow's eyes narrow in annoyance before turning back to the incoming fight at hand.

"Dusk, take note!" Trixie calls over to me. "We must weave an excellent tale of Trixie besting the Cerberus and conquering Tartarus for some heroic deed later!"

"Can we please deal with the situation in front of us first!" I plead, the first of the figures close enough for a tendril to extend itself from the cloak's right sleeve and swing it down at me with an impressive amount of force. I block it with my sword, both hands gripping the hilt for stability as the stage creeks beneath my feet, threatening to give out after the beating it received initially. It's at this moment I realize how messed up the Materia in my bangle are thanks to Trixie's and Twilight's requests, and that I barely know any of the Materia lining my sword. This is going to get messy very quickly.

"Oh right. Creepy demon tentacle robe monster things that want to murder Trixie!" She fires the spell from her horn, a simple beam of pink light that smashes into the thing attempting to brute force its way through my sword. It crumples back, folding as if Trixie shot an actual robe before twisting in the air to right itself. "How could she possibly forget?!"

"Pretty easily, apparently!" Rainbow Dash retorts as she uses her speed to deliver a plunging kick to the head of the second approaching robe-creature, a sickly, flesh-crushing sound emitting as she delivers the blow, but the robe itself still folding down as if it's empty at the impact.

I lunge forward at the remaining threats to prevent the arguing between Rainbow Dash and Trixie sending me insane, sword held in both hands as I swing it in a wide, horizontal arc. I hook the one that attacked me originally with the blade, cleaving it nearly in half as purple beams fire over my head to repel the remaining three before they can get a jump on me. The final one that Rainbow Dash kicked goes soaring over my head to pile in with the rest, given a second swift kick by the pegasus to send it off the stage.

Of course, life can't be that easy, and the four 'whole' creatures rise once more, followed by the one I cut open. Tendrils form on either end of the gash I left in the robe, connecting and allowing the 'wound' to seal itself, as if I never damaged it at all.

"So uh, this is bad." Rainbow Dash states the obvious.

"Gee, Trixie hadn't noticed no one's attack did buck-all." The stage magician replies deadpan.

"Girls, now is not the time for this!" Twilight Sparkle finally attempts to be the voice of reason. "We need a plan!"

A plan. My mind clicks to the one Materia combination I know I have available, meant for a thunderstorm trick that we never reached, and I hold my palm open. After the telltale glow of green and the masked shimmers of the green and blue Materia beneath my costume, a flurry of lightning bolts arc out at the wraith-like enemies from the sky, and their forms take to the air and contort, doing everything in their power to dodge the attack despite it costing them ground. "They didn't seem to like the idea of getting hit by that."

"I wonder..." Twilight muses, but Rainbow Dash seems to already have an idea, her defining rainbow trail flying high.

"All that talk, and the blue pegasus ditches us!" Trixie fires another of her pink beams at the creatures as they touch back down, but one simply swats it aside.

"I'm sure she has a plan, Trixie." Twilight assures her.

I take the moment to look toward the 'other front', and see the remaining ponies organized under Rarity, dodging spear thrusts and using whatever they can get their hooves or magic on to try and keep the diamond dogs back. They don't seem to be losing ground, but it would only take one lucky spear thrust from a diamond dog to drop any of them and start a chain reaction. My eyes narrow, the need for dispatching these creatures quickly to prevent that scenario coming to the forefront.

At that moment the sky, previous free of clouds, resounds with the crack of thunder, now containing a group of fearsome storm clouds as lightning begins raining down, trailing itself at the wraiths. They scatter again, this time all but one disappearing down alleyways and between buildings. The remaining creature is the only one not able to evade the downpour of lightning, its cloak now aflame from being struck. It flails about with a gurgling, unnatural howl, the pained cry making it obvious it's trying to douse the flames.

"Who's awesome? I'm awesome!" Rainbow declares as she descends back next to us, pumping the air with her hoof. "What was that about 'inferior pegasus magic', Trixie?"

"Trixie would be more impressed if you hadn't let almost all of them escape."

"Oh... um, oops." Rainbow Dash laughs nervously as both their eyes begin scanning for the remaining threats.

"It's not healing!" Twilight cuts in before they can continue their argument. "Something about the fire is stopping it!"

The fire, huh? I quickly tear off the glove covering my bangle and begin fumbling with the Materia, finding the Elemental Materia and pulling the Fire Materia off my bangle to slot both back into my sword, slotting the removed Materia quickly into my bangle instead. I test it with a quick flourish to be sure I still get the small rush of flames along the sword's blade from the combination, then make my move, rushing from the stage to the remaining, flailing target. I kick from the ground and leap to close the distance, sword ablaze as I cleave the monster down the center with an overhead slash.

The cloak crumples with a final, wretched shriek, and I look down at my 'handiwork'. The robe sits, cut cleanly in two, bits of it flaming along the slash line. Inside, however, is something that makes my stomach churn in disgust. A warped mound of flesh that almost looks like a heart sits beneath the halves of robe, also cut in two. It's still struggling to beat as blood oozes from the parts of the halves not cauterized by the flame, the flesh churning, flailing, reeking of disease. Finally, it stops moving, and I take a step back, taking slow, steady breaths and concentrating to calm my stomach, not wanting to throw up while wearing this dumb harlequin mask.

"Smooth moove." Rainbow Dash compliments as the others move to catch up, not wanting to break up the group.

"It's... dead." Trixie crinkles her nose up. "Ack! That smell! It makes Trixie feel ill!"

"Is that a...?" Twilight moves up to get a better look at it, then quickly pulls back. "How does that even work?"

I turn to answer, but before I can open my mouth I see the remaining four creatures appear from the houses' rooftops and lunge at us from behind, taking advantage at our momentary disgust at what their robes contain. "Move!" I call out as the others' heads quickly bolt around to see the incoming threat. We dodge and split up, the cloaks each choosing one of us as a target and not leaving many other options as their tendrils fire out, leaving unpleasant-to-experience-looking potmarks across the ground as their barely miss their targets.

The one attacking me switches back to the thicker limbs it can call forth through the robe's sleeves, swinging them down at me like clubs as I parry them again and again with my sword. Its speed and aggression leave me little room to do anything as it forces me to lose ground, one step at a time. Its plan doesn't take long to dawn on me - its pushing me deeper into the town, while Trixie, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash, in their own ways, are being slowly baited towards the line where the remaining ponies are continuing their fight against the diamond dogs. Son of a bitch...

Parrying one final club-like strike, I use the momentum of the parry-swing to tackle the robe and barrel through it. I easily pass through the mostly-empty clothing and stumble, barely recovering and swinging back to face the creature, sword in front of me in what's become my default two-handed stance as it turns back to face me again.

A scream suddenly cuts through the air and I whip my head around reflexively, recognizing the voice as Rarity's. Some of the left side of her coat is stained red as she backs up, cornered against a building by the trio of Beethoven, Bud, and Toto. Some of the other ponies are rushing to her aid, but it's easier to see they're not going to make it in time. Unless... I ready myself to cast the Time Materia I thankfully left in my bangle, hoping to allow her group of saviors to rush to her side, but something beats me to the punch.

From the rooftop of the building behind her, another trio of diamond dogs jump down, this set wearing vests, slamming into the three on the ground and preventing them from claiming their kill. The small vested one is tossed aside easily, but the lanky one and bulky one keep Rarity's other attackers pinned as she pulls a plank from the fence of the house next door and smashes it into the head of her unpinned attacker. What the hell is...

"You should know better than to get distracted during a fight... Cloud." That voice's malicious glint stops my mind cold in its wondering about the diamond dogs. It's a male voice, one I can remember all too clearly from my nightmares. I slowly turn my head back to the cloak, to see its head lowered and right arm extended. In the grip of the sleeve I see something that sends a shiver down my spine - a wicked blade, a katana of unbelievable length. My mind reels in recognition at it, the blade the voice's owner used in last night's nightmare to force me awake. I hadn't seen it... but it's like my subconscious can recognize it regardless. There's a flash of light and a cackle of thunder, likely caused by Rainbow Dash, and in that split second of extra light, the cloak stops looking like a cloak. In that one moment, I see the form of a silver haired man, bearing piercing, wavering sky-blue eyes and a dark, if bemused, scowl.

Just as the rumble of the thunder ceases, the cloak makes its move, my eyes seeing it for what it is once more. It lunges and swings the down with no more elegance than its club-like apendages and I parry it easily. It responds by thrusting the sword forward, attempting to impale me in an equally clumsy strike that I dodge and capitalize on by rushing forward, impaling the creature's 'heart' with my own sword, enhanced by the power of the Elemental-Fire combination. It howls and shudders, the weapon in its grip wavering, its form becoming not unlike any of the other tendrils I've seen it use before. An illusion...?

"Stand firm, my subjects!" Comes the booming voice of a second wave of reinforcements. Princess Luna, no doubt on her hunt to capture and destroy more of the strange creatures across Equestria, arrives in time to blast one of the cloaks away from Trixie as her bat-pony entourage engages with the ones attacking Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash. They quickly take over the fight from said mares, engaging with the cloaks with the kind of precision born of experience.

The diamond dogs that remain fighting, for their part, recoil at the sight of the night princess, her presence and the state of their allies leaving them turning to each other, clearly debating without words whether they should run away or not. Their leader, however, decides that struggle for them.

"I'm not going back a failure again!" Beethoven declares, utilizing the mass confusion of the moment to bust out from under the vested diamond dog that had pinned him. He rushes not for Rarity, however, or even myself, but for... Trixie? Why? Several others, including Applejack and the red stallion, attempt to block his path, but the diamond dog's charge is feral. Beethoven either weaves around or barrels through each of the obstacles in his path with abandon, nothing seemingly able to stop him from goal. He extends the sharp claws along his paw, spear long destroyed in the fight previous, and lunges. In that moment, it feels like time stops moving, if only for just a moment, to highlight the creature hurdling itself through the air, a sentient being gone mad with whatever has driven its need for blood.

Trixie stammers, eyes wide in fear at the rabid beast charging her, an uncast spell stuck on her horn. She screams. However, she's lucky.

Lucky, because diamond dogs aren't the only thing that can go rabid.

I don't know when my legs started moving, but I'm between them in what feels like an instant. Beethoven's blood splashes sickly against the harlequin costume as his broken form slumps to the ground. I let my eyes linger on it only enough to confirm it won't be moving anymore and cast my gaze away from it. The remaining diamond dogs sans the captured Bud and Toto quickly break and run back toward wherever they came from, seeing their leader fallen, and the two cloaks fighting against the bat-ponies follow them. The bat-ponies attempt to give chase, but a call back from Princess Luna stops them, herself seemingly satisfied with capturing the one she engaged with upon entering.

I slam my sword blade-first into the ground and pull the mask off, tossing it aside as I turn to the unicorn behind me, who's now sat on her haunches and staring at the... leftovers of her attacker. I crouch down so I'm eye level with her and grasp her head in my hands, gently turning it away from that and towards me. The hat and cape Rarity made for her are stained with red flecks.

"Look at me." I say firmly, angling her face to mine, the words finally getting her to break eye-contact with her previous point of interest.

"Dusk... you just..." Her voice is low and quaking, words coming out between sharp breaths. She tries to look down... there, again, but I make her focus on me.

"I did what I had to do." I assure her, trying to keep my voice warm and understanding, something I'm definitely not used to doing.

"Only because I'm weak." She pulls her head gently out of my grasp and turns her eyes downcast. "If I were more like Twilight Sparkle, you wouldn't have had to-"

"Stop it!" I pull her back to face me again. "Thinking like that doesn't help anyone." I bite the inside of my lip, trying to think of the right words to say without breaking eye contact. "It's... it's fine. It's over now, so you don't need to worry about anything."

"But that's not true..." She breaks eye contact with me, glancing to the side but not shaking herself away again. "You got hurt last time because I couldn't do the shield properly... this time could've been worse... and what about the next time? I-"

Not knowing what else to do, I cut off the scared unicorn by wrapping my arms around her and pulling her to my chest. I don't know what to say to her at this point, but... this should help, right? I'm not sure what else to do. I hold the shivvering mare tighter, vainly wishing for the words needed to pop into my mind the way so many of my scattered memories have felt wont to do in the past, but nothing comes.

"Ah, dreamer! We meet again, do we?" Princess Luna pulls me from my thoughts as she approaches. The package in my arms doesn't react to the voice of the only being I've ever seen make her kneel.

"Cleanup duty again?" I ask in reply, turning my head to face her. The midnight blue alicorn is adorned in heavy combat armor this time, unlike her previous, more regal appearance.

"One might say that." She closes the distance between us, a limp robe levitating behind her.

"Is it still alive?" My eyes quickly move to her 'prisoner', not wanting it to break out this close to their apparent assassination target.

"Nay, its heart is crushed like fine paste." Such a blunt reply. "The remains shall be placed with other of its kind we have captured for further research." Her eyes then move from me to the unicorn I'm cradling against me. "How is the little one? Trixie, was it not?"

At the sound of her name, Trixie finally shakes free of me, turning her head toward the princess. It takes her a moment to register the situation, then she bows in the same manner as the previous encounter. "Trixie is well and uninjured. You need not worry about her, Your Majesty!"

"That is good, child." She gives Trixie a smile. "Now please, rise."

"Do you know if anyone else was injured?" I ask, my eyes scanning the remains of the battlefield, to find everyone else, including Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, huddled around Rarity and the three vested diamond dogs, who are apparently friendly.

"But scrapes and bruises from what We have surmised." The princess replies, following my eyes until hers also fall upon the other group. "Miss Rarity has a deeper cut, but it shall heal with some treatment from the local hospital, and is not fatal, thanks to the intervention of those other diamond dogs. Our Sister's Student is inquiring the intent of Miss Rarity's saviours as we speak."

"I suppose that answers my next question as well."

"Very well, then." The princess looks back to me. "Shall we head inside? The Golden Oak is still a public library, and We do not believe Miss Sparkle will begrudge us its use under these conditions."

I turn to Trixie to see she's already eyeing the library doors through the open stage curtains. "Better than staying outside all night." I reply as I pick up my sword loosely with my left hand, the princess and I following Trixie around the stage and into the building. I take a seat at the table in the center of the library, resting my sword on the floor to my left. Trixie takes the seat to my right, while Princess Luna takes the one directly across. After a moment or two of awkward silence, the princess begins speaking.

"Our Sister is to send word with Miss Sparkle's assistant tomorrow," the princess begins, "but she wishes to see thee in Canterlot tomorrow, whether thou hast decided to receive Twilight Sparkle's aide or not."

That again. "Speaking of Twilight Sparkle," I say, trying to steer the conversation away from the last part of that sentence, "I believe she'd admonish you for your speech patterns right now."

"Oh! Our... My, apologies, sorry," the somewhat flustered princess replies, "It is harder to resist the habit of returning to the native tongues of older Equestria lately, with the many battles against the creatures prowling beneath the moon."

"I understand." I assure her. "I spend all my time with a unicorn that has a phobia of first person pronouns."

"Do not mock Trixie in front of a princess, assistant." Said pronoun-phobic unicorn replies, proving my point. It lacks the forcefulness of her usual rebuttals, but it's good to see her recovering this much regardless.

"Assistant, hm?" The night princess asks curiously. "I was wondering the explanation of your... interesting attire, dreamer."

"Yes!" Trixie puffs herself up, but can't quite get her voice to match the proud message her body is conveying. "Dusk is an excellent assistant in The Great and Powerful Trixie's traveling magician shows!"

"Dusk?" Princess Luna tilts her head.

"That is the name he gave Trixie upon our first meeting, so it's the name she uses for him." She explains. "It's not Trixie's fault that every other pony in Equestria will not bear him the same respect and use the older, inferior name instead!" Her tone is still missing its usual smugness, despite the contents of her speech.

"How interesting..." The princess merely nods.

"Anyway." I try to steer the conversation back to a productive topic. "Why does your sister want to see me? I was pretty sure she hated me and viewed me as a threat to the country, or something."

"My Sister, she..." The lunar pricess stops for a moment, before continuing. "Dear Celestia still believes that. However, I've... learned her reasons, but am ill-equipped to explain them myself, nor do I have the time to do so with the state of affairs. I do not believe she means you ill, and do believe that seeing her would give you a better grasp on the situation at hand."

I nod, taking a minute to digest the information. I doubt it's a trap, given the current track record of the person giving me the message, so at worst, I'll be learning I'm some terrible universe destroying monster from another planet and forced to fight off a giant white pony, and that the monsters in the night are merely nature itself trying to quell my threat. At best, I can get some answers, without the magical interference of a certain lavender unicorn.

"Miss Trixie?" Princess Luna asks, breaking the momentary silence caused as I think her proposal over. "Might you please explore Miss Sparkle's kitchen for a small snack for me? Combat leaves me quite famished." She gives the unicorn a smile, but Trixie hesitates a moment. "If Miss Sparkle is displeased by your action, do not worry, We shall take full responsibility."

The slip back into the Royal 'We' by Princess Luna causes Trixie to look to me, and we lock eyes for a moment. I give her a small nod, and she slips herself from her seat at the table, quite slowly making her way to the direction of Twilight's kitchen, neither of us ignorant to the princess' true intent.

"You could've just asked her to step away for a bit." I comment once Trixie is out of earshot.

"Yes, but to be so forward is not how We were taught." She replies, before turning her head toward the doorway Trixie passed through and back to me. "I know you worry, but fret not, we ponies were not always the peaceful race you see today. Before Sister and I took the throne, Equestria was a land full of unrest, and even now, there are... instances, of which Sister tries her best to ensure are not popularized. They are quite rare, mind, and ponies for the most part do enjoy the land We have created, but my point is thus: Ponies are made from stronger fabric of character than one might be led to believe. That young mare, and all the ones outside, shall be fine, despite, and in one case, because of, your actions this night."

I nod as the Princess finishes her little pep talk. "That's not what I'm worried about." I reply, my gaze meeting hers.

"Then what is it, dreamer?" The princess asks. "Is it that the creatures are drawn to you? This too, we are aware of, though we cannot offer a solution at this time."

"It would be fine if they were targeting me." I turn my gaze down to my hands. "But tonight, they didn't do that. They might have been following me, but their target wasn't me. They went after her instead." I motion my head to the kitchen to emphasize my meaning.

"A ploy, but to break your spirit." The Princess nods, not wasting a moment in formulating her reply. "Do not allow it to take effect, dreamer. Even as they attack the little ones that surround you, you have proven strong. We know not the enemy's intent, but to them, it is possible that to break your mind would benefit them more than to break your body."

"I... see..." It doesn't quite answer the question forming at the pit of my stomach, but it makes sense.

Princess Luna stands up. "I apologize, but I must reconvene with my soldiers, and speak to Miss Sparkle about what she has learned from those vested diamond dogs."

"Of course." I give her a nod, not able to think of anything else to speak of with her at this moment, allowing the alicorn to exit and check up on the other ponies. I lean back in my chair and look up at the ceiling, beginning to lose myself in my own thoughts.

"Where did the Princess go?" Trixie's voice breaks me out of my stupor not long after I enter it and I turn my head back down to her, levitating a small sandwich on a plate to her side. "Trixie spent quite a bit of effort raiding that Sparkle's fridge for the finest of sandwich ingredients."

"She left." I reply bluntly, but instead of the indignated reply I normally expect from Trixie, she merely sits back in the chair next to me, placing the sandwich in front of her and taking a bite.

"It's quite alright, Trixie foresaw this outcome." She replies in-between bites. "As such, Trixie made her own favorite sandwich instead of trying to guess Princess Luna's dietary inclinations." She gives a small smirk and bites into her sandwich again. Who'd guess that raiding Twilight Sparkle's fridge would work so well as a depression cure for a small blue unicorn, anyway?

Chapter 22: Awful Alliteration.

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Chapter 22: Awful Alliteration.

Everything's dark and disorientating. My head rings with a familiar sound as I clutch at it and fall to my knees. Something's wrong, horribly, horribly wrong. My senses begin flooding in, and it feels like I'm crouched in the middle of an oven.

"I was wondering when we'd end up here." My eyes shoot open at the sound of that voice, the ringing disappearing in an instant. It's the same one I heard while fighting the cloak, except this time the malevolence is supplemented with a dark, humored tone.

I look up from the ground and see why everything feels so unbearably hot. I'm in what was clearly once a small, rustic town. 'Was' being correct as it's left in ruins, the buildings ablaze with fires that look like they rise past the nearby treeline with ease. Buildings creek, houses warp and fall. Nothing appears to be spared from the inferno. On the ground lay bodies I dare not count, with faces that seem... blurry. Behind me is an old, wooden water tower, encased in the same unyielding flames as everything else.

In front of me, however, is what rapts my attention. A man stands in the flames, his back to me, silver hair and black coat billowing in the wind and the flame. In his left hand is the long blade that was held by the cloak that shared his voice, held loosely by his side. My fists clench against the dirt as I look up at him, hatred building without need for explanation or cause, but at the same time, his form is imposing without effort, and it feels like he's casting his shadows back at me through the light of the flame. A shadow that leaves me feeling insignificantly small in comparison.

"Nothing to say?" He asks after several more moments where only the cackle of fire breaks the silence between us.

I rise from my knees, slowly, my footing uncertain. Something has my body feeling weak, drained. Eventually, however, I stand, and focus my eyes on the figure before me. "What do you want?" I finally ask, anger masking the weakness I'm feeling.

"Don't be in such a rush, Cloud." The man replies, turning his head up to look at the sky. "We're here all night, after all." Of course we are. As I stare daggers into the man's back, I take notice of what's past him, through the flames: a giant, looming mansion, whose exterior is doing as well as everything else around me. After another tense moment, accented by cackling fire, he speaks yet again. "Though, I suppose I should stop calling you 'Cloud'. You have a name of your own now, don't you?"

A name of my own? Does he mean...? I clench my fists, wishing I had my sword - either the one from my other dreams or my one in the waking world - and take a step forward. "You... whoever you are, you control those monsters that keep attacking us at night, don't you?"

"Me?" He gives a small, cruel chuckle. "Maybe. Or maybe... I'm just a voice in your head, helping you find your true self."

"I doubt that." I dig my feet in, taking a defensive posture if the silver-haired intruder to my dreams decides to get hostile.

"Too bad that girl isn't here to show you the truth again." He raises a hand up to the sky, motioning it above him as if cradling a person's face tenderly. "What was her name again? Tifa, was it?"

That name is... I can pull up the owner of that name clearly in my mind's eye. I fall back to one knee, gripping my chest. I can see her, her long, black hair left to flow free and only bound near its end. Her eyes, amber and kind. The playful confidence she always held, ready to tackle anything. Someone I always wanted to impress, someone I always wanted to be able to rely on me, yet instead, it always felt like it was me relying on her. My chest knots at the memory and I squint my eyes shut, trying to use the moment to dig. Dig deeper. Find all the memories I have of that person, memories my heart tells me are good, but all I get for my effort is another splitting ringing in my head.

"Don't get too greedy, now." The man admonishes, and I can feel the smirk on his face just from the tone in his voice. I turn my head up to scowl at him, but instead I recoil slightly, part of the scene before me being changed. In front of the man is what appears to be a woman looking down at him, only her black silhouette visible through the flames. Her body looks bound, and she appears to somehow be suspended a couple feet above the man. The cradling hand I questioned earlier is stroking the woman's face. "If you choose to be good, Mother can show you more."

"Mother?" I mean to think it, but quickly realize I've said the question out loud.

The man chuckles. "Though, it might be better to forget that woman. She has 'Cloud Strife', so she doesn't need you."

"That doesn't even make sense!" I yell as I punch the ground. "None of this does!"

"Then let Mother help you make sense of it." The man's calm reply only makes my anger boil over more. "Unless, you prefer the help of small, purple unicorns?" That chuckle again. That twisted, grating chuckle. What I wouldn't give to punch it and the smirk I know goes with it clear off his face.

I shoot back up to my feet, sick of this charade. "I don't need any help from you or your 'Mother', so get lost!"

"Is that so?" His voice sounds like he's simply musing a curiosity. "Turn around."

I hesitate a moment, not wanting to take my eyes off him, but I can feel the heat behind me intensifying. I finally turn, and what I see isn't the water tower. It's a giant, proud oak tree, balconies and windows interwoven between its massive branches. It twists as flames consume the length of its trunk, the branches slowly snapping and collapsing to the ground. The buildings around the town also seem altered, from what details can still be discerned between their charred and twisted forms.

I round back on the man and the 'woman' with him. "Why are you doing this?"

The man chuckles one final time and after a powerful gust, he appears to simply disintegrate, like dust in the wind. The form of the woman is all that's left, and two red slits of eyes appear on its otherwise indiscernable face. And that's when I hear the other voice I'm beginning to recognize, the twisted, female voice from my previous dream.

"This, my child, my imperfect vessel, is a glimpse into the nightmare of your future."

CRASH!

My eyes shoot open. What the hell just happened?

The library. Twilight returned last night and told us to make ourselves welcome another night. then immediately stumbled up the stairs to bed. I remember that. The library is filled with the glow of morning light, and I see Trixie's head poking up from her fort of pillows and blankets. I trail her vision along the library wall and to the staircase leading to Twilight's room, where at the bottom, said unicorn is a heep of hooves, shaking her head off and groaning.

"Are you okay, Sparkle?" A bleary-eyed Trixie asks, her mask of disdain weak this morning and a surprising amount of care for another living being seeping through.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." Twilight shakes her head slowly to clear it as she gets to her feet, then yawns. "Just... not enough sleep last night..." Her eyes droop, but land on a roll of parchment on the floor. "Oh, that's right, that's why I came down so quickly! Princess Celestia wants us to bring Cloud to Canterlot. She said it's urgent so I came down here as soon as I finished reading the letter and then... heh, heh..." She trails off, laughing nervously.

"Why do the Princesses speak so casually with you, Sparkle?" Uh-oh.

"Well, um," Twilight Sparkle stammers, likely thinking the same thing I am, "you see, remember how I said yesterday that I hatched Spike as part of my entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns?"

"Mhmm." Trixie nods. "Trixie also enrolled there for a time, yet she is not heralded by Princesses as if they were her drinking buddies."

"Well..." Twilight looks anywhere besides Trixie, the incoming nuclear unicorn meltdown palpable in the air, "after I hatched Spike, Princess Celestia became so impressed with my magical potential as a foal that... she... maybe... might have made me her personal student!" Twilight drops and throws her hooves over her face, expecting a blow up that... never comes.

Instead, Trixie merely narrows her eyes at the lavender unicorn and sighs. "Little about you surprises Trixie anymore, Sparkle." Now I'm getting worried. This isn't the bolsterous blue ball of ego I met back in the Everfree Forest. Trixie shakes off her blankets and gets to her hooves. "Will young Spike make us those delicious pancakes again before we set out?"

"You bet I will!" Spike makes his way down the stairs, having heard the tail end of their conversation. "Compliments will get you everywhere with Spike the Dragon... as long as you keep remembering his name." The small dragon darts from the stairwell to the kitchen, off to perform the same routine as yesterday morning sans one plate worth of pancakes.

Twilight looks from Spike, to the Trixie, to the kitchen, then back to Trixie, a question forming on her lips, but clearly not sure she wants to ask it with how 'good' this morning is going.

Trixie, however, picks up on the unaired question, and answers it for her. "Trixie cannot allow her assistant to go to Canterlot untended, your presence is required, and Trixie assumes you would not leave young Spike alone in this library of yours, would you not?"

Twilight goes to reply, but decides against it, going with a short nod instead. "Yeah, that's right."

The two unicorns make their way over to the table, Twilight levitating out some form of morning reading along with her, and sit across from each other. I take the seat to Trixie's left and lean in, whispering to her.

"You okay?" I ask once I'm sure Twilight is sufficiently engrossing herself in her reading.

"Trixie is... fine, Dusk." She replies in an equally hushed tone.

"People who pause before saying fine usually aren't fine."

"It's nothing." She insists. "Please, Dusk." Her eyes are turned down to the table, distantly looking at her hooves.

"...Fine." There's no point pressing it. at least not with Twilight and Spike present. I look to Twilight, wondering why she hasn't picked up on this herself, and see her droopingly half-conscious despite her nose being buried in her book. Explains that, I suppose.

We sit in relative silence after that and I mull over what I can remember from the dream earlier. I push my thoughts towards the things I saw - the man, the town - as well as my new memories of that girl, Tifa. My inability to push through whatever wall caused my head to ring during the dream makes my eyes travel to Twilight.

Am I being too stubborn about this? It's not like I resist the memories when they return on their own. What's the difference between remembering normally and letting a small, magical horse just give them back? Did I really block out everything, just to avoid a single memory? There's also whatever appears to be controlling the creatures. This thing the man called 'Mother'. Can it also manipulate my memory, like Twilight Sparkle? Is it why I'm like this now? If only I could confront it or the man outside of a dream and get some answers...

"Aaaand breakfast is served!" Spike calls, pulling me out of my thoughts as he juggles the four plates of pancakes - this time one in each hand, one on his head, and one on his tail. His balance is impressive. He sets three of the sets down and turns to Twilight, seeing her nearly passed out in her book. "Twilight? Are you okay?" He asks, shaking her gently with one claw as she snaps out of her half-lidded trance.

"I-I'm fine, Spike. Just tired." She pushes the book to the side and grips the last plate in her magic, pulling the pancakes in front of her and shifting her magic over to the utensils.

"I'll, uh, get you some tea, Twilight." Spike begins walking back into the kitchen, but can't help but give up a loud yawn and scratch at his back, finally betraying his own exhaustion. "Man, I'd kill for some coffee instead of this tea junk."

You and me both, brother.

As Twilight begins eating, she levitates a paper to her left side, and begins writing on it as she chews. "So... on Cloud's Canterlot Checklist, we have..." That name makes me cringe internally. She clearly has a fascination with cheesy alliteration if she's willing to call it that.

"Do we really need a checklist?" I ask. I don't know quite what goes into visiting these Princesses on what I assume is their home turf but we... wait, this is Twilight Sparkle.

"Well... I suppose not... unless you guys want to tour the city afterward..." Twilight trails off, apparently exhaustion curbing her need to listify existence. "Though, on the train, I do need to talk to you about what Princess Luna and I learned from those diamond dogs that saved Rarity!" She turns down, scribbling the single point onto her list. "I'll also need to talk to Princess Celestia about it, but it'll give us something to talk about on the train ride."

"Here's your tea, Twilight." Spike returns, slipping the small cup next to the unicorn.

"Thanks, Spike, I really need it." Twilight gives him a smile and grasps the cup in her magic, taking a small sip.

"Here, I got you guys some too." He sets another pair of cups down in front of Trixie and myself, then finally takes his own seat, a fourth cup held in his claws. He sips at it then wrinkles his snout, clearly not a fan of the drink, but needing it about as badly as everybody else.

I turn down to my own and slip a finger under the handle, pulling it up to me and taking a small sip. Completely dark, and with copious amounts of sugar. Not how I think anyone sitting at this table normally takes it, but clearly meant as a wake-up drink and not a pleasure drink.

As the drink starts working its magic, though, I begin feeling a dull throbbing in my left arm, near the bite mark that Fluttershy went to the trouble of re-wrapping. It didn't bother me at all yesterday, but taking my best attempt at an inconspicuous look at it, I can see the blackness from the bite wound is slowly making its way up my arm. It's not a lot, and if this wound hadn't been my own, I might not have noticed the small difference. Maybe I do have crazy-cthulu-chupacabra-kitten-rabies, after all. It'll be great when I can get the poncho back on and avoid the equine inquisition over it. I could go with the harlequin costume instead but... yeah, no. I like looking like a sword-wielding cowboy, anyway.

Breakfast itself is unusually silent, Twilight scribbling things down and then scratching things off her checklist indecisively. Every so often, she casts a glance at me, but pulls them away the second I notice, leaving them difficult to read. Or rather, they would be difficult to read, if I couldn't hazard a guess at exactly what she's concerned about. Despite what Princess Luna said, I imagine what I did last night is more than enough to leave your average pony more than a little uncomfortable, even if they're like Twilight and try to mask it. I catch her sending Trixie a few worry-filled glances as well, but the latter mare is too busy staring down at her slowly-disappearing pancakes to care. Twilight moves to speak a few times, but never does.

Once we've finished eating, Spike disappears with the plates back into the kitchen. Once the dragon leaves, Trixie gets up wordlessly and turns to the coat rack near the library's door, levitating her signature cape and hat over and spending a moment to set herself into them just right. She takes a few steps away from the table and turns to us, giving her cape a flourish.

"After a delicious meal from the claws of Twilight Sparkle's excellent draconic assistant, The Great and Powerful Trixie now feels ready to face this new day, filled with exciting appointments to meet the Royal Pony Sisters!"

"Um, it's only one 'appointment', Trixie, " Twilight Sparkle make the mistake of correcting her, "and technically it's not for you..."

"Any appointment for Trixie's assistant is an appointment for Trixie! That's how this works!" Her eyes turn to me. "Dusk! Tell Sparkle that's how this works!"

A sarcastic "Right..." is the only reply I can muster. Twilight and I share a look and I shrug. At least Trixie seems a bit back to normal, for now.

Twilight levitates a set of saddlebags emblazoned with her cutie mark over and stuffs it with the book she was reading before breakfast, her checklist, quills and ink, several spare pieces of paper, and finally a second book. She turns her attention to Trixie. "So Trixie, do you like reading at all? I could pack you a spare book for the trip to Canterlot, if you want."

"Trixie... would not mind a small novella to help maintain her interest during the less exciting parts of our trip, Sparkle." Trixie's voice contains some of her usual guarded superiority at last, as she turns to look at the questioning lavender mare. "Do choose something you'd personally recommend, Sparkle."

"Alright then!" Twilight gives a small smile as her horn glows again, wriggling a small book off one of the library's shelves and floating it toward us and into the bag. "What about you, Cloud?"

I begin forming an answer, but quickly remember the incident with the menu in Dodge Junction. "I'm good, thanks." Her smile falls a bit but she nods, levitating some comic books into one of the bags to fill the remaining space before closing them.

Thoughts of Dodge Junction pull me back to the incident last night, finally having a chance to dissent the events a bit. How had Beethoven's group even been there? Shouldn't he still be locked up in Appleloosa with Sheriff Silverstar? Hopefully Silverstar is alright, at least. He wasn't that bad of a guy.

"We going now, Twi?" Spike asks as the two unicorns begin grouping near the door and I take the moment to find my poncho and hat to readorn them. The harlequin outfit as well as Trixie's stage outfit from the night before are folded in a corner of the room, needing a good cleaning and a few repairs after that... incident.

"Yeah, Spike. You ready?" Twilight shoots a smile down to her 'number one' assistant. "I even packed you some comic books in case you get bored."

"Thanks, Twilight." He replies. "You think we'll be able to hang out with Cadance and Shining Armor while we're there, Twilight?"

"I'm sure our B.B.B.F.F. will find some time for us between duties, Spike, as will Cadance." Twilight assures him, while both Trixie and I look at her with raised eyebrows at that acronym. "But only after we've taken care of the letter we got from Princess Celestia."

"Right, shall we go then, Sparkle?" Trixie asks as I finally make my way over.

"Of course, Trixie, let's get going!" Twilight swings the door open with her magic and we make our way outside, first Twilight and Spike, then myself, and Trixie taking up the rear. As we exit, though, Trixie stands inside the doorway.

"Sparkle, may Trixie speak to you for a moment?" Since when does she ask for speaking permission?

"Uh... sure, Trixie?" Twilight replies, equally perplexed.

"In the library, away from our assistants, please." Trixie insists.

"Alright..." Twilight turns to Spike. "We shouldn't be long Spike, so wait with Cloud, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah..." Spike waves them off and takes a seat next to the door as the two unicorns head back inside. I sit down and lean back against the doorframe, looking up to the morning sky. It's clear, but now the faint glow of green is clearly visible during the day as well, the sunlight no longer able to completely overpower it. Looks like whatever's causing the sky to do that is still getting worse.

Spike and I sit outside for at least ten minutes in a bored silence, watching the different ponies walk back and forth as they carry on their morning rituals.

"What's taking them so long?" Spike complains as he stands up and motions at the door. "What could Trixie possibly want to talk about with Twilight that could take this long?"

"Maybe they're making out after resolving their differences and confessing their undying love for each other." Yeah, when pigs fly. I shouldn't say that, I bet pigs can fly here, somewhere...

"What? Ew! No thanks!" Spike emphasizes his point with a wretching sound. "I love Twilight, but could you imagine me living with two crazy unicorns? I can barely handle one!"

I can't help but let out a small chuckle at that thought. "Yeah, that would be a bit much." Being with Trixie is enough of an... experience, and Twilight Sparkle seems much the same in her own ways, so I can't fault the little dragon there.

"They're not... actually doing that, are they?" Spike turns to me after a moment, a look of horror on his face.

"You could look through one of the windows and find out, if you want." I remind him, pointing to the nearest window.

"But... what if they are doing that, and I see Twilight-"

"See Twilight making out with an egotistical blue unicorn who'd likely prefer Twilight licking her hooves?" I finish for him.

"Yeah, uh, that."

"Then we both know to make a run for the Everfree and learn to survive off the land." I point out with a shrug.

Spike gulps. "I suppose it could be worse..." His sentence trails off as he moves up to the nearest window and grabs the ledge with his claws, hoisting himself up. As he begins to peer through the window, there's a bright flash of light which eminates out all the bottom-floor windows and succeeds in making Spike lose his grip, sending him floundering back to the ground.

After a moment, the door bursts open, and the aforementioned egotistical blue unicorn walks out with a swagger in her step. Behind her trails her lavender companion, sporting a sheepish grin. ...I wasn't right, was I?

"Assistant! We must make way with Twilight Sparkle and her youngling for Canterlot, post-haste!" Trixie points her hoof forward, apparently back to normal.

"Trixie..." Twilight Sparkle starts, "the train station is the other way."

Trixie merely rotates to point her hoof down the opposite street, not allowing her pride to go down. "As Trixie said, to the train station!"

"You first, Supreme Excellence." I can't help but use the title she mentioned to Rainbow Dash last night, after that showing just now.

"Of course, The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie will lead you, Dusk." She begins moving forward, prompting the rest of us to follow. "She can't expect you to know your way around a pony town so soon!"

I fold my arms and peer down at her. "I'm pretty sure we've both only been here twice."

"Details, details." She says, waving me off with a hoof.

"So, Twi," Spike starts, looking up to Twilight, "what was so important between you and Trixie, anyway?"

"Important... unicorn stuff, youngling." Trixie replies as Twilight barely begins opening her mouth. "Sparkle is sworn to the secrecy that comes along with unicorn stuff, are you not, Sparkle?"

"Uhh." Twilight stammers a moment, then strokes the back of her head with one hoof. "Yeah, sorry Spike. It's not something I can talk about without Trixie's permission."

"Really, 'unicorn stuff'?" I mutter. "And I thought my family heirloom lie was pretty bad..."

Apparently Trixie overhears me, and after a moment I can feel the tug of her magic pulling my cowboy hat down and covering my eyes, followed by her distinct 'hmph'.

Chapter 23: Trains, Trains, Trains.

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Chapter 23: Trains, Trains, Trains.

The train station in Ponyville consists merely of a small boarding platform housed by a faded pink building, a two-story blue house, and a large tree. I suppose it functions well enough, considering we're the only ones waiting for a train.

"A bit empty, isn't it?" I ask, leaning against the tree.

"Yeah..." Twilight motions her head to one side and I follow it, seeing a large castle in the distance, built into a mountain. "That's Canterlot over there. It's fairly close to Ponyville, even on hoof, so a lot of people don't take the train from here unless they're transporting goods or are in a hurry. They'd rather save the bits if they can."

"Then... how do you know this train will even show, Sparkle?" Trixie asks, eyeing us both from the platform.

"It's still connected to the main rail system, Trixie." Twilight explains, turning to meet the eyes of the other unicorn. "Trains still pass through here to reach Canterlot and the conductors don't mind an extra rest stop on the way there."

"Trixie knew that." Trixie huffs in reply, realizing how obvious the answer to her question is and turning away from Twilight. "Ah, Sparkle, they have reading material here. Your favorite!"

Twilight grumbles and casts Trixie an annoyed glare as she makes her way up to the platform. "What are you talking about?"

"See here, Sparkle. They have the Canterlot Daily." Trixie levitates one of the familiar black-and-white features. "Not Trixie's favorite publication, but it's acceptable for our wait. Plus, look at the feature story."

I decide to make my way over to them as well as I see the paper change hands, or rather, hooves. If it's anything like the newspapers I'm used to, it'll at least have a picture or two, so I can have some context for whatever they'll be talking about.

"I suppose it can't hurt." Twilight comments as she unfurls the paper in front of her. "We've been so busy the last couple days, it'll be good to catch up a bit on..."

As I look over Twilight's shoulder at the paper, though, I realize I don't need said context, and why Twilight's sentence abruptly started trailing off. It's a black-and-white photo of the night sky, the Lifestream clearly visible in it despite the lack of color. Spike leans over Twilight's other shoulder from his perch on her back to look as well.

"Luna's Lustrous Lightshow Meets Sunlit Skies." Twilight says, reading the title. What? "After an initial panic two nights ago, details about Princess Luna's experimentations with the night sky have emerged." She looks between Trixie and myself with a confused expression before continuing, one the two of us share. "Official word states the green lights are Princess Luna attempting to artificially recreate the aurora effects the night and early morning skies when viewed from the far north in order to enhance the beauty of the night sky. Reports of a new banished Alicorn returning or Discord being sealed in the moon and influencing the sky from his prison are declared as hoaxes by the Crown. Ponies are encouraged not to worry and that the sky will return to its usual beauty in the days ahead, and to please be understanding as the Princesses attempt these new spells to give our days and nights added splendor."

"So that's what's been going on?" Spike asks.

"No." The remaining three of us reply simultaneously.

"This might explain why people haven't been freaking out much if they've been running stories like this." I point out. "I thought things seemed too calm after we left Dodge Junction."

"Right but, where did they get this?" Twilight continues to eye the paper curiously, skimming the remainder of the article. "We met Princess Luna the night this started. This isn't what's going on at all."

Trixie rolls her eyes. "Have you never heard of a government coverup, Sparkle?"

Now Twilight's the one to roll her eyes. "Sheesh, Trixie, don't be such a conspiracy... theorist...?" Her admonishment trails off as her eyes focus on something in particular.

"What is it?" I ask the obvious question to probe her out of her stupor.

"Yes, Sparkle, regale Trixie on why she is correct." Trixie turns to Twilight and flashes her a shit-eating grin.

"The author's name on this piece is... Sunny Days." Twilight scrunches her brow. "It could just be a coincidence, but..."

"But maybe it's secretly Princess Celestia weaving an epic tale of coverups to fool the lowly masses?" The voice of a certain pink menace rings out. I look down and both unicorns turn around to see Pinkie Pie's head sticking out of my poncho, and I immediately recoil, jumping back to make some distance.

"Pinkie!" Twilight clutches a hoof over her heart. Trixie isn't doing much better.

"Heya Twilight! Heya Trixie! Heya Spike!" The Cotton Candy Cthulu waves at the two unicorns and one dragon before rotating toward me in a way that seems abnormal even for most ponies. "Heya Grumpy Pants! Feeling any less grumpy yet?"

No.

"Assistant... why was the party pony under your cloak?" Trixie asks me, her eyes darting from myself to the merry menace.

"It's just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie." Twilight assures Trixie. "So Pinkie... what's up?"

The jubulant terror begins bouncing around the two on all fours, her legs carrying her like pogo sticks. "Well you see, I woke up this morning and realized that Trixie's come to Ponyville twice now and she's never gotten a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party. Even Cloud got one! So I went out to the library to find you guys and nobody was home so I asked around and they told me you were here so here I am!"

"Welcome to Ponyville party?" Trixie questions, eyebrow raised as her eyes follow the bouncing pony around.

"Oh, uh, about that, Pinkie..." Twilight starts, ignoring Trixie's question. "We're, well, heading up to Canterlot to take care of some stuff so we might not be back for a day or two. It's a bit of a surprise trip so I never got to tell you girls, sorry."

"Oooooh, Canterlot! Can I come? Can I come? Huh, huh?" Pinkie's bouncing continues until she finishes her questions, at which point she pops between Twilight and Trixie, wrapping her front hooves around each of their shoulders and pulling them close to her, knocking Spike off Twilight's back in the process as they're wrapped into a choking hug. Trixie looks to me and then to Twilight with a look that I can only construe as 'please have mercy'. I'm sure my expression under my hood and hat is no better.

"Sorry, Pinkie..." Twilight tries to apologize, but the term 'choking hug' is apparently far too literal of a descriptor than I realized. "We're heading to Canterlot because... the Princess wants to... speak with... Cloud..."

"Trixie... needs... air..."

"Oops! Sorry!" The Pink Strangler releases them and both unicorns fall to the floor in a heap, gasping for air. She then bounces her way over to me and I take a few steps back before realizing there is no fleeing from whatever power allows her to do the... things... she does. She then disappears behind me, somehow reappearing over my shoulder and using one of her hooves to turn my head to face her. "Got a date with the big, bad, Princess of the Sun, do ya?" Her eyes narrow and I step back, only to realize that it doesn't help at all in getting her further away from me. She then throws me a wide smile of impossibly white teeth, despite her diet of cupcakes and, well, cakes. "You lucky dog!" She somehow punches my opposite shoulder with a hoof and disappears, bouncing back out in front of us again.

Spike is standing over the pair of floored unicorns, who are still struggling to get their breath. "I think you might have overdone it a bit, Pinkie, they're still gasping."

"Bah, it'll be fine, Spike!" The Party Nightmare hops over to Spike and scoops him up in her two front hooves, standing on her back ones with even greater ease than Trixie. "I know exactly how long I can safely put someone in my Vicegrip Hug of Smiles and Friendship!" Her hooves immediately go from holding Spike up to wrapping him in a hug so tight he's making a small choking noise. I can't even say I'm surprised she names her hugs like they're cheesy wrestling moves with how they leave people after she's done.

After a moment, she drops Spike to the ground, turning to me with what on any other pony would be the most cheery and carefree expression ever devised, but on her face is just an envoy of a coming partyocalypse. "Your turn, Grumpy!"

I take a step back as she begins bouncing towards me like a pogo stick of death. "I think I'm good, thanks." I respond, knowing it's futile and taking another step back.

"Aww, come on! It's just one hug between friends!" She bounds ever-forward. "Even a Grumpy-Mc-Grump-Pants like you must like hugs!"

I continue making my way back, until I feel myself press against the tree. Stupid tree, why haven't they cut the damn thing down, already? "Really, I'd rather not..."

"Pinkie!" Twilight calls out after getting to her hooves, her breath finally regained. Trixie is shakily making her way to her hooves behind her.

"Yeah, Twilight?" The Balloon Behemoth turns her head to Twilight, smiling.

Twilight gives her head a shake to clear it. "Save the rest of the 'Vicegrip Hugs of Smiles and Friendship' for when we get back from Canterlot, please."

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" She replies and bounces her way back to Twilight, making Trixie take a few visible steps back. "Ohhh! I can give one to every pony that attends Trixie's 'Welcome to Ponyville' party! It'll be perfect!"

As we all begin contemplating the terror and potential injury of that prospect, a horn sounds in the distance, signaling the approach of the train that'll be bringing us to Canterlot.

"Looks like the train's here. Sorry, Pinkie. We need to get going now or we'll be late for meeting the Princess." And Twilight moves in for the save.

"Alright..." The Pink One replies, her ears drooping as she frowns. "See you guys when you get back!" Her mood quickly changes again as she begins hopping away from us on three hooves, the fourth waving behind her. "I'll go tell the girls about the party so it can be ready when you get back!"

Once The Pink Terror is gone, both Trixie and I release a breath I'm sure neither of us knew we were holding. "Well, that happened." I mutter.

"Quite. Trixie knew your pink friend was... eccentric... from asking her to help us with the stage performance." I'd forgotten this isn't the first time Trixie's met that one. "But that was... something else. How do you maintain a relationship with that kind of pony, Sparkle?"

"It's not always easy." Twilight admits. "However, Pinkie Pie's a really good pony whose just trying to make everyone happy. It's just that sometimes she can go a little... overboard."

"Overboard, that's what you call it." I can't help but quip as I make my way back to the landing platform with the rest of them.

"Anyway..." Twilight moves to change the topic. "The train's here, so let's get on and get going before any more surprises come up and we end up late."

"Agreed." I say as the four of us begin making our way over, flashing our tickets and boarding in the presence of a bored-looking conductor who'd been hoping for his usual empty train platform.

"Yes," Trixie says once we're all on board and begin searching for adequate seating amongst the passengers already on board from other towns, "you wouldn't want to make Princess Celestia wait on her date with you now, wouldn't you, Dusk?"

"Shut it." I grumble as we find a bench that looks comfortable and is reasonably far from the other passengers. The two unicorns taking the window seats while Spike and I take the aisle-side ones, myself unsheathing my sword and resting it on the floor between the seats so I can sit properly. "We're already doomed to getting the life choked out of us at your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party when we get back."

"Trixie didn't ask for a party!" Trixie contests. "It's not her fault!" She huffs and sets her head on one hoof, staring out the window.

Twilight groans and slaps a hoof to her face as the train begins lurching forward. Seems like the conductor prefers cutting his pit stop short now that he's sure nobody's disembarking over waiting for more passengers to show up. It gets us there a tiny bit faster, so whatever.

We spend a few minutes in awkward silence as the train picks its way up to its traveling speed, only broken by Spike asking Twilight for one of the comic books she packed. She looks at Trixie, thinking about offering the novella that's now wrapped in her magical grasp, but lets the book go, deciding not to tempt fate with the annoyed unicorn.

"So, Twilight," I start, trying to get rid of the awkward silence, "what is this about the diamond dogs you were talking about earlier?" My question causes the grumpicorn next to me to shift her head back to us. "You said you wanted to save the story for the train, after all."

"Oh, right!" Twilight reseals the saddlebag and pushes them under her seat. "You see, outside Ponyville and towards Rambling Rock Ridge there's an area that Rarity sometimes uses to find new gems for her outfits."

"Rambling Rock Ridge?" I'd ask for a map, if I had any hope of being able to read it.

"Oh! Sorry!" Twilight gives a sheepish smile and rubs the back of her head with one hoof. "Rambling Rock Ridge is this well, ridge, to the southeast of Ponyville, further out than the Everfree Forest." I give her a nod, signaling her to continue as I try to construct the map of my known landmarks of Equestria in my mind. "Like I said, it's a good spot to find new gems, apparently, which is why a tribe of diamond dogs lives there inside their burrows. Normally, they keep to themselves, outside of an... incident with Rarity a while back."

"Explains why Beethoven was so 'excited' to see her." I give a small nod, though the mention of that particular diamond dog makes Trixie shudder.

"Right... well, those diamond dogs that helped Rarity are the ones we dealt with last time. Rover, the old alpha of their pack, along with Fido and Spot."

"Old alpha?" I cut in. "So a change in control has them go from mostly self-contained to running into the nearest pony town with spears and abominations of science in cloaks?"

"Rover said that about a week ago, Beethoven came back from a gem hunt carrying a bronze sword full of gems." I shift in my seat, and I'm sure it's not lost on Twilight exactly what the diamond dog was carrying that day, as both our eyes shift down to the object on the floor between us. "He also had something else with him though. He said it was... a head." Twilight shivers, the thought clearly disgusting her.

"What?" The sword I can get, but a head?

"Yeah..." Twilight takes a moment to recover before continuing. "It wasn't a pony head or even a diamond dog head, though. He said it was a head... like yours."

"Like mine?" This is getting beyond weird, now.

"Rover saw you after you took off the harlequin mask to talk to Trixie." Twilight answers. "When we asked what kind of head he was talking about, he insisted it was like 'the big thing in the funny costume', and pointed to you and Trixie as you entered the library."

"..."

"He also said it wasn't quite the same though." Twilight continues, noticing my silence after her pause. "The skin was blue and it had a terrible smell. At first the rest of the pack tried to get Beethoven to get rid of it, but he got a weird glint in his eye and challenged Rover for position of the pack alpha in order to keep it."

"And let me guess, Beethoven won?"

"Yes." Twilight confirms. "He used the sword he found and beat Rover and his two buddies with some strange magic." She looks to me, then we both look to the floor again, and I'm sure I know exactly what she's thinking. "At first, Rover's group stayed as per the rules of when the alpha changes, but other diamond dogs began disappearing from the pack less than a day after Beethoven got leadership. So, when Beethoven left to 'get back more of the special gems' a couple days ago, as Rover put it, his group fled the burrow."

"And when they saw a pack of spear-wielding diamond dogs led by their favorite personality moving for Ponyville, they decided to come and help." I complete the story for her with its obvious conclusion.

"Yes. They didn't have any information about the things in the cloaks, though..." Twilight sighs and looks out the window for a minute before turning back. "After hearing their story, Princess Luna took the trio with her to Canterlot for safety... and I think further questioning."

"But if Beethoven is... no longer available, shouldn't Rover's group just regain control of the burrow and end it?" I ask, trying to brooch the topic tactfully for the sake of the unicorn at my side in particular.

"Princess Luna thinks there's more to it than this." Twilight replies, turning her eyes to the floor. "Many of the disturbances she's been feeling and dealing with seem to originate from the area between Rambling Rock Ridge and the Badlands." Her voice goes a bit lower, likely to avoid being overheard. "She said they're considering evacuating Dodge Junction because of how close it is to everything. Plus, even the worst kinds of diamond dog rarely act like Beethoven did last night, which is further pushing Princess Luna's suspicion."

"Sounds like everything's going to hell in a handbasket." I comment, leaning back in my seat.

"A bit crude but... I guess you could say that." Twilight turns to look out the window with a small sigh.

I then remember Princess Luna's words from when I first met her. "And according to our Lady of the Night, this all ties back to me somehow. Lovely."

Trixie turns to look at me, having been completely silent this entire conversation so far. "Sounds like you've got yourself quite a mess to deal with, Dusk."

"You might need to find yourself a different assistant, oh Great and Powerful one." I give a small laugh to punctuate my recommendation, though she probably should heed it.

"Nonsense!" Of course she won't, though. "My assistant is facing a dire time, and he clearly needs the aid of the most powerful unicorn in all of Equestria to get through it!"

"But-"

"But it'll be dangerous, blah blah blah!" Trixie says in a hopefully horrible impersonation of me. "You tried being all Mister Big Hero last time we were on a train, so you should know how much Trixie is inclined to listen to you, anyway!"

"You mean never?" I reply with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly!" She puffs up proudly in her seat.

"I don't think that's something to be proud of..." Spike grumbles over his comic book.

"You know, Trixie," Twilight says with a giggle, "in your own ways, you remind me a bit of Rainbow Dash sometimes." I can... see the resemblance, a bit, thinking about it.

Trixie raises her eyebrow. "You mean the arrogant pegasus mare with the prismatic hair?"

"Yes, that one." Twilight affirms with a smile.

"But... Trixie is not a pegasus." I... how is that a valid reply?

"So you admit you're arrogant." Despite the whiplash of Trixie's non-reply, I take the opportunity to snipe while it lasts.

"The Genuine and Humble Trixie would never boast about feats beyond her abilities." She raises her head and huffs.

I cross my arms and give her what I hope is a stern look, but I think I'm too amused for it to go through as planned. "That's both a lie and not what I said."

"It doesn't matter, anyway." Trixie waves the topic off with a hoof. "Besides, if this mare is truly of a personality similar to The Great and Powerful Trixie, that just means Sparkle has better taste in acquaintances than Trixie gave her credit for."

"Gee, thanks, Trixie." Twilight replies, rolling her eyes.

"You're welcome, Sparkle." Trixie shoots Twilight one of her patented shit-eating grins.

Twilight ignores her and turns her head out the cart window again. "Still, I want to know what's going on with the sky, and not just what they're putting in the papers." She turns to me. "Cloud, when we first met Princess Luna, she talked to you like you knew something about it."

I turn my head up to stare at the ceiling, leaning back as much as the seat will let me. "I don't know why it's happening, if that's what you're asking, Twilight."

"No, it's just that..." She looks out the window again with a small sigh. "Nevermind."

"Besides," Trixie looks to Twilight, "you've also become like Trixie, Sparkle!" The declaration makes Twilight look back to Trixie, perplexed as the azure mare continues. "Then again, Trixie supposes all unicorns would aspire to become like her, the greatest unicorn there is."

"What... are you talking about?" Twilight raises her eyebrow, the perplexion only growing.

"Oh, Magnificent Twilight Sparkle, you've become as smitten with the glamour and the applause of the stage as The Great and Powerful Trixie has!"

"What? I have not!" Twilight protests, but I can't help but smirk at her expression, that of a deer in headlights.

"Sorry, Twi, but I think Trixie's got you." Spike casually flips the page of his comic, not turning his head up. "Last time she was here you wouldn't go on stage because you were worried about ponies judging you for being better than them at magic, but this time you had no problem hamming it up."

"See, Sparkle! Even your youngling can see it!" Trixie grins in victory and holds her head up. "She doesn't blame you, though, the limelight truly can be... intoxicating."

Twilight sighs in frustration. "Yes, Spike, I was worried about that, but Trixie and I also put up a smaller show in Dodge Junction together, and I did like it, but not because of the praise." She turns her head back up to Trixie. "Sorry, maybe we're just different, but I was enjoying making all those ponies smile, not enjoying them praising me. That, and, having someone to perform magic with was kind of... fun."

"Ah, Trixie has heard of other performers enjoying their acts for... those reasons." Trixie replies, the last two words coming out with a pause and a judgmental tone. "Though, do you not have other unicorns to practice magic with? The dressmaker?"

"Rarity really isn't into that sort of thing." Twilight answers. "She could be a really strong unicorn if she wanted to be, magically speaking, but she's just... not interested. She prefers making things beautiful, if her cutie mark wasn't a hint."

"That's... too bad." Trixie muses.

"I guess it's a good thing there's another unicorn available to help with that now." I say, and as I look back down from the ceiling I can see Spike glaring daggers at me from over the top of his comic book.

Trixie snaps to the side to look at me, but after a moment to collect herself, puts a hoof to her chin in faux-deliberation, realizing the opening I've made for her. "Well... The Great and Powerful Trixie supposes having a magical foil is important, and she cannot think of another unicorn more fitting of the title second-strongest unicorn in Equestria than The Magnificent Twilight Sparkle." Her eyes move from myself to Twilight with a smug grin.

Twilight rolls her eyes, a gesture I'm sure she's getting used to doing on loop with Trixie around. "Yes, Trixie, we can be friends." She replaces the eyeroll with a smile.

"See, was that so hard, Trixie?" I turn to face the azure mare to find her scowling at me.

"Be happy we're on public transportation and Trixie lacks an object to launch into your general direction, Dusk."

"You know," Twilight cuts in, "neither of you ever said how you two became friends, anyway."

"Well-" I should know better than to try talking.

"Dusk met Trixie while she was traveling along the rail-line to Appleloosa in her attempt to begin a return showcase." She puffs up and pushes a hoof to her chest as she tells her tall tale. "He became so enamored with Trixie's skill at performance and illusory craft that he pledged himself to her as her assistant, and so we traveled forth to Appleloosa and then to Dodge Junction, whereupon we met you, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight looks to me with a confused glance that I barely notice with how far my face is buried in my hand at that timeline of events. I shake my head, not even bothering to correct anything that just spawned from the warped fantasy that is Trixie's mind.

"Well... that's good." Twilight tries her best to hold a smile.

"Quite." Trixie keeps up her confident demeanor, unphased by Twilight.

"Do you have any other friends?" The visual of the lavender unicorn bumbling her way into a minefield is the most apt comparison I can think of for where this conversation is going.

"Of course Trixie does!" She flicks her mane with the hoof that was against her chest. "They're just... in Manehatten. And busy. Very busy. Showbusiness busy, you know, Sparkle."

Twilight seems to catch on to the longest 'no' in recorded history and her ears fall for a moment, but she puts her happy face back on to try and convince Trixie she hadn't noticed the subtext. "That's too bad."

"It is but the life of a showmare." Trixie replies, deflating slightly despite her attempts to keep up her act. "Trixie is used to it. It's why she agreed to have an assistant. Assistants are also but the life of a showmare." She gives me a sidelong glance, and my snarky reply gets caught in my throat. Her eyes reflect neither her stage confidence or her glare, they're... I'm not entirely sure.

The moment doesn't appear to be lost on Twilight, though, as when I turn my eyes from the azure mare to the lavender one, she's smiling like an idiot. For a while after that, the only sounds in our cart are Spike flipping through the pages in his comic book and grumbling about 'stupid mushy stuff'.

Chapter 24: That's Not How Anything Works, Trixie.

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Chapter 24: That's Not How Anything Works, Trixie.

The bell whistles once more as the train rolls into what I presume to be Canterlot, based on how everyone else is packing up their books, Trixie having taken the novella Twilight brought for her at some point during the trip. We file out of the train and the first thing I notice is the stark difference between Canterlot and Ponyville... or, more accurately, Canterlot and every other town I've been to so far. Where Ponyville relies on straw and wood for most things, Canterlot is a city of bricks, with multi-story buildings and storefronts being commonplace, unlike the one-story houses and stands that are commonly used in Ponyville. From what I can see at the train station, the general motif appears to be whites with gold trims, with blends of purples, pinks, and blues for roofs, ornaments, canopies, etc. The roads are paved, with wide streets for the pony-drawn carriages I can already see travel them.

"Cloud?" Twilight Sparkle snaps me out of my gawking.

"Just... sightseeing." I tell her, taking one more moment to appreciate the city before turning my sights down to the unicorns and dragon I'll be relying on to not get lost.

"We can do that after we've finished talking to the Princess." Twilight replies, opening her saddlebag and levitating out her checklist. "It's on the list, after all!"

"Must you truly itemize everything, Sparkle?" Trixie asks skeptically, looking at the levitating paper and its bulletpoints.

"Of course! It's the best way to stay organized, after all." Her gaze shifts from Trixie to Spike. "And yes, Spike, I wrote in a trip to Donut Joe's on the way back."

"Yes!" Spike fist pumps the air.

"You also like Donut Joe's, youngling?" Trixie asks, looking at Spike with an expression that could almost be mistaken for friendly were anyone else wearing it. "That establishment has always been one of Trixie's favorites when she's visiting Canterlot."

Twilight gives Spike a friendly smile. "Looks like you two have something in common after all, Spike."

Spike huffs and crosses his arms. "She just has good taste in food, that's all."

Trixie quickly turns away from the dragon, delaying the smallest moment before sticking her head in the air in her usual egotistical fashion. "Of course Trixie has good taste in foods! One cannot be Great and Powerful without the best of cuisines to fuel their bodies!"

Twilight turns to Trixie and narrows her eyes in annoyance. "I don't think Donut Joe's place counts as the 'best of cuisines', Trixie."

"That's because you're so obsessed with that 'health' stuff, Twi." Spike responds, letting his claws fall back to his side as he looks up at Twilight. "I think this morning proved real energy is caffeine and sugar."

"Wise beyond your years, young Spike." Trixie nods approvingly, finally showing she still remembers his name. "It's not the nutritional value of a meal that matters, its the meal's ability to put you in the proper state of mind that's most important!"

Twilight quickly echos the thoughts my mind is trying to process. "What? That's not how that works at all, Trixie! Don't tell Spike stuff like that!"

Trixie, of course, ignores her. "Come! Let us march forward! Donut Joe's awaits!"

I fold my arms under my poncho, deciding now's the time to stop watching the train wreck in progress and start participating in it. "Trixie, even I think it's probably not the best idea to make royalty that can move the sun wait."

"Yeah, plus, we've been over this," Twilight cuts in, "Donut Joe's is at the end of the checklist, not the start!"

"What's it matter if we stray from a silly old list, Sparkle?" Trixie replies, ignoring my disagreement entirely and waving her hoof dismissively at Twilight. "But... Trixie supposes you are right. A treat like Donut Joe's would be nicer on our return, so that we can enjoy our meal without the pressure of other commitments."

"And that's why it's at the end of the list." Twilight declares cheerfully as she grabs Spike in her magic, levitating him onto her back as she begins leading us down one of the main roads, and towards what is quite obviously the castle with how it towers over the rest of Canterlot. "Now let's get going, the faster we get to the Princess, the faster you two can have your Donut Joe's."

Trixie falls into march behind Twilight, with myself taking up the rear. "Trixie supposes it would be rude to make a Princess wait. It's not every day a ruler of Equestria finds the time to bask in Trixie's majesty."

Twilight and I both sigh, neither of us having the energy left to want to correct her yet again.

As we make our way down the bustling city streets, I begin noticing that my brilliant disguise isn't useful at preventing ponies from staring here. I suppose a cowboy outfit doesn't work when the setting changes from the Wild West to the inner city. I also begin noticing an odd trend with the citizens of the city.

"Why are there so many unicorns?" I ask, genuinely curious. Ponyville seems to have a mixed population, while Appleloosa and Dodge Junction are heavily earth pony based as they're terraforming projects, as far as I understand. Why would what I'm presuming is the capital of Equestria be primarily unicorn?

Twilight turns her head and opens her mouth to speak, but as usual, Trixie is faster, "Canterlot is home to much of Equestria's high-society, Dusk. It just happens that Equestria's upper-crust is mostly unicorns, like yours truly."

Twilight rolls her eyes in annoyance. "It's a lot more complicated than that, Trixie." She turns to me. "When the pony tribes united and formed Equestria, there were a lot of settlements that included all three tribes, working in harmony. However, there were and still are several cities that, for their own reasons, are still made up almost entirely of one kind of pony. You've seen Appleloosa and Dodge Junction, which rely on the unique skills of earth ponies. There's a similar city in the sky called Cloudsdale, made up entirely of pegasus, and the main city of the unicorns is Canterlot."

"What's so special about Canterlot to unicorns?" I ask, deciding that the question of a city in the sky could wait until the information is relevant.

"A few reasons." Twilight replies, her switch flipped to full lecture mode now. "Firstly, being on a mountain, it was both easily defensible with magic back when Equestria was more dangerous, and the land itself wasn't useful as farmland for earth ponies. Secondly, Canterlot is..." she pauses, giving a small shudder before continuing, "Canterlot is built upon a network of caves and mines containing crystals known for augmenting unicorn magic. The caves themselves have been closed off for centuries now, but there are still records of the crystals being used to enhance spells throughout Equestria's early history."

"Crystals that enhance magic, hmm?" The Trixie Machine's gears are turning. "Imagine what Trixie's show could be like if supplemented by something like that!"

"We are not sneaking into a cave that's been condemned for centuries to steal a piece of rock, Trixie." I glare at the back of her hat as she huffs.

"What kind of assistant are you?" She turns her head to return my glare. "Won't even help Trixie improve her shows!"

I shake my head. "I don't think spending time in royal prison for trying to steal magic rocks will improve your show, Trixie."

"It's only illegal if you get caught." She replies, turning her vision back to the road and succeeding in even making Spike slap a claw to his forehead.

"That's not how the law works either, Trixie." Twilight admonishes her, though it's more like a grumble. "Where did you even learn these things?"

Trixie shrugs. "I'm a showmare, Sparkle, I've spent more time in Las Pegasus than I care to admit."

"Do we want to know what you were doing there?" I ask, remembering her remark about the city from the day I met her.

"No! We don't!" Twilight cuts in as Trixie gives her a sideways smirk. "We are so not having this conversation in front of Spike!"

"Why not, Twilight?" Spike asks, leaning over to one side from his position on her back to look at her directly. "It's not like I don't know what stealing is."

"Sparkle believes it involves other topics not suitable for young dragons." Trixie replies nonchalantly. "Though Trixie shall leave the truth of that up to Sparkle's imagination."

She gives Twilight another sideways smirk as the lavender mare shakes her head. I, meanwhile, go back to burying my face into my palm, wondering if it's even worth taking it back out while Trixie's around.

After a few moments of silence, I decide it's safe to let my face have its freedom from my palm and notice the castle is a lot closer now. Uniform-looking white ponies in golden armor are becoming commonplace to see in small numbers, who I imagine are the castle guards. The similar look between the guards is a bit... offputting, as it carries even between pony races, given how colorful and unique-looking ponies tend to be on average. They're also looking at me with a stoic scrutiny compared to the judgmental curiosity of the citizens, but a smile and a wave from Twilight is usually enough to make any that consider approaching to change their mind. Trixie, meanwhile, is playing up the attention as always, flicking her mane and holding her head high, doing her best to look impressive.

We reach an open but guarded gate, Twilight getting us through with a quick talk to the guards and a flash of the letter she received this morning with the Princess' seal. Past the gate is a courtyard area leading up to the castle proper, but we're stopped before we make it that far. What stops us, however, isn't one of the usual castle guards, but a large, white unicorn stallion with a two-tone blue mane, wearing a unique and ornate gold-and-purple armor, the matching helmet levitating at his side.

"Hey, Twily!" He calls over, waving to us and causing Twilight and soon the rest of us to stop as he approaches.

"Hey, B.B.B.F.F.!" Twilight and 'B.B.B.F.F.' share a hug as he rests his helmet on the ground, the latter then reaching his left hoof up and sharing a claw... hoof... whatever bump with Spike.

"Hey there, bro." Spike says as he jumps down from Twilight's back, leaving her to some space with the white stallion hugging her.

"Hey, little man."

Trixie looks at them with a raised eyebrow. "What's a 'B.B.B.F.F.', Sparkle?" Trixie asks. "You used this expression when talking to the youngling back in Ponyville as well."

"Oh!" She turns to Trixie and smiles, still holding the white unicorn. "It means 'Big Brother Best Friend Forever'."

"Why is Trixie not surprised by your corniness?" She asks rhetorically, her eyes looking over the stallion now identified as Twilight's older brother. "There is a resemblance, Trixie supposes. She can see how a lineage of your caliber would be worthy of the Royal Guard." Well, that's not going to leave a bad first impression at all, Trixie.

'B.B.B.F.F.' looks from Trixie to Twilight with an understandably raised eyebrow. "So, Twily, who is...?" He asks the half-completed question, motioning to Trixie.

"Ah! Shiny, that's my new friend, Trixie." Twilight introduces, finally pulling away from her brother.

"That is the Grrrreat and Powerful Trixie, Sparkle." Trixie corrects, sweeping her hat off her head with one hoof and entering a deep introductory bow.

"Uh, yeah..." Twilight looks between 'Shiny' and Trixie, "Trixie can be a little... well, Trixie, but she's a good mare at heart. I think. Maybe..." Sometimes I wonder about that, Twilight.

"Ah, right..." 'Shiny' gives a nervous laugh before continuing. "Well, I'm Shining Armor." He turns from Twilight to Trixie as he talks, the latter replacing her hat on her head. "Captain of the Royal Guard here in Canterlot."

"The pleasure of meeting Trixie is certainly all y..." Trixie stops for a minute, something registering in her mind mid-sentence. "Wait, did you say Captain of the Royal Guard?"

"Uhhh, yeah." Shining Armor replies, rubbing the back of his head with one hoof and giving another nervous chuckle. Modesty must run in the family.

Trixie looks between Shining Armor and Twilight for a moment. "Next you'll tell Trixie that your sister is a Princess, Sparkle."

"Uh, well..." Twilight gives a sheepish smile and a nervous laugh. "Does sister-in-law count?"

"What?" Trixie raises a confused eyebrow and looks between the two again, her voice a couple octaves higher than a few moments ago. I should've spent our time walking through the Canterlot streets looking for a store that sells earplugs, because I can already tell what's coming.

"Well," Twilight starts, "do you remember the Royal Wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza that happened not long ago?"

"Trixie... vaguely remembers such an event." She replies, eyes finally settling on Shining Armor.

Shining Armor, for his part, bows in a manner similarly to how Trixie introduced herself, smirking. "The groom to Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, at your service, Miss Trixie."

Twilight gently punches Shining Armor in one of his shoulders. "Stop that already!"

"It's just a little fun, Twily." He replies, turning to his sister with a grin.

"Dusk." Trixie says flatly after a few blinks. "Get Trixie a chair. She requires sitting."

"I'm not getting you a chair." I look down at the side of the azure unicorn, who replies by simply sitting on the ground where she's standing. At least it wasn't the existant-shattering shrieking of an untamed banshee that I've become so accustomed to.

"How is Cadance, anyway, Shiny?" Twilight asks, turning the topic away from Trixie's stunned silence. "I'm suprised she wasn't here with you waiting for us."

"Ah, right," Shining Armor looks apologetically at his sister, "I wasn't actually waiting for you, Twily. Princess Celestia said someone would be coming to see her today and she wanted me to handle the situation personally." His eyes move from Twilight to me. "I'm guessing the friend you still haven't introduced me to is who she was talking about."

"Quite!" Trixie interjects, getting back to her hooves and pulling herself out of her stupor. "Trixie and her assistant indeed have an appointment to see Her Majesty Princess Celestia."

Shining Armor gives her a confused glance before letting his eyes move to me, eventually locking with my own from where they're visible beneath the poncho. "You'll need to remove the hood." He says, the playful tone he had with Twilight gone, replaced with practiced professionalism. "I shouldn't need to explain why we can't let people who won't show their face have audiences with the Princess."

It's not worth arguing so I oblige him, pulling back the hood so that the cowboy hat rests at the back of my neck, held in place by the tie under my chin. If there's any reaction from him to me being some unknown race of creature to Equestria, he doesn't let it show. Our eyes simply remain locked, sizing each other up as a tense silence passes.

"I can't allow weapons in the presence of the Princess, either." He says after a moment, despite his eyes never moving down to where my sword is kept. He's either really good or well informed.

I reach my hand back, grasping the hilt of my sword and sliding it out, burying the blade in the grass next to me, leaving the weapon clearly visible. "I can't give this up, sorry." I grip the hilt firmly, protectively, in case he should try to use his unicorn magic to force the situation.

"Shiny..." Twilight starts, "is this really necessary?"

"Sorry, sis, it's regulation." He replies, not taking his eyes away to look at her. "I'll ask you again. Surrender your weapon, please."

"Not happening." I reply again.

"Dusk, we're drawing a crowd." Trixie states as I see her hat bobbing around in the bottom of my vision as she looks around, a single of the generic white-colored guards approaching behind Shining Armor telling me what's got Trixie spooked. "Can't you just give him the dumb sword already? Trixie would prefer not being tossed in the dungeon because her assistant is stubborn!"

"It's quite alright, Shining Armor." A somewhat familiar, female voice says as I hear the flap of wings and see ornately-garbed hooves move in to land a bit behind Shining Armor, finally causing me to break gaze with him.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight runs to her with Spike trailing not far behind, as the gathered guards in the field sans Shining Armor bow.

"Princess." Shining Armor says, his gaze still unmoving even now. "We both know I can't allow this as head of the Royal Guard. It would be reckless endangerment."

"Yes, it would." The Princess gives a small, amused laugh as she walks forward. "Just tell anyone who asks that I was feeling like living life 'on the edge' a bit today." She turns to Twilight and Spike. "That's what all the kids call it these days, right, Spike?"

Spike shrugs. "Eh, close enough."

Shining Armor finally turns to meet her gaze, clearly frustrated. "I apologize for speaking frankly, Princess, but why entrust me with the duty of overseeing this visit's safety concerns personally if you intend to overturn my judgment regarding it?"

"I apologize, Shining Armor." The Princess bows her head slightly. "I didn't mean to belittle your judgment. It is just that our situation is urgent, so time is of the essence. Please accompany us as well if you are uncomfortable with my decision."

Shining Armor simply nods and gives me and my sword a final glance before walking to the Princess' side, silently accepting her invitation.

"So what was so urgent, Princess?" Twilight asks now that the tension of the situation has mostly subsided.

"Ah, My Faithful Student." Princess Celestia raises her head, looking up to the clouds. "I believe I need not explain that the sky is blue and not green, yes?"

"Trixie takes this to mean you shall regale us with the truth then, Sunny Days?" Trixie asks, exhibiting an unusual level of trademark boldness and snark in front of a Princess.

Celestia looks down at the magician and gives her a soft smile. "Of a sort, my little pony. It's refreshing to see a subject act so casually with me."

Trixie immediately bows in reply, realizing what she had done. "The Humble and Servile Trixie deeply apologizes, Your Majesty Princess Celestia!"

The Princess sighs, the slightest bit of disappointment escaping. "Rise, little one. I was not joking. I find it comforting when others are able to ignore my status and speak frankly, as Shining Armor did before."

"Yes, Princess." Trixie gives a small nod and rises, collecting herself.

"So, why am I here?" I finally speak up, pulling my sword from the ground and returning it to its sheath. "I can't imagine you believe I literally made the sky stop being blue."

"Not quite, Cloud." She replies, turning her head to me. "Though I do believe that even with your... limited memories, what I intend to explain will hold the most relevance to you."

"...Not interested." I reply after a moment, earning a sour look from Twilight in the process.

"I do believe you will be, Cloud." Celestia replies, cutting off an open-mouthed Twilight before anything can escape her lips. "It also concerns the creatures that have hounded you incessantly until now."

"How do you know so much?" I ask, still gauging how much I can trust the Sun Princess after our previous encounter.

"There are a great many things I don't know, Cloud." She replies. "However, when you measure your age in millenia, your knowledge can't help but become unusually vast." She waits a moment, and when I don't voice further protest, she continues. "Let us head inside first. Business like this is better conducted indoors."

Chapter 25: Stratospheric Basketweaving.

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Chapter 25: Stratospheric Basketweaving.

The six of us - Trixie, Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor, Princess Celestia, Spike, and myself - walk along a hall of stained glass windows. Twilight, in her efforts to break the silence, begins explaining different images she finds noteworthy - how each signifies a hallmark event in Equestrian history. I nod absentmindedly as we walk, not really focusing on what she's saying, the attention I would usually reserve for trying to understand her information dumps taken up by my turning over what the Princess intends to speak of.

It feels like we've walked through the castle for ages by the time we reach what appears to be our destination - two large doors emblazoned with Celestia's symbol of the sun, flanked by guards on either end. With a few words from the Princess and Shining Armor, the two guards leave and the latter timidly opens the doors with his magic, revealing a large room with a massive poster-bed. Along a wall are ponnequins adorned with a mix of armor, dresses, and other Celestia-sized regal attire. A corner houses a desk and a stocked bookcase. On the far wall is a massive, again Celestia-sized set of draped windows that reach down to the floor, essentially like glass doors that lead to a balcony with a telescope.

"My personal quarters." Celestia states, in case anyone is still questioning it. "The best place for us to find privacy from everyone in the castle, save my dear sister."

"But why bring us here?" Shining Armor asks, looking around uncomfortably. "Wouldn't the throne room be better?"

"Perhaps." She replies, turning around and giving him a smirk. "But then I wouldn't get to see you fidget like this, would I?" Her question is punctuated with a disarming, playful giggle.

He locks eyes with her, his expression changing from uncomfortable to unapproving. "I thought this was serious, Princess."

"It is." She replies, the playful demeanor making way for a serious one. "And we are here for a reason." She walks toward the window-door-thing, pulling the curtains wide open. "Come here, everyone." She waits for us all to approach as instructed, stepping out into the balcony before continuing. "As I said before, it should be common knowledge to all here that the sky is blue and not green." Princess Celestia then turns to me. "Might you inform us the name those of your world give the green mist across our skies, Cloud?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." I reply quickly.

Celestia sighs and shakes her head. "My sister and I do communicate, Cloud. I already said that I do not intend to incriminate you."

"..." I take a minute to look up at the sky, debating my options. "From what I remember, it's called the Lifestream. The essence of the planet - all the souls of once-living things waiting to be reborn - coalesced into a stream that flows deep under the surface of the planet. Hence the name."

"So it's from your world then, Cloud?" Twilight asks, looking up at the out-of-place Lifestream in the sky from our place on the balcony.

"Not quite, my Student." Celestia replies. "Equestria, and all other life-bearing planets, have their own 'Lifestream'." Celestia pauses for a moment, giving a small sigh as she seems to get lost in an old memory. "Long ago, we had our own names for it, that would change with the ages, but the knowledge of its existence for most eventually became lost to history. Our world is special though, my dear Twilight." She then turns to me before continuing. "To you, Cloud, the ability of my sister and I to move celestial bodies like the sun and moon across the skies must seem impossible."

"You're... not wrong." I reply, wondering where this is going.

"And you'd be correct, as we don't perform such feats." She turns her head back to the sky. "At least, not in the way you must believe we do. Surely you have noticed it at night, where you can look directly at my sister's moon."

"You mean how the Lifestream wraps behind the moon and stars instead of in front of them?"

"Yes." She nods, as everyone's eyes turn to her. "As I said, our world is special, as far as my attempts to research have found." Celestia turns to address everyone. "As Cloud said, his world - and most others - bear their 'Lifestream' beneath the surface of their planet. Our planet, however, is far smaller than most, yet still has its own Lifestream. So, our Lifestream instead wrapped our planet, much like a blanket or a cocoon, insulating it from the universe outside as it brought life into being. That life, in turn, used its unusual connection to its Lifestream to create a facimile of the outside world - a sun, a moon, the stars in the sky, and the many other things needed to maintain life. This is what Luna and I, as well as those who came before and those who will come after, manipulate. It is how we appear to move the celestia bodies across the sky, and create what we consider to be beautiful skies for everyone living below. Those things are merely projections cast on the Lifestream, or, as I was taught to call it, the Weave, as in its natural state, it appears like an embroidery across the sky for us to embellish as we wish."

I shoot her a sideways look and turn back to the sky again, my mind still attempting to process the strange mechanics of this world. "So, you're not an all-powerful god-pony that throws the sun around like a soccer ball?"

Celestia lets out a small chuckle. "Make no mistake, Cloud, what we do still requires immense power." She pauses for a moment, thinking before speaking again. "Can you show me the weapon you had out back in the courtyard?"

I give her a nod as Shining Armor's eyes dart from between myself and Celestia, his body tensing the slightest bit. "Very well." I say and draw the weapon and rest it against the balcony railing, allowing the Princess to get a good look at it.

She moves in, lowering her head to examine the row of Materia shining along the blade, her brow scrunching in thought for a moment before she pulls back. "As I thought when I saw the weapon before. These gemstones along the blade, they appear modified, but at their core, they are crystalized pieces of 'Lifestream' from your planet, are they not?"

I nod affirmatively. "They're called Materia." I reply. "Processed Lifestream that allows their owner to access lost knowledge from the past and utilize it as what my world refers to as 'magic'."

Celestia lets out a sad sign as I explain the origin of Materia to her, her eyes scanning back and forth along the row of gems. "Processed... your world isn't a pleasant place, is it?"

"Can't say." I reply honestly, as many pieces are still lost to me.

After a small, silent moment, Celestia continues. "The fact that the Weave wraps our planet in such a way is why magic is commonplace, be it among ponies or any number of other creatures. We are able to create a stronger connection to the essence behind the planet, allowing even raw emotions, such as Laughter or Loyalty, to become power."

"You mean, the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asks, looking up at her teacher.

"Yes, Twilight." Celestia nods. "Any emotion, when strong enough and pure enough, can bear power, such as when my sister became the jealousy-fueled Nightmare Moon." Nightmare Moon? "But the emotions that fuel friendship - no, fuel Harmony - are the strongest, as they resonate and easily gain power from the hearts of many."

"But... if that's the case, why have the Elements of Harmony at all?" Twilight tilts her head slightly, clearly trying to answer the question in her mind for herself before Celestia's even attempted an answer.

"Because, my dear student..." Celestia closes her eyes, thinking. "The easiest way to explain it, is to compare it to Cloud's 'Materia'. The emotions - the feelings, thoughts, and dreams that power Harmony - they have power, but the gems that make up the Elements of Harmony draw them out, make them greater. It wouldn't be entirely wrong to say the Elements draw out pure feelings, and turn them into miracles." Turn feelings... into miracles? Could something like that actually exist?

Twilight merely nods, her face clearing displaying her mulling the new information over in her brain.

"But, Princess Celestia," Trixie starts, after being unusually silent for so long, "why is Trixie able to see this 'Lifestream' or 'Weave' or whatever it is in the sky the last couple days, but not before then?"

"An excellent question, little one." Celestia gives her a small smile before turning back to the sky. "And one not as easily answered. Normally, only those able to manipulate the Weave are able to perceive its existence as part of the projection that displays our skies. This is a safety measure devised far before my time in order to inhibit those who may utilize it for harm. Some beings, such as Discord, are able to perceive and access its power despite this, but for most it is an effective safeguard." She then takes a minute and turns to me. "However, these last few days, this safeguard is becoming quickly eroded, despite the efforts of both Luna and myself to counteract this damage. This is where I believe Cloud factors in." I turn to say something, but she catches me with a glance of her own. "Not like that, as I've said."

"Then what is it, already?" I ask, beginning to get irritated.

"I'm... not entirely sure." The Princess admits. "The odd behaviours that have resulted in the sky's current state and the nightly monster attacks occurring across Equestria do both coincide with your arrival here. However..." She turns away from the balcony and begins walking back into her chambers. "As should be obvious to you by now, you are not the only new entity within Equestria's borders. The other presence, the one which my dear sister combats during her normally peaceful nights, appears to be inextricably linked to you in some way."

I give her another sideways glare as I lean against the balcony's railing. "Is this the part where you tell me to shove my forehead against Twilight's horn and let her use magic to fiddle around with my brain?"

The Princess merely turns to me and laughs. "That's certainly one way of putting things." She says, before becoming serious once more. "But, yes. We don't know whether your missing memories contain anything we may use to fight Equestria's current threat. Nor do we know if you will even continue to remain our ally as more of those memories return... or become a threat in your own right."

"Dusk is no threat to Equestria!" Trixie bursts in reply, moving to place herself between myself and the Princess. "He's Trixie's friend!" Despite a pair of dumb-looking smirks from the Princess and Twilight and a snigger from Spike, however, she holds her ground.

"I can see that quite plainly, my little pony." Celestia replies after a moment. "However, this is a situation that requires the utmost in both caution and haste, so please understand. There is a reason beyond the activities my sister tries so desperately to thwart that demand us to vanquish this other presence from our planet."

Trixie shudders. "What could be worse than the abominable cloaked creatures and demonic chupacabra creatures that Trixie has already endured?"

Celestia's gaze turns up, back out the window and toward the sky. "The reason that the Weave has become visible is because of whatever creature lurks out there. Since its arrival, its somehow been pulling energy from the Weave down from the sky and consuming it. Each day it becomes stronger and consumes more, making the delicate fabric that wraps around our planet ever more unstable. Plus, as Cloud said... the Weave is essentially the life-force of the planet and all the creatures on it awaiting reincarnation, so the more it eats, the more once-departed souls may never again be reborn to walk our planet. And once it eats enough, our planet will simply... die."

When put that way, even I gave a small shudder. Whatever this other creature is - it's essentially plucking creatures out of the afterlife and eating them to become stronger. A pretty gruesome thought...

"It still seems to be weak at this stage." Celestia continues, after giving everyone a moment to process this information. "If we move quickly enough, the damage should be minimal, and it should be easy to destroy or seal away. If we wait too long, however..."

The eyes of both Celestia and Twilight quickly fall on me as I turn away from their gaze, the gaze that implores me to do what they've constantly been trying to get me to do in light of this new information. I close my eyes to think for a moment, and a quick flash of memory comes to mind. It's a gruesome memory - the memory of a giant snake, easily a hundred feet long or more, skewered bloodily and effortlessly to the trunk of a dead tree. The memory gives me a shudder, but the gore isn't what's important. Below the snake's body is a geyser - a geyser of Mako, of the Lifestream, bubbling to the surface and forming...

"The Crystal Caves." I finally return my gaze to the waiting alicorn and unicorn, only to see everyone else in the room is now looking at me as well.

Celestia's eyebrow raises. "What about them?"

"Twilight mentioned them while talking about the history of Canterlot on our way to the castle. She said a long time ago, the crystals inside the caves were used by unicorns seeking to amplify their magical power." I take a moment to pick my sword up from where it's resting against the balcony, holding it such to draw their eyes to the line of Materia along its blade. "I can vaguely remember... on my world, sometimes the Lifestream would bubble to the surface, forming crystals. In some of those cases, those crystals would be something we called 'Natural Materia'. It was crystalized Lifestream directly from the planet, with the necessary shape and composition to be used in the same way as the processed Materia we used commonly. However, as it contained undiluted knowledge, the magic that could be pulled from them was often far more dangerous."

"Do you think we can find something like that inside the Crystal Caves, Cloud?" Twilight asks, a bit of her lavender color disappearing at the mention of those caves for some reason. "Equestrian Materia?"

"It's not impossible." I reply as I sheathe my sword. "It was exceedingly rare for these events to occur on my planet, so we may find nothing at all. But if the caves are right here, there's no reason not to seek any advantage we can get."

"It's not a bad idea." The Princess nods slowly. "I can bring us down there and give us temporary access."

"Wait, hold on." Shining Armor interjects, his silence up until now making me nearly forget he's here. "You want to go down into those caves where that bug held Twily and Cadance and hunt for small shiny rocks in what's essentially a field of giant shiny rocks?"

I raise an eyebrow as he protests, hoping for some better context without needing to ask.

"It'll be fine, Shining Armor." Celestia assures him. "The mines are devoid of Changelings and whatever else may want to roam its walls, and I'll be with them. Everyone will be safe."

"That's not the problem, Princess." He argues. "As the Captain of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, those mines are perfectly safe for any approved castle resident to explore as long as they follow proper safety procedures." He moves, getting closer to Twilight as he talks. "But as Twily's big brother, I don't want her being forced to go back in that cave."

"It's fine, Shining Armor." Twilight replies, taking a deep breath. "Like both you and Celestia said, the caves are perfectly safe. It'll be good for me to go down there and assure my subsconscious there's nothing wrong."

"Twily..." Shining Armor turns to face her. "It's okay to be scared sometimes, y'know. Things are pretty bad right now from the sounds of it, but you don't need to act strong all the time."

She smiles. "It's okay, Shiny. Thank you, but I'll be fine, don't worry!"

He nods in reply. "Alright, sis. I'll need to get back to my duties after this though, so it'll just be the five of you down there." He gives me a sideways look, sizing me up one final time. "I'm seeing my tagging along any further is a bit unnecessary."

"Alright." Twilight replies as she pulls her brother in for a short hug. After a moment, her face becomes curious and she turns to Spike, whose been silent besides his one snigger at Trixie. "Hey, Spike? Is everything all right? You've been... quiet."

"Yeah, Twi, I'm fine." Spike assures her. "A lot of this stuff is just over my head so I didn't want to interrupt." He rubs the back of his head as he replies.

Twilight gives her assistant a smile, then turns to her brother once more. "Hey, Shiny?" She asks. "Would it be okay if you took Spike with you while we were down there? He's been really looking forward to hanging out with you, if you won't be too busy."

Shining Armor looks from Twilight to Spike and back again, and Spike's eyes light up at the thought. "Yeah, that'd be pretty cool, if you're not too busy that is, Shining Armor..."

"Yeah, it'll be fine, Twily." Shining Armor replies after a moment, motioning for Spike to follow him as he turns to leave the room. "Let's get going, little man, I'm sure I can find us some cool stuff to do in between Captain duties."

"All right!" Spike fist-pumps the air as he follows after Shining Armor, the latter pulling the large doors to Celestia's chambers open and motioning Spike to exit first, following close behind him.

As the door shuts, Twilight lets out a small, relieved sigh.

"Is everything alright, Sparkle?" Trixie asks, walking up to Twilight. "I take it from the bits your brother said, the stories Trixie heard about that wedding's... eventfulness, were less exaggerated than she believed."

"It was... an experience." Twilight gives Trixie a small smile as if to say everything's fine. "It'll just be easier going back down there without Shiny or Spike. I love them to death, but... you know..." Twilight trails off.

"But first," Celestia turns to me, "Cloud, have you reconsidered allowing my Faithful Student to turn your brain into scrambled eggs?" She already knows the answer, if she's asking like that.

"Well, when you put it that way, it's tempting, but... let's go with 'no' for now." I reply, moving in from the balcony and shutting the glass window-door-thing behind me as Celestia's magic draws the curtains.

"I joke, Cloud, but I do ask you to consider our plight more seriously." Celestia says, switching again from playful to serious with a practiced precision I can only assume is meant for disarming political opponents. "If we allow things to progress too far, it's possible not even the power of the Pony Sisters or the Elements of Harmony will be enough. A threat that directly consumes the Weave is... it would be best to act quickly so we can deal with any situation that may arrive from your full memory returning then face the creature."

"I get it." I give her a nod as I head to the door. Even in Equestrian terms, I can imagine such a threat lacks precedent. "So whose ready for another hike? I assume this cave is at the bottom of the castle, being its a cave and all."

"A fair deduction, Cloud." Celestia replies with a friendly smile as her and Twilight file in not far behind me, the former's magic pushing the doors open.

"Wait..." Trixie stops us, causing us all to turn back to her. "We need to hike the entire way across the castle again? Trixie's hooves will fall off!"

"Technically..." Celestia turns her head up to the hall ceiling, thinking. "The trip from my quarters to the Crystal Caves is actually a bit longer than the trip from the entrance."

"You're kidding..." Trixie groans and collapses onto the floor.

"Nope! Lived here a thousand years, got the routes memorized!" Celestia replies playfully.

"Only one choice then..." Trixie groans as she gets back to her hooves. I turn to begin walking down the hall and quickly realize my mistake as a weight collides into my back, a pair of azure hooves wrapping around my neck while two more wrap around my waist. "Assistant! You must carry Trixie!"

"Really?" I turn my head over my shoulder to meet hers and glare. "How many times do I need to tell you I'm not carrying you?"

"But, Trrrrrrixie's hooves hurrrrrt!" She complains obnoxiously into my ear.

"Fine! But I'm never doing this again." I hook my hands under her back legs and shift my arms under her to support her weight better. "You know, maybe we should skip that trip to Donut Joe's on the way back... you're heavier than I remember."

I feel the tie of my cowboy hat tighten around my neck as Trixie leans her face in first, giving me one of her own glares. "Consider your next words carefully, Dusk." I shift my neck a bit so I can breathe again as her glare only intensifies. "Nopony gets between Trixie and Donut Joe's and lives to tell the tale."

Chapter 26: The Burnt Magician.

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Chapter 26: The Burnt Magician.

"Do you really think we'll find Equestrian Materia in a dingy old cave, Dusk?" Trixie asks me from over my shoulder, still forcing me to carry her as we make our way to the Crystal Caves. "Hmm... maybe Trixie can find one strong enough to amplify her stage magic a hundred fold!"

"Anything we find down there is likely going to be exceedingly dangerous, Trixie." I reply, giving her an annoyed glance. "You wouldn't be able to use something like that for performance purposes."

"The danger perceived by the audience is what makes the magic all the more thrilling, my dear Dusk!" Trixie replies, pointing a hoof out dramatically and making it that much harder for me to carry her, then lowers it slightly. "Though, Trixie supposes it's not much good if a show ends with Trixie being a pile of Trixie 'n Bits."

"Besides," Twilight cuts in, "what kind of effects would a Materia from Equestria even have?" ...A good question, honestly. "When I used Cloud's Materia once back in Ponyville, it created lightning... would one from here do something like that? Or would it do something like imitate the special powers of a particular kind of pony?"

"Good questions as always, my Student." Celestia replies from the front, turning us down a staircase that leads to a dingier part of the castle. I can only assume we're getting closer. "Unfortunately, it's hard to say. Unicorns of the past often believed the larger crystals were best for channeling magic, so it was rare for them to research gems similar to the ones Cloud carries. As with all things, there are... stories. A unicorn using a brooch to give himself flight, for example, or an amulet alleged to give one the magic of an alicorn. However, even I only have so much insight as to the truth behind these tales."

"Sounds like we'll just need to try one when we find it and see what happens." Which, honestly, has been my strategy with all my existing Materia as it is.

"We're here." Celestia says, stopping the conversation and our walking in front of an unusually fortified door. "It's sealed with quite a number of spells in addition to old-fashioned locks to prevent a repeat of what happened during Cadance and Shining Armor's wedding, so please give me a moment." Celestia lowers her head to face the door, her horn glowing like the rays of the sun and reacting with whichever wards are protecting it.

I, meanwhile, pull my arms out from under Trixie as a not-so-subtle hint. "Here's your stop, Supreme Excellence."

"But we're not in the caves yet!" Trixie pouts. "At least take Trixie down to these Crystal Caves before you force her back onto her hooves."

"Off." I repeated sternly, not giving her any more ground than she's already taken. Or been carried over.

"Hmph! Such an unaccommodating assistant you've turned out to be." Despite her complaints, I feel Trixie's hooves release my neck as she finds her way back to the ground.

Twilight, meanwhile, simply shakes her head. "You two..."

"Yes, Sparkle?" Trixie turns to face her. "What is it?"

"N-nothing!" Twilight replies quickly, trailing it with a nervous laugh.

"It's open." Celestia says, ending that particular moment. "Let's move quickly. The guards for the Caves won't be happy I've lifted the seals for an unscheduled visit as it is." The door swings open, revealing a roughshod, rocky path leading further below. The door and connected wall, it appears, have merely been built in front of an existing entrance to the caves.

"Who cares if some dumb guards get mad?" Trixie says with a small 'hmph' as she enters the cave in front of the rest of us. "Trixie would think a Princess of Equestra would not need to clear traversing her own castle with a lowly guard."

"It's not that simple, little one." Celestia replies as we follow behind Trixie, heading deeper into the cave. "Even as a Princess, one must work to minimize the burden they impose on others. However, this situation is merely too urgent for us to waste time on official channels."

"Burdens." I interject. "That would include not making people carry you because you're too lazy to walk."

"Hey!" Trixie turns her head back to us, shouting defensively. "Trixie pays you for that service, assistant!"

"But... you don't pay me." I cast her an annoyed glare.

"Of course Trixie pays you!" Trixie fires back, smirking. "She pays you with her time and attention, a privilege most ponies in Equestria would die for!"

"Right..." I shake my head as I hear the requisite giggling from both Twilight and the Princess.

As we round a bend in the path, it finally opens up into the 'proper' Crystal Caves, at least as far as I can tell. We're on a ledge with a path deeper in, looking down on an expansive network of caves. And, as the name implies, the caves are filled with large, shimmering crystals that easily reflect the few light sources hanging around. At various breaks in the crystals I'm also able to see rail tracks, which I assume to be remnants from when unicorns would harvest these crystals to augment their magic long ago.

Twilight lets out a small but audible gulp from the back of our group. "Never thought I'd be down here again..."

"Is everything alright, Twilight?" Celestia asks, turning back to face her student.

"It's fine, Princess." She insists, shaking her head. "I'm fine now. Let's get going." Twilight turns before a reply can be made and begins walking the path down to the main cave from our ledge, the rest of us following close behind.

"So what exactly happened down here in this cave to get you like this, anyway, Sparkle?" Trixie comes out with the least sensitive or tactful question of the day. "Trixie has seen you combat mutant chupacabra monsters and barely register it as an abnormal day." Though... fair point.

"I'd really rather not talk about it, please, Trixie." Twilight replies, still facing foward as we walk.

"Ah... very well then Sparkle. Trixie apologizes for her persistentness." Apologizes? For persistentness? Have I stumbled into a parallel universe or something?

"Since when do you apologize for anything?" I blurt out before I can catch myself.

"Trixie knows very well how to apologize for her mistakes, thank-you-very-much." Trixie lets out another of her usual 'hmph's and raises her head. "She just refuses to do so with you because you are so busy always putting the 'ass' in 'assistant', Dusk!"

I smirk. "Is that the language you should be using in front of a Princess, Trixie?"

Her reply is to simply use her magic to pull her magician's hat down over her head, eliciting a small laugh from the aforementioned Princess.

"Actually, Princess," I begin asking after a moment, "how do you know so much about the Lifestream and other worlds, anyway? You explained a lot earlier but never bothered to tell us how you know any of it is true."

"Ah," Celestia responds, taking a small breath, "I did seem a bit... presumptuous in my explanations, didn't I?" A few moments after her rhetorical, she continues. "Ever since ponies gained control over the Weave, scholars deemed fit to learn of its existence have tried to glean knowledge of what it is and how it functions. This has resulted in a small library of knowledge, researched by these scholars and explored by those with power over the Weave, to be built up across millenia. Much of this includes things such as the minutae of manipulating the sun or stars, but some is of a different kind entirely."

"A library?" Twilight interrupts as Celestia takes a moment to collect her thoughts, her face lighting up a bit despite the current environment. "There are books about all this?"

"Of course, dear Twilight." Celestia responds, looking warmly down at her. "However, with the passage of time, much of it is in languages so ancient, their existences have been lost to all but a select few. The collection's location is sworn to secrecy as well, so I sadly cannot take you there, my Student." Celestia pauses, but continues as Twilight's face falls in disappointment. "Though, maybe I shall sneak a tome or two out for you some day, Twilight." She says, giving the unicorn a wink. "It'll be our secret!"

"Even if I can't read it, to even examine a book like that..." Twilight says aloud, the sentiment trailing as she tips her head to the ceiling, her brow scrunching up as she gets lost in her thoughts.

"Didn't you just get done talking about how even a Princess shouldn't burden others?" Trixie asks, Celestia's personability seeming to have finally fully disarmed her revery for royalty. "Wouldn't stealing a several-thousand-year-old book of lost and arcane knowledge from a secret library burden somebody?"

"Perhaps." Celestia replies, her tone a bit more upbeat after succeeding at making Trixie act more frankly at last. "But I never said a Princess was perfect, either, now did I?"

"You remind Trixie of a very troubling individual..." Trixie replies, giving the Princess a suspicious glance.

"You mean, you?" I reply with crossed arms, looking down at her back.

"Why, yes!" Trixie exclaims, flipping her hair dramatically with one hoof. "It is just more evidence of how Trixie is of a lost, royal lineage!"

"Oh, please, Cloud." Celstia turns her head back to me. "I'm royalty, but even I'm not that egotistical."

Oh, damn. I think the cave suddenly gained a new heat source. No, it's just a smouldering Trixie, sitting on her haunches in front of me.

"Did Trixie... just get burned... by the Princess?" She blinks, stupefied.

"Yes, now let's get going." I prod her in the back with my foot. "It looks like we've almost reached the 'Crystal' part of the Crystal Cave."

"Finally!" Trixie quickly gets back to her hooves, galloping past the Princess and Twilight as she makes her way to the bottom.

"But, yes, Cloud," Celestia continues, slowly her pace slightly so she's walking next to me as we finish the walk down. "To further answer your question, part of this research involved more industrious Weavers making use of the Weave to reach out, trying to touch other planets and explore the universe once they learned the truth behind our own world. Sometimes, they were able to reach the Weave close enough to a planet to make that Planet's own Lifestream reach up to meet it, allowing them to exchange knowledge the Weaver would then access and preserve with the rest of our knowledge about the Weave and the universe beyond our world." She stops, for a moment, turning to face the path ahead to think before turning back to me. "It's possible your appearance is due to a similar phenomenon - your world reaching its Lifestream out for some reason and finding our own, and somehow sending both you and this creature to our own world. If the old tomes are to be believed, this wouldn't be the first time it's happened..."

This has happened before? Does that mean there could be...?

Celestia shakes her head, assumedly reading my thoughts off my face. "Not like that, Cloud, I'm sorry. The last recorded event similar to this one happened before my sister and I were born. Even if it did happen, and those who appeared here were even from your own world... they would likely be long dead by now, an unrecorded footnote in Equestrian history."

"I see..." I mull the thought over to myself a bit longer as we finally reach the ground level of the cave, Twilight and Trixie both already having begun to sift through the large crystal spires in their hunt. After a quick look around, Shining Armor's words from earlier come to mind. '...hunt for small shiny rocks in what's essentially a field of giant shiny rocks.' That's actually... a really accurate description of what's going on. Both the size and quantity of these crystals below the city is massive beyond my original expectations, and the cave itself seems to go far beyond what I was able to see as we walked down from the upper ledge. This could definitely take a while...

"These crystals are amazing!" Trixie exclaims from a bit ahead, Celestia and I finally catching up to the duo of unicorns. "Up close, they're just..."

"How are you two fairing?" Celestia asks, alerting the duo to our approach.

"This is interesting, Princess..." Twilight replies. "When Chrysalis put me down here last time, I never noticed. Maybe I'm more sensitive to it after Cloud allowed me to use his Materia, but... it's like I can feel the power coming off the different crystals."

Celestia gives her a small smile. "So finding our goal down here should be easy then."

"That's not what I mean, Princess." Twilight says as she shakes her head negatively. "I can feel it coming from all the crystals. As if they're all giant pieces of Materia or something."

"What?" I mean to think, but end up saying aloud.

"Yeah..." Twilight continues. "I don't feel anything coming from Cloud's Materia, but maybe that's because it's part of another planet. Now that I know what the magic they use feels like, it's almost like these crystals are beckoning for me to take them up and use them."

I walk to her side and place my hand on one of the crystals, looking between it and the Materia on my bangle. These crystals are more clear and reflective than my Materia, lacking the distinctive color coding, but, at least at a glance, they definitely do have a composition I would easily think of as Materia were they the correct size. Could they really be...?

"It's pretty amazing, isn't it?" I stop. Everyone stops. My blood feels like ice at the sound of that voice. We all turn to our right and he's just... standing there. The silver-haired man, in his black coat, and the terrible, Eastern-styled sword hanging loosely in his left hand, blade trailing behind him, his right hand pressing against a crystal as he gazes into it. "Spires of 'Natural Materia', the likes of which those fools at Shin-Ra could only dream, found on a planet bathing in its own Lifestream. It's quite a miracle of nature, don't you think?" My hand quickly draws back to the hilt of my sword as he speaks casually, as if this situation is no different than meeting an old friend at Trixie's favorite Donut Joe's.

"How did you get down here?" Celestia asks, tone serious and protective as she steps in front of Twilight and Trixie, flaring her wings.

"A question like that's not important, is it?" He replies, turning his back from us to walk from the crystal he was examining before, to a larger one on the side. "There must be far more important things you'll want to know."

"Then, who are you?" Twilight cuts in, slipping out from under one of Celestia's wings to face him and lowering her head defensively. "Another 'human', like Cloud?"

This question from Twilight elicits a detestable, guttural laugh from the man, which rings out clearly along the many walls and caverns of the cave, echoing back to us. "I'm simply... someone who makes planets disappear."

"So you're the creature that has been consuming the Weave?" Celestia asks, her eyes not wavering from the man, though both Trixie and Twilight give me a quick glance over their shoulders in response to Celestia's question.

"The Weave? That's an interesting name for it." The man muses, his continuing casual attitude a grating contrast to our tenseness. At Celestia's lack of a response, he continues. "For now, I've merely come to clean up some loose ends."

"Loose ends?" I ask, the grip on my sword's hilt tightening, though I don't unsheathe it. "I think it's time I made you give me some answers now that you've shown yourself."

"You should learn to be less impatient." He finally removes his hand from the surface of the crystal, turning to face us. He looks at me and lets out a small, amused laugh. "You look ridiculous."

I narrow my eyes, finally drawing my sword from its sheathe, gripping it tightly in my right hand. "I don't need fashion advice from you, thanks."

"Now, don't be like that." He says, his casual attitude beginning to be tipped with malice. "Weapons will just make this messier than it needs to be."

"Shut up!" Simply hearing his voice so long sends my nerves into a frenzy as I kick off and leap into the air, gripping my blade with two hands as I raise it over my head. I come down on him with the force of both my leap and my overhead swing, but in that small moment, his sword has found its way into his right hand, a simple left-right horizontal swing blocking my vertical leap, the impact throwing me like a rag doll down a small crystal-lined path to his right. My sword is forced from my hands from the impact, and I can hear it clang against the ground and skid to a stop nearby as my body begins to cry out in pain, like I've been hit by a truck.

"Dusk!" Trixie slips out from under Celestia's wings and I hear her hooffalls down the path I've just finished unceremoniously traveling. "Dusk, are you alright?!" Her hoof rests on my shoulder and quickly rolls me from my side onto my back.

"Never better..." I reply as I slowly pull myself up into a sitting position and shake my head to try and clear that rollercoaster of an experience from it.

"Is that all?" The man asks mockingly, all the nonchalantness now replaced by a mix of malice and amusement. "I was expecting a bit more from someone who has the nerve to go around and call himself 'Cloud Strife'. Looks like reproductions really do fail to measure up."

"What the hell are you talking about?" I ask with a pained groan as I get unsteadily to my feet, Trixie using her magic to scoop my sword up from where it fell and pull it back to my hand.

He simply ignores my question. "After all this trouble you've caused me, I'd hoped you'd be a bit more sport." His eyes leave me, and sweep over the others. "I suppose I'll need to get a bit creative to get some satisfaction out of this."

Sensing his intent, Celestia moves from her current place to blocking the pathway where myself and Trixie are in a single, fluid motion, Twilight by her side the entire time. "Consider your options carefully if you wish to threaten my subjects, creature."

This seems to merely make the man's eyes glint in excitement. "Maybe this will be entertaining, after all." The man enters a fighting stance, his body shifted to one side, gripping his sword with both hands as he holds it level with his head, the blade pointed at us. "Though, it's just like you to hide behind women, isn't it, 'Cloud'?"

I grip my sword as well, but stumble slightly as I take my own fighting stance, my body still reeling slightly from the previous impact. The reminder of my first attempt is the only thing stopping me from lunging at him a second time. I lock eyes with him, steadying myself as best I can. "Are you done talking?"

"I've just got one more question for you, 'Cloud'." He states with a single, sinister laugh. "Which pretty little pony do you think will scream the loudest when I cleave it in two?"

Chapter 27: A Brawl of Ice and Fire.

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Chapter 27: A Brawl of Ice and Fire.

The man steps, then lurches forward, thrusting his sword at Celestia in a burst of speed I don't think I would be able to match even with the Time Materia. There's a flash of light, and the sound of metal scraping against glass as a golden, curved wall appears between Celestia and her assailant, his blade sliding harmless off it, not even leaving a scrape.

"Appearing before me and threatening my ponies was a mistake, creature!" Celestia declares, and I hear the cracking of rocks behind us, before a large crystal soars over our head and directly at the man, held inside a golden hue.

He, however, uses his speed to sidestep the projectile and kick into the air, his body slithering away like a shadow between the crystal spires. My eyes can barely follow his form as it bounds and moves, seeming to fly more than jump between different crystals as he prepares his next attack.

"He's really fast!" Twilight exclaims, her and Trixie's frantic head-turning making it clear they'd both lost track of him.

"Twilight, behind!" I warn, turning on my heels as I again hear the sound of metal against glass, Twilight's lavender barrier up just in time to block another strike.

I prepare to leap and make a counter-attack, but the Alicorn Princess behind me is faster, delivering a full-body tackle to him and digging her hooves into his shoulders, pressing him into the ground with a sickening crunch. He shifts, like a pitch-dark snake, and somehow slips out from under her, darting around a corner and out of sight, Celestia following suit with near-equal speed after a flap of her wings.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight calls out, breaking out into a gallop to try and follow the Princess.

"Wait, Twilight!" I dash to follow her. "We need to stay together!" Behind me I hear the telltale hooffalls that indicate Trixie is following, but I still can't help but make a glance back to be sure first.

"Dusk! Who is that?!" Trixie asks in a panic as she gallops just behind me. "They knew who you were!"

"I still can't remember..." I mutter more to myself than to answer Trixie.

"Hey, answer Tr- Twilight! Wait!" Trixie calls out, making me turn back ahead to see Twilight looking down a split cave path, with no visible marks indicating which path the Princess and the man took.

"Trixie! Cloud! We need to figure out which way they went and go help the Princess!" Twilight examines the pathways again while talking, still unable to sniff out their trail.

"Twilight, we need to stay together." I say again once the three of us have grouped at the crossroad. "They're both far too fast for us to keep up, but that guy..." I take a moment, trying to think of the best way to say what comes next as I grip my sword, the three of us putting our backs together. "That guy... he's definitely someone from my past. Somehow, he's able to interfere with my dreams. And from what I do know about him, I'm sure he'll go for the two of you before myself or Celestia."

"But Trixie never did anything to that weirdo!" Trixie argues, her voice trembling slightly. We pick a path and begin rushing down it as a group, myself trailing at the back should he attempt another ambush on us.

"Trixie, this guy... he doesn't just kill people who get in his way. He treats it like a game. He wants to see them squirm. Messes with their heads." We turn and keep running, finally finding a path with a clue - crystals uprooted, and walls suffering impact damage, though its impossible to discern from what. "He'd kill you and Twilight just to see the reactions he'd get from us."

They both shudder. "That's sick." Twilight comments after a moment as we continue down the path, finally reaching an open area.

We look up to find the ceiling high and open, the crystals framing the area like the walls of a labyrinth. The center contains a rail and mine cart, and as we approach we see the rail descends down a slope and around a blind corner. "This isn't good..." I mutter, gripping my sword as we enter the open space. "The ceiling's open to the main cave and these crystals are ferrying us along like rats."

We move forward to the center, approaching the cart in a tight group. "Trixie is beginning to think that life-or-death situations are almost a daily occurrence with you, Dusk." Trixie comments, having taken the lead position of the group and trying in vain to find a viable angle to peer around the corner at the bottom of the cart's slope, though something about her is definitely... off.

"You get used to it." I reply, taking interest in the cart, myself. If Twilight or Trixie use their magic to propel it, it would probably allow us to cover ground faster than walking on foot. The cart, however, is tiny. If we all even fit inside, things would get more than a little uncomfortable. There's also the fact it looks at least a century old - who knows if it'll even hold together?

"Trixie, look out!" Twilight yells and I again hear metal against glass as I turn around, to find Trixie barely guarded by one of Twilight's shields, wide-eyed as she stares directly into the man's face. He must have come from above, as I feared. He scrapes his sword slowly along the shield, clearly enjoying Trixie's trembling reaction as the magical wall slowly fractures.

My feet move before my brain and I charge him, shoulder-ramming into the crystals near Trixie's side and pinning him. Before I can follow up, however, he uses the crystal as leverage to push me away from him and delivers a swift kick to my gut, enough to send me unceremoniously sprawling onto my ass. I pull myself up to my knees just in time to see him charging, his sword coming down with a one handed, vertical slash. I hold the flat my own sword up to block, bracing the tip with my left palm while keeping a tight grip on the handle with my right hand. The impact makes me wince, my legs nearly buckling despite me already being on my knees. How can one person be this strong...?

The crystals around us start glowing a bright lavender shade as I peek across my shoulder, seeing Twilight brimming with energy, her eyes a pure, blinding white. "There's no way I'll let someone like you hurt my friends!" The ground below also begins to shine white as the weight pressing against my sword lifts. The man is encased in the familiar glow of Twilight's magic and flung back at a speed my eyes can barely follow, up into the ceiling of the cave with a resounding crash, rocks uprooting themselves from the floor below us and following his flight path, crashing into his landing spot, followed by the mine cart. The air around us cracks a few times with twinges of lavender lightning as the glow subsides, Twilight's eyes returning to normal.

I pull myself to my feet and lean my back against one of the crystals, facing the girls. I take a few gasps to catch my breath as Trixie looks at Twilight, awestruck. "Sparkle, that was..."

"Here you are!" Celestia's voice cuts off Trixie's trailing sentiments as she lands in the small area with us. "I was quite worried what may have happened once I had lost track of that creature."

"Princess!" Twilight lights up at the sight of her mentor. "Are you hurt? We've been trying to find you!"

"I'm quite fine, my Student." Celestia replies with a nod. "It couldn't harm me. That creature just proved too swift and elusive for me to keep track of inside these caves." Celestia turns up to where Twilight's attack sent the man and my eyes follow hers, only to see the man hurdling towards us like a black shadow. "Look out!" Celestia calls out as her horn glows, forming a golden shield to repel him and taking to the skies with another strong flap of her wings. "It's not getting away this time! Stay back, everyone!" Celestia quickly takes to the air, chasing after the man's silhouette as he darts between the crystals once more.

"Princess! Wait!" Twilight calls after her, her horn glowing and the pop of a teleport sounding as she disappears from her spot near us and reappears on top of the crystals, her tail disappearing from view as she runs after Celestia.

"Twilight, wait!" I call after her, but it's useless. She's already gone, the only reply I receive being the pop of a second teleport as she attempts to further close the distance with the Princess. "We can't..."

Dammit... I look back over my shoulder to Trixie and tighten my grip on my sword in my right hand. He targeted her, just like the cloaked creatures had before... but if he's this strong, can I protect her by myself when he attacks again?

"Dusk... are you alright?" Trixie asks, walking up beisde me.

"I'm fine." I reply, shaking my head and crouching down. "Get on. I'll take us over the crystals so we can get somewhere less claustrophobic."

"Trixie thought you said no more carrying?" Trixie's tone is shaking still, though she's clearly trying to push her normal, egotistical self out to the forefront so it isn't noticed.

"Special exception." I respond as she quickly hops onto my back, wrapping her forelegs around my neck and hind legs around my torso. I kick off the ground, making some use of the Time Materia's Haste to make it to the top of one of the smaller crystals, and after getting some decent footing I begin scanning around the cave. It doesn't take long to spot the indicative flashes of gold and lavender that show Twilight and Celestia's position - and the man's. My eyes scan downard, looking closer to the base of the crystal for an immediate path we can use.

"Dusk, look there!" Trixie points with one hoof, directing my attention to a path of cave floor weaving between small outcroppings of crystals, leading roughly in the direction of the magical flare-ups. "You... you're looking for a path to help them, right?"

"We can't let Twilight and Celestia do all the work now, can we?" I jump the small distance down from the crystal to the cave floor and begin traveling the path Trixie pointed out. With her on my back, I'm able to push myself and keep up the effects of Haste, crossing the distance at about twice my usual speed. I weave between the crystals jutting from the large chamber, making progress toward the last places we saw the magic flashes as well as try to avoid us becoming walled in by crystals again. As we get closer, we hear the crash of a crystal slamming into the ground.

"Come out, creature!" Celestia's voice booms from ahead of us, loud to the point I can only assume she's amplifying it with magic. "One wouldn't think a self-proclaimed destroyer of worlds would exhibit such cowardice!" Is she really strong enough to even make an opponent like this flee by herself?

I don't have time to consider that line of thought any further as I register a black form moving to my left. I turn, but even with Haste, my reaction speed isn't enough, and the metal plate on his shoulder is ramming me directly, killing my momentum and sending me toppling in the opposite direction. I feel Trixie's hooves come free with a yelp as she tumbles off my back, and hear the thud of her body hitting the rock floor before mine does the same, fortunately at least not landing on top of her.

"Looks like the end of the line for you, 'Cloud'." I hear him taunt as I scramble back to my feet, my sword thankfully still in my grip this time. "I think I'll start by stopping you from running around anymore. All this moving around is pretty inconvenient, don't you think?"

I narrow my eyes and brace my sword in front of myself in a fighting stance. I'm done giving this guy the reaction he wants. It doesn't take him long to realize this himself and in a blink, he's charging with a sweeping left-right horizontal slash of his monstrously long blade. I catch the attack with the blade of my own sword, gripping the handle with everything I have to stop it from being flung from my grip. He braces the back of his blade with his left hand once the full arc of his swing is denied, and begins pressing me back. I dig my feet in, but it's not enough, and I begin to lose ground. First one step, and then a second, and then a third, and then one more... slowly but surely being pushed until my back presses against a wall or a crystal - in this situation, it didn't matter which.

My muscles burn as my sword is forced ever closer to me by the man's advance. If I don't do something soon, I'll be on the wrong end of the world's most bloody 'stop hitting yourself' joke. Think, Cloud! Time isn't enough, he's too close for Barrier, or Fire, Lightning, Ice. If only I'd not been such a coward, I'd remember how the rest work... and maybe there'd be something... dammit! I take a glance over the man's shoulder to see Trixie, finally back on her hooves. Though, something's wrong... this isn't the Trixie that smashed the diamond dogs with a barrel in Appleloosa, or the Trixie that did her best against the chupacabras. Instead she's just watching, wide eyed, her body trembling.

"Trixie!" I yell out, my sword being forced closer as I run out of options and out of time. "Do something!"

She blinks and gasps, taking a step back. Even from where I'm standing, the tears in her bleary eyes are easy to see. "I can't!" She takes a second step back, trembling. "I can't do anything, Dusk!" She turns, galloping down the path we had been traveling. "Princess Celestia! Twilight! Over here, quickly!"

A small, sinister laugh pulls my eyes back to the man before I can even process what's just happened, and with a smirk, the man pulls his blade back from mine and turns, gliding more than running as he...

"Trixie!" I call out, desperately pushing the Time Materia for everything it can give. "Trixie, behind you!"

She turns around, and I can see the panic in her eyes as the man closes in on her, sword held in two hands and drawn back to one side, blade pointed at his target with the intent of skewering her through. I'm... I'm not going to be fast enough! I cast the Barrier Materia, trying to put a wall between them, but he's able to swat it away and shatter it without missing a step. Dammit!

"Trixie!" I can feel it in the pit of my stomach. If I can't stop him now... I need something, anything! Please!

In that moment, the man pulls back, his sword aimed. He thrusts forward, and... strikes a pillar of crystal that's risen from the ground to block his attack. The sudden event is enough to cause all three of us to stop in our tracks. What happened? I don't see Celestia or Twilight, nor their telltale magical glows anywhere. And the crystal itself looks strange, not like the other crystals around, instead more like... ice. I look around for a moment until I finally see it... on my sword - a single, Red Materia, glowing fiercely. With that glow, I can see the image of the small girl, Priscilla, at the beachfront town Junon, who nearly drowned after being attacked by a massive, fish-like monster. I can remember her giving me her precious red amulet after I cleared the water from her lungs. The red amulet turned out to be Materia - this Materia - a rare Materia that held more than just mere magic, but instead the spirit of a lost being, trapped inside. In this case, the spirit of a mighty ice goddess - Shiva!

The ice bursts open, revealing a blue-skinned woman with flowing, green hair, draped loosely in royal purple robes. Her feet hover slightly above the ground, and she eyes the man wordlessly, bringing one hand up in a balled fist in front of her face. She outstretches this arm toward the man and opens her fist, and at that moment, the shattered pieces of ice on the ground quiver and launch themselves at him, guided by an icy wind. He leaps back, again slipping behind one of the cave's crystals to avoid the attack as Shiva advances to give chase. My attention, however, isn't on either of them...

"Dusk!" Trixie barrels into my leg, gripping it tightly with her hooves. "Even after I ran away, you protected me... even though you nearly..." I look down to my sword again, the Shiva Materia still glowing brightly. I hadn't been the one to save her at all. That little girl, who probably remembers more about myself than I do, had been the one to do that when I couldn't...

"Cloud! Trixie!" Twilight yells out, causing us both to turn our heads skyward, to see Celestia descending toward us with the lavender unicorn on her back. "Are you both alright?" She asks, jumping down from Celestia's back as she lands.

Trixie shakes her head clear, strategically using my pantleg to wipe her face without being noticed. "We're doing quite fine, Sparkle." She says, using her practiced performance arts to quickly throw up her usual facade. "Trixie and her assistant just had a bit of a... close call."

"He's still nearby." I inform them. "Shiva is fighting him now, but..."

"Shiva?" Twilight asks, looking to my sword. "You got one of the red ones to work!"

"Yeah..." I reply, looking at the sword again.

"The way you said that... does that mean the red ones summon familiars or something?" It's not surprising that Twilight's fast mind can piece the parts together that quickly, I suppose.

As if on call, Shiva's form bursts out from the pillars, flying backwards into the sky as she casts her ice magic downward, the wind current visible due to flecks of snow as a layer of ice begins to cover the nearby crystals. "That answer your question?" I ask, trying to relieve a bit of the tension as we take the moment to recollect ourselves.

That attempt proves mostly useless, however, as the black form of the man jumps from the crystals not far behind Shiva. He charges straight through her ice attack, despite a similar layer of frost and ice building up on himself as well, and with a single thrust, plunges his sword through Shiva's stomach. The spirit's pained scream echos through the cave as the light of the Materia fades, and her body breaks apart into a familiar, green mist. He lands on one of the nearby crystals and turns to face us.

Before he can even begin whichever condescending question is on his lips, however, Celestia's wings flare once more and a stalactite rips itself from the cave's ceiling, sailing at him point-first at high speed, held in her golden glow. He sees the glow of her magic coming from her horn and dodges instictively, the stalactite changing course and continuing to home in on him until he cleaves it apart with his sword. This prompts Celestia to flap her wings and take to the air once more, as more stalactites free themselves from the ceiling under her grip. It's clear that if any thoughts of taking prisoner existed in her mind before, they're gone now.

He kicks off one of the crystals and lunges through the air at her, shifting his body and using his sword to dodge or destroy Celestia's incoming projectiles as he closes the distance. He grips his sword in both hands and attacks her with one his preferred sweeping slashes, though his weapon is met with one of her golden shields. Despite his full force seeming to be behind his attack, however, her shield remains pristine, and her body unmoved, as her eyes begin to glow. "Hopefully you will reflect the true depth of your folly in Tartarus, creature!" With a burst of magic, the man is pushed away, sent hurdling to the ground, a rain of stalactites following him.

"Whoa..." Trixie mouths in awe. "The Princess... she has to be on a whole other level than even you, Twilight."

"Even I've never seen her like this before..." Twilight replies, also in awe as she watches the Princess exert her true might on the one whose threatened her ponies.

It feels like the whole cave is turning up in temperature, the faded blue rock of the walls beginning to be cast in a golden color. Celestia's normally-white form begins to glow as if she's radiating her own sunlight. It's a display of power that's truely both beautiful and terrifying. There's a rumble through the cave, eminating from where Celestia had sent the man to the ground, and a large crystal hurls through the air, aimed directly for the Princess. As it reaches her though, it simply... shatters, into a seemingly-infinite number of crystal granules, adding a shimmer of particles around the Princess as each one reflects her sunlight.

"Begone!" Her horn glows, and the twinkle of each crystal granule intensifies until they match. In that moment, a beam fires from her horn, touching one of the granules, reflecting between each one. It takes me a moment to realize what's going on - the beam is quickly traveling between each piece of the crystal, amplifying itself, until each one is glowing a brilliant gold. And then, the magic bears fruit, each grain of crystal firing a beam of golden light down to the ground, each presumably aimed at the man. The cave rumbles and our ears are filled with the sounds of explosions as the different beams reach different targets - crystal, rock, and whatever else is unfortunate enough to be in the attack zone. Smoke and debris begins to fill the air as the attack refuses to relent, leaving my ears ringing and lungs choking from the aftermath of the endless blasts.

I use my hand to try and wave the smoke away as I cough, my eyes beginning to tear up from irritation. I'll have to remember to never get on her bad side. I wipe my eyes clean with one hand and finally look up, squinting them to try and scan our surroundings. After a moment of looking, my eyes lock onto a second pair, a second pair of the same sky-blue, wavy Mako-eyes, barely visible past the smoke. The sound of incoming movement reaches my ears before I can even draw the breath to speak. My stomach fills with an indescribable pain as his blade runs through it, and my body is pushed like a rag doll against a wall of the cave. The clang of my sword slipping from my hand and colliding with the floor barely registers with my ears, as does the voices of Twilight and Trixie.

"I'll have to remember to take your little friends more seriously." The man says, face close to mine. His face is covered in his blood and his breath is trembling. It seems at least some of Celestia's attacks connected and did considerable damage. "But this is as far as a half-hearted vessel like you gets to go."

I reach my hands up weakly to grasp his sword, clutching the blade, trying desperately to pull it out. With how deep it's in, it has to be embedded in the damn wall behind me. I close my eyes, trying to block out the pain and focus. As I clutch the sword, though, I remember... I was in this situation several years ago. Nibelheim... I fought this man in the Mako Reactor on top of Mount Nibel, a mountain that my hometown of Nibelheim was buit at the base of. We were stationed there as part of SOLDIER, Shin-Ra's military detatchment, to handle reports of unusual creatures crawling around the Reactor. He was a decorated hero of the previous war, with all kinds of myths surrounding his exploits. However, while stationed there, we often stayed in a mansion on the outskirts of town, owned by Shin-Ra and made use of by one of their scientists. In that mansion's basement, the man had found something that made him completely unhinged, and he burned the entire town to the ground, heading for the Reactor. He found what he was looking for there... the truth behind the strange monsters, and... I remember I fought him on one of the catwalks above the unprocessed Lifestream. He ran me through with his sword, much like this, but I... I knocked him off the catwalk, somehow, into the Lifestream below, and survived.

Other memories of the man begin pushing their way into my mind, memories of the quest I went on with people who'd grown to become my friends. A quest I went on long after the incident in Nibelheim, a quest to stop this man from destroying everything. The memories aren't everything, but they're substantial. However, I push them away for now, and redouble my grip on his sword as I realize he's right about one thing - I have become half-hearted, running away from things to protect my own insecurity. That's not very conducive to anything in a world where raw emotion can supposedly become power, is it? If I keep carrying on this way...

I open my eyes slowly, locking them with his. "You oversold yourself quite a bit today... Sephiroth."

"Has reopening this old wound helped your brain fit back together enough to remember my name?" He asks, giving me a smug, sinister smirk. "Do tell me how a piece of trash like you thinks I've oversold myself."

I glance behind him, the glow of the crystals hurting my eyes. It feels like every crystal in the cave is glowing the color of the sun, and the air is swelteringly hot. I reach a leg up, kicking him in the chest and pushing him away from me. "Because, the only person disappearing today, is you!"

His eyes go wide in realization for just a moment, but then he locks them with mine again... and smiles. I clamp my eyes shut and turn away, even the inside of my eyelids glowing like I'm staring directly at the sun as an attack strikes the man... strikes Sephiroth. There's a definite impact, but there's no scream of pain, no telltale sound of the evil being in front of me being wiped from existence. The sword run through my chest seems to simply... dissolve, and I slump back against the wall, allowing myself to descend into a sitting position. As the light finally subsides, I slowly open my eyes, blinking them as a weight impacts my right side.

"Dusk..." Trixie's voice trails off for a moment as I look to her, and see her vision leading to my chest. "Dusk... there's so much blood..."

I look down to my chest and it's... well, the poncho is definitely a write-off unless they naturally come in copper red. I reach a hand up to clutch at the wound, the pain of each breath intake making my head spin. I hear a wretching sound to my opposite side and turn my head to see Twilight, losing her lunch at the base of one of the crystals. As I scan my eyes away from her and to where my attacker had been, I see why. The... thing I lay eyes on, is definitely not Sephiroth. It's twisted, some of the flesh clearly not where it's meant to be, the body itself mangled beyond repair, and given a fresh coat of charcoal thanks to Princess Celestia. But, even with all that damage, the thing clearly lying dead at my feet... is a diamond dog. A distorted, wretched abomination of a thing that was very definitely at one point, a diamond dog.

At that realization, my brain reels, attempting to decipher what's going on as I lean my head back against the wall. I hear the sounds of Celestia's shoes landing against the rock as she slowly trots up to us. "Cloud... I apologize." I look to her, and she bows her head. "You did well in protecting my ponies, but in the recent eras of peace for Equestria, I've allowed myself to become dull and could not vanquish the threat in time. This isn't my first recent failure in this way, but... I'll be sure to make it the last."

"It's... fine, Princess." I raise my left hand to her, giving a thumbs-up as my voice cracked with a painful groan. "I've been thinking about making red my new color, anyway."

And then I blacked out.

Chapter 28: The Biggest Dreamer.

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Chapter 28: The Biggest Dreamer.

Sunlight glistens down through a hole in the ceiling, feeding life to a small flower bed. Sunlight is a rarity for the lower city, so I need to remember not to walk on the flowers. I sit and lean back in one of the pews, taking in the old church. The ceiling and walls are starting to collapse, and the new hole I put in the ceiling back then hasn't helped matters. It was the flower bed that broke my fall, wasn't it? A simple flower bed, planted in the center in the sunlight after someone tore up part of the floor. Someone...

I throw my arms back, resting my elbows on the top of the pew and sigh. I look to my left and find my sword resting against it next to me - the chocobo-killer sized, one-sided sword lined with ornate engravings and two simple Materia slots, where a pair of Green Materia shimmer in the sunlight. It feels good to relax here - this place that's so safe and familiar. I can't remember how I'd come back here, but seeing this place again helps put my mind at ease.

As much as I want to, I can't stay here much longer. That man is waiting for me, deep in the north. Sephiroth. If I don't move soon, he'll enact his plan - to damage the planet enough to make the Lifestream respond, and harness it to gain control of the planet itself. We have the Black Materia needed for his plan - the Materia to summon the creature Meteor - but unless we confront him, he'll keep reaching out, keep trying to steal it away for himself.

But, can it really be done? Sephiroth, one of the few examples where the man is larger than the legend... can we really beat him? He's already... My eyes turn down to the flower bed. There isn't any choice. I stand and grip the handle of my Buster Sword, spinning it with a one-handed flair and putting it in its place on my back. Now's not the time to dwell on half-hearted doubts. That crazed man has already taken too much.

I turn to leave, careful not to step on the flower bed as I begin walking the aisle between the pews. My hand trembles slightly as I reach the door, but I push through it, reaching out and grabbing the handle. Now's not the time to be afraid. I push the door open, and squint my eyes shut as a pure, white light pours its way inside. I steel my body, and...

"Don't step outside." A female voice commands. It's not the voice that should be here, warm and welcoming, but strong and authoratative. Steps sound behind me as the voice's owner comes closer, the telltale falls confirming its owner.

"Princess Luna." I state matter-of-factly. "I thought you said you would no longer enter my dreams?" The door is pulled gently shut with a faint glow of midnight and I turn around to face the smaller of the two alicorn sisters.

"Special exception." She replies, becoming a bit more casual and giving me a cheery expression.

"Sometimes I wonder if your specialty is dream-walking or mind-reading..." I mutter as I walk back into the church, sitting in one of the rear pews and resting the Buster Sword against it in the aisle, Princess Luna walking to close the distance.

"Yours is not the only dream We are paying special heed to on this night, dreamer."

At her statement, the memory of the Crystal Caves comes back with, well, crystal clarity. "How is Trixie?"

She looks at me, amused. "You remember your ordeal and your first action is to inquire about your companion?" She moves to sit in the pew across the aisle, needing a minute to find a comfortable position for her pony-shaped body in the human-shaped seat. "Truly We were right about you, dreamer. And more truly, Our Sister owes Us fifty bits."

"You two bet on whether I'd be a threat to the planet or not?" I ask, looking at her with bewilderment. "Really?"

"Royalty must find ways to amuse itself too, dreamer." She replies with a giggle. "But, do not worry, at least physically, your unicorn companion is in good health. We are doing Our best as well to ease the trouble in her mind."

"What about the creatures that appear during the night?" I ask, already feeling the need to change the subject. The mention of the 'trouble in her mind' only serves to remind me of that one moment...

"They do not move on this night." Princess Luna replies. "The creature we face is exerting all its power to infiltrate this dream. We believe it seeks to rend the remnants of your mind while your body teeters on the edge of this world and the next."

My hand absentmindedly reaches for my chest, where I remember Sephiroth running me through with his sword. "He did get me pretty good, didn't he?"

"Quite." The Princess nods. "Though, your body has proved quite resiliant. All present believed you doomed, but, with the aide of the Royal Healers, your condition has indeed improved. Hence the creature's redoubled efforts to destroy your psyche while the opportunity exists. One could say it is quite a miraculous thing that your body can resist such grevious wounds."

"The real miracle is the presence of modern second-person pronouns in your vocabulary." I lean back and give her a small chuckle. "If only a certain other linguistically-challenged individual would make that kind of improvement."

"Ah! You noticed, dreamer!" She claps her front hooves together happily, in a way reminiscent of Twilight. "Our Sister's Student noticed the lapse in Our linguistical practice after these events started, so We compromised to begin using other facets of the modern Equestrian vernacular in trade for being indulged in Our continued use of what the common pony now calls the 'Royal We'. Sometimes, We wonder if Our Sister's Student is an even more insistent teacher than Our Sister herself..."

"Your sister... she's really something else, isn't she?" I ask, thinking back to the display of power she used to wipe the fascimile of Sephiroth from the Crystal Caves. She wasn't kidding when she said not to underestimate her just because the sky wasn't what I originally believed it to be.

"Quite." Princess Luna's expression darkens, just slightly. "When angered, Our Sister is truly a force to which few things can measure. Though, We believe such power is a burden for her, more than a blessing. She is kind-hearted, and detests the need for combat."

"I see..." I trail off, turning to face the front of the church. "I got that impression when I met her this time as well."

"That is quite good, dreamer." The Princess replies. "Her heart has also been warmed to you after seeing you fight to protect her ponies against such an overpowering foe. While Our Sister still believes in caution, We believe She... hopes to be shown wrong, in this instance."

"She will be." I reply, picking up the Buster Sword and laying it across my lap, running my fingers along the designs decorating the body of the blade. "That man... Sephiroth, he's no friend to me."

"Another of your kind?" Princess Luna inquires. "You believe we face one like yourself, dreamer?"

"Thinking of him that way is a mistake." I look up, turning my attention to the sunlight-framed flower bed. "I only remember so much, but... he's more like a monster in human skin, both in his objectives and in his power. He was once a decorated war hero, surrounded by legend... legends which undersold his true ability. And the further his plan gets, the stronger he becomes."

"We... believe you are mistaken, dreamer." She says, and we turn to look at each other once again. "The life force of the threat We have perceived feels naught like anything from Equestria, or our planet, but... it also feels naught like your own."

"You're the one whose mistaken." I respond, gripping the hilt of the Buster Sword in one hand, trying to quell the anger that comes paired with the thought of that man. "What I fought in the Crystal Caves was some sort of body double... but it moved like Sephiroth, spoke like Sephiroth, fought like Sephiroth. It can't be anything else."

"Do you truly remember enough about your past to be sure, dreamer?" Princess Luna's simple question is enough to tear my resolve in the man truly being Sephiroth to ribbons. I've regained many old memories of him, memories part of me wishes I hadn't... but do I have them all?

I try to think back, back to the night at Nibelheim, the day he started down the path to insanity. What did he find down there, hidden away in the mansion's basement? The thing that ties he and I together, that ties this entire crazy mess together - what was it? No matter how hard I try, I can't force the block on my memory aside.

"Dreamer," Princess Luna cuts into my thoughts, "do tell Us about this place we find ourselves. When building our ward for your dream, We stumbled upon the image of this location, glowing warmly like the dreams we often protect and keep pure for our ponies. Mayhaps you recall the significance of this place?" She uses her wings to get a small amount of lift and leave the pew, returning to the aisle and walking forward to explore the small church.

"I... don't." I reply, the words leaving me feeling hollow as I look down at the sword in my lap. A place like this, that makes me feel so welcome, that my heart clearly has a fond rememberance of, and yet... my mind can't tell me why. I finally turn up to see she's reached the end of the aisle. "Please, don't trample the flowers."

"Ah..." She looks down to the flower bed, the turns back to face me. "Of course." She flaps her wings again, making a small hop over the flower bed and across to the opposite side, where a door on the left leads behind the church's altar and into the back room. She peeks in there for a moment, looking around before coming back to the main room. "This place... it's quite old and uncared for, is it not?" She asks, looking up to the hole in the ceiling, where the small beams of sunlight filter in to feed the flowers.

"Yeah..." I reply, standing and making my way to the flower bed as well, the Buster Sword held limply in my right hand. "But that's why the flowers grow here. This is one of the few parts of the lower city where the sunlight reaches, and the building protects them from being eaten or trampled."

"A lower city devoid of sunlight?" Princess Luna turns the words over in her mind, then turns her head down to make eye-contact with me. "What is this city like, dreamer?"

"I... I don't remember." I turn my gaze down to the flower bed.

Her eyes follow mine. "These flowers are well-tended, despite the harrowing conditions you described. Someone truly cared for them."

"Yeah, she did..." I reply half-heartedly.

"She?" The Princess replies curiously, leaping back across the flower bed to stand next to me. "You also show great care for these flowers, so We can only assume she was quite important to you as well." She steps up to my side, reaching a wing up and resting it on my shoulder. "Who was she, dreamer?"

"I... I don't..." I can't even finish that sentence.

She pulls her wing off my shoulder and begins walking down the aisle between the pews again. She looks around, examining the walls and windows of the building as she makes her way back to the heavy doors of the building. "We do believe this location could be quite beautiful, were its original state restored."

"Maybe, but..."

"The flowers?" She cuts me off, turning back to face me. "Restoration of the old does not necessarily mean destruction of the new, dreamer. If We truly wish them to remain, We will find a way."

I turn my gaze down to the floor, my loose grip on the Buster Sword tightening, not able to find my voice for a reply.

"Besides... does it not make sense that a complete building would serve better to protect your flower bed than a half-standing ruin?"

A silence hangs in the air between us for a few minutes. Every time I try to formulate a reply, I can't find the strength to speak.

"We must go." Princess Luna says after a time, breaking the silence between us. "Your companion is in need of Our ability, and you seem to have much to think about on your own." Princess Luna extends her wings once more and gives them a flap, stretching them. "Fare thee well, dreamer." She takes to the air with another strong beat of her wings, flying out of the church through the hole in the ceiling that feeds the sunlight down to the flower bed.

With that, I'm alone again in the church, though no longer on the rails of the dream I started with. I sit down in one of the front pews, again staring down at the flower bed as I lay the Buster Sword down across my lap. Much like the flower bed, the sword is eminating a warmth in its own way. I close my eyes, thinking. Just as the flowers hold the memory of the woman who cared for them, this sword also holds its own memories, ones that feel just within my grasp but so desperately far away. Like the flowers, the Buster Sword also contains the memory of a person who once cared for it - a reckless, friendly, charismatic man, that would always charge ahead no matter how difficult the challenges got.

"You'd laugh if you saw me like this, wouldn't you?" I ask the sword resting on my lap, the cold metal not able to give me a reply. What had happened to these people?

I stand up, grasping the Buster Sword in my right hand, blade trailing behind me as I near the flower bed. I approach it carefully, reaching my arm out and planting the sword firmly in the center of the flowers. The metal shines under the rays of the sun, reflecting the sunlight as I move to sit back down in the pew, close to the edge so that I'm in the sunlight as well. I turn up, leaning back with my arms hanging off the back of the pew, taking comfort in the sun's warmth. I blink, and...

...As my eyes open, the first thing I notice is the sunlight is gone. I'm laying on my back, looking up at a dark ceiling, with a blanket over me. I shift my body, the mattress under me soft and giving while the pillows behind me head jostle themselves slightly out of place. Had I woken up? I raise myself up to my elbows, my chest flaring with pain as I move. Yeah... definitely woken up. Hopefully that didn't just re-open anything.

Once I'm sitting up, I begin looking around the room. Everything is dark, but I can make out a small table next to the bed, and a window on the wall to my right, the curtains drawn shut as the smallest amount of moonlight reflects off them. A hospital room? A room at the castle? Maybe I was back at the library? It's impossible to tell. The only thing I see that's familiar is what's in the far corner of the room. There's a two-person wide chair resting in the corner, against the wall facing the door. On it is a small figure, wrapped in a star-speckled cloak, a magician's hat-turned-pillow cushioning her head, her body moving with the faint rises and falls of breathing.

I lean myself slowly back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling, wincing at the pain of changing positions again. It does make more sense to use a complete building than a half-standing ruin to protect the flower bed, doesn't it? I close my eyes and rest my mind, allowing myself to drift back into one of the first truly peaceful slumbers I've had since arriving in Equestria.

The next time I wake up, the room is bright with sunlight, making me squint my eyes as my brain starts up. Tilting my head to the right shows the window's curtains have been thrown aside, window open to let in some fresh air. It's hard to know for sure without sitting up for a better look, but from my prone position, it seems like the only thing visible through my window is the morning sky - no trees, buildings, or mountain. If I'm recalling what I've experienced of Equestrian geography correctly, this means I should still be somewhere in Canterlot, with a window facing out toward Ponyville. That, combined with the brick walls of the room, crosses off the Golden Oak Library from the places my half-dead self has ended up.

I groan slightly, my head throbbing with a dull pain. I try moving, but am quickly stopped by the pains eminating from the wound in my chest. They feel worse than they did last night, so either I've reopened the wound, or some sort of painkiller I was given has started to wear off. As I groan and shift, I hear the patter of hooves against the floor, and soon my view of the window is blocked by a familiar, azure face.

"Dusk? Are you awake?" Trixie asks as our eyes meet.

"People tend to wake up in the morning, don't they?" I respond with another groan. I steel myself from the pain and put my arms under me, pushing myself back up into a sitting position once more. No pain was going to take away the dignity of at least being able to do that much.

I look at Trixie again, and it's clear she's holding back tears. "Even when you're half dead, you're such an idiot!" Her angry declaration is juxtaposed by her getting closer, wrapping a hoof around one of my arms and pressing her head against it. "I'm glad you're alright, Dusk." I contemplate replying, but decide it's just better not to, leaving the moment to itself. After some time, she continues. "I'm sorry... when you needed me the most, all I could do is run away..."

"It's okay, Trixie..." I try to reassure her.

"No, it's not okay!" She pulls my arm tighter, nearly making me lose the balance that's allowing me to stay in a sitting position. "I go around, telling everyone I'm the strongest unicorn in Equestria! But when my friend needs me to be that... I'm nothing more than elaborate unicorn parlor tricks. If something like that guy from the Crystal Caves shows up again, what am I supposed to do? Throw a deck of cards at him?"

"Trixie..." I don't know what I'm supposed to say.

"Don't coddle me, Dusk!" I can hear a small, choked sob. "When things became dangerous, Twilight was able to step up! The train, the night in Ponyville, the cave... she always steps up, she always fights, no matter how difficult things get. But I... each time something happens, there's less and less I can do to help you. Even that animal-loving pegasus would be more useful than I am..."

She pulls away from me, wiping her eyes with one hoof. "We should stop traveling together, Dusk. The more things happen, the more I realize I'm just a burden to you."

"Trixie..." I repeat her name again, finally collecting the words I need. "Things aren't going to be less dangerous going forward, but... do you think I care about any of that? That you can't fight as well as Twilight? That you're not as brave as Twilight? If I wanted to be traveling alongside Twilight, I would be."

"Dusk..." Trixie trails, now being the one unable to find the words she needs.

"Things will only get more dangerous. We'll probably get hurt, even worse than now. I might die. ...You might die. It's true, there are many things only Twilight can do. Impressive feats of magic, great intelligence," I give Trixie a small smirk, "intense list making and itemization. But there are things only you can do, Trixie. The only reason I've seen as much of Equestria is thanks to you. No matter how discouraged you were, depressed, defeated, you always put one foot... one hoof in front of the other, and kept going."

"..." I see her eyes well up again as she takes a deep breath, still not replying, though the quip I threw in seems to have at least gotten her to crack a small smile.

"You've always been able to press forward, and that bolsterous confidence of yours make it easy for me to forget my own problems and go with the flow of what's going on." I pause for a moment, again trying to get the right words together. "Like I said in the caves, I hadn't told you about it before now, but... while we've been traveling, the person we saw has been messing with my dreams, attempting to distort my view of things and dominate my mind." I close my eyes and let out a small sigh before continuing. "Again, things will only get more dangerous, so I won't blame you if you still want to leave, but... if I had been with Twilight this whole time, I don't think I would have resisted Sephiroth's attack on my pysche anywhere near as well as I have, nor would I be ready to do this..."

"Ready to do what, Dusk?" Trixie asks, the tiniest bit more cheer coming back.

"If Twilight really thinks she can sort out the mess in my head, I'm... ready for her to try." I reply. "I don't know why my gut has been telling me to avoid it before now, but it doesn't matter anymore. Whatever happens, I won't let Sephiroth have his way with this planet, and the information I need in order to stop him is still locked away in my head."

"Are you sure?" Trixie comes closer. "Dusk... do you really think you can stop him, even if you remember everything?"

"It doesn't matter what I think, Trixie." I grip the sheets of the bed in my hands, taking a deep breath. "Even if the difference between him and I is insurmountable, I have to stop him. I have to find a way. I don't have a choice."

Trixie finally gives me a smile, wiping her face clean again with her hoof, then beginning to walk toward the door of the room. "Let me get you breakfast first, Dusk. The doctor Princess Celestia asked to help you said that even at the rate you're healing, it'll be a few days before that wound heals enough for you to move."

She leaves the room and I look down at myself for the first time, pulling the sheet on top of me away. The top half of my SOLDIER uniform and its associated metal and leather plates have been removed, replaced with tightly wound bandages around my midsection where Sephiroth's sword skewered me. I try to touch the wound with one hand and wince. Whoever this doctor is, if anything, their forecast on my healing is generously fast. This wound is pretty bad. But... do we even have the luxury of waiting a few days for me to heal?

Chapter 29: Better Than Daffodils on Rye.

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Chapter 29: Better Than Daffodils on Rye.

"You did this on purpose." I say, looking from my breakfast to Trixie.

"Did what, Dusk?" She asks, feigning innocence and looking away, moving toward the window.

"You got me scrambled eggs for breakfast." I look down at the rather generous plate of eggs. It's a nice change from pancakes, and far better than a flower sandwich. It doesn't hurt that it actually smells fairly good, too.

"Trixie doesn't know what you're talking about." She places her hooves on the windowsill, looking out for a moment before turning back to face me. "It's the perfect breakfast for a carnivorous monster like you!"

I look up and turn to her, meeting her eyes and giving her a small smile. "You're a total bitch, you know that?"

She returns to all fours and turns to face me, flipping her hair to the side with one hoof and giving me a half-lidded, smug look. "It's just another facet of Trixie's domineering personality and unmatched charisma, she assures you."

I keep eye contact with her for just a moment more before I lose it, triggering a fit of laughter I'm sure we both need. It only lasts for a short time though, as I wince, the laughter jostling my chest wound.

"Are you okay, Dusk?" Trixie asks, her own finally-happy demeanor giving way to concern.

"I'm fine." I reply quickly, the pain subsiding into a dull throb as I turn down to the food. "Didn't you get yourself something?"

"Trixie... isn't hungry." She turns and looks wistfully out the window.

"Trixie..." I suppose it was too much to hope for her to be back to one-hundred percent already.

"It's okay, Dusk, Trixie... I, was just reminiscing." She says, turning her head up to the sky, first-person pronouns again returning to her vocabulary. "I've always traveled the road alone, with my stage wagon, visiting all the cities in Equestria and playing up my title of The Great and Powerful Trixie. Ponies enjoyed being entertained, and I enjoyed entertaining them. I used to feel the same thing Twilight felt when she performed with me."

She takes a deep breath before continuing. "But, all that traveling... maybe I just got lonely? I stopped being able to connect with other ponies, and after enough time by myself... I started becoming The Great and Powerful Trixie, instead of just playing her character. Acting like her, talking like her... instead of just failing to connect with ponies, I humiliated them and pushed them away. And I enjoyed it. Before I knew it, I didn't know how to stop anymore. That's when Ponyville happened. I'm sure I've told you about that plenty."

I nod, not wanting to interrupt.

"After that happened, for a while, I... or rather, The Great and Powerful Trixie, became obsessed with getting payback on Twilight Sparkle. My cart had been destroyed, and local tabloids had blamed the incident on me, making it impossible for me to get my old crowds." She closes her eyes, collecting herself. "It wasn't her fault the ursa minor came to Ponyville, or stepped on my cart, or that those publications ran their stories. But I didn't care. I hated her regardless. While working on a rock farm for ponies far nicer to me than I deserved, I concocted revenge scheme after revenge scheme in hopes of making her rue the day she messed with The Great and Powerful Trixie." She spits the title as she finishes her sentence.

"But then..." Trixie continues. "But then, I met you. Someone who didn't judge me for the past. Someone who wasn't even a pony. Instead of wanting to immediately prove my superiority, I was... curious. I became the closest I had been to friendly with anyone in a really long time. I still spoke like The Great and Powerful Trixie, moved like her, acted like her, but slowly... the me that had disappeared so long ago finally started coming back."

"Trixie..." I still don't know what I'm supposed to say in a situation like this.

"I'm sorry to say all this now, Dusk." She lets out a small sigh. "I know that, now, with everything being how it is, my life story must sound really insignificant in comparison. It's just... what if... something happens, and I never see you again? I..."

"It's not insignificant, Trixie." I assure her. I think back to a time long ago, one that sits on the edge of the memories I recently regained about Nibelheim. It's of myself as a teenager, at the well that had stood in the center of Nibelheim. I'd invited my childhood friend there that night. I'd told her I'd be leaving the town soon, going to join SOLDIER, so I could become great... like Sephiroth. She even made me promise that once I'd become great, I'd come protect her if she was ever in need.

And... I'd done that, hadn't I? Maybe I'm not as strong as Sephiroth, but I'd achieved SOLDIER, First Class, and later, when Sephiroth razed the town, I had protected her, at least. So... why would Trixie's story make this memory come back now?

"Dusk..." Trixie speaks up, pulling me out of my reverie, turning her head to look at me from the window. "You look like you're the one lost in some old memories now."

"It's... nothing." I reply half-heartedly.

"...Alright." She replies, obviously seeing through my lie but not pressing me about it. She turns back to the window, collecting herself for another moment before speaking. "How much longer are you going to stand there eavesdropping, Sparkle?"

I turn my head to the doorway on the opposite side to indeed see the bookish unicorn there, now wide-eyed like an animal caught in headlamps. "I'm... I'm sorry. I came to see if Cloud was recovering okay, and the door was open, and then..." She trails off, running out of excuse to sputter.

"...How much did you hear?" Trixie asks her after it's clear Twilight has no more explanations to give.

"Only uh... a little bit... maybe a quarter... or half..." She laughs nervously, "...or maybe that you got the kitchen to make him scrambled eggs for breakfast."

"Why didn't you shut the door like a civilized person, Sparkle?" Trixie asks, feigning her usual aggressive self in language, but her voice passive and hard to read.

"Well... it just looked like you two were joking around a bit, so I was going to wait until you were done to say I was here..." She looks down at the ground. "And then, you started talking about all that, and I knew you'd never talk to me yourself, so I just started listening in, and... I'm really sorry, Trixie."

"Forget it, Sparkle." She finally turns to face Twilight. "So, what now? Care to take a laugh?"

"No!" Twilight exclaims, shaking her head and taking a moment to come into the room proper and shut the door tight with her magic. "You know I would never do that, Trixie..."

"You're right..." Trixie replies, using her magic to pull the chair she slept on last night up to the window and sits in it, facing us. "Sorry."

"It's alright." Twilight replies sympathetically, sitting next to her in the chair's remaining seat. "I shouldn't have been listening."

"...You best not tell anypony else about this, Sparkle." Trixie gives her a sidelong glare.

"Why not?" Twilight asks in reply, giving her a dumb smile. "I'm sure you'd get a lot more friends if you showed people the real Trixie!"

"No, Twilight!" She turns to face Twilight properly, though her anger quickly gives away to depression. "It's too late for that. People only see The Great and Powerful Trixie now. It's easier this way."

"Trixie..." Twilight's own tone falls. "Why would you want to be something that makes you so miserable?"

Trixie looks away from her. "You already know the answer to that, Twilight."

"Oh... right..." Twilight looks away as well, and the two fidget uncomfortably, finding extreme interest in the opposite walls of the room.

Have I... missed something? I'm pretty sure they didn't somehow have part of that conversation without me.

"Dusk," Trixie starts, turning to face me, "your eggs are getting cold."

"It's alright, I'll just..." I look around for a moment, and notice my bangle full of Materia is missing, as well as the Materia from my pocket. I didn't exactly expect to find my sword sitting in the bed next to me or anything, but the rest... "...Where's my Materia?"

The stand to my left glows a bit with Twilight's magic and the drawer slides open, revealing both the loose Materia and Bangle I'm missing. "The sword's under the bed." She explains.

"Wait a damn minute, Dusk." Trixie says, making me turn from the open drawer of Materia back to her. "You were going to fireball those eggs!"

"...I was not." I reply, folding my arms with a pout, leaning my back against the wall my bed is pressed up against to maintain my sitting position.

"You so were! You are unbelievable!" Trixie pulls the plate away from me with her magic, hopping down from the seat and making her way to the door, which opens from a separate magical tug. "The kitchen staff can handle reheating food. The last thing you need to be doing is flinging fire around while you have a hole in your chest." She walks out, shutting the door behind her with a slam as she heads... wherever she's going.

I turn to Twilight, whose staring at the door Trixie left through with her mouth hanging slightly open, the exchange having left her a bit dumbfounded. I let the silence hang for a moment before speaking. "Are we still in Canterlot?"

"Oh!" Twilight snaps back to reality, turning to me. "Yes, we're in a special wing of the castle reserved for Princess Celestia. I figured Trixie would've told you already."

"I never got to ask."

"Well, then," she replies, her exposatory switch flipped, "if you remember yesterday, Princess Celestia brought us to her chamber to speak with us originally. While she usually makes use of the main facilities instead to make other ponies feel less intimidated around her, she does have her own kitchen staff, medical, so forth in that wing of the castle as well, though they tend to only be used for special occasions. After you passed out, she brought us here so that she could get her personal doctor to take care of you without raising too much of a commotion."

I nod. "Makes sense, I guess."

"Though... my brother... wasn't very happy once he heard what happened." Twilight looks idly down at the floor. "I've never seen anypony that angry with the Princess before. She didn't even say anything back to him most of the time. Though... I think he's mad at himself more than he is at her. He chose to leave with Spike and let us go alone, and then... that happened."

I fidget a bit in my bed. "Do you think it would've been much different if he had been there?"

"That's not the point, Cloud..." She sighs. "I'm his little sister. He's always done his best to look out for me, even if I found it frustrating sometimes. We've always had a really good relationship, but... when I was younger, I wasn't the best with other ponies, myself. And now, we don't see each other much anymore. He's in Canterlot as Captain of the Royal Guard, I'm in Ponyville and a bearer of an Element of Harmony. I worry about him a lot... and I'm sure he worries about me even more. It's just..."

"It's hard to see two people you care about fight, right?" I ask, seeing the direction the conversation's heading.

"Yeah... something like that." She finally looks up again. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Thanks for listening, Cloud." She smiles a bit. "I think I'm starting to see how you and Trixie get along so well when she's not putting on a show for everypony else."

"Yeah..." I say idly, not wanting to leave her entirely unanswered, but not quite knowing what to say.

"So... how are you feeling?" Twilight asks, filling the void of the previous conversation.

"Could be worse." I give her a small smirk. "But don't be fooled. Death hurts like hell."

She giggles. "I bet. I'll see if the doctor can do something about the pain after Trixie gets back."

"That'd be great." I nod before continuing. "What about what we originally went down into the caves for?"

"You mean finding some kind of Equestrian Materia?" Twilight asks in reply. "After Celestia got us out of the cave and put you in the care of Gauze Wrap - that's the doctor - she-"

"Hold on." I cut her off. "The doctor's name is Gauze Wrap?" I look down at the wraps around my stomach. "I'm suddenly feeling far less confident about this recovery."

"It'll be fine." Twilight smiles. "Celestia says he's the best, despite the name. Anyway, after she got you set up here, she left us to watch over you and went back into the cave with some guards and some of the loose Materia you had with you to compare with - that's why we had it in the drawer when you woke up. They went hunting to see if they could find anything comparable enough that you might be able to make use of while Celestia oversaw them, but..." her good demeanor fades a bit, "they didn't find anything. Most of the crystals down there are massive, and without an exact knowledge of how their properties work, we can't cut them to be smaller and expect them to do anything."

"It's fine, Twilight." I lean my head back against the wall, already feeling a bit stir-crazy from not being able to get out of the bed. "It was a long-shot of an idea anyway."

Suddenly, the door bursts open. "Breakfast is served!" Trixie declares as she walks in, turning to me with a small glare. "Again. And without fire." This time she's levitating a second plate with a small sandwich on it as well.

"Thanks, Trixie." I say as she lays the new plate of eggs on my lap. There's even more this time, a fresh layer of over-medium eggs placed on top of some now darker-cooked scrambled ones. I'm starting to feel more than a little famished now that I've been awake for a while, so I'm not going to complain.

"Ohhh, he's learning manners." She declares, giving me a sly grin. "Soon he'll be ready to be house-trained!"

"Right..." I reply, picking up my fork in my right hand and turning down to the food. "We'll just go with that for now."

"I'll leave you two alone for a while." Twilight says, hopping down from the chair and walking toward the door. "I need to go talk to my brother, anyway. I'll come back later with Spike. He'll be glad to know you're awake already, Cloud." She pulls the door open with her magic, slipping out and shutting it quietly, leaving me alone with Trixie.

"I see you got your appetite back." I say to Trixie in-between bites of egg. She's taken up her seat in the chair again, nibbling a sandwich filled with things that are clearly pony-specific.

"Just a little." She replies.

"...Are you alright?" I ask, realizing the stupidity of the question as soon as it leaves my mouth.

She ignores the question, closing her eyes and taking a breath as she takes another bite of her sandwich. "Are you sure about this, Dusk?"

"About... letting Twilight use her magic on my head?" I ask, picking up on the context.

"Yeah... that." She replies.

"There's no choice at this point, is there?" I put down my fork. "If Sephiroth is planning anything like I can remember him planning for my own world, we need to stop him before his plan gains momentum. If there's a reason I've been avoiding it, or if something goes wrong, well... it's not like I can defeat him the way I am now, anyway."

She nods. "Finish eating then, Dusk."

Not one to argue over food, I pick my fork up again. "Though, it sounds like we'll need to wait until she gets back later today to try."

"Don't worry about that." She replies. "Just finish eating. We'll handle it then."

"But..." I start, but she cuts me off.

"We won't need Twilight Sparkle."

Won't need Twilight Sparke? "What do you mean?"

"I can do it, Dusk." Trixie answers, before taking another bite of her sandwich. Once she swallows, she continues. "It's based on a spell that Twilight Sparkle used when she and the other Elements of Harmony fought a creature named Discord." I think I remember Celestia mentioning the name Discord when she spoke of how the Lifestream on this planet works... "He attempted to use his magic to make them unable to use the Elements of Harmony by messing with their minds, but Twilight Sparkle undid it by using this spell that allowed them to regain the memories they shared together, then use the Elements to trap him in stone. The spell she's devised to help you works on the same concept. The side-effects are just... different."

"But... when did you learn to do something like that?" Outside of the time I was unconscious from being near-death, Trixie's been at my side more or less the entire time we've been with Twilight. Where would she even get the time for Twilight to teach her something that sounds so complex?

"I cheated a bit. Magician's specialty." She replies, smirking. "My limit as far as magic goes is nothing like Sparkle's, so this spell will put a lot of strain on me, but... I can do this much, at least. I promise."

"Cheated?" Now I'm just getting more confused - how do you cheat at learning magic?

"Don't worry about it." She takes a final bite of her sandwich, swallowing it. "...Unless you would prefer Sparkle to do the spell. I'll understand, Dusk."

"Does she know you know how to do this, Trixie?" I ask, instead of giving her a direct answer.

She nods. "Yes. She approves, if you're okay with this."

I take another bite of my eggs. Not many are left now. If things go wrong, then who knows what will happen. But, I look sidelong at Trixie. This is... "If you think you can do it Trixie," I start, causing her to look up at me, "then let's do it."

She smiles at me. It's something she's done plenty, but this time it's different. It's not the confident smirk of the traveling showmare. For possibly the first time, she looks genuinely happy. "Then finish eating. We'll start when you're done."

We go silent as I finish eating my eggs, a final pit forming in my stomach and slowing my progress. It doesn't matter any more, though. Whatever's in there, stashed away in my memories, I don't have time to run away from it anymore. I hear scraping against the floor and look up, to see Trixie pushing her chair directly against my bed with her magic, her eyes closed in thought. I hope you're right about being able to do this, Trixie...

"Ready?" She asks, looking to my now-empty plate.

"Yeah..." I reply, setting the plate onto the table to my left.

She leans in closer, her face close to mine, eyes closed. "When you're ready, lean your forehead against my horn. Then... I'll start."

Part of me wants to ask if she's sure about doing this, but I can see her body trembling with each breath. If I add any doubt into the mix... No, I'll just have to have the faith she's ready to do this. I press my forehead against her horn like she instructed, surprised at just how rounded and not stabbing-into-my-skull the tip of a unicorn's horn is.

I close my eyes, and a bright flash meets my eyelids.

Chapter 30: A Trip Down Memory Stream.

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Chapter 30: A Trip Down Memory Stream.

My head feels heavy. I struggle to open my eyes, but the world isn't what I expect it to be. It's misty, lights twinkling around like small stars, a faint green afterglow coming from behind the mist. Is it the Lifestream? No, it's... different. I twitch my feet, only to experience a lack of ground beneath them. I'm... floating? No, it feels like drifting. Drifting with a gentle current, though I don't seem to be moving anywhere.

I hear something. It's too far away, but... it's a voice, and somehow I still know what it said. It wants me to move forward, but, how can I do that? Think... think about moving forward. My body slowly begins to move forward in response, deeper into the mist. As I move, screens begin to appear along the sides of my path, moving around as if someone is slowly placing them in order. They contain images... memories of my time as a kid in Nibelheim. One, however, stands out in particular. A memory, from so long ago, at the well in Nibelheim, under the stars with...

"Go on, touch it." A voice from deep in the mist says. It's wavy, almost as if it's trying to talk while underwater, but I can understand it. I reach forward and touch the memory, and it ripples. A warm pressure pushes my hand deeper, and I sink into the image.

"Sorry I'm late." Tifa says, sitting on the well with me.

We'd grown up in Nibelheim together. She was wearing a turquoise dress with matching sandals that night, her long, black hair worn straight down to small of her back as it always was.

"You wanted to talk about something?" She asks.

I look up. "Come this Spring, I'm leaving this town for Midgar."

"All the boys are leaving town." She replies, swinging her feet on the well.

"But I'm different from them." I insist. "I'm not just going to find a job." I stand up and face her, determined. "I'm going to join SOLDIER. I'm going to be the best there is, just like Sephiroth!"

"Sephiroth... The Great Sephiroth?" I nod to answer her question. "But, isn't it hard to join SOLDIER?"

"...I probably won't be able to come back to this town for a while."

She giggles in reply. "Hey... let's make a promise. If you get really famous and I'm ever in a bind, you'll come save me, alright?" She looks at me. "If I'm ever in trouble, my hero will come rescue me. I want to experience that at least once."

"What?"

"Come on! Promise me!" She insists.

"All right... I promise."

I feel a warm presence next to me as the memory dissolves, and I find myself back in the mist. It makes a small, comforting heat sprout in my chest as well, but it only lasts for a fleeting moment...

"We're still at the beginning." The wavy voice says. "You need to keep going."

I will myself forward as the voice instructs, continuing down the ethereal path. My final memories in Nibelheim pass me by, and I leave the town for Midgar, a massive industrial city that's separated into upper and lower halves via large, industrial plates that people live atop. I move forward still, but the memories... are beginning to become blurry, and out of order, like the force arranging them can't tell where they go. I reach out to one, a memory of my early time as SOLDIER, First Class, but as I try to press my hand against it, it vanishes, dissolving into mist.

"I'm sorry." The voice speaks again. It's a bit clearer. It sounds feminine, but the distance and distortion make it impossible to recognize beyond that. "Those ones shouldn't be here."

Shouldn't be here? How could... I look around some more, and find an image of another memory, a clear one. It's a memory of Cloud Strife, the soldier in the Shin-Ra Electric Power Company's Infantry Division. How could I have a memory of being SOLDIER, First Class when I never was able to get into SOLDIER to begin with? As a member of the Infantry Division, though, I had met a man in SOLDIER who eventually made First Class. Zack... he bore a cross-shaped scar on his face, black hair, and a massive weapon called the Buster Sword. He was strong, and charismatic, and it turned out we'd both been from backwater towns, so it was easy for us to get along together.

I continue, until I come across one memory: Nibelheim. Zack and Sephiroth had been assigned to investigate the Mako Reactor on top of Mt. Nibel, as there had been reports of strange monsters. I was with them as well, as part of the escort detail. Tifa still lived there, and was the one who showed us up the mountain paths to reach the Reactor. Thankfully, the helmets worn by the Infantry Divison included visors that obscured the face, so I was able to hide the shame of not making it to SOLDIER by just not speaking and not removing the helmet. However, inside the Reactor... something happened with Sephiroth. After the initial investigation, he stayed locked in the basement of a mansion owned by Shin-Ra on the edge of the town, pouring through countless books and research notes of the scientists who turned the library in the mansion's basement into their labratory.

"There's more..." Some more memories begin to appear, dragged with apparent effort from further down the mist path.

These new memories are from five years later, after we began our quest to stop Sephiroth. Scouring the notes as Sephiroth had years ago, we learned of Shin-Ra's investigation into the Cetra, a race of people from two-thousand years ago. The Cetra were said to be able to call the Lifestream forth to fertilize the land, helping them keep up a nomadic lifestyle as they searched for a fabled 'Promised Land'. Shin-Ra wanted this ability for themselves, to ease the production of Mako Energy, once they found frozen remains of a Cetra from the crater in the north that they named Jenova. Scientists began splicing the cells of regular humans with the cells they found, resulting in the birth of the super-soldier, Sephiroth. Believing the people on the planet had stolen it from the Cetra, Sephiroth left the basement, destroying the town of Nibelheim and heading to the Mt. Nibel Reactor.

"...That's not the whole story either, is it?" The guiding voice asks, hesitating slightly as still more memories are moved down, working themselves into the composite that's being built.

Yes... it turned out that the scientists that believed Jenova was a member of the Cetra were mistaken. Two-thousand years ago, when the Cetra disappeared, a meteor fell from the sky and struck the north. Out of it came a life-form the Cetra who survived would dub the 'Calamity of the Sky'. It shifted shapes, gleaning memories to take the forms of loved onces to get close to Cetra settlements and spread its cells among them like a parasite, turning them into twisted monsters. Those that survived banded together, and somehow sealed the creature at its impact site in the north. This is the creature that Shin-Ra would later excavate and name 'Jenova'. Had it been the influence of this creature inside him that truly drove Sephiroth mad?

The filter of new memories stops coming and I turn away, moving myself ahead. I don't need to go far to find the memories of Sephiroth's carnage. Nibelheim's burning stands out starkly among the images, and I'm tempted to linger, but... something pushes me forward. Yes, it hurts, but... there's something more important. Sephiroth returned to the Reactor on Mt. Nibel. This memory calls out, much like the memory of the well, though this one is cold. I collect myself, and without needing instruction, reach out my hand...

I rush into the Reactor, down the catwalks above the Lifestream that's being welled up to process into Mako. I reach the final room of the structure, one bathed in red light, with rows of pods containing monstrous, distorted creatures kept in a stasis, set to either side of a long staircase. I scan around and... Tifa! Why is she here? Any thoughts of why a Mako Reactor would have a room like this disappear as I check to be sure she's still alive. She's injured, unconscious, but... fine, for now. I look up, seeing a second body on the stairs. Zack is sprawled, face down on the stair case. He's badly injured, but, like Tifa, still alive.

I turn to the top of the stairwell. At the top is a doorway labeled 'JENOVA', with a door that had clearly once been sealed. I rush up the stairs, through the doorway, and see him there: Sephiroth. His back is to me as he runs his hand along a glass tube in front of him. Inside is a distorted, grey-blue skinned fascimile of a woman, with the remnants of leathery wings on her back, and fleshy tubes running from different parts of her body down to a massive heart where her feet should be. On the floor is Zack's weapon, the Buster Sword, and I don't hesitate to take it. I rush forward, down the small, rail-less path between us, able to use his fixation on the creature in the tube to run him through with Zack's blade, going straight through Sephiroth and nearly smashing his precious tube open as well. I pull the blade out as he reels, knowing no person can survive a wound like that from a weapon this large as I rush back to the previous room. I lay the weapon down and cradle Tifa, laying her unconscious body in a sitting position in a corner of the room. I set my helmet to the side, ready to try waking her... when I hear steps coming from the top of the staircase.

"How dare you..." Sephiroth spits from the top of the stairs. I stare at him, wide-eyed, unable to believe he's still alive at all. He's limping, his sword held loosely in his left hand, while in the right hand, he holds the head of the creature from the tube, dangling by its hair.

"Cloud... finish Sephiroth off...!" Zack says, conscious again, his body twitching on the staircase as he fails to move anything of use.

I don't hesitate in taking up Zack's Buster Sword again, rushing down the man who turned Nibelheim into an inferno. Sephiroth is gravely injured, but, in a single clash of our weapons... he demonstrates the difference in ability between a First Class SOLDIER and an Infantry. The impact flings the Buster Sword from my hands and sends me hurdling down the stairs, out of the pod-filled room and into the room before, with the Lifestream flowing to be processed below. My body reels in pain, barely able to move... then intensifies as his sword stabs through my stomach. The pain is whirling as he picks me up of the ground like a scrap, using his sword to hold me over the edge to the Lifestream below.

The memory becomes blurry now, the pain obscuring the details. I remember he spoke, but not what he said. I remember the feeling... knowing in that moment, I was going to die, and that I couldn't accept letting someone like him walk away. I gripped the sword lodged in my chest and pulled myself forward, impaling myself deeper on the blade until my feet reached the catwalk again. Then, somehow... somehow, I threw him off the side, into the Lifestream, and collapsed. The Great Sephiroth had been defeated, at least for the time, by an insignificant member of Shin-Ra's Infantry Division.

"You did something pretty great, didn't you?" The voice asks, a warm feeling tempering the bad memory. I did, didn't I?

I move forward, through the screens of memories. These memories are blurry, obscure, as if I was only partially there to experience them. Sometimes, more memories from further ahead are pulled down, doing their best to clarify what's missing.

That's right, eventually, other members of Shin-Ra found Zack and I collapsed in Mt. Nibel's Mako Reactor, and took us. Somehow, Tifa got away from being taken by them as well. Maybe another survivor of Nibelheim came and took her first, leaving Zack and I behind due to our relation to Shin-Ra?

Regardless, we weren't taken to be treated for our injuries, but instead... we found ourselves in the mansion's basement. Shin-Ra's scientist, Hojo, took interest in us after learning we had somehow killed Sephiroth. I remember fading in and out of consciousness, weak and unable to move as Hojo kept us both in tubes filled with Mako. The scientist wanted to make more soldiers like Sephiroth, and spliced us with Jenova's cells. I don't recall much of what happened next, but eventually, Zack was able to break us out, allowing us to escape the mansion. Though... I was nearly catatonic, the Mako Poisoning leaving me entirely as dead weight. Zack probably should have left me behind, but... that wasn't his style, was it?

Another memory draws me close. It's a bit distorted, due to the Mako Poisoning, but unlike the rest it's still clear enough to recall. He had dressed me in one of his extra SOLDIER uniforms, and we were riding in the back of a pickup truck, Zack hitch-hiking our way as far from Nibelheim as we could get...

"Yo, old guy! We at Midgar yet?" Zack asks the man giving us our ride.

"Shaddap! You're lucky I even gave you a ride!"

Zack turns away from the guy, bending down next to me. "What're you gonna do once we get to Midgar?"

"..."

"I know what I'm gonna do. I got a place I can crash for a while. No, wait, the mother lives there, too... guess that's out." He shakes his head. "Yep! Gotta change my plans! Hmm... no matter what I do, I'm gonna need some money first." He looks at me again. "Hey, wanna start a business? But what could we do?" He stops to think for a moment. "Hey, Cloud, think there's anything I'd be good at?"

"..."

He turns to the cab of the truck. "Hey, old guy! What do you think I'd be good at?"

"What're you yappin' about? You're still young ain't ya? Young folks should try everything! You gotta pay your dues while you're young. Go out and look for what you really want."

Zack turns back to me, muttering. "Go out and try everything... that's easy for him to say." He takes a moment, doing squats to help himself think before pumping his fist in the air and looking up to the sky. "Hey! Of course! I got a lot of brains and skill and stuff that other guys don't! That settles it! I'm gonna become a mercenary! Yeah! Thanks pops!"

"Hey... didn't you even hear a word I said?"

"Listen, I'm gonna become a mercenary and that's that! Boring stuff, dangerous stuff, anything for money. I'm gonna be rich!" Zack turns back down to me. "So, Cloud, what are you gonna do?"

"..."

"Just kidding... I won't leave you hanging like that. We're friends, right? Mercenaries, Cloud, that's what you and I are gonna be!"

I feel it again as I pull away from the memory with Zack, the warm presence I felt when I viewed the memory of my promise with Tifa back again. It wraps around me, staying with me this time as I glide a bit further along the misty path. I find one more memory of Zack, one that makes me stop. The warmth stops with me as I move toward it, slowly reaching out my hand.

"..." The sound of the voice glides past me, though it sounds more like an intake of breath than words.

Even without touching it, I can remember this one clearly, despite my Mako Poisoning at the time. Zack and I had nearly reached Midgar, and were on a ridge that overlooked the city. However... we weren't alone. Shin-Ra had found us at some point, and chased us here, wanting to dispose of their failed experiments. Zack hid me among some rocks before they were able to truly catch up to us and stood in the open, waiting, his Buster Sword raised in front of him, intent on keeping all the attention squarely on him. I had finally been regaining a bit of my senses, but... my body wouldn't move. I couldn't do anything. I don't need to touch the memory to remember the words he said as Shin-Ra's soldiers surrounded him.

"Embrace your dreams, and whatever happens, protect your honor... as SOLDIER!"

I pull my hand away from the memory, curling my fingers uncertainly. I know what happens next already, but... the warmth wraps around my hand, guiding it back. My fingertips glide gently across the top of the memory...

It's started raining. Shin-Ra's soldiers have left, satisfied with their job well-done. After all this time, I've finally found the strength to crawl, and make my way to him from the rocks. Zack's body is staring up to the sky. My encounter with Sephiroth proved that someone subjected to Jenova's cells could survive more trauma than any ordinary person, but... everything has its limit. I finally reach him, and stare down at him, still on my hands and knees, my mind reeling.

"For the... both of us..." Zack mutters through pained breaths, somehow still alive. "You're gonna..." He reaches out, placing his hand on the back of my neck and pressing me to his chest. "Live!" He pauses, struggling for a next breath. "You'll be... my living legacy." His hand falls away and I pull myself up, sitting on my knees as he looks to his right. He reaches his right hand out, grasping the hilt of the Buster Sword and slowly dragging it, holding the hilt out in front of me. "My honor, my dreams... they're yours now." Not knowing what else to do, I close my hands around the hilt of the sword and he releases it, pressing his hand over mine and pushing the hilt to my chest.

I'm pulled forcibly away from the memory before it can finish. The warm presence wraps itself around me tighter. That's right... Zack wasn't the only one to die that day. Cloud Strife, member of the Shin-Ra Infantry Division disappeared as well. Maybe it was the Mako Poisoning, or the experiements, or even... my own grief, but I took Zack's words too literally. The person I used to be was replaced by Cloud Strife, mercenary and former SOLDIER First Class, able to take any job. For a long time, those memories of Zack Fair, SOLDIER First Class and fellow country boy, disappeared. I'd recall myself in his place, as the new First Class recruit that investigated the Mt. Nibel Mako Reactor as his first mission, and confronted Sephiroth for revenge over the loss of his home town.

The warmth finally leaves, flowing like a wisp up the path I've been put on. "There are happy things here, too." The guiding voice says, ever a bit more clear. It's familiar... a voice I've heard before. "Let's keep going."

I follow it, the memories of my time in Midgar returning next. Boring stuff, dangerous stuff... just like Zack said, I did all of it. At least, I did, until one day I got a job from an environmentalist group called AVALANCHE. They knew the processing of Lifestream into Mako would eventually cause the death of the planet, and wanted to stop Shin-Ra's manufacturing by destroying the eight Mako Reactors around Midgar. While Shin-Ra had other Mako Reactors, such as the one on Mt. Nibel, they used Midgar as their base of operations. They essentially owned the entire city, with their business headquarters being the focal point of Midgar's upper layer, so destroying the Reactors here would cause severe damage to Shin-Ra regardless. At the time, though, none of that mattered to me. To me, it was just another paycheck.

I met them and infiltrated the first Reactor with a man named Barret. He was a burly, dark-skinned, muscular man, with an implant of a gun replacing his right hand and a vocabulary not fit for anyone. We didn't get along very well at first, to the point I wondered if he disagreed with me just to be contrary, but, in the end, he was a good guy. We were able to plant a bomb inside the first Mako Reactor on their group's list and destroy it without much difficulty, then return to their base of operations, a bar named the 7th Heaven. That's where I met someone I wasn't sure I'd ever see again.

Tifa was there, working behind the bar, herself a member of AVALANCHE. It wasn't that surprising, though... she may have asked me to come and protect her like a hero back in Nibelheim, but she didn't exactly need it. She was strong-willed and trained by an expert martial-artist, after all. Joining a group for the sake of getting revenge for the events at Nibelheim wasn't particularly surprising of her to do. She came with us for the second job. At first, it was an easy job, but Shin-Ra trapped us, delaying us and forcing us to fight our way out. As we crossed one of the bridges outside the Reactor, the bomb went off, causing it to collapse out from under me. Tifa tried to catch me, but... I ended up falling a massive distance, from the upper plate, through the roof of a church, and onto a flower bed. Ironically, had it not been for Hojo's experiments, that might have been the end for me. The memory of the following events glides up to me, and I press my hand against it.

"Hello?" A woman's voice says, rousing me from consciousness after my fall. "You okay?"

I sit up and turn to her. She's a bit older than me, with long, brown hair wrapped into a single braid along her back, tied by a ribbon, a pair of bangs hanging in front of her face. She has a soft, welcoming appearance, accentuated by a long, pink dress and a red vest-jacket. I shake my head clear, and she continues talking.

"This is a church in the Sector 5 slums. You suddenly crashed down on top of me."

"...I came crashing down?"

She nods. "The roof and flower bed must have broken the fall. You're lucky."

I look down at my landing zone. "Flower bed... is this yours?" I get to my feet, turning to face her. "Sorry about that."

"It's alright." She assures me. "The flowers are resiliant because this is a sacred place. They say you can't grow grass and flowers in Midgar, but for some reason, they have no trouble blooming here." She crouches down for a moment, tending the flowers before continuing. "Say, do you have any Materia?"

"Yes, some. Nowadays you can find Materia anywhere."

She stands back up, clasping a piece of white Materia I'd never seen before. "Mine is special, though." She replies. "It's good for absolutely nothing."

"Good for nothing?" I ask. "You probably just don't know how to use it."

"No, I do." She insists. "It just doesn't do anything. I feel safe having it, though. It was my mother's..." She moves to the far side of the flower bed, inspecting it. "Oh, my name is Aerith."

It wasn't long after that when some Shin-Ra soldiers and a uniformed man named Reno, from a special operations force called the Turks, came into the church. Instead of being after me, though, they were after Aerith, calling her an 'Ancient'... one of the Cetra. We escaped their pursuit, and eventually, she decided to show me the fastest way back to Sector 7, where the 7th Heaven was located.

On our way, though, we saw Tifa had been captured by a rich scumbag named Don Corneo, who went through women faster than most people go through socks. We infiltrated his mansion in Sector 6 to save her, though it turned out she had been captured on purpose in order to obtain information, as the Don had ties with Shin-Ra. We learned from him that Shin-Ra intended to destroy the support plate for the upper half of Sector 7, using it to crush the lower half and destroy AVALANCHE's base, all while blaming the attack on AVALANCHE itself.

We rushed back to Sector 7 quickly, meeting up with Barret, who scaled the support beam for Sector 7 with Tifa and myself to try and stop Shin-Ra. While we were able to confront them, including Reno, we ultimately weren't able to stop them... and, somewhere during the chaos, Aerith had been captured by the Turks.

So we did the smart thing, of course, and decided to storm the Shin-Ra main headquarters to save her. While there, we found the headless body of Jenova, moved from Mt. Nibel, inside a containment chamber, and freed both Aerith and a red, sentient, feline-like creature with a flaming tail, and a brand that labeled him as Red XIII. It was at that point that Shin-Ra captured our entire group, but our cells malfunctioned not long after our capture, allowing us to escape. What facilitated our escape, though, is what ultimately started our quest. The tank containing Jenova's body had been destroyed, and much of the building had been completely trashed, the survivors muttering about how Sephiroth came back from the dead and killed President Shin-Ra. After learning Sephiroth was no longer inside, we made our escape of both Shin-Ra Headquarters and Midgar, deciding for our own reasons to chase down and defeat Sephiroth - Tifa and I for revenge of the events at Nibelheim.

I finally pull myself entirely away from the dense memories of our journey's start. The misty path ahead is still long, but the memories are able to quickly slot into place from here. We made our way across the continent, before using a boat from the harbor town of Junon to cross the ocean to reach a separate continent entirely. As our journey stretched on, we gained plenty more friends.

We found out that Red XIII's real name was Nanaki, and that he was a member of a long-lived race of warriors with a sworn duty to protect the planet from harm, captured by Shin-Ra for various experiments, much like Aerith. We also met the ninja and Materia thief, Yuffie, from Wutai, which lost to Shin-Ra in the previous war. Cid joined us, a crass man from Rocket Town with a dream of being the first man to take a rocket up to space. There was Vincent, a man sealed in the basement of the mansion in Nibelheim in a deep sleep... subject to a fate not too dissimilar to myself and Zack. Finally there was Cait Sith... an animatronic of a small, black cat riding a giant moogle we met while investigating the resort known as the Golden Saucer based on rumors of Sephiroth's appearance. He turned out to be a puppet controlled by a man named Reeve, from Shin-Ra, leader of their Urban Development Divison. Reeve intended to betray us at first, but eventually began to help us in secret using the Cait Sith animatronics, helping us avoid Shin-Ra's attempts to capture us so we could save the planet from Sephiroth.

"You've had a lot of good friends, haven't you?" The voice from the mist says, after being silent for so long. The waviness is disappearing, and its tone is soft. The warm presence again appears at my side, lighting the small fire inside me as if to emphasize its question.

Thinking back on it... how could I have forgotten all these people? Each of them had joined me on what was originally a selfish quest to avenge my home town, which turned into a quest to save the planet itself the more we learned of Sephiroth's true intentions. They really were good friends, and no matter how hard things became, none of them ever walked away. Despite what our quest entailed, there were plenty of good times, and we always found ways to laugh through the bad ones. Well, except for Vincent, he... he wasn't the most outgoing or empathetic person. We encountered 'Sephiroth' repeatedly, though each was in truth a piece of Jenova, transformed into his likeness. Working together, we were able to survive, defeating these pieces as they revealed their true forms to fight us, and continue ahead.

I keep moving on the mist path, the events of that quest continuing to unfold and find their proper places back in my mind. Eventually, we found ourselves at the Temple of the Ancients. It was, as the name implies, an ancient temple, built by the Cetra long ago to seal away the Black Materia, which was capable of summoning Meteor and destroying the planet. We were on Sephiroth's heels, as obtaining this Materia was a key part of his true plan - a plan to summon Meteor, creating a wound large enough that the Lifestream would need to act immediately in order to save the planet, where he could then place himself in the center and use all that Lifestream in one location to elevate his power to that of a God. It was difficult, but we were able to secure the Black Materia from him, except with one problem: The truth was that the Temple itself was the Black Materia, transformed by the Cetra to protect the planet.

Solving the puzzles of the Temple would cause it to slowly turn back into the Materia, but the person inside would be crushed. We knew Sephiroth had his own ways to bypass this defense, so Reeve sacrified one of his Cait Sith animatronics to solve the puzzles and transform the Temple back into the Materia. As I retrieved the Black Materia, however, Sephiroth again appeared, playing his newest card: He'd somehow gained dominance over the creature, Jenova, and used the cells of it inside my body to dominate my mind, forcing me to simply... give him the Black Materia.

A strange, distorted memory sits next to this one. I... remember this. That night, Aerith somehow spoke to me, in a dream. I can only remember the words, but...

"Cloud, can you hear me?"

"Yeah... sorry for what happened."

"Don't worry about it, Cloud."

"...I can't help it."

"Oh... then you can keep worrying about it, and let me handle Sephiroth!"

"What?"

"And Cloud... take care of yourself. Don't have another breakdown, okay?"

"..."

"It's only a matter of time before Sephiroth uses Meteor. That's why I'm going to protect the planet. Only a Cetra, like me, can do it."

When we woke up, Aerith was gone, run ahead to a Cetra city known only as the Forgotten Capital now. She planned to pray at the altar there, calling forth the power of the planet to activate the White Materia her mother had left her. It was apparently the final defense against Meteor, meant for when the Black Materia fell into evil hands, with the power to summon a great force to protect the planet... but only a Cetra could obtain the guidance needed from the Lifestream to use it.

The next memory flies close, as if asking me to touch it, but I pull away. I remember clearly enough what happens next - I don't need to relive it. We went to the Forgotten Capital after Aerith, eventually finding her at the pedestal in the center of the city. As I approached her, however, Sephiroth dominated my mind again, urging me to kill her. It was only due to my friends, the ones I'd forgotten all this time, that I'd been able to stop myself... But, while I was collecting myself from his attempt, he took his opportunity - appearing from an upper level of the city and jumping down, running Aerith through with his massive blade, the Masamune. Unlike a member of SOLDIER, however, a Cetra doesn't have any particular vitality, so... it didn't take long for her to die. Again, while not being able to do anything, I...

"...We're almost at the end now." My guiding voice assures, as if it can sense my resolve wavering, almost all the distortions in it gone now. The warm presence sets off down the path once more, and like always, I follow, the remaining memories coming with clarity.

We set Aerith's body to rest in the waters surrounding the Forgotten Capital, and continued forward based on a comment Sephiroth made. "All that is left is to go North. The 'Promised Land' waits for me over the snowy fields." What had once been 'merely' a quest to save the world for most of us now had a personal gravity, and our resolve hardened as we made our way north. We learned that Sephiroth was waiting in the Northern Crater, the impact site of Jenova from two-thousand years ago, and moved to confront him. Another piece of Jenova in Sephiroth's form stood in our path, and after it assumed its true form to fight us, we defeated it. It turned out to be the piece that was bringing the Black Materia to Sephiroth, and I entrusted it to Nanaki, not wanting to risk a repeat of the incident from the Temple of the Ancients.

I catch up to the warm presence. It's resting in front of a powerful memory, one that feels like it's drawing me in. I feel compelled to reach out and touch it, to let it take me away, but the warmth stops me, at least for a moment. I look at the memory and see why, but... it's too close to the end now. I reach out. Throughout all our adventures, whenever anyone had asked about Nibelheim, Tifa had always allowed me to speak, supporting whatever I told the others. This time, however, she wouldn't be able to, as we found ourselves in an illusion created by Sephiroth, using the power the Lifestream flowing so near to us in the Northern Crater.

I reach out, the warm presence no longer attempting to stop me, and touch the memory... the memory of the death of Cloud Strife, mercenary and former member of SOLDIER, First Class.

"Nibelheim..." Tifa mutters under her breath, as we approach the illusion of the town we called home all those years ago.

"This is an illusion Sephiroth made up." I reply. "He's trying to confuse us. Come on, let's keep going."

Tifa turns to me. "Yeah, you're right... Look!" She exclaims, looking behind me, and I turn, before the two of us move to the side of the town's entrance, as an illusion of Sephiroth enters the town, just as he did when first investigating Mt. Nibel.

"All right, let's go." Sephiroth says, turning to the people behind him. Two members of the Shin-Ra Infantry Divison approach behind him, as well as another man - a man with a cross-shaped scar on his cheek, black hair, and a large sword with two simple Materia slots. The four men walk forward.

"Stop... Sephiroth." Tifa's voice wavers slightly, issuing the command as Sephiroth walks past her.

"This is so stupid..." I mutter.

The illusion of Sephiroth laughs, throwing its head back, and there's a white flash.

"Stop it already!" Tifa yells as the scene changes, to the fires I remember from five years ago, at Nibelheim. We're near the well, the flames surrounding us.

"He's going to try and show us another stupid illusion." I insist as I turn to the mansion, where I had ran out after Sephiroth began his rampage those years ago. As if on cue, the black-haired man runs out instead, running into the town to check for survivors. "See, what did I tell you?"

"I don't want to watch this..." Tifa says, her voice still shaking. "Cloud, don't watch."

"Sephiroth!" I yell. "I know you're listening! I know what you want to say, that I wasn't in Nibelheim five years ago! That's it, isn't it?"

There's a flash, and another illusion of Sephiroth appears. "I see you finally understand."

"What you're saying is you want to confuse me, right?" I ask him. "But, making me see those things won't affect me. I remember it all. The heat of the fire, the pain in my body, and my heart!"

Sephiroth shakes his head. "Oh, is that so? You're just a puppet. You have no heart. You can't feel pain. How can there be any meaning in the memory of such a being? What I've shown you is reality. What you remember, that is the illusion. Do you understand?"

"I don't want to understand." I respond, turning my back to him. "But I want to ask you one thing. Why are you doing this?"

There's another flash, and the illusion is again to my front, laughing. "I want to take you back to your real self, the one that gave me the Black Materia. Who would have thought a failed experiment would prove so useful? Hojo would die if he knew."

"What does Hojo have to do with me?!" I ask angrily, walking up to the image of Sephiroth.

"Five years ago... you were created by Hojo, piece by piece, right after Nibelheim was burnt. A puppet made of vibrant Jenova cells, her knowledge, and the power of the Mako. An incomplete Sephiroth-Clone, not even given a number: That is your reality."

"Cloud, don't listen to him..." Tifa pleads from my side. "Close your ears! Close your eyes!"

I look at her, confused. "What's wrong, Tifa? I'm not affected by it. I'm not listening to him."

Tifa continues, as if I never said anything at all. "All that talk of Hojo constructing you is a lie. Don't we have our memories together? Being kids together, starlit nights..."

Sephiroth laughs again, pulling our attention back to him. "Tifa, why are you so scared by those words?" In reply, Tifa merely turns her back to him, burying her face in her hands as he laughs more. "You look like you're not feeling well."

"Tifa..." I turn to her, her reactions beginning to worry me as the Sephiroth illusion vanishes. "Is Sephiroth right?" I shake my head at her lack of reply. "Why are you so scared? I'm alright. No matter how confused I am, I'll never believe a word Sephiroth says." I sigh. "It's true, sometimes I can't figure out who I am. There's lots of things muddled up in my memories. But you said 'Long time no see, Cloud', right? No matter what else anyone says to me, it's your attitude that counts..."

"That's not true, Cloud..." Tifa says hesitantly. "I don't know how to say it..."

In another flash, the Sephiroth illusion reappears, this time across the fire. "Cloud, don't blame Tifa. The ability to change one's looks, voice, and words: That is the power of Jenova. Inside you, Jenova merged with Tifa's memories, creating you. Tifa's memories... a boy named 'Cloud' may have been part of them."

"Cloud... please, don't think right now..." Tifa insists, her voice wavering ever more.

"Think, Cloud!" Sephiroth's illusion yells over her. "Oh... excuse me. You never had a name."

"Shut up, Sephiroth!" I yell, getting sick of his games.

"You still don't get it? Then... do you remember the picture we took before heading to Mt. Nibel?" He turns to Tifa. "...Tifa, you remember, right? But there's no way he would know." He reaches into his coat, pulling out the picture. "Do you want to see it? It turned out pretty good."

"Cloud, don't..." Tifa's pleading voice is getting softer, less able to vocalize.

"I... should be in the picture." I reply, giving her a confident nod. "Even if I'm not there, this is just an illusion Sephiroth made up." I walk over and look at the picture - the picture of Sephiroth, Tifa, and the black-haired man, causing the illusion of Sephiroth to disappear once more. "Just as I thought. This picture's a fake. The truth is in my memory. Five years ago, I came back to Nibelheim, to inspect the Reactor. I was sixteen. I saw my mom. I saw the people in town." I place my hand to my head, thinking. Tifa's back stays turned to me. "I spent the night and went to the Reactor on Mt. Nibel. I was excited about it, because that was my first mission after becoming First Class in SOLDIER." There's a flash, and I drop to my knees, gripping my head. "SOLDIER, First Class? SOLDIER? When did I enter SOLDIER? How did I join SOLDIER? Why can't I remember...?"

After that... I began to believe Sephiroth's versions of events. We reached Sephiroth, the real Sephiroth, contained within a cocoon of Materia crystal, perserving his body. I took back the Black Materia from Nanaki, who was relieved to have the responsibility taken away, and then... Sephiroth exerted his influence once more, and I gave the Black Materia to him... again. He used the Materia to begin summoning Meteor, and the chamber began to shake. Eventually, the floor gave way, and while the others escaped, I didn't even bother to try and fell into the Lifestream. And... that's the end.

"No, it's not." The voice is clear now, on the tip of recognition.

Of course it is. Sephiroth showed me the truth, that the 'Cloud' I believed I was didn't exist, and in turn, I gave Sephiroth the Black Materia. Then, with Sephiroth still inside the Materia cocoon, we both fell into the Lifestream, and somehow, the planet expelled us both, sending us to...

"No!" The voice becomes authoritative. "You already know Sephiroth's version of events is wrong! You remember!"

...The voice is right. It had assembled my memories carefully, so that Sephiroth's lie couldn't be true. I remembered Zack. I remember hiding my face from Tifa all those years ago, back in Nibelheim. Those are the real memories, so I can't just be some composite made of Jenova's cells.

"That's right!" It insists. "How can you see those memories, if they weren't already there?"

I had... I had remembered all this, once before.

"Yes!"

Sephiroth's damage had been undone once before.

"Yes!"

Then, I am Cloud Strife, of Nibelheim!

"..."

...Is that wrong?

"...I don't understand the next part enough to say."

Next part? But... there's nothing left ahead, just empty mist.

"You've built a strong wall around this memory. You'll need to break through it."

A strong wall? Around a memory? How does that work?

"Your heart's afraid of what's inside."

How do I break it?

"Let your friends help you, like you always do."

But... those friends are long gone now. I may never see them again.

"Yes..." The voice softens. "But you've made plenty of new friends, haven't you?"

That's right, I have...

"Do you think they'd abandon you if the last memory contained something terrible?"

The ones that matter the most wouldn't.

"Then why are you afraid?"

Why... why am I afraid? As I ask that question, the path forward appears, along with a new memory. I will myself over to it, but it's damaged. Touching it doesn't do anything.

However, parts of it still come back. Falling into the Lifestream wasn't the end. After a while, Tifa somehow came, and the Lifestream allowed her to somehow enter Cloud's subconscious. Bit by bit, she found the scattered parts of Cloud's memories and put them back together. All the memories on this path, Tifa had found them and fixed them, brought back the real Cloud Strife, the one who had a best friend and hero named Zack Fair, of SOLDIER, First Class. All the memories, all the pieces of Cloud Strife's personality... but one.

That one piece... it had been me. I remember now. A small piece, insignificant, squirreled away in a corner of Cloud's mind, most likely not any important part of him at all. Tifa eventually saw me, and attempted to bring me back to the rest of Cloud, but... something pulled me away. It tugged me, somehow drawing me into the Lifestream. After that, I woke up, being dragged out of the river by the Everfree Forest. If Tifa had been able to enter Cloud's subconscious, I suppose it makes sense a piece of a subconscious could leave, but... how did that happen?

"I don't know."

There's nothing after this?

"Not about this."

Then, how did Sephiroth follow me?

"I don't know."

Then how am I supposed to beat him?

"...I don't know."

Am I even really Cloud Strife anymore?

"Does it matter?"

Of course it matters! If I'm not, then these memories that I've just gone through all this work regaining, they're...

"They're not fake."

But they're not mine. What difference is there between this and what Sephiroth...

"There is a difference!" The voice quivers. "You have a heart! You've made new memories, and new friends, haven't you?" The presence I've been feeling alongside the voice appears once more, stronger than ever, and pushes me forward on the path. "Whether you're Cloud Strife or just a piece of his heart, they wouldn't turn you away, would they?"

No, they wouldn't... Equestria's... different, but I've made plenty of friends here, too. Friends that have helped me despite them barely knowing me at all. Despite not having memories at all, despite being something they've never seen before, the day Twilight Sparkle brought me to Ponyville, they were willing to help me. There was even a party! Maybe the pink one wasn't so bad, after all...

I was callous to them and left without warning or direction, but that didn't stop them looking for me and wanting to help. Though, because of that, I also met one more friend. Someone egotistical and dedicated, but also care-free in their own way. Someone who didn't care who or what I was back then, either. We traveled together. That's right! We jumped on top of the train to Appleloosa! We saw buffalo! We put on a great magic show! We...

"That important, huh?"

Trixie!

"Took you long enough, idiot."

But...

"But, what? Are you still moping about this?"

...

"Think about it. Isn't it better this way?"

...

"That girl, Tifa... she was... that sort of important to you, wasn't she?"

...Yeah.

"Then isn't it better that her hero is still there, ready to keep his promise and stop Sephiroth's Meteor?"

It is. But, what about...

"What about you? You're here! You're alive! You have friends! Do the details really matter anymore?"

I guess they don't. I'm in my own world, with my own friends. My past is important, but even if I'm not 'Cloud Strife', I can make my own path forward. I should be focusing on what I am, instead of caring so much about what I'm not! There's no reason to let Sephiroth try to confuse me anymore.

"That's right."

You could learn something from that, you know.

"...Shut up, or I start rewiring things to make you think you're a dog."

Noted.

"...There's one more part left to go, but you'll need to do it alone."

How can there be one more part? It's been half a day since Sephiroth attacked us in the Crystal Caves! How can there be another part?

"I said there were side-effects, remember?"

The path in front of me flashes white, blinding my vision. Once it returns, I'm in a similar mist to before, but the glow behind it is blue instead of green. I look around, trying to get my bearings, then will myself forward like always. As I move forward, the memory screens begin opening, as before, except something's... different.

These... aren't my memories. They're memories of a small, azure unicorn. Elated at being accepted to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Distraught at failing. Consoled by a grandfather with stories of traveling magicians of old. Uplifted by acting classes with an older sister. Enamored by a first magic show with special friends...

...I shouldn't be looking at these.

I 'feel' the memories, more than experience them, the raw emotion from each strong memory welling up in my chest as I pass it by. They reach out, strong memories, buried memories, wanting to be looked at after so long, but I resist the temptation to turn my head, to touch them. It's not my business to rummage around of Trixie's memories. As I move forward, the memories become colder. Is this the part Trixie spoke about this morning? The time she 'became' The Great and Powerful Trixie, instead of playing the role? I could look, but...

Eventually, one memory catches the corner of my eye. A memory far past the initial coldness, a memory of Ponyville. This one burns hot with anger, and I don't need to linger on it any more to know the contents. She's told me that story enough. I keep going ahead, and the angry heat only grows. I chance a glance at one of these memories, to see a dirt-covered, hat-less, cape-less Trixie beating furiously against a rock with a pick held between her hooves. Eventually, this Trixie gives way to the one I'm used to seeing, again with her hat and cape, wandering off into the wilderness of Equestria with the money she's gleaned from farming rocks.

After a while, though, the anger begins to subside. Curious, I turn my head, willing to make another small peak, to see a memory that isn't just hers, a memory of practicing a brand new magical display, only to drag a strange, never-before-seen interloper from the bushes. I smile and turn away, keeping on the path ahead, knowing the end is close now. Had someone to travel with, someone to not feel competitive with... had that really helped you so much?

As I near the end, though... one memory stands out, as it gives off an unreadable conflict of emotions. I get closer, curious, less apprehensive now that I've reached the memories we share. This memory, though, is one of the few that we don't. It's the day after our magic show in Ponyville, and the... incident that followed it. The morning we took the train to Canterlot. Trixie had requested to speak to Twilight alone inside the Golden Oak, while Spike and I waited outside. Confused at how such a simple memory could give off these feelings, I absentmindedly reach my hand forward, and before I've realized what I've done, I've plunged my hand into it.

"...What is it, Trixie?" Twilight asks tentatively, as the two stand in the center of the library.

"Tell Trixie about this talk of memory spells." Trixie replies in her usual, abraisive manner.

"It's not all that complicated, really." Twilight answers. "Cloud and I met in the Everfree Forest, and when I took him back to Ponyville he said he couldn't remember anything. So, I adapted a spell I used in the past into something I could use to both help him get his memory back and help me do a bit of research into whatever a 'human' is. All this... everything else, came later."

"...Teach Trixie this spell." Trixie says after a silent moment.

"What? Why?" Twilight looks at Trixie, a bit confused. "You can't think I can just teach you a spell that interacts with people's memories that easily, can you?"

"What?" Trixie raises her head, glaring at Twilight. "Do you still not trust Trixie?"

"No!" Twilight insists, shaking her head. "That's not what I meant at all! I mean, a spell like this is complicated, and it's not something you can just, well, practice. Teaching it to you right now would be..."

"Are you not the Magnificent Twilight Sparkle?" Trixie stomps one hoof angrily. "You can do everything else! Surely you can do this!"

"I mean... maybe there's a way, but..." Twilight hesitates. "Why do you want to learn this spell, Trixie?"

"Because..." Trixie looks down, collecting her words. "Because, Trixie's magic has proven unsuitable for aiding her assistant against his foes, so she needs another way to aide him so he won't think of her as less than Great and Powerful."

"Trixie..." Twilight says, comfortingly. "I don't think that'll happen. Don't be silly."

"You don't understand, Sparkle." Trixie insists, before looking directly at the floor. "Trixie can't fail again..."

"Trixie..."

"Do you want me to beg, Twilight Sparkle?" Trixie's voice becomes soft and dejected.

"What?" Twilight looks at her, dumbfounded.

"I asked if you want me to beg, Sparkle!" Trixie's body quakes angrily as she jerks her head back up to face Twilight, the sudden motion sending her hat from her head to the floor next to her. "You... you....! Whether it's stage magic or combat magic or whatever else, ever since you showed up, you just have the answer for everything! And now, I've learned my friend is missing his memory, and that you can just wave around a fix-it spell like it's no big deal! You couldn't-!"

Twilight walks forward, placing a hoof on Trixie and giving her a sympathetic smile, causing the rest of the magician's words to get caught in her mouth. "I understand, Trixie. I'll teach you." Twilight removes her hoof and takes a step back. "But... the only way I can teach you this quickly... is to use the spell, and give you my memories of making it."

Trixie blinks, collecting herself. "You... can do that?"

"Sort of." Twilight turns, pacing the library as she talks. "The original spell was made to restore shared memories between myself and my friends while facing a monster called Discord. The new one uses the same principles, but... it's not the same." She turns, facing Trixie again. "This spell lets you take the other pony's memories, place them back where and how they're meant to be, then give them back to the other pony. But... there's a catch."

"A catch?"

"Yes." Twilight nods. "As I said, this spell was originally meant for restoring shared memories. So, to be sure they're restored correctly after you've fixed them, you'll need to... bind them, with bits of your own memories. I was hoping to learn about Cloud's world, and I figured he'd find information on Equestria useful, so this didn't bother me much, but..."

Trixie nods. "And to teach the spell, you'd..."

"Right." Twilight confirms. "It'll be harder, but... I should be able to only give you the memories you need to use the spell. To do that, though, since I'm the one casting the spell, you'll have to give me a memory first. A strong one, that I can bind the memories you need for using the spell to. ...Is that okay, Trixie?"

"...Let's get it over with, Sparkle."

Trixie... A strong memory...

"You already know the answer to that, Twilight."

Had Trixie given Twilight the memory of the birth of The Great and Powerful Trixie, just to learn this spell? I turn back to the path I've traveled so far, littered with the rest of Trixie's memories. Is that memory happy? Is it sad? Is that memory really so important, she'd keep the act up, even now that it's started to make her miserable?

...Should I try to find it?

I slowly drift down the path, absentmindedly, back the way I came. After just a moment, though, I stop myself. No... I'm curious, but, I shouldn't look. I turn back, heading the rest of the way forward up the misty path, a bright light signifying its end. Light at the end of the tunnel, huh? I'm not sure if that's cliché or morbid. I move forward regardless, entering the light...

...And blink, the brightness dissipating back into my recovery room in Canterlot.

"There you are, Dusk." Trixie's voice greets me to my right, soft and relieved. I turn to her, and she looks visibly exhausted, her eyes partially lidded as she slumps to one side in her seat. "Did it work?"

"...Yeah." I nod. For a few minutes, there's silence between us, as I try to collect the memories again, back in the waking world. "Thank you, Trixie."

She gives me a small smile. "Just another trivial feat for the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria."

"Of course." I reply, returning the smile, though the moment doesn't last. "But... I'm still not sure how we can beat Sephiroth."

"Dusk..."

"For some reason, I'm much weaker than... than Cloud." I take a moment to breathe. "Like being only a part of his heart means I also only have a part of his power. And without knowing how Sephiroth came here, we don't know his plan, or whether he has something like the Black Materia."

"Is it possible that... it's only a part of him that's here?" Trixie asks. "Despite the strength he had in your memories, Princess Celestia defeated him easily."

"That was just a duplicate, made in his image with Jenova's power." I think back, remembering the remains of the diamond dog that had been leftover upon its defeat. "There's no telling how strong the real one is compared to it, even if it's just a part."

"Then, why not just get some help?" Trixie asks, as if its the simplest question in the world. "You had help in your world against Sephiroth. Here we have the Princesses, and Twilight... and the Elements of Harmony, that Princess Celestia said can make miracles happen. Maybe we can seal him away, like those ancient people in your world did to that creature from the crater."

"Maybe..." I meet her eyes. "Though, on that list of people, you forgot someone important."

Trixie turns away from me, finding keen interest in the nearby wall. "Say, Dusk," Trixie starts, "would you... make a promise like that with me?"

"What?"

"That girl, Tifa... She isn't the only one to have silly fantasies, you know." She answers. "If I'm ever in a bind, would you be my hero and come rescue me, too?"

"Yeah," I assure her, "I promise."

Chapter 31: Pink - Equestria's Natural Warning Label.

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Chapter 31: Pink - Equestria's Natural Warning Label.

The door to my room sounds with the light beat of a hoof.

"Come in!" Trixie yells to the door before I can say anything, regaining her 'Great and Powerful' demeanor at the warning signs of an intruder, tiredness vanishing behind her usual mask.

The door pushes open slowly, and Twilight's head pokes through. "...Is it alright if we come in?"

"Quite, Sparkle." Trixie turns her head away from the door, pulling her hat down in front of her face to hide a tired yawn.

Twilight smiles, apparently noticing, but simply opens the door and comes in, waving a hoof behind her. Shining Armor, Spike, and Princess Celestia soon follow, alongside a beige-colored, grey-haired unicorn stallion, slightly shorter than Twilight, wearing a white overcoat and sporting a wrap on his flanks. He might as well be wearing a sign that says 'Hello, My Name is Gauze Wrap'. The other main feature of note about him is his horn - for whatever reason, it's the second largest in the room, second to only the Princess'. I'm guessing that's a good thing?

"Looks like the gang's all here." I quip, turning to the pony I presume is Gauze Wrap. "How's the prognosis, doc?"

He raises an annoyed eyebrow at me. "Well..." His voice is hoarse, betraying a high age. Taking a closer look at him, and comparing him to Shining Armor, I can see some of the signs that I at least assume would point to a much older pony than any of the ones I've met so far. "Miss Sparkle said you required more pain medication, which is not so surprising." His horn glows, causing a glow to emit from the wound on my stomach as well. "Although... examining this wound, it appears your moving around has interfered with the healing some. It could take up to five days for this to heal now."

"I don't have five days." I reply, gripping at the bedsheet with my hands in frustration.

"You'd need to be able to heal your wounds with magic instead of medicine to make it heal faster than that." Gauze Wrap says, checking the wound over a second time. "I can dull the pain for you, but-"

"Hold on." I turn to my left, looking at the drawer that's been idly left open since Twilight opened it to show me my Materia. "I think you're onto something, doc." I reach my left hand in with a slight wince, grabbing one of the Green Materia and pulling it out of the drawer. I flip it once in my hand, rolling it around in my fingers, before taking hold of it properly. Materia is certainly more useful now that I actually know how to use it properly. I focus on it, the familiar green glow of Materia magic welling up, as the pain in my stomach subsides to a throb.

"Wait, did you just...?" Gauze Wrap looks at me, trying to understand how I took him up on a satement he'd clearly meant as hyperbole.

I shrug, swinging my legs over the side of the bed with only some discomfort. "Yep."

The doctor turns to the other unicorns in the room. "That's not a thing unicorns can do now, is it?"

"Nope." Twilight replies to him with a blink.

"I'll just... get you a change of bandages, then." Gauze Wrap says, swinging the door open and excusing himself from the room.

"That was mean, Dusk." Trixie admonishes from her place on the two-seater chair, still doing her best to not allow her exhaustion to seep into her voice.

"I had a great teacher, oh Great and Powerful one." I fire back, turning to look at her over my shoulder as I stretch my legs from my sitting position. She replies by scrunching her face and sticking her tongue at me, while Celestia giggles in the background.

"You're recovering quite well." The Princess comments once her giggle fit has subsided.

"Something like that." I place the Restore Materia back into the drawer for now. "It'll still take a day or so to heal enough for me to move properly, but it's at least ahead of schedule now."

"You seem a bit different now, Cloud." The Princess says.

"What do you mean?" I ask, not even sure where her frame of reference would be to make that statement.

"Let's just say," She gives a small, mischievous smile, "that plate of scrambled eggs I had the cooks send up this morning had the desired effect."

I go to reply, then turn to Trixie instead.

"Trixie never said she did it." The magician replies, holding up her head. "You just assumed she did it, and it was funny, so Trixie took the credit!"

I turn back to the Princess again, whose lost in a stronger giggle fit than the last time. I consider rebutting, but quickly change my mind. I'm getting played somewhere, I'm sure of it. I sit down and sigh, throwing my hands up in defeat. "Who needs enemies with friends like you two?"

The rest of them start chuckling to themselves as well. "Gonna admit," Shining Armor starts, "this is pretty funny."

I throw my face into my hands and groan.

"Wait..." Twilight looks between Trixie and I once her own chuckling subsides. "Does that mean...?" She asks her half finished question, motioning a hoof between myself and Trixie.

Trixie rolls her eyes. "No, Sparkle." Seeing Twilight's excited face fall a bit, Trixie continues. "However, Trixie was indeed successful with the memory restoration spell you provided for her."

I turn, cast Trixie a glance over my shoulder, then promptly shove my face even deeper into my hands.

A pop makes me pull my face back out, and my eyes are greeted to a face-full of Twilight Sparkle, holding a quill and paper in her magical grip. "So, you can finally tell me about your world, Cloud!"

"Twi..." Spike crosses his arms, looking up at the bookish unicorn. "I didn't get all of it yesterday, but I'm pretty sure when we talked to Celestia I got the part where there's some crazy monster literally eating the sky. It might not be the best time for this?"

Twilight rolls her eyes. "I was joking, Spike." Spike, however, simply stares up at her disapprovingly. "What? Everyone else was doing it!"

"It's honestly really hard to tell with you sometimes, Twilight." Spike says, shaking his head.

I lean back, throwing myself back onto the bed perpendicularly, staring up at the ceiling. Man, Sephiroth dropping Meteor right on top of this castle right now really doesn't sound so bad.

Trixie's head enters my vision from above, looking down at me and blinking. "Trixie thinks we broke her assistant." She turns her head back up, to look at Twilight. "Sparkle, how do you fix your assistant when he malfunctions?"

"Hey!" Spike speaks up. "I'm not some kind of machine, you know!"

Shining Armor coughs, stopping whatever smart-ass reply whichever one of them was going to say next. "I hate to be the stick in the mud of the group, but don't we have serious matters to discuss?"

"Quite." The Princess says, supporting him. "Twilight has informed you of her knowledge of our situation as well, Shining Armor?"

"Yeah... sounds like things are getting more than a little crazy." Shining Armor gives a nod. "And this time, I won't be caught sitting things out."

"But, Shiny," Twilight looks over to him, "what about Cadance?"

"Yeah, about that..." Shining Armor laughs nervously and places a hoof behind his head. "I may have-"

"Sorry I'm late, everypony!" The door bursts open again, and another pony walks in. The first thing I notice is her pink coat - essentially nature's warning label for things that will drive me insane in Equestria. The next thing I notice is the telltale horn and wing combination that signifies her status as another alicorn - something currently with at least a fifty-percent chance to make my life terrible. Though, instead of the wispy, flowing manes and tails of the previous Alicorn Princesses, her mane hangs like natural hair, a three-tone shade of cream, magneta, and violet. In her magical grip are several cardboard boxes. "I heard that a few ponies here have a weakness for Donut Joe's, so I decided to make a bit of a detour."

"Cadance!" Twilight exclaims.

"Donut Joe's!" Spike fist-pumps.

"Trixie requires sustenance!" Trixie leaps over the bed from her chair in a single bound, nearly landing on top of Spike.

"Didn't you just eat, Trixie?" I ask, turning my head to look at her from my collapsed spot on the bed.

"Do not judge Trixie, assistant!" She replies adamantly. "Else, Trixie shall tell embarrassing stories about your colthood to our current audience!"

I jump up to my feet, ignoring the pain in my gut as I glare down at Trixie. "You wouldn't dare."

"Trixie would da-!" Her exclamation is cut off by a donut floating into her waiting maw, the magical grip quickly changing from Cadance's to Trixie's as she takes the donut and begins chewing on it.

"Your friend's a pretty lively one, isn't she, Twilight?" Cadance observes as she makes her way into the crowded room.

"Yeah, lively's... one way of putting it." Twilight says with a small laugh, all of us watching the poor donut be eviscerated in ways never thought possible. "So why are you here, Cadance?"

"Oh, you should know how it is by now, Twilight." She replies, sitting and draping one hoof over Twilight. "My Shiny told me last night how about he's off to save the world, you know, boys being boys." She turns, giving Shining Armor a sly look. "And honestly Twilight, you'll learn this for yourself one day, but marriage really just means I've graduated from foalsitting the younger sibling to foalsitting the older one."

"Cadance..." Shining Armor gives the duo an annoyed look.

"Oh, hush, Shiny." She smiles. "It's just a bit of teasing."

"Oh, bringer of Donut Joe's!" Trixie declares, the poor donut now fully devoured, taking her hat in one hoof and sweeping it to her side as she bows. "The Great and Powerful Trixie, Magician Extraordinaire, owes you a sincere debt of gratitude!"

Cadance giggles, bringing her free hoof to her lips. "It's quite alright, it was my pleasure." She unwraps her hoof from Twilight and moves closer to Trixie. "It's nice to meet you, Great and Powerful Trixie. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, at your service. But please, call me Cadance."

Trixie's extravagant gesture quickly turns into a full bow. "Please call the Gracious and Humble Trixie by just Trixie, your majesty!"

Cadance rolls her eyes and turns to Celestia and Twilight, pointing a hoof at the prostrate Trixie. "Does she always do this?"

"Kinda...?" Twilight replies tentatively as Trixie gets back to her feet.

"Trixie apologizes Princess... Cadance." She says, placing her hat back in its proper place. "Trixie is still not entirely used to the near-constant presence of royalty in our company."

Cadance giggles. "It's quite alright. Though..." she walks past Trixie, over to me, placing her wing on my shoulder. "You're quite a bit more interesting looking than Shiny made it sound. And so tall..." She turns to her husband. "And that, Shiny, isn't teasing." She says with a wink.

I reflexively begin vying to make a new face-to-palm-per-day record as I groan again. "I give up..."

"Anyway!" Shining Armor says, giving Cadance another annoyed eye that she replies to with a playful smile as she pulls back her wing. "The matter at hand, everypony?"

"Right," Celestia takes control of the conversation, "Cloud, does your restored memory have any information we can use to combat this threat?"

"I'm... not entirely sure." I reply honestly. "I still don't know how Sephiroth came here... or, in a lot of ways, how I came here." Seeing the confused look from the Princess, I clarify. "It's... complicated."

"Luna spoke to me." Celestia says. "She says that she believes the threat against our world may not be this 'Sephiroth', but that you dismissed her."

"I..." I think back, reflecting over the events that have happened in Equestria with my new memories. "I'm not sure." I admit. "The duplicate in the Crystal Caves, that person fought, acted, and spoke like Sephiroth. However, using Jenova's cells to infect wildlife and attacking at random isn't Sephiroth's style. Everything he does has a purpose. It's possible that he's acting more aggressively since he doesn't know anything about this world, but..."

"Je-no-va?" Twilight asks, mouthing the name. "This Sephiroth... person, he can use cells of a different creature?"

"Again, it's complicated." I reply, placing my right hand against my forehead to think. "The short version is, Sephiroth contains inside him, and has the ability to control, the cells of another creature called Jenova, which can infect and control other life forms. I have some of these cells inside me as well, which is how I survived his attack in the Crystal Caves... but also why he can influence my dreams."

"I... see." Twilight's face curls in thought, turning my words over in her head in an attempt to understand how what I just told her might actually work.

"If it is 'Sephiroth'," Princess Celestia interjects as Twilight gets lost in her own thoughts, "how can he influence and consume the Weave like he does? Our first goal needs to be severing that ability before any more damage can be done."

"I don't know." Despite having my memories back, 'I don't know' and 'I'm not sure' are still common parts of my vocabulary. "Back on Gaia, Sephiroth's plan was to use a powerful Natural Materia, known simply as the Black Materia, to summon a creature called Meteor to wound the planet, then place himself inside the wound as the planet's Lifestream attempted to heal it. Nothing like that has happened, so it's safe to say whatever method he's using to pull down the Weave is different."

"I see." Celestia nods. "Yes, neither my sister nor myself have found any large-scale damage to Equestria or anywhere else within our range of perception. The only activity we can find are the night-time prowls of the creatures our foe spawns."

"Say..." I turn to the Princess. "Where is Luna, anyway? Everyone else decided to crowd this room like sardines."

"My sister sleeps during this time." Celestia replies. "Her and I may be alicorns that measure our age in centuries, but we still require slumber like any other pony."

"Right." I nod, as the door behind the crowd creeks open again.

"Doctor Gauze Wrap," the old stallion announces himself as he slips through the door and past the other ponies, a namesake wrap clutched in his magic, "back with the, uh... gauze wrap. If my patient could sit back on his bed please, I can get this changed over quickly."

I follow his instruction with a sigh, as the doctor uses his magic to quickly remove the wraps around my chest. "How's the damage look now, doc?"

He grumbles at 'doc' before replying. "It's... quite a bit less, actually." He unrolls the wrap, a pop causing some sort of ointment bottle to come into existence. "You must show me how you did that sometime. My Gauzinga ointment is one of the most potent healing salves in Equestria, but your... whatever that was you did, beat it by a factor of five."

...Gauzinga? Really? He applies the ointment to the gauze before using his magic to quickly wrap my chest back up. I'll give him some credit - whatever 'Gauzinga' is, it's definitely effective at dulling pain, as the residual pain I've been feeling since using the Cure spell quickly disappears. "Thanks." I reply absentmindedly.

"I'll re-wrap this, too." His eyes turn from my chest to my left arm, still wrapped in the bandages Fluttershy put on it a few days ago. While it's somewhat visible through the top of the bandage, it becomes more obvious as he unwinds that the blackness I'd observed during the breakfast before coming to Canterlot has advanced further up my left arm, nearing the elbow. The doctor pulls back slightly, raising an eyebrow, looking to my right arm, back to the left, back to the right, then finally back to the left. "...I assume that's not supposed to look like that."

I raise my arm, flexing my left hand. Without the bits of armor or gloves normally covering things, it's easy to see my left hand has also been changed to the inky coloration. The skin isn't entirely black, like some kind of rash or gangrene. Rather, it's... splotchy? I think that's the correct word to describe this. "It doesn't hurt, but... yeah, that's not supposed to be that way." Whatever it is, the Cure spell hadn't affected it at all.

"Well, I'll take care of it the best I can." Gauze Wrap says, producing a few more ointments and mixing them on a wrap before applying a new bandage. I turn to the others, and let out a small sigh as I see Trixie's eyes downcast a bit at the sight of the wound, or infection, or... whatever that is.

"Thanks, doc." I give him a nod as he finishes dressing the wound, and he's clearly biting his lip to avoid giving the 'doc' label a reply.

"Well..." He says, after a moment. "If the patient is stable, I'll be taking my leave. Call me if I'm needed again, everypony." He nods, slipping back through the mass of ponies to make his exit.

"...Is your arm okay, Cloud?" Twilight asks, once the doctor's left.

"It's fine." I reply, perhaps a bit too quickly, and reach my left arm down to grip the side of the mattress and hide it from view.

A silence hangs in the air for a moment, before Twilight speaks again. "...What if we used the Elements of Harmony?" She asks. Trixie mentioned using those earlier, too. whatever they are. Celestia had mentioned gems and compared them to Materia, so that gives me a better idea, but...

"It would be hard to predict the outcome of the Elements of Harmony without knowing the truth behind our foe, Twilight." Celestia replies, lowering her head slightly. "While I said the Elements of Harmony are capable of making miracles... they're not exactly miracles we can control. This shouldn't be surprising to you, Twilight, since they chose you, but in a lot of ways, the Elements of Harmony essentially have their own consciousness. Their own... idea, of how the world should be. If you're strong enough, you can influence the outcome, such as when I used them to seal Luna in the moon one-thousand years ago, but to do so will usually break your connection with the Elements for good." Sealed Luna in the moon...? This must be related to the 'Nightmare Moon' thing Celestia mentioned before. But, wasn't the moon supposed to be an illusion they make? How do you seal someone in an illusion?

"But what's the problem, Princess?" Twilight asks in reply to her explanation. "The Elements of Harmony, when we used them, helped to purify the darkness from Princess Luna and sealed Discord in stone. Even if we don't know quite what they'll do, they've never let us down."

"That's true, my Student." Celestia nods. "However, there is no known record of using them on a being not from our own planet. It's possible the Elements of Harmony might be able to affect it, purify it, seal it, or something else, but..." Celestia hesistates a moment, "it's also possible that, being from another world and, in turn, from another Weave, or Lifestream, the Elements of Harmony won't be able to do anything to this 'Sephiroth' at all, or that they'll simply choose not to."

"But we need to try, don't we?" Twilight insists. "If we don't do anything..."

"My Faithful Student, listen." Celestia turns to Twilight, facing her completely now. "The Elements of Harmony are powerful, and key to our world. I've asked you to face many dangerous threats before with them, but this isn't like Nightmare Moon, who wanted to be worshipped, or Discord, who wanted to spread chaos and disharmony, and watch as ponies suffered." She closes her eyes, taking a breath. "You saw the being in the Crystal Caves, Twilight. If the Elements of Harmony fail, this 'Sephiroth' won't hesitate to simply kill you. There won't be any second chances, and we can't afford to lose the Elements of Harmony, nor could anyone in this room afford to lose you, Twilight."

"I... but..." Twilight hesitates, clearly wanting to argue but not finding the words.

"I don't think you're incapable, Twilight," Celestia says reassuringly, "but understand the need for caution. We must act quickly, but even a single mistake could have consequences most of us would prefer not to contemplate."

"Guess I'll just have to hit him until he stops moving." I quip, pulling everyone's attention to me.

"...That's a, erm, bold plan." Cadance says with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not a plan at all." Shining Armor interjects, closing his eyes for a moment and taking a breath to clear his head. "However, after what happened to Twili in the caves, it's definitely a sentiment I can agree with."

"And you wonder why I said I've graduated to foalsitting the older sibling." Cadance admonishes, giving her husband a sidelong glance.

"Actually..." I cut in, thinking back for a moment. "Twilight, you said when you spoke to the diamond dogs that helped us back in Ponyville, that the one, Beethoven, had brought a... head, back to their burrow?"

"Yeah..." Twilight confirms, "why?"

"When Beethoven brought the diamond dogs to attack Ponyville, I think the creatures they brought with them were incomplete attempts to build a duplicate of Sephiroth. When we beat the duplicate inside the Crystal Caves, its body turned out to also be a Diamond Dog... and before, the ones that helped us said that diamond dogs had started disappearing from the dwelling after Beethoven returned with that head."

Trixie looks up, the realization dawning on her as well. "You mean, you think it's... Jenova's head? The one Sephiroth took?" ...I'm going to have to get used to this, aren't I?

"Yes." I confirm. "I don't know how it got here, or how Sephiroth would have lost it, unless he gave it to the diamond dogs intentionally... but it's all connected, somehow." I nod, standing back up and turning to everyone with a determined fist-pump. "We need to investigate that burrow. Even if Sephiroth has moved on, we'll probably find something there. One of Sephiroth's big flaws is his ego. He'll think he's untouchable, so I doubt he cleaned up even if he's no longer there."

"That settles it, then." Shining Armor says with a nod. "I'll go with Cloud tomorrow to that burrow, once he's fully healed, and we'll check it out. I can get the directions from the remaining diamond dogs that Princess Luna has been watching over. You girls can stay here until we get back."

"Trixie is not staying behind!" Trixie replies to him with a stomp of her hoof, and a resolve that part of me worried wouldn't be coming back.

"I'm not either, big brother!" Twilight moves next to Trixie, both unicorns giving him a glare I'm more than thankful I'm not on the receiving end of.

"Twilight..." Shining Armor attempts a rebuttal, but gets cut off.

"No! Shiny, I'm an adult, and my magic is even stronger than yours is!" Twilight declares, refusing to back down. "I'm not staying behind!"

"That may be true, Twilight," Shining Armor says sternly, "but you're still my little sister, and nothing's going to change that. You could be stronger than Princess Celestia and I'd say the same thing."

"Shiny..." Cadance moves up next to Shining Armor, putting a wing across his back and leaning up against him. "The little Twilight Sparkle I foalsat way back then is all grown up now, and she even saved our wedding. You need to accept the fact she can take care of herself, even in situations like this."

"..." Shining Armor shares a look with Cadance. "You're right, honey. All four of us will go. Tomorrow. Is that better?"

Twilight's determined face gives way to a calm smile. "Yeah, Shiny, that's better."

"Hey!" Spike pipes up. "What about me?"

Twilight closes her eyes, thinking for a moment. "I'd feel better if you stayed with the Princesses for this, Spike."

"What?" Spike protests. "You get mad that Shining Armor doesn't want to let you go, but then you want to not let me go, Twilight?"

"It's not the same, Spike..." Twilight looks away, the dragon's counterargument clearly making her feel guity.

"How not?" Spike keeps pressing the matter. "I want to help, too! You always go off with the others when stuff like this happens and it never feels like I can help you do anything!"

"Spike..." Twilight keeps failing to collect her words.

"Let the youngling come, Twilight." Trixie replies, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Her hat is pulled down slightly, obscuring her face. "You understand the risks, little dragon?"

"...Yeah." Spike replies after a second, blinking in confusion at the fact it's Trixie coming to his defense.

"Then, it should be fine." She flips her hat up with a hoof, then drapes said hoof across Twilight's shoulders. "Besides, he's got the Magnificent Twilight Sparkle to protect him if it really comes to that, doesn't he, Twilight?"

"...Magnificent Twilight Sparkle?" Cadance mouths the title, giving the two unicorns a sly, curious look. "Since when does my little Twili go by a name like that?"

"You never told them?" Trixie asks, giving Twilight a smug grin as the lavender unicorn's face begins to cycle between shades along the red spectrum. "Well, mares, gentlecolts, princesses alike, allow The Great and Powerful Trixie to regale you all with the tale of The Magnificent Twilight Sparkle, and the amazing debut performance in stage magic she made alongside The Great and Powerful Trrrrixie!" Trixie saunters to an open space on the far side of the room as she performs her intro spiel, clearly getting great pleasure from the way Twilight is squirming in front of her brother and the two Princesses.

It's good to see some things never change, at least.

Chapter 32: The Most Important Quest, Ever.

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Chapter 32: The Most Important Quest, Ever.

"Trixie feels sick..." The azure unicorn complains as she flops around on the two-seat chair, groaning and again using her hat for a pillow. Her eyes droop a bit, exhaustion paired with overeating finally being enough to take their toll.

"Me too, sister..." Spike slumps against one of the chair's legs, burping up a small puff of green flame.

"You two ate more than an entire box of donuts the second Cadance left." Twilight deadpans. "You both deserve it."

Not long after Trixie finished embarrassing Twilight with a highly-embellished version of the events of the Ponyville magic show, Shining Armor and the two Princesses left to take care of whatever their day jobs at the castle actually entail, leaving me with Trixie, Twilight, and Spike.

"You don't understand, Sparkle," Trixie says with a sickly groan, "indulgence in Donut Joe's cannot be contained by a mere mortal stomach."

"Apparently not." Twilight's deadpan continues, eyes turning to the remaining, nearly-empty box of donuts currently sitting on my bedside table. Cadance had left me with the remaining donuts when the others left, and I, in turn, made the mistake of giving them to Spike and Trixie. Little did I know the scale of horrible enabler I'd turn out being. In their defense, the one donut I had eaten while Trixie was busy story-telling was that good.

I slip off the bed and crouch down with a bit of discomfort, reaching under it to pull out my sword. The harnesses for sheathing it are next to it under the bed, along with the leather armor that wraps around my chest and shoulders. Inspecting the sword, I become a bit worried... the metal along the bronze blade's become slightly warped after the battle with the duplicate Sephiroth in the Crystal Caves. I'll need to be more careful unless I can somehow get it repaired. The bangle I've already seen in the drawer, so I know that and the loose Materia are fine, but a further inspection of the room makes me note something is missing. "Twilight." I try to get her attention away from the Gluttonous Donut Duo.

"What is it, Cloud?" Twilight asks in reply, turning to me, her deadpan annoyance replaced with a cheerier face. A quick glance over shows both Trixie and Spike have passed out in the short time between Twilight speaking and my getting her attention.

"My shirt and my shoulder plate are missing." I state simply. "I know the doctor removed my shirt and the armor so he could assess the damage and get it wrapped up properly, but I don't see the shirt or shoulder plate anywhere."

"Uhh..." Twilight blinks. "I think the shirt was sent to one of Celestia's seamstresses to try and get the blood out and repair the hole in it. I don't remember seeing what happened to the shoulder plate, though." Twilight takes a moment to think, though what she comes up with isn't quite what I expect. "Is that armor even useful, Cloud? It's a single metal shoulder plate. Against something like Sephiroth, I can't see it helping at all."

"It's still better than nothing." I reply. "Plus, it's my look. What type of hero runs around without shoulder guards, anyway? It's principle."

"And Spike thought my priorities were weird..." Twilight mutters. "Maybe the doctor sent it down to the armory? Trixie and I had been sure to safeguard your Materia and the items holding them, but we didn't exactly think to take your shoulder pad."

"Why would he do that?" I wonder aloud as I shake my head. "I don't exactly look like a pony, do I? Why would he think my stuff belongs down there?"

"There have been records of non-ponies serving in the Equestrian military throughout history." Twilight replies, exposatory mode on. "Especially in Princess Luna's divisions before the Nightmare Moon incident. Princess Luna had pony divisions, of course, but ponies aren't exactly night-time creatures, so she would find other races willing to serve the crown to make up the difference."

"Makes sense." I nod, placing my sword and its harnesses back under the bed for now.

"What's important is that there have been records of diamond dogs and minotaurs in her ranks back then, among others." She waits for me to finish setting the sword under the bed and turn to her before continuing. "That means, even if we can't find your totally useful metal shoulder pad, we can get you something practical that should sort-of fit, at least."

"I have a feeling you don't see why I'm upset over this." I comment at her sarcasm as I stand up, ignoring another throb of pain in my chest. While the doc's 'Gauzinga' is mostly functional for masking pain, it seems it can't soothe the sudden pains from motion quite as well.

"Of course not! It's a shoulder pad! You didn't even have two of them!" Twilight growls in frustration, shaking her head. "Just... why?"

"I told you, it's principle." I answer. "Plus, it's not like I can run out and fight Sephiroth today, anyway, so it's not wasting any time to look for it."

Twilight smacks a hoof to her forehead, grumbling. "You're even worse than Trixie..."

"Let's get going. The faster we get going, the faster we can find it!" I smirk, enjoying being the one giving frustration instead of receiving it for a change. "Plus, I need to get out of this room for a while."

"Fine!" Twilight declares, swinging the door open with her magic, careful not to actually let it slam and wake up the sleeping duo, a bit of an odd choice considering her tone of voice. "We'll go to the seamstress, get your shirt, then go find your single metal shoulder pad."

"You're not letting that go unless I give up, aren't you?" I ask, following her out the door.

"Not even a little bit." She replies, now giving me the deadpan tone she had reserved for Trixie and Spike earlier.

I take a moment to survey the hall as we walk. It looks like the room they put me in is actually an empty room in a private servant's quarters. I suppose, all things considered, that's nearly as good as a hospital room, and it explains why the doctor took so long when he said he was fetching new bandages for my chest. Soon, we pass the familiar pair of sun-emblazoned doors signifying the quarters of the Princess herself, and turn down a corridor to their side, Twilight unusually quiet as we walk. I think I've succeeded in adequately pissing her off, for better or worse. Being able to stretch my legs feels nice, though, and just walking isn't causing any particular discomfort.

We reach another set of large doors, which Twilight knocks on firmly with one hoof. "Straight Stitch, are you here? It's Twilight Sparkle!" ...First Gauze Wrap and now Straight Stitch?

"Uh, Twilight," I begin, catching her attention as we wait for a reply from behind the door, "do ponies choose new names after they get their special talent or something?"

Twilight turns to me, blinks, and raises an eyebrow as if I've just asked the most idiotic question in the world. "No...? Why would you think that, Cloud?"

"No reason." I reply, sighing.

"Well, okay then..." Twilight trails off, though snaps her head around when the door creaks open.

Out the cracked door pops the head of an aged unicorn, with faded blue fur, a grey curled mane, and small, squared spectacles. It's like looking at the ponified image of the stereotypical grandmother. "Ah! Twilight, dear, do come in." Her eyes trail from Twilight to myself, raising an eyebrow as she takes in my appearance, eyes eventually resting on my bandages. "And you must be the owner of the grizzly thing the Princess asked me to repair."

I nod, and Twilight speaks. "Yeah, we were looking to see if you'd gotten around to fixing it yet, actually." Her eyes turn from the elder unicorn to myself, lowering into a glare as our eyes meet for forcing us on this quest. "My friend, Cloud, recovered far faster than Gauze Wrap expected."

Straight Stitch gives a sympathetic sigh and swings the door open for us. "That old kook looked after you, hm?" Her eyes scan me over again as we enter what I presume to be some kind of royal sewing room, as it's reminiscent of the main room of the Carousel Boutique, except with floors and draperies in Celestia's personal colors and a wide, full-body window on the wall opposite the door. "Hopefully that 'Gazoonga' stuff he likes putting on his bandages doesn't make you break out in massive hair growths like it did for the last poor colt."

I stop, look down at my stomach, then look at my left arm. "Please tell me you're joking."

"Quite, deary." She affirms with a chuckle as the door behind us shuts in a magic grip. "Gauze Wrap's a good doctor. Just a little bit on the... strange side."

"Right..." I reply, nodding absentmindedly, still imagining the potential for hairy overgrowths from under my bandages.

Straight Stitch walks over to a small work bench, levitating what I recognize as the rather well-repaired shirt that matches the pants of the SOLDIER uniform I'm wearing. No hole, no blood - it wouldn't be unreasonable to mistake it as something I just recently cleaned and pressed, and not something I got stabbed while wearing. "Here it is." She turns to me, turning the shirt over in her grip repeatedly to inspect it and verify everything is as it should be. "Are you kids sure you wouldn't like me to improve it a bit? It's so... plain."

"It's alright, thank you." I say with a nod, moving to take the shirt from her.

"What, don't want her to spruce it up to look more 'heroic', Cloud?" Twilight asks, giving me a mischievous smirk and a raised eyebrow I'm pretty sure is on par with Trixie's shit-eating, smug grins.

"I could embroider an insignia on it, if you want..." The elder mare adds, apparently not missing a beat in the direction of this conversation.

"No, thank you, ma'am." I say insistently, grabbing the shirt from her magical grip by its shoulders and slipping it over my head.

"Well, don't get hurt like that again, dear." She gives a smile and turns back to her current project. "Blood stains like that are always quite a bit ghastly to clean."

"I don't plan to." I assure her. "Thanks again."

We say a few more small goodbyes and leave the room, Twilight shutting the door with her magic as I lean back against it, fidgeting slightly in my shirt to get it to be a bit more comfortable despite the bandages underneath.

"Well, now that that's handled," Twilight starts, "we should get you back to bed so you can rest up, Cloud."

I reply to her by reaching my right hand up, pointing at my left shoulder.

"...Really?" She asks, the deadpan expression returning.

I nod.

"...We're really doing this?"

"Yup."

"Is this what you do to Trixie when nobody else is around?"

"No," I shake my head, "normally, she does this to me."

"So you're taking it out on me?"

"You did dress me up as a harlequin with Spike's face and shoot me out of a cannon." I counter back. All things considered, this is a pretty tame payback, and I actually do like that shoulder guard.

"That was Trixie's idea!" The exasperated unicorn half-yells in defense, before pausing to collect herself and returning to her usual tone. "Alright... we'll go find Shining Armor, and ask if we can get into the armory and get you some armor that actually functions. Maybe we'll find your shoulder pad, if we're lucky."

"I don't know why this is bothering you so much." I say as I slot in next to her, the two of us beginning a trip to play a game of Where's Shiny, at least as far as my ability to navigate this castle goes.

"I just can't understand why you care so much about a single shoulder guard."

I shrug and look up at the ceiling as we walk. "It's the journey and not the destination that's important, isn't it?"

That comment seems to soften Twilight's mounting annoyance. "Suppose so." She waits a bit before continuing. "So, Cloud, I was joking before, but... now that you have your memories back, can I ask you a few questions about your world?" She turns, giving me a sidelong smile. "Best time to ask. Like you said, we can't waste time if we can't leave until tomorrow anyway."

"...Is it too late to take back that excuse?" I ask tentatively.

"Yup." She replies, in much the same tone I had used the word not long ago.

"...Fine," I concede after a moment, "what do you want to know?"

"What were your friends like?"

The question gives me a mental pause. "What do you mean?" I ask awkwardly after a moment's passed.

"I mean, well... what were they like?" She reiterates. "You must have had friends in your world, didn't you? Or are you the anti-social type that hates to talk about yourself like Trixie is?"

"A bit of column B," I start, "...and a bit more of column B."

Twilight rolls her eyes. "Right. Tall, blonde, and brooding. Got it."

"...But you're right." I continue after a moment. "When we were in the room, I mentioned Sephiroth's goals regarding the Lifestream and Meteor. I imagine you figured out the fact I was trying to stop him yourself."

"I did." The unicorn nods. "You wouldn't both know so much and want to help us after getting your memories back otherwise."

"Well... someone like that, it's not like you can stop him alone, after all." I slip my hands into my pockets, looking toward the ground as we talk, keeping Twilight in my vision so I can keep on the right path to wherever she's leading us. We've started along some stairs, heading upward. "I was a bit of a loner when it started, but I met plenty of friends on my quest to stop Sephiroth. It's not all that much different than it is here, I guess. Humans are a bit different than ponies, but..."

"Sounds like you'll be excited to find a way to get back there once we've dealt with Sephiroth, huh?" Twilight says cheerily, and at that moment I can't help but wish I had Trixie's acting talents.

"...Yeah." I reply half-heartedly after a moment. This isn't exactly a conversation I'm keen on having, especially with my own murky understanding of my coming here. Considering what I am, I can't imagine 'going back' is on the possibility list.

Twilight's smile falls a bit at my unenthusiastic reply. "Is something wrong, Cloud?"

"It's nothing..." I trail off, less convincingly than ever.

"You're worried about Trixie, aren't you?" Twilight asks in reply.

"What?" I look up, meeting Twilight's eyes, caught off guard by the question.

She smiles. "I get it. You're worried that the second you leave, she might return to her old ways, aren't you?"

"..."

"We'll just need to get her to open up to more people before then!" Twilight declares cheerily. "My friends already warmed up a bit to her last time we were in Ponyville. I'm sure we can do it if we can convince her to let people see the pony behind the act."

I give her a small smile. "Yeah, I'm sure we can."

The conversation falls off as we reach the top of the stairs and appear to exit onto the top of one of the castle walls, the sunlight pouring down, though the sky is even more green and wavy with Lifestream than ever. Shining Armor is looking off into the distance, clearly lost in his own thoughts.

"Hey, B.B.B.F.F.!" Twilight calls to him, breaking into a small gallop to close the distance more quickly.

"Hey, Twili." Shining Armor replies, taking a moment to shake his head. "What's up? How'd you know to find me up here?"

"Because I know you, Shiny." Twilight replies. "You said 'Captain work', but you had your 'I need to think' face on. When we were kids, you'd find all kinds of ways to get yourself on top of the house to stare at the sky and think without anyone bugging you. You even brought me up there once or twice, remember?"

"Yeah... I did, didn't I?" Shining Armor rubs the back of his head and smiles awkwardly. That's a few times he's done that now, so I'm wondering if it's a nervous tick of his.

"Plus, here, you can at least pretend to be working if anyone asks questions." Twilight says slyly, giving him a mischievous grin.

"Yeah, you got me!" He says with a laugh. "So, what's up?" His eyes finally pass off his sister to me, giving me a nod. "Looks like whatever magic you did back in your room is still working."

Twilight speaks before I can even get out a 'Yeah'. "That's actually what we came about, Shining Armor. After you guys left, Cloud started checking to be sure all his things were there," her head turns back to me, giving me the same deadpan look I've gotten used to from her today, though this time a bit of playfulness is mixed in, "except for a single metal shoulder plate. Cloud insists he doesn't 'look like a hero' without it, so we're wondering if maybe it got sent down to the armory for some reason."

He looks from myself to Twilight with an eyebrow raised before letting out a low laugh. "That has to be the worst excuse to get out of a hospital room I've ever heard in my life."

"I know, right!" Twilight affirms. "Though, it is actually missing, and in seriousness, Cloud - and probably the rest of us - could do with having a bit of added protection."

"Uh, Twilight," Shining Armor's eyes pass between her and I, "I don't know how to tell you this, but I don't think we have armor that comes in non-pony."

"What about the armor Princess Luna's groups used before she became Nightmare Moon?" Twilight asks. "I read she had diamond dogs and minotaurs and all sorts of things as part of her guard back then."

"Yeah, but... that armor is literally a thousand years old." Shining Armor replies. "If it's even still around, how do we know it'll even still be usable?"

Twilight puts a hoof under her chin, thinking. "Hmm... you're right, but it still can't hurt to look, can it?"

"I suppose it'll be more productive than being up here." Shining Armor gives his sister a smile. "Let's get going. I haven't gotten to spend enough time with any of you guys since you came here anyway."

"Looks like we're assembling the party for an adventure..." I comment dryly, trailing behind the two unicorns as they head back down the stairs.

"Don't complain, Cloud!" Twilight calls back, the middle member of our party. "You're the one who wanted your single shoulder pad back, remember that!"

"Right, right."

We make our way back down the stairs, Twilight and Shining Armor exchanging talk about their respective lives in Ponyville and Canterlot that I'm assuming they never got around to yesterday with all the... commotion. It's simply casual talk, nothing about any of the figures such as 'Nightmare Moon', 'Discord', or anyone else that sounds like they might be noteworthy, so I tune most of it out. We head back down the stairs, crossing halls and heading down more stairs, seeming to head into the castle's basement. From what I recall of my previous castle stroll, it appears to be a very different part of the castle than the one we used to enter the Crystal Caves.

"Hey, Cloud." Shining Armor says, catching my attention as he turns his head to face me.

"Yeah?" I reply a bit weakly, having been mostly zoned out until now.

"You military, where you're from?" He asks bluntly.

"Something like that." I reply. It's not a lie, really, though I can't tell where this is coming from as the only person who should know about SOLDIER or the Shin-Ra Infantry Division is Trixie. I know I'd remembered bits and pieces of it in the past, but I'm pretty sure I never told anyone. "Why?"

"Curious." Shining Armor replies, turning his head back to the path as we take another turn. "You have that look about you."

"'That look'?" I ask, my own curiosity getting to me.

"You know, that look." Shining Armor repeats. "Like when you're around somepony long enough, if you've been in the military yourself, you can sort of just... tell, that they have too. It's not always accurate, but it usually is."

"I see..." I reply absentmindedly.

"It just felt like you had that look, too." He explains. "So I was curious if it was a concept that also worked on non-ponies. Guess it does."

"Guess so." I agree awkwardly.

"We're here." Shining Armor says after a bit more walking. We're deep in the castle's lower areas now, torches lighting the halls, standing in front of a dusty old door emblazoned with Princess Luna's insignia. "This is where all the old stuff Princess Luna used got stored after she became Nightmare Moon and was sealed in the moon. It was moved from the Royal Castle in the Everfree back when Princess Celestia relocated to Canterlot in case it was ever needed, but as far as we've been told, it's never been opened."

I look over the door another moment before punching my right fist into my left palm, starting to finally get excited at the idea of digging through some old stuff, even if it's all too old to be any use. "Let's crack it open."

Shining Armor and Twilight's horns both glow, each taking grip of one of the heavy doors and slowly forcing them open, the stone creaking with age as dust lifts into the air. Inside what may as well be a tomb for military equipment are decrepit tables and stands for equipment, several having dilapidated with age or a number of other factors. A plethora of weapons - swords, spears, and shields mainly, several of which are clearly not meant for ponies - line the walls and floor, catching my interest for a bit but ultimately being written off as not useful. Weapons aren't what we're here for, but they're also not the only thing inside. There's a wide assortment of chestplates, helmets, and limb guards. Most are clearly meant for an equine physique, but there are a number that appear to be designed for bipedal fighters.

"Are we sure Princess Luna won't need these?" Twilight asks as her and Shining Armor pull torches off the outside wall and head inside.

"This was your idea, Twilight." I remind her as we head inside, the two unicorns setting their torches inside holsters inside the room, bathing it in light without the need of their magical grip.

"It'll be fine, Twilight." Shining Armor explains. "We barely even get use out of the modern stuff these days outside of when crazy stuff like Queen Chrysalis happens." Queen Chrysalis? I add that to the mental list of names to pay attention for if it ever comes up in conversation again. "Equestria's a lot more peaceful nowadays, remember. The Night Guard of old was to help protect ponies from predators and ghost attacks from other nations back when we were still far less established."

I pick up a particularly large piece of body armor and turn it over in my hands. It's clearly meant for a bipedal creature, but the chest is far too broad for me to ever be able to make use of it. It could use a good wash to clean off the dust, but it doesn't seem to have any rust, distortions, or similar signs of loss of effectiveness with age.

"That one was probably meant for minotaurs." Twilight explains, seeing the piece I'm looking at. "They have really broad and muscular chests. Your physique probably would be best fit by something that was meant for diamond dogs, instead. Though..." Twilight pulls the armor away from me with her magic, pulling it in front of her and examining it. "It's hard to discern, but... this armor seems to have some sort of enchantment on it. It's really faded, so it might not do anything anymore." She sets the armor back where I picked it up from and her horn glows a moment, the light of her magic washing over the room before she continues speaking. "It seems like all the armor pieces have it. As far as I can discern, it's the same enchantment for all of them."

"It might be a protection charm added by Princess Luna back when this stuff was still used." Shining Armor replies, his own horn glowing as he runs a hoof across a piece of pony-shaped armor. "The military records say many of Princess Luna's old Night Guard divisions were much smaller than the ones used by Princess Celestia, using the night and the stealth that comes with it to their advantage in battle instead of relying on shows of force. If those records are true, she might have personally enchanted many of the items they used to further aide them in combat. It's not unreasonable to think remnants of a Princess' spell could still be around over a thousand years later."

"So, what?" I cut in, before one of them can go on another long spiel about Equestrian history. "We've got magic armor on our hands, then?"

"Sort of." Twilight replies. "Like I said, though, this enchantment is barely even there after so many years. It might not do anything besides stop the armor from taking wear and tear as quickly anymore, assuming defense was the original use."

"Over here." Shining Armor says, before I can even acknowledge Twilight's explanation. "This one might fit."

I walk over and check the armor he's looking at. The body armor is noticeably less broad, and I turn it over in my hands. It looks like it'll fit, but there's one problem with it. "I don't think Trixie or either Princess would ever let me live down wearing this." I comment, seeing the insignia of Princess Luna revealing itself across the front of the plate as I dust it off with one hand, emblazoned in a bold, reflective silver that contrasts the rest of the armor. Said rest of the armor is fairly simple and nondescript - slightly curved, midnight blue metal, with a black trim where the different bits of metal meet for stylistic purposes.

"It could be worse." Twilight says, poking in to look at the plate with us. "That could be Trixie's cutie mark on there."

I shudder at that thought as I spin the armor in my hands to face the correct way forward and slip it over my head to test the fit. It's a bit loose, but the leather armor from the SOLDIER uniform should be able to compensate for that once I've put it back on. Otherwise, it's surprisingly light, and knocking my fist against it gives a satisfying metal thud. I look it over, quickly seeing the most important feature. "It has really cool shoulder guards." A pair of wide, rounded pieces of metal act as shoulder guards, simple but effective, in the same midnight blue color as the rest of the main plates.

"Well, I'm glad you're happy." Twilight says dryly.

"The helmet's a no-go, though." I comment, turning it over in my hands. It's much larger than my head, longer, with clear ear-holes on the top. "I'm guessing a diamond dog originally wore this armor, from the looks of it." I set it down and turn to the final piece of the set, what appear to be armguards, able to protect the forearm, though the end with the hand is completely open. I assume this is to facilitate the use of a Diamond Dog's claws, but in my case it's also useful because it means I might be able to fit on the two guards without interfering with my bangle full of Materia. I slip one over my right arm, the midnight blue metal with black borders matching the chest plate as I turn it over to get access to the belts that hold it in place on my arm. I have to pull them a bit tight, but eventually they hold without risk of the piece coming loose.

"Looks like this might be as good as you get, Cloud." Shining Armor says, nodding as I fasten on the second arm guard and test both arms for mobility. The armguards, like the plate, are incredibly light, the added weight almost unnoticeable.

"This 'hero' enough for you?" Twilight asks mockingly, a playful smirk on her face as Shining Armor moves to begin rummaging through the pony-shaped armor pieces.

"...It'll do." I say, snickering.

We both turn to Shining Armor, whose pulling up two full sets of pony-shaped armor, in a style similar to the one I'm wearing in terms of coloring and adornment. "Think these will fit you and Trixie, Twilight?" Shining Armor asks, bringing the armor close to Twilight and motioning for her to try it on.

A quick fitting later, Twilight fidgets around, testing everything for security and stability. The ensemble is slightly different than the one I have - a piece of body armor covering her front, a small guard for each of her legs, and a helmet that's clearly been shaped with unicorns in mind to avoid interfering with the horn. The important difference, though, is that the pony version lacks the cool shoulders. "It's... a little stuffy, but I think it's fine." She informs Shining Armor.

"Think the second set will fit Trixie?" Shining Armor asks. "I think they're about the same size."

Twilight thinks for a minute, then turns to me. "Hey, Cloud, you've probably seen Trixie without her cape on enough. Do you think she's about the same size I am?"

"...I know better than to answer questions about a girl's size." I answer strategically.

Shining Armor laughs. "Good answer. It should be close enough, though." He uses his magic grip to pull an old crate out of the corner of the room, emptying it of its original contents. "Let's pack this stuff up and get going."

"If you can get Trixie to wear any of this," I start as I begin unfastening the arm guards to put in the crate, "they'll probably have to build a statue after you."

"It'll be fine, Cloud." He replies with a wink and a playfully smug grin. "I've always had a way with the ladies."

Twilight gives her brother a playful punch with a hoof and a pout. "You're married now, Shiny. Better not let Cadance hear you talk like that."

"Heh... right."

Chapter 33: Obsessive Sephiroth Disorder.

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Chapter 33: Obsessive Sephiroth Disorder.

I awake that night with a start. The room is dark, but I look around, quickly spotting Trixie still asleep on the two-seater next to the bed, just as I had left her before going on the Quest for the Missing Shoulder Guard with Twilight and Shining Armor. We'd parted ways, Twilight taking Spike with her, after getting the items we raided from the old armor storage back up and into my room. Shining Armor's presence turned anyway any normally curious eyes wondering why we'd be lugging an old crate across the castle. Since Trixie hadn't stirred, despite our less-than-silent stowing of the crate in the room's corner, I'd gone to sleep early as well, figuring the trip to investigate the diamond dog burrows would be better done with an early rise. Now, however...

Now, there's a familiar stirring in my gut. It's weaker than I remember, but it's still there, so I sit up, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and placing them on the floor. I grip the bed, ignoring it, but the more I try to will it away, the more insistent it becomes.

I stand up, unable to handle sitting anymore, and begin pacing around the empty front of the room, arms crossed, hands gripping tightly against my shirt. This contemptible feeling, it's the one I remember from when Sephiroth would try to manipulate Jenova's cells inside my body. Apparently, messing with my dreams as he did all these nights since my arrival in Equestria isn't enough for him anymore. He's compelling me, trying to force me go somewhere by reaching out with whatever power he's accumulated since coming to Equestria, making my skin crawl. I clench my eyes shut, the stirring in my gut, in my head, under my skin only getting worse, and turn to the door, winding back to punch it in frustration.

As I swing, though, I open my eyes and stop. Until now, between the bustles of ponies, adventures for missing shoulder pieces, memory spells, and pain of having a hole in my gut, I'd never actually gotten to look at the back of this door. On it is a large, full body mirror, easily large enough for Celestia, and in turn, myself. More importantly, however, is that the mirror has a hook, probably meant for a coat, and from that hook dangles a familiar cowboy hat. The poncho isn't here, though I assume it was unsalavagable or, simply, nobody cared to, but the hat is. I unfold my fist, plucking the hat from the hook and turning it over in my hands. Until now, I'd forgotten about this thing.

I turn my eyes to the mirror, the wavy, sky-blue Mako-eyes staring back at me clearly despite the darkness in the room. "Cloud Strife? What a joke..." I mutter to myself, the image of my eyes in the mirror only serving to remind me of the Crystal Caves, with the duplicate Sephiroth's eyes staring at me through the haze of debris before his final attack. "But..." I slip the hat I've had for nearly my entire stay in Equestria on my head, as I always had in the past, lowering the brim slightly. I smirk, and slowly, my eyes glide from the mirror to Trixie's sleeping form across the room. "But maybe, this is fine, too." My eyes linger on the sleeping mare a bit longer, and in that moment, my resolve hardens, and I make my decision.

I head back to the bed, tossing the hat on the mattress near the foot as I reach into the drawer, pulling out the Restore Materia again. I grip it tightly, and slowly the outpouring of green magic flows over me, working itself to further reduce the damage to my abdomen. This'll have to be good enough. I place the Materia back in the drawer, then bend down and pull the armor, harnesses, and sword out from under the bed, placing it on top. For now, I set the sword and its harnesses aside, focusing solely on the armor, slipping the leather SOLDIER armor, gloves, and wrist guards on first before making use of what I obtained from the field trip with Twilight and Shining Armor.

This is a trap. It's not even a question. Like always, Sephiroth is messing with me, trying to make himself an opportunity where he can get rid of me and not have Pony Princesses interfere. I pull the belts on one of the arm guards tight, eyes again moving to the form sleeping on the chair. The midnight chest armor slips over my leather just as expected, creating a well-fit chestplate, and I have to resist giving another knock against the metal. The sword harnesses are next, fitting on much as they did when I wore the poncho, allowing me to carry the blade along the small of my back. I clench my fist for just a moment at that thought, then turn to the drawer with the bangle and Materia. I set the bangle on the bed next to the sword, and begin unslotting all the Materia from each. I sort out which ones I want to keep using, putting them in a pile, then fill out the remainder with Materia from the drawer.

It doesn't take me long to re-slot either the sword or the bangle, an advantage of actually knowing how the Materia works now, as I press each gem into its slot. The glistening mix of blue and green gems from the sword, with a single piece of yellow near the hilt, glimmers in the bit of moonlight seeping through the window. The bangle, in turn, glistens with a mix of all four colors, arranged in a pattern whose fashion sensibility I'm sure would make Rarity wince.

The sword slots comfortably on my back, and while the bangle fits on my wrist, the mix of the armguard, the SOLDIER wristguard, and the bangle barely leaves enough room for them to co-exist together. It works, though, and that's all that matters. I place the remaining Materia in the drawer, leaving it open. If things go badly, they'll need the Materia more than I will. Trixie and Twilight should be more than capable of using it.

I turn to the cowboy hat, the only piece left, now. I flip it onto my head with my left hand, placing the right on the hilt of my sword and sigh. I take the hat by the brim between two fingers and pull it back off, walking around the bed to where my azure roommate is stirring slightly in her sleep. Her forehooves stir, one reaching forward to rub against her face, and I take the opportunity to place the cowboy hat between her hooves. Her two front limbs absentmindedly grip it in their sleep, pulling it closer to her chest.

I turn and leave, opening the door quietly and slipping outside. As I close it, I can't stop myself from taking one more look back inside. It doesn't matter if this is a trap. It doesn't matter what Sephiroth's planning. I grip tighly at the hilt of my sword again with my right hand. My knowledge, my memories, I have to believe those will make me stronger. Strong enough to defeat Sephiroth.

I think back to the Crystal Caves. When you wanted to leave, I'd been the one to convince you to stay. I'd done that, but now that I feel another encounter with Sephiroth coming near, I can't help but wonder... was that the right choice? Or was I just being selfish, convincing myself it was for your sake? It's too late to change any of that now, but that's why I need to do this. If I can beat him now... if I can do that...

If I can do that, you won't have to fight again, will you?

The fire in my stomach keeps burning as I walk the halls of the castle. I don't know where I'm going, but I don't need to. As long as I follow it, Sephiroth's summons will handle the directions for me. Despite there being a Princess of the Night, the castle itself seems unusually empty and dark, not a single soldier or servant in my path.

"Cloud?" Which is why the soft voice of a certain lavender mare makes me stop cold. "Cloud, what are you doing?" Had I walked past her room at some point? It's possible. I don't actually know where in the castle anyone else is staying. "I was getting a drink and thought I heard you walking around." She explains, after I'm silent for a moment.

"Heard me?" I ask, not turning to face her.

"Duh. You don't have hooves. Different footsteps." She explains, and I can perceive the eyeroll without needing to see it. "So, what are you doing?"

"...Just taking a walk." I lie weakly. "Go back to bed, Twilight."

I can feel the eyeroll turn into the deadpan stare. "Cloud, I'm not an idiot. It's three in the morning, and you're fully decked in stuff we haven't even owned for twelve hours. Tell me what's going on."

"..." I try to think of an excuse, but Twilight's right. She's not an idiot, so lying will just make this take longer. "Sephiroth is calling me." I say, after a moment.

"What?" Comes the confused reply.

"Remember, I said Sephiroth used the Jenova cells to manipulate my dreams?" I ask, before explaining. "Right now, he's using them to call me to wherever he is. I think he wants to finish this."

"And you're just going to go there, by yourself, and walk into what's probably a trap?" She asks, laying my stupidity bare.

"..."

"Why not just go bed and ignore it?" Her voice becomes softer. "We were going to check out that burrow tomorrow. We can just go wherever you're heading now, instead. You know, together. As a team."

"I can't ignore it." I insist. "I..." My voice trails off, words getting stuck in my throat.

"Why not?" Twilight's once-soft voice is now argumentative. "What reason could there possibly be to do something this stupid?"

I pause for a moment, needing time to collect my words before speaking. "...Did you see what happened with Trixie in the Crystal Caves?"

Now it's Twilight's turn to pause, the argumentativeness gone as soon as it came. "I've been pretending I hadn't, but... yeah. Princess Celestia and I both saw it as we were flying in to help."

"Do you really think she'll be okay if we fight again?"

Twilight's angry tone resurges, more fiery than ever. "Don't you have any faith in her at all?" She fires back.

"..."

"Do you think she stood up to my brother to come with us if she didn't think she could do it?" The sound of her hoof stomping accentuates her question.

"..."

"Sure, she's not the strongest or the bravest, but she's your friend, Cloud! You know that! She did things to help you that she would've never done for anypony else! Can't you believe in her, even a little bit?"

"But, that's why I..."

"Why what?" Twilight cuts me off. "You're going to try to spare her by running off and probably getting yourself killed? Don't you think that'd make her a tiny bit more upset than some more fighting?"

"Twilight..." I pause. She's not wrong, but at the same time... "I need to do this, Twilight."

"Trixie's right about you." Twilight says. Her hoofsteps sound behind me, indicating a turn around as she runs down the hallway I just came from. "You really are an idiot!"

Her final declaration leaves me rooted to my spot as her footsteps echo down the halls until they finally disappear. My right hand trembles, so I steady it by gripping my sword's hilt and taking a deep breath. It's not that I don't have faith in her. My feet begin moving again, continuing on my path for the castle's exit. It's that I don't have faith in myself. The look in her eyes, back in the Crystal Caves, in that one moment... I don't think I can handle seeing that again.

As I reach outside, however, a glance up to the sky shows me something new. The Lifestream is coalescing in a single point, to the southwest of Canterlot if my direction sense applies to Equestria. A trickle of it flows down from the coalescing point, trailing down toward the ground... trailing directly to the area Sephiroth is compelling me to go. He might as well send up a smoke signal so I don't get lost.

"Dreamer." Another voice to stop me where I stand. A flap of wings and the sound of shoe-adorned hooves against brick announces the landing of Princess Luna behind me. "You hear the call also?"

"Also?" I ask, turning my head, confused as to how something without Jenova's cells can sense it.

"It is a strong psychic impulse. We believe it meant for you." The Princess explains. "However, our foe did not realize We can also perceive it, as it is in its essence not far removed from the mechanisms behind a dream."

"I... see." I reply, not really understanding.

"Also, its signal in the waking world is difficult not to notice." She continues, motioning her head to the Lifestream's current behaviour. Was that... her attempt at humor? A flap of wings quickly makes the alicorn move from behind me to in front of me, blocking my path. "You seek to confront the creature alone?" Similar to the time in Ponyville, she's wearing shaped battle armor instead of her regal attire.

"Are you going to try and stop me, too?" I ask impatiently.

"Why?"

The question is simple, but like with Twilight, I can't help but hesitate, not wanting to put the reason into words. I turn my eyes to the side, away from her. "Because I..." My voice trails, and a silence hangs in the air between us, accentuated by a gust of wind as it stays and goes, something like a conversation in its own right.

"Does guilt always weigh so heavily on your heart, dreamer?" She asks as the breeze passes.

"What?" I look up at her, confused.

"You are not the only one for whom guilt weighs heavily upon the soul."

"Nightmare Moon?" I ask without thinking, immediately regretting the two words the second they've left my mouth.

She moves slowly closer, her expression unreadable. "It seems you are more well informed than anticipated, dreamer."

"Just the name." I reply half-honestly. I know some details, but not enough to have a coherent idea of what actually occurred.

She lets out a short, amused laugh. "Is that so?" She asks, circling around me once before strolling back in front of me. "Come. You shall accompany Us on Our hunt for the fiend that distorts the Weave, now that it has revealed its location to Us."

"Accompany you?"

"You wear Our armor." She responds, turning her head back to me over her shoulder. "That makes you a member of the Night Guard. Therefore, you shall accompany Us." I honestly can't tell if she's teasing or serious.

"..." I let the silence hang, not knowing how to reply, trailing my left hand along the emblem of Princess Luna on the front of the armor I'd taken, which is glowing a vibrant silver in the moonlight.

"It is not a request, dreamer." She continues, once it becomes obvious I won't reply. "Either you shall accompany Us, and together we shall slay this foe, or We shall embark alone, arriving faster than you can on hoof, and leave naught for you upon your arrival." Her delivery is serious, but I can't help but let out a small snicker regardless.

"Let's get going, then." I nod.

With another strong flap of her wings, she's in the air above me, reaching her front hooves down. "Take my hooves then, dreamer, and we shall make haste. However, know well that our foe currently resides in the Ghastly Gorge, south of even Ponyville." Noticing my quizzical look at the offered hooves, she speaks again. "Surely you did not expect to ride upon Our back, treating Us as one might a lowly mount?"

"...Of course not." I turn so that I'd be facing forward with her once we take flight and grasp her front hooves, and feel the ground disappear from under me in tandem with another flap of the Princess' wings.

Her speed, even with me probably doubling her weight and greatly impeding her wind resistance, is quite impressive. The wind against my face forces me to squint my eyes shut as we clear ground faster than the train I had jumped to the top of with Trixie when we first met. After my moment of being impressed wears off, I decide to actually contribute to our travel, the Time Materia on my bangle glowing as I use the spell to accelerate the Princess' speed, not wanting to waste any more time. There isn't any reaction to the Haste spell's casting, though, and a quick glance up shows why. It's hard to see her face between the angle and the wind forcing me to squint my eyes, but what I can see is determined, focused on the goal ahead - a spire of Lifestream reaching from the Weave to deep inside what I now see is a giant ravine that's getting closer by the second.

If Princess Luna is anything like her sister, Celestia, then... yes, it'll be possible. Even if the only difference in myself is having the knowledge of my skills and Materia again, combined with the power of a Princess, it should be more than enough to defeat Sephiroth. I take a breath as the wind whips against my face. But would this be the real Sephiroth? Just another duplicate? Something else? Even if it ends up being just a duplicate, it should make things easier for us if we defeat it now, right?

Her wings flap and our flight path curves left. The Princess flies in a spiral along the descending stream of green energy, her wings open to catch the air and slow our flight speed. I look down as we spiral toward the ground, seeing the gorge clearly. The Lifestream is descending down, into a stream at the bottom of the gorge, the green wisps seemlessly connecting to the waters and plunging deeper, into the stream's depths. We land on a strip of land, the water to our right, walls of the gorge rising high on either side. At the stream's edge, where the Lifestream meets the water and flows further below, is a figure dressed in black, running the fingers of his right hand through the flowing Lifestream as it descends... a figure that I know all too well.

"Sephiroth!" I yell as Princess Luna touches down next to me.

"Took you long enough." He replies casually.

"So you are the creature known as 'Sephiroth'?" Princess Luna asks, lowering her head in a combat stance.

"More pony friends?" He turns his head to peer over his left shoulder at us. "The little blue one's not here. That's too bad."

"What do you want, Sephiroth?" I ask as I slide my weapon from its sheathe, letting it rest at my side but gripping the hilt tightly. I just need to focus and not let him get under my skin. "Or, is your new plan just to waste my time?"

He turns around to face us fully, letting out a snide laugh. "With how often you play dress-up, you do that without my help."

I ignore him again. "Is this another puppet, Sephiroth, or can we finally finish this?"

"Puppet." Sephiroth throws his head back, his shoulders shaking as his jeering laugh echos throw the ravine. "What an ironic word, coming from you."

The whole 'ignoring' thing stops working, my feet moving before my brain as I try to charge him. Halfway through closing the gap, though, my sword refuses to let me take it closer. I turn my head to it to see it covered in a sickly green, but familiar glow, and in a single motion, it's pulled about ten feet into the air, with me still dangling from the handle. Turning back to Sephiroth, his eyes are glowing a matching, deep green, his left hand open, making me finally notice that his signature sword, the Masamune, is missing.

"Didn't you learn last time that doesn't work?" His continuously casual but mocking tone is doing well to get under my skin despite my best efforts.

It takes my brain a moment to click the pieces together and figure out what's going on. "This is-!" The force holding my sword throws it and I back, sending us sliding across the rock-filled ground, coming to a stop back at Princess Luna's hooves.

"What's the matter, hm?" He throws his arms open as I pull myself back to my feet. "Don't tell me you're surprised. It's a new world! New possibilities! Although..." His adamant declarations trail back into his usual tone. "I suppose, a new world should also require a new look. Don't worry... the knowledge inside this world's Lifestream has given me the perfect one to use."

"What...?" I watch as tendrils of sickly green light, the same one he used to throw back my sword with what appeared to be unicorn magic, reach out from the stream behind him and wrap around his body. His form is soon completely obscured, the light wrapping him like a cocoon, only needing a moment to do its task before slowly unwinding itself. However, what's standing there is no longer Sephiroth, at least not visually.

Instead, what exits the cocoon is an alicorn, black-coated with a wispy, blue mane. Its teal eyes have eyes slit like a cat, and its body is adorned with blue armor, designed to be a mix of formal a combat attire. When it speaks, its voice is shrill and sinister, but decidedly feminine, and I can't help noticing the fangs lining its mouth, a jarring sight on a pony.

"I think this one will do nicely."

"Dare not mock Us, foul creature!" Princess Luna yells, rocks from across the ground hurling themselves at the once-Sephiroth alicorn, who blocks them with a shield of green magic.

The black alicorn smirks. "Have I touched a nerve?"

Princess Luna kicks from the ground, taking to the sky with a wingbeat, glaring daggers. "We art Princess Luna of Equestria, Mistress of the Night, Moon, and Stars, and We shaln't be mocked by a wretch such as thee, foul cretin!" A beam of solid light fires from Luna's horn, aimed directly at the alicorn-Sephiroth, only to be blocked by another green shield.

"What's your game, Sephiroth?" I yell out before Luna wastes more of her energy on a second attack.

The alicorn throws its head back, laughing shrilly. "Game? There is no 'game.' I just thought finally being rid of you would be the perfect test for my new body."

"New body?" This time it's my turn to laugh. "Did getting beat up by Princess Celestia hurt your ego so badly you decided to become an alicorn yourself, Sephiroth?"

"You really are dense." He, she, whatever, mocks, feigning annoyance. "It's always 'Sephiroth, Sephiroth, Sephiroth' with you, isn't it? You can't even see the answer in front of your face."

"Why don't you explain it, then?" I dig my feet in, taking my fighting stance. "You're already so fond of talking today."

The alicorn-Sephiroth beats its wings, jumping back so that its above the stream, its hooves skimming the water. Wait, no... it's standing on top of the water, somehow. "Surely you've wondered why you've become weaker?" This time it isn't a jeer, but a simple question. "The day I first graced your dreams, the day you first started regaining memories, the day you felt you'd gained some missing strength back - what do those all have in common, you miserable little vessel?"

Those things - thinking back, there's only one thing I can find in common with them that matters, from the night before I'd left the Golden Oak Library and Ponyville behind and met Trixie in the Everfree Forest. "The timberwolf that attacked Ponyville."

It smirks, revealing its fangs. "And you remember what happened then, hm?" Yes, I do. I didn't know it back then, but it was like I had... absorbed the cells of Jenova that had infected that timberwolf, taking them into my own body. "So, do you understand yet? Do you understand what you were missing, and what you regained the smallest fragment of that day?"

"Quit talking in riddles!" My hands are trembling, wanting to lunge again but also wanting to keep him talking as long as possible, in the hopes of dragging out some answers. Princess Luna seems to be in the same mindset, her body trembling with the tenseness of held-back aggression.

"Perhaps I should." It closes its eyes. "After all, it was building you, in Cloud Strife's moment of weakness, that enabled me to cross the stars with Gaia's Lifestream and bring my cells to a vibrant world like this one, to regain the power I lost those thousands of years ago." ...What? It smirks, wider, noticing the tremble in my limbs. "There! That's the look! You finally get it, don't you?" The body of the alicorn begins descending into the depths of the stream below, quoting from my memory to drive home its point: "The ability to change one's looks, voice, and words: That is the power of Jenova."

As the alicorn disappears, the sickly green glow of magic appears again, this time changing the entire stream's color with its glow from below the depths. The light this time is bright, intense with power, casting the walls of the gorge in its glow, long shadows drawing from the sparse rocks and trees that populate the ground. After a moment, the glow fades, and the water wells up in front of us, cascading to the sides to reveal the being that's risen from its depths.

It's just as I remember from five years ago, during that fateful night in the Mako Reactor at Mt. Nibel. A distorted parody of the female human form, with its blue-gray skin, tubes trailing from different parts of its torso down like giant veins, and two broken remnants of leathery wings stemming from its back. Its hair is long and matted, hanging in front of its face so only one crazed, green eye is visible. However, its torso curves as it goes lower, eventually running parallel to the ground, and it doesn't take me long to see why: The heart that once simply replaced its feet has become massive, like the abdomen of a spider, pulsing and beating with a grotesque sound that reverberates through the ravine, with four spindly, spider-like legs trailing down into the water. That's when I finally notice what the 'top' of the abdomen-like heart contains - four massive, artery-like openings. The Lifestream trail we followed from the sky is being pulled down, trailing into two of the openings, while a black, inky leftover is expelled like waste out the others.

Both Princess Luna and I take a step back. "...What manner of twisted abomination art thee?" Luna asks, the disgust plain in her voice.

"Princess Luna of Equestria, Mistress of the Night, Moon, and Stars," it spits the title out like a jeer. Its voice is distorted, layered, an echoing rasp that sounds both male and female at the same time, "I am that which has consumed countless planets, and have been known by countless names. You may believe me an abomination," it raises one of its hands up, opening it then balling the fist tight, and in an instant... the entire gorge goes dark, cast in a barely-visible, green, wavering glow, the only true light source left being the trail of Lifestream being consumed by the 'heart' that is its abdomen, "but compared to me, Princess, you are just a trifle. A pitiable being, soon to be tossed aside."

I look up, and see the cause of the gorge's new lighting, or lack thereof. The stars, the moon - everything, except for the glowing Lifestream in the sky - is gone.

Chapter 34: Return of the King.

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Chapter 34: Return of the King.

"Jenova..." I mutter the name under my breath, digging my feet into the ground and steadying my sword. It isn't my first time fighting it, but before, it had always been under Sephiroth's control, dominated by his will, with each piece turned into a separate monster. This, however... I've never fought Jenova on its own terms. There's no way to even know if this is the full creature, or what power it's gained from sapping the Lifestream from Equestria's sky for so long. Jenova itself is just... staring at us, from within the stream, its single visible eye locked with mine. I take a deep breath, and... are my hands shaking?

"Down!" Princess Luna shouts suddenly, a strong wing pressing against my back and forcing me to the ground. In that same second, the spider-like body Jenova's constructed for itself hurls just above our heads, the sound of rocks crumbling from its impact with the wall behind us resounding through the gorge. I roll to my back to try and keep eyes on it, to see it clinging to the wall of the ravine by its two hands and four legs like an insect, its head turned at an impossible angle to stay facing us.

Its visible eye lights its sickly, pale green as it dislodges a jutted chunk of ravine wall with its unicorn-stolen telekinetic powers, hurling it at us with force. Princess Luna stands, her horn aglow in her own blue magic as a shield raises around us, a blast from her horn piercing through her barrier and smashing into the large rock, causing it to splinter into a rain of smaller rock fragments that bounce harmlessly off the magic shield, clinking as if they're colliding with glass.

"Thou cannot falter, dreamer." Princess Luna stands tall, flaring her wings, eyes locked on the monstrousity now crawling along the gorge wall, the Lifestream still being pumped through its back and filtered like food. "This creature must fall!"

"Got any plans for that?" I ask, scrambling back to my feet and regaining my grip on my sword.

"But one." She says. "Our Sister says tis thine favorite: Hit it until it stops moving." The Princess kicks off from the ground with her hooves, wings beating as beam after beam of magic light fires from her horn, smashing into rocks around Jenova but never quite hitting their target.

"Dammit!" I trail after both, Haste-aided movement speed not quite enough to keep up. Though, it's still close enough... I tap into the power of the Time Materia again, target in sight, and cast another spell, this time on Jenova itself. It jerks around unnaturally at an unexpected decrease in its own movement speed, and barely gets to turn its head to face us before a power blast from Princess Luna hits home, sending smoke and dust up into the air and eliciting a twisted, pained howl from its target.

The pained howl is replaced with an enraged one as Jenova hurls itself through the smoke, its body colliding with Princess Luna after shattering through a barely-formed shield. The impact sends them crashing into the ground, a tangled mess of thrashing limbs against each other until their tumble stops at the edge of the stream, Jenova's spindly legs pinning the Princess of the Night beneath it by her wings.

I rush in as Jenova winds back its right arm, finally able to close the distance. Winding my sword back for a horizontal attack, I tap into two pairings of Blue and Green Materia along the blade, which erupts into an acid-spitting fire as I slash it into the wretched heart that acts as Jenova's insectoid abdomen. It draws back, its scream piercing into my head as Princess Luna finally has the mobility she needs to lurch her body forward, kicking it hard with her front hooves and forcing it off her. With a quick roll onto her stomach, she's back onto her hooves, turned to face Jenova once more. Her wings flare out again, and even in the nearly-nonexistent green light of our current situation, the color of red coating the normally midnight-blue feathers is easy to see. She either doesn't feel it or doesn't care, though, eyes still locked on our target as she pulls herself up into the air once again.

"You alright?" I can't stop myself from asking as I turn to face the creature as well, sword raised. Jenova's single eye glows as it stares us down, and I notice its... smiling, a sinister, predatory smile. And then, I see why - with each pump of the Lifestream absorbed by its heart-like abdomen, the damage caused by both myself and the Princess is slowly disappearing.

"You're trembling." Jenova's grin widens as it utters those words, taking pleasure in fear. Was I trembling? I shake it off, gripping my sword tighter, steadying my heads. It doesn't matter how strong this thing is, we'll find a way!

Princess Luna lowers her head as Jenova digs its legs into the ground. "Thou shalst feel Our wrath as Princess of the Night for defiling Our sky, abomination!" Her horn glows, small speckles of light appearing around her. First one, then two, then four, and eight... the number keeps doubling until there's too many to count. If they were further up in the sky, they could easily be mistaken for the night stars. With a beat of her wings the lights begin crashing into the ground around Jenova like shooting stars, forcing the monster to leap back once, then twice, then to cling to the wall once again as it crawls along it to avoid the blasts.

I turn to say something to the Princess, but she's... gone. Turning back to Jenova's insect form, I see a pure-black shadow clinging to the wall, ignoring the green light that's casting the canyon, moving directly for Jenova. There's a burst of magic as Princess Luna emerges from the shadow in a charge, body wrapped in her own magic as she impacts Jenova's underside, flinging it from the wall and sending it hurling through the air, where its an easy target for the remaining light beams. The beast lands on its back, but doesn't stay there long, its spider-like legs reversing their joints and lengthening, digging into the ground and allowing to flip itself back over with a single heave as if there's no bones inside them at all.

Before the Princess can make her next attack, Jenova launches itself into the air, clinging itself by its legs to another hastily-made, but this time more-durable, shield Princess Luna tosses up to defend herself. Again, I'm left trailing behind, running to keep up. What am I supposed to even do in a fight like this? I grip my left hand in frustration and see the Yellow Materia sitting on my bangle. I'll have to be careful using that one too often, or the strain will be too much, but... it might work. I hold my hand open, aimed at the body of Jenova that's thankfully facing me, and tap into one of the weaker spells of that Materia. A flurry of small, missile-like magic beams arc out, the Matra Magic crashing into Jenova's back and eliciting another pained howl, giving Princess Luna the opening she needs to focus her magic and make her shield explode, sending Jenova's form crashing back into the ground.

Jenova rights itself again, but I've already taken my opportunity, leaping and using Haste to get myself onto the creature's disgusting back. Its hard to keep balance on it with the pulsing of its abdomen, so I angle my sword down, gripped in both hands for a single, decisive stab. The Yellow Materia on the sword's hilt glows, the magic guiding my weapon down as I deliver a critical Deathblow!

It thrashes and screams, quickly throwing me off its back and to the side. I hear the crushing of rocks beneath its legs, and roll to my back, sword braced defensively by the hilt and the blade, just in time to block a downward strike from its right hand aimed directly for my neck. My muscles burn as it leans its weight down, and the sword begins to bend and crack, Jenova's weight being placed directly on the distortion left by the Sephiroth duplicate from the Crystal Caves.

A blue-wrapped boulder smashes into Jenova's side, thankfully forcing her weight off me, and I scramble to my feet. I look down, getting a view of the actual damage... and realize this thing won't last as a sword much longer. I turn back to Jenova, only to see the boulder that saved my life now flying at me, wrapped in green. I quickly cast the Barrier Materia to place up a wall as a beam of blue light strikes the rocks, the debris clinking against the multi-colored, diamond-shaped shield raised by my spell.

Jenova leaps again before the dust can settle, again aimed for Princess Luna, but this time I'm ready. I grip my sword hilt as another of the Green Materia glows, Jenova finding itself caught in the air as the space around it becomes black, distorting until Jenova is sent crashing to the ground by a powerful Gravity spell. Princess Luna doesn't miss the opportunity, her horn glowing as various shadows pull themselves up from the ground, wrapping around Jenova's body and pinning it to the ground despite its thrashing and flailing.

Princess Luna lands, slowly walking up to Jenova. "But a trifle, art We, monster?" Her eyes are cold and distant as she stares at the creature writhing in her snare. With a second glow of her horn, the shadows wrapping Jenova shift, becoming spears that stab through its pulsing abdomen, pinning it to the ground in a more literal sense. "Have thou last words before thy trip to Tartarus?"

Jenova stops struggling, its body shaking with a sickening laugh as rain begins to fall into the gorge, clouds blocking out much of the meager green light from the sky and leaving things truly dark. "You are a fool." It speaks, jeering, the Lifestream that its abdomen is still gorging on despite its many skewers now the only true light source in the ravine.

"Mocking even in thy final moments?" Princess Luna's horn lights, gathering magic.

"Was snuffing out your precious stars not clear enough?" It continues, single eye turned up and meeting hers defiantly as it raises its left hand up, reaching toward her.

"Thy mockery en-!" Jenova's hand slams into the ground and Princess Luna is cut off by a cry of pain as a lightning bolt strikes her back. The glow on Luna's horn and her binding shadows both disappear as I try to close the distance, but Jenova lurches forward, catching the Princess by the throat before her body can fall, holding her dangling above the ground.

"Luna!" I open my left palm and form a fireball as the appropriate Materia on my sword glows, throwing it to try and force Jenova to retreat again as I move in.

Jenova, however, doesn't even flinch, throwing up a green shield to block the attack without moving. "Do you understand now, Princess? This planet's knowledge is mine." Its green eye brightens and wraps Princess Luna's right wing in a magical grip, twisting it with the crunch of bone and a choked gasp from its owner. "This planet is mine." Jenova turns its head and single revealed eye to me, and with a single flick of its arm, it tosses Princess Luna like a rag doll, her body slamming into mine and sending us both toppling to the ground. "But, do not fret, little princess... your precious night can last forever, while I drain this planet dry."

Princess Luna groans on top of me, trying to make her body move. Her snapped wing is trapped between us, and I hear her pained wince as I try to get myself out from underneath her. Jenova approaches slowly, savoring each step as the wounds across its body slowly begin to heal once more. The downpour of rain fills my ears, though it's not enough to mask the sickly beating rhythm of Jenova's abdomen. Its steps slosh in newly formed puddles, each splash sounding its approach. The gorge is black to the point of barely being able to see the alicorn on top of me, Jenova only visible due to the glow of the Lifestream it's consuming framing its body. With some struggling, I finally free myself from below the Princess, pulling myself back to my feet and placing myself between Luna and the monster, my damaged sword at the ready.

"Oh?" It smirks, snickering and licking its lips. "And what do you expect to do?"

"..." I dig my feet into the ground, gripping the sword's hilt. What did I expect to do? A broken Princess lays behind me, and the longer I hesitate, the more it heals. It's just standing there, waiting, staring with that single, glowing eye. It knows it can take all the time in the world, and it's enjoying every moment of it.

In that moment, I do the only thing I can think of. I charge, swinging my sword in a frenzy, the four Materia along its blade again glowing. The acidic fire hisses as the rain falls onto it, Jenova lurching itself back to dodge each swipe of the blade. As it moves back once more, reaching the edge of the stream, I bring the blade down for a powerful vertical slash, the edge glowing blue as the Blade Beam fires, carving through the ground like the fin of a shark as it hits the monster before it can dodge again.

Seeing my opportunity, I charge while Jenova reels from the hit, the Deathblow Materia near the sword's hilt glowing once again. I ready the sword and hold it in front of me, the Deathblow Materia guiding my aim toward one of Jenova's weak spots. I thrust the sword, but as I plunge it forward, my blood goes cold from a small laugh that escapes the monster's lips. A green shield of magic apparates itself at the final moment, the tip of the sword crashing into it at full force... a force strong enough to shatter the heavily damaged blade. The eight pieces of shimmering Materia fall from the remnants of the sword, clattering against the ground as I look dumbfounded at the handle.

"Is that all, little vessel?" It mocks, taking a step forward.

I drop the useless sword handle and step back, my mind racing through what options I have left. Jenova advances another step, and my eyes again go to the Yellow Materia on my bangle, racing through the magic it contains before choosing one. I take another step back as the Materia glows, four golden orbs appearing around Jenova in the shape of a pyramid. They cackle with electricity before the bolts of lighting begin raching between all four of them, the electrical magic of Trine combined with the rain eliciting another shriek of agony from the monster.

I take the opportunity to turn and run to my right, wanting to make distance between both myself and Jenova, and the two of us and the crumpled form of Princess Luna, though the darkness has made finding her again nearly impossible unless I trip over her. The sound of smashing rocks tells me Jenova is giving chase, taking to the air with another of its powerful leaps. I turn and hold out my left palm, the Materia glowing once more, a barrage of thin, red beams from the Laser spell finding their target of their own accord. They tear through the underside of Jenova's abdomen as it lets out a curdling scream, the unexpected pain causing it to miss its landing slightly and allow me to continue to widen the gap between us.

This time, however, it doesn't leap. I can hear the continuous cracking of rocks and splashing of puddles as it races behind me on its insectoid legs, the distance closing quickly. After finally deciding on the next spell, I turn to begin casting it, only to reel as the lunging body of Jenova crashes into me, toppling me and sending me skidding along the ground on my back. My head swims, but finds the ability to quickly clear itself as Jenova's body lands on top of mine, its head leaning in close to mine.

"I think this game has gotten boring, little vessel." It mocks, its sinister grin wide as its face leans closer. "What do you think about ending it?"

I respond by channeling the Materia once more, tapping into the spell Goblin Punch, and giving the twisted creature a right hook across the face, accentuated by a burst of red magic.

It responds by grabbing my neck, leaning its weight down and closing its fingers tight to cut off the airflow.

I grip its arm with both of mine, trying desperately to pull it off, but it only leans in more. I clench my eyes shut, trying to pull up every ounce of strength I can manage to remove it. It seems hopeless, the jeer of Jenova's laughter ringing in my ears, until finally... the weight begins to lift. I open my eyes to see Jenova wrapped in familiar shadows, being pulled away slowly until its grip on my neck is completely severed, then tossed to one side, into the stream.

"Thou hast yet to best Us, cur!" Princess Luna yells, her voice confident even if the light eminating from the glow of her horn reveals her true state. Her right wing is hanging uselessly by her side, and when not speaking, her breathing is haggard. Her body has a slight limp every few steps, one of her legs probably injured when she was thrown into me.

I gasp for air and do my best to get myself back on my feet again, quickly moving next to her. "Thanks." I mutter, at a loss for other words as I turn to the stream.

"Our spell cannot hold the creature long." Princess Luna explains between breaths, her horn glowing brighter. "Dost thou hast a means left for us to fight?"

I look to the bangle of Materia once more. All the magic use has begun to send my body to the point of exhaustion, but... "Just one, but... you'll need to hold Jenova back a little bit longer."

"Leave that matter to Us, dreamer." Princess Luna says, standing close but in front now, her shaky hooves digging into the ground as she lowers her head in another combat stance.

I turn up to the sky, clenching my left hand into a fist as I can see the glow of two Materia cutting through the darkness from the corner of my vision. The clouds in the sky dip, but my eyes are torn away from them by the sound of the stream erupting as Jenova breaks free of Princess Luna's spell, clinging itself again to the far wall of the ravine. It roars and its eye glows, reaching its arm forward, a torrent of green magic erupting from its palm like a stream. Princess Luna's horn glows in retaliation, forming a wide shield to cover us as the magic washes against it.

The impact forces her head to one side, her legs nearly buckling, but she stays standing, turning to face the torrent head on. She steps forward and digs herself in again, lowering her head as the glow of her horn, and with it the coloration of her shield, intensifies. Soon, however, small cracks begin to form along the barrier as the magic crashing against it from Jenova intensifies as well, but the Princess holds fast, standing tall as the attack ravages the land around us that's not protected by the barrier. Just a little bit more...

Jenova screams in pain as the sound of something crashing against rock rumbles through the gorge, the magical onslaught stopping. The trail of Lifestream from Jenova's abdomen allows us to easily track it as it smacks into the ground to our right, bouncing and tumbling from the impact. I look down at my bangle again, to the two Materia - Red and Blue, glowing brightly as a wingbeat sends a gust of wind past Luna and myself.

It lands between us and Jenova, an easy twenty feet tall from feet to head, and possibly another ten or fifteen more from its head to the upper tips of its wings. Its massive tail smacks against the ground, causing the stream to erupt again as the tip falls into it. Its black scales are cast like armor plates, tinted in the green glow of Lifestream again reaching into the valley after it burst through the cloud cover above, dissipating the rain. Its wings expand, nearly the width of the gorge itself as it roars, flexing its clawed hands as its feet dig into the ground. Its yellow eyes cut through the dark as its head lowers, focused intently on the foe rising again to its insectoid legs in front of us.

In this state, this is my final gambit, the energy it needs causing me to drop to my knees as the summoning stabilizes itself.

"Even We did not expect this much, dreamer..." Princess Luna mutters, allowing herself to kneel and rest as well behind the creature defending us. "Mayhaps victory shaln't yet allude us this day."

Right now, if there's anything left that can let us win, it's this - The Great Dragon King, Bahamut!

Chapter 35: The Final Curtain Call.

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Chapter 35: The Final Curtain Call.

Princess Luna winces, her half-broken body collapsing next to mine. "How fare thee, dreamer?"

"Better than you." I laugh darkly, turning my attention from her to the dragon, Bahamut, that stands between us and Jenova. "But, if this doesn't work..." I turn my eyes down the the bangle, where the two Materia maintaining Bahamut's summoning still glow brightly. My eyes then pass over one more Materia, simple and Green. My head is already spinning slightly from the exhaustion, but...

"Have thee yet another trick left?" Princess Luna asks, seeing my eyes linger on the gems.

"Maybe." I reply as I shift myself into a sitting position. I take her twisted wing and gently place it across my lap, the Princess masking a wince at the pain, and begin trying to make use of the Restore Materia. It's slow, my mind barely able to focus, my body not having much energy to give now after summoning Bahamut, but the glow of the Cure spell eventually begins to eminate from my palm as I run it just above the broken limb.

"Restorative magic as well?" Princess Luna asks, surprisingly cheerful despite our situation. "So the completed building doth offer greater protection, after all."

I hesitate before replying. "I don't know how much I'll be able to fix, but..."

Bahamut roars, snapping our attention away, its stomps echoing through the gorge as it charges ahead. It lurches forward, bringing its right claw down like a fist against its smaller adversary. There's a green burst of light and a pop as the dragon's claw smashes into the ground, the distorted form of Jenova apparating back into existence behind it with a second pop and burst on the back of Bahamut's neck.

Jenova coils its legs around Bahamut's neck, the limbs' length extending as necessary with a nauseating squish and popping that's audible even at this distance. It throws its weight forward, pulling Bahamut's neck and entire body back as the dragon loses balance, toppling onto its back with a roar as its head and limbs thrash against its neck's captor. Digging its claws into the ground, Bahamut throws its entire body forward with a heave, forcing Jenova to release its grip to avoid being tossed forward itself. Jenova's legs return to their usual length and shape with another round of pops, crunches, and squishes, and it turns its back to us to face Bahamut as the Great Dragon King rises back to its feet.

"The creature art but toying with us, even now." Princess Luna observes as Jenova rushes along the ground at Bahamut, only to be smashed against the side of the gorge by Bahamut's tail. "Mayhaps its arrogance shall undo it."

I hadn't missed it, either. When Jenova topped Bahamut onto its back, it turned up to us and smiled, giving up an easy opportunity to attack us directly to continue its attack on Bahamut instead. I turn down to her wing again, trying my best to keep the Cure spell going at whatever rate I can manage. "When I'm done, run."

She scoffs. "Thou believest the Princess of the Night would flee from battle?"

"We need Celestia." I reply plainly, the exhaustion from the magic seeping into my voice. "If Bahamut falls, you can't defeat it alone."

There's a crash as Jenova rockets out from the wall that Bahamut's tail smashed it into, slamming into Bahamut's stomach and sending it toppling back into the stream with a splash, though the dragon's body is too large to fall inside. "And thee, dreamer?" Princess Luna asks, her voice softening.

I let out another dark laugh. "I'll be fine." I take a deep breath, focusing myself to continue pushing through magical-based exhaustion. "It likes to talk. I'll ask it if it wants to trade cooking recipes or something."

Princess Luna's own dark laugh is cut off by another draconic roar as Bahamut rolls, taking hold of Jenova in its claw and forcing it under the stream, trying to suffocate it. The water around Bahamut's claw, in turn, wells up, flowing along its arm until it reaches the dragon's head, encasing it in a sphere of water, visibly pressing down into it. Bahamut gasps for air but soon turns its attention down to the stream where its claw still holds Jenova, its mouth open. It pulls its hand from the stream as a fireball erupts from its mouth, bursting through the water sphere and down into the stream, an explosion erupting, sending water and chunks of rocks in all directions.

Jenova launches from the stream not long after, taking to the sky, its body becoming small as its leap takes it above the top of the gorge's cliffs. With a wingflap that sends gusts along the gorge's path, Bahamut takes to the air in pursuit, not allowing Jenova to make distance. Bahamut weaves in the air, dodging a beam of green magic from Jenova and grabbing the monster again, this time in both claws. The dragon somersaults through the air with Jenova in its grip, gaining speed and centrifugal force before tossing Jenova back to the ground below with a thunderous impact. Dust fills the air around the impact site, Jenova's body partially buried into the ground. After a second, it begins rising, but unlike before, this rise is slow, its spindly legs a bit uncertain as they dig into the ground to right itself.

"Looks like something finally got to it." I comment, as Princess Luna begins to squirm next to me.

"We should also be fighting!" The Princess declares as she tries to pull herself up to her hooves, only to collapse back down. "Thy dragon hath an advantage. If We could assist..." She tries to move her wing, only to wince, the damage still not repaired.

"Just let me finish this so you can get your sister." I say, my concentration wavering for a moment at concern for the collapsed alicorn, but I'm able to keep the Cure spell going through the ever-growing haze of exhaustion. Though, my head beginning to swim. "If Bahamut can still fight when she gets here, then..."

"To flee with Our tail between Our legs to Our Sister over such a miserable foe..." Princess Luna's pride sounds more wounded than her body at the thought.

The sky lights up, the gorge glowing orange with the light of fire as Bahamut rains a hail of fireballs down on Jenova. The explosions displace enough air to make both the Princess and myself turn our heads, eyes squinted shut at the force of the blasts. As the rain of fire ends, we turn back to see Jenova, still standing, encircled by flame as it protects itself in its spherical shield, flames trailing up a few of the curved sides.

A new wind blows, accented this time by Jenova's glowing eye, the flames extingushed by a powerful gust. It raises its arms in front of it, moving them in a way that's reminiscent of molding clay, and the winds grow in intensity. Soon, its goal becomes obvious, rocks, dirt, and stream water being picked up in a vortex that begins extending into the sky, up to the clouds. With a flick of the monster's arms, the twister races down the gorge, its body aimed directly at the dragon in the sky, catching it in its vortex.

Bahamut's wings beat, attempting to resist the twister, but soon the high-speed winds prove too much as its flung away, smashing into the side of the ravine and falling until it collides with the ground below once more, the vortex of wind dissipating. It shakes itself off and quickly rises to its clawed feet, undeterred despite Jenova already rushing across the ground on its spindly legs for its next attack. Bahamut punches at the monster with its right claw, Jenova catching the draconic fist in its left hand and somehow matching the attack's force as its legs dig deeper into the ground. Bahamut swings in with its left fist as well, Jenova catching it in its right, and the two are left pressing their weight against each other in a show of might. Bahamut, however, doesn't allow the stalemate to continue, opening its mouth to unleash another fireball, forcing Jenova to break the stalemate and leap to dodge.

The opportunity isn't lost on the Great Dragon King, which again leaps into the air after the spiderlike nightmare, using a vertical spin to smash the creature out of the air and back to the ground again with its tail. This time, Bahamut follows Jenova back to the ground with a dive, using one leg to stomp down on the creature and pin it before it can recover. It stomps once, then again, then a third time, each hit accentuated by the pained cry of the abomination below it. A fourth stomp, however, is blocked by Jenova's rounded, green shield.

Bahamut cries out as its assaulted from the side, the crumbled bits of rock and debris from when the twister sent it crashing down now slamming into it from the side, wrapped in Jenova's magic. Jenova's angered howl accentuates its freedom, the rocks that collided into Bahamut being pulled back, reshaped into two giant boulders. Jenova swings its right arm forward, and the boulder on the right swings forward with it, connecting with Bahamut's stomach. It pulls back and swings its left arm, left boulder following the left's arms motions just as the right boulder does the right arm. Like giant boxing gloves, it clubs the dragon again and again, not allowing it to regain its wind as its forced to collide again and again with the ravine wall.

As it swings the right-side boulder again, though, a beam of blue light intercepts, shattering it into small rock fragments. "Thou'st forgotten this is no duel, creature!" Princess Luna yells, her horn's glow fading as her breath becomes haggard from the exertion of another spell in her state. She tries to stand again, but fails, again slumping beside me as I keep focused on her wing, the light of the Cure spell becoming dimmer as my mind inevitably gives in to exhaustion. I can't let it, though, not yet, not until this one final job is done...

Jenova turns to us, but is quickly punished for it by a kick from Bahamut, sending it tumbling back into the stream again. It rises up from the water, shield raised to deflect Bahamut's follow-up fireball, charging through the resulting explosion only to be met by a side swipe from Bahamut's tail. Jenova tumbles along the ground for just a moment, quickly able to right itself and dig its legs in as it slides back across the ground, taking to the air with a leap to dodge another wave of Bahamut's fireballs.

This time, however, Bahamut doesn't follow. It lowers itself to all fours, digging its claws and feet into the ground. It spreads its wings, digging the clawed peaks of its wings' crests into the ground as well, bracing itself with all six limbs as it turns its head up to face Jenova. It opens its mouth and takes aim, energy gathering in its throat from the air around it like a red-hot laser cannon, the build-up casting away the darkness of the gorge and bathing it in orange. The air cackles with energy as the power builds up ever greater, Jenova quickly realizing its mistake and placing up a green energy shield, Bahamut's claws digging deeper into the ground. An explosive sound rocks the ravine as the Mega Flare fires, the power enough to force Bahamut to dig his tail into the ground to prevent being pushed back despite all its previous bracing. The canyon becomes bright with the glow of the attack, light cast like an early sunrise as the solid beam of fire and energy tears through the sky, engulfing Jenova and its shield completely. When the beam dissipates, Jenova is gone.

"Such power..." Princess Luna gapes uncharacteristically. "Dreamer, dost thou believe the creature killed?"

"I don't know." I admit, leaning my head against the side of the ravine, slumping against it. The Cure spell dissipates, my mind no longer capable of maintaining it no matter how much I push myself. "I hope so."

Princess Luna finally finds the strength to stand and tries moving the injured wing. While it no longer hangs lamely at her side, it proves unfit to use, an attempt to flap it causing the Princess' body a pained shudder. "It appears We shall need to call upon Our Night Guard to return us to Canterlot."

"Don't complain." I laugh, head spinning as I lean it up to the sky. "At least we get to go back." I move up my left hand to rub my forehead, and notice something. My bangle still has two brightly glowing Materia - Bahamut's Red Materia, and the paired Turbo Magic Materia. With Jenova killed, the summoning should...

The pop of a teleport followed by a guttural roar of pain snaps both my and the Princess' attention to Bahamut, who is now slumped on the ground. Jenova is sticking out of his head, its four legs wrapping into the shape of a javelin and piercing through the hard, black scales. Its body is twisted, burned, some chunks missing entirely - the damage far greater than anything either the Princess or myself had done to it. Yet, somethow, it still lives. Words like 'monster' and 'abomination' don't seem strong enough to describe this thing anymore.

Bahamut crumples, its body beginning to dissolve into the mist-green of Lifestream that all Materia-based spells dissolve into, when the truly monstrous thing begins. Instead of dissolving into the sky as it should, the Lifestream energy that composes Bahamut is drawn into Jenova's pulsing heart-abdomen, eaten just like any other piece of Equestria's Weave. My eyes pull back to the Materia on my wrist, and as more of Bahamut is absorbed, the more the Materia changes color from Red to an empty grey.

Jenova shrieks, and the stubs of leather wings on its back begin to morph, expanding and re-arranging themselves with a cacophony of sickening flesh and bone noises. Its new wings flare upon completion, clawed tips on their crowns, a massive wingspan over twice the size of Jenova's body. Their color is the sickly flesh-brown of Jenova's old wing-stubs, but they're still unmistakable - Bahamut's wings. It gasps, its body shuddering, either from the transformation, or from pain, or from who knows what else, but slowly, it turns its head up, staring at us with its single, cold eye once more. The only positive I see is the heart that makes up its abdomen is no longer pulsing, the thread of Lifestream dissipating back up into the sky. Is it too damaged to continue absorbing the Lifestream and fight simultaneously? In that case, if we had a little more to give, it might be possible, but...

The insult, however, isn't complete. Jenova outstretches its hands in front of it, and a familiar orange begins to build up in the space between its palms, again casting a glow along the gorge. The creature grins wider than ever, clearly reveling in the irony of what it intends to do, despite the current state of its body. The buildup isn't as large as the original, perhaps due to its condition, but I suppose it doesn't need to be.

"Dreamer." Princess Luna says, limping slowly forward, her eyes locked on Jenova as the air in front of it cackles with power. "Let it be said not that the Princess of the Night cannot meet fate with head raised." She pauses, releasing a breath as she takes a final combat stance. "We apologize for bringing thee on such a fool's errand."

Apologize? She hadn't brought me on anything I didn't already intend to do myself. I should be the one apologizing for being hard-headed when she believed the enemy was something besides Sephiroth. I don't know different that would've made things now, but...

The orange beam fires, again dispelling the darkness in the gorge as a midnight blue wall rises to meet it. Maybe its an effect of exhaustion, but the clash of Mega Flare and shield seems to happen in slow motion. The shield bends and distorts, Princess Luna's horn growing ever brighter in an attempt to keep it together and push back the blast. However, after a moment, one crack begins to form along its center, then two, then four, multiplying ever more as they reach further along the shield's surface. Her horn's brightness intensifies further, becoming pure white as the power radiates past her magic's distinct colors, her eyes glowing to match. The effort, however, proves vain as the shield finally shatters, the Princess' horn sparking with magical feedback. Though, instead of falling or wincing from the pain, she stays true to her word, throwing her head up proudly to face the remaining brunt of the oncoming blast.

...Only for the blast to again be blocked by a second, pink shield, whose conjuring is complimented with the pop of a teleport. Now, two familiar unicorns of lavender and azure stand between the Princess and the blast, the former's horn aglow with magic as the shield tries to press back the attack. It buckles and ripples, cracks forming along this one as the last, but after a moment, the damage stops spreading, and as the attack stops, the shield stands strong, its owner panting from the effort.

"Too much... teleporting..." Twilight gasps, trying desperately to regain her breath. She's clad in the aged armor we retrieved with Shining Armor, the shiny midnight blue pieces reflecting the green glow of the Lifestream above in the absence of the night's natural light sources.

Princess Luna's power finally dissipates from her eyes and horn as she surveys the cause of us not being deep-fried. "Miss Sparkle! Miss Lulamoon!" Her voice is filled with concern. "Why have ye come here? This creature is..."

The Princess, however, is soon cut off by an enraged Trixie, who, surprisingly, is also wearing the leg and chest guards from the armor set with her cloak placed atop, though the helmet is missing in favor of her signature magician's hat. "We're here because of this dumbass!" She declares angrily, turning her back on the abominable, planet-eating death-arachid and marching up to me like a whirlwind, the glare in her eyes enough to cast away my magical-based tiredness. "Didn't I just fix your messed-up head? What would possibly make you think running out here by yourself was a good idea?"

I look at her, dumbfounded. Her language makes it clear - this isn't the anger of The Great and Powerful Trixie, the strongest unicorn in Equestria, but of Trixie Lulamoon, the unicorn that had exposed an important part of herself to a once-bitter rival in order to help me get back something important of my own.

"You know what?" She continues. "Just sit there and don't say a damn thing! I don't want to hear it!" Her hoof moves up to her chest, drawing my eyes, revealing the inlaid gem of the brooch that normally holds her cape together is gone, replaced by a single piece of Green Materia... the one I'd given her on the train before running into Twilight and Applejack at Dodge Junction. "Just sit there, and let Twilight and I handle this thing!"

A low crunching of rocks and splashing of leftover puddles, underpinned with a low, malicious laugh, makes both Trixie and I turn our attention back to the 'thing' approaching us slowly. "Ah..." It takes an intake of breath, savorring the situation. "The little unicorns are here now, too. I'll be able to elicit a bit more despair from my vessel before I toss it away." Despite its damaged state, abdomen unmoving and wounds unhealing, it's finding perverse pleasure in taking things slowly.

Trixie quickly leaves my side and runs forward, taking a stand to Jenova in front of the others, Twilight now at Princess Luna's side. "And you," her anger only seems to intensify at the creature in front of her, "you just talk too damn much!"

In reply, it laughs, a shoulder-jostling laugh much like Sephiroth would use. "Oh, blue one," it speaks with a false sweetness, "shouldn't you run along now, before you get hurt?"

"No." Trixie stands her ground, glaring daggers at the monster before her. "I'm not running away again."

Jenova lets out a low, amused snicker before disappearing in the flash of a teleport. She reappears in front of Trixie with a pop and a flash, unleashing a downward punch directly at the unicorn's head. The punch, however, instead meets another pink shield, Twilight's horn glowing, face wincing slightly at the impact as the barrier wobbles, cracks, but holds strong. Trixie, meanwhile, doesn't even flinch, eyes locked directly with those of the creature in front of her.

"Didn't you hear me?" Trixie asks, voice low, before raising into a yell backed with the glow of the Materia at her neck. "I said I'm not running away ever again!" The air around them fills with small, orange balls of light as Trixie's spell manifests itself. They converge in a single, fluid motion on Jenova, all exploding simultaneously in a powerful Flare spell that launches the creature back the way it came. The gust of fallout from the explosion sweeps through the ravine, blowing Trixie's hat off her head.

Trixie steps forward as Jenova raises itself off the ground, its one visible eye glowering. The Materia glows again, and twisting spires of rock erupt from the ground around Jenova, a Break spell trapping it between the rocks and lifting it off the ground. "You think you're so big, messing with everypony, don't you? But it won't work, not this time!" Trixie declares confidently, not letting her eyes break away from the monster currently trapped in her spell. "I may not actually be the strongest unicorn in Equestria... but I'm not alone anymore, either!"

The Materia glows again, a Tornado forming itself around Jenova's rock-prison, breaking it apart and hurling both the rocks and the monster contained inside into the far wall of the gorge, sending them falling into the stream below, water billowing up from the impacts. "No matter what happens, I'll always find a way to keep going!" She declares, and I clench my right fist against the ground. That had been what I told her before she used the memory spell back in Canterlot, hadn't it?

Jenova bursts up from the stream with a leap, but another glow of Materia and the Freeze spell solidifies the water around it into a spire of ice. Jenova flails its body around, trying desperately to break itself free of the ice as Trixie continues her advance. "I may rely on them more than I'd like, but my friends rely on me, too! When things seem impossible, I'm the one that helps them keep going! That's the thing only I can do, and it'll take far more than an eyesore like you to take that away from me again!" Her declaration is punctuated with a stomp of her hoof and another collection of gathering, orange orbs, coalescing into another Flare spell that explodes, sending Jenova's body through the ice spire and into the wall behind it, embedding it in the rock.

Trixie pants as Jenova's legs reach out from the indentation of itself on the cliff, breaking itself free with a squish of flesh and a crumbling of rock fragments falling from both its body and the crater. She holds her ground as the creature launches itself at her, though, a pink shield rising as Jenova thrusts one of its spindly legs at her like a spear. The shield deflects the hit enough to allow Trixie to jump to the left, but shatters. Jenova attacks again, prompting Trixie to jump back to the right, this time a shield of midnight blue buffering the hit for her. Trixie stomps both her front hooves to the ground alongside the Materia's telltale glow, another rock spire erupting from the ground and smashing into Jenova's body from below, sending it toppling back into the stream.

It bursts back out with a curdling, enraged howl unlike all the others it had made so far, using Bahamut's stolen wings to fly itself away from the water before it can be trapped by another Freeze spell. The gorge becomes again flooded with the pulsing sound of its abdomen, beating like a heart racing as Jenova begins to pull itself away from the fight with its newfound aerial abilities.

"Trixie!" I yell out, slowly trying to get myself back to my feet by leaning against the side of the gorge. "Don't let it-!"

"I know!" She cuts me off as another Tornado slams into Jenova's body, forcing it back to the ground. This time, however, the glow of her Materia doesn't cease, and more Tornados begin to form, ravaging their way along the gorge in seemingly random directions.

"Trixie!" Twilight yells, galloping closer to the fight from her position next to Princess Luna. "You're losing control of the magic! You have to stop soon!"

"No!" Trixie yells back adamantly, her horn glowing, her magic wrapping around her single piece of Materia. "I'll control it! No matter what happens, I won't let this thing escape after what it's done!"

I begin to slowly walk closer myself, using the gorge as support for my drained body. Jenova attempts to escape again, only to be intercepted with another powerful Flare spell, more erupting in the air like bombs even after Jenova has toppled back to the ground. Its next attempt is also foiled, two more rock spires pinning its stolen wings against the ravine wall, as more erupt from the ground like a small forest of rocks. The Materia, meanwhile, glows ever brighter as the spells become more and more untamed. As I get closer, I can hear a small cracking sound, the sound of something beginning to snap apart. Is the Materia being pushed so hard it's beginning to shatter? Trixie's eyes become white, just as Princess Luna's had in her final stand against Jenova, and Twilight's had when she stood up to the duplicate Sephiroth in the Crystal Caves.

"Trixie, you need to stop!" Twilight yells, pleading. "If you don't stop, your-"

"I know what happens next, Twilight Sparkle!" Trixie cuts her off. "So etch this into your mind! This monster shall become a footnote in the final performance of

"The Great!

"And Powerful!

"Trrrrixie!"

She rears up onto her hind legs, much as she would during a performance, and I'm forced to place my arm across my face to cover my eyes, the light coming from both Trixie and her Materia becoming a pure white. My mind is rocked by the sound of a series of thunderous explosions, the fallout winds strong enough to blow me back off my feet as I lean against the wall. My ears buzz, my hearing temporarily missing as the light finally dissipates and I'm able to open my eyes again. It takes me some time for my eyes to adjust back to the darkness of the night-time, star-less, moon-less gorge, but once they do, a quick glance to where Jenova was pinned reveals something best not described. The only important thing about it is that it's finally stopped moving.

I scan my eyes around, trying to find the others. It takes a moment, but I soon find Twilight standing over a familiar, cloaked figure on the ground, shaking it in a panic with her hooves. It's distant, like she's on the far side of a tunnel, but I can hear Twilight calling Trixie's name as she shakes the magician. Princess Luna is standing over her as well, her horn awash in blue magic. I pull myself to my feet again, and begin stumbling over to them, the remnants of exhaustion disappearing from my mind even if my body resists my every command. Trixie...

As I get closer, I can hear Twilight and Princess Luna talking more clearly.

"Trixie! Trixie! Wake up!" Twilight turns her head up to the Princess. "Princess Luna, do something!" The panic in Twilight's voice makes me find the strength to stumble faster, tripping and falling once as I make my way closer.

"We have summoned Our Night Guard, Miss Sparkle." Princess Luna replies, her voice solemn but determined. "We shalt sequester Miss Lulamoon to Ponyville for aide. There is no time to go further." She closes her eyes, releasing a deep breath. "She hath saved the life of a Princess of Equestria this night. We shaln't fail her."

I'm finally close enough to get a good look at Trixie's unconscious form, on her side against the ground. The Green Materia acting as her brooch is still pristine, reflecting the magic of Princess Luna's horn as it continues emitting its sustained call for aide. I scan over the rest of her body, and...

Trixie, what have you done?

Chapter 36: Death of a Magician.

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Chapter 36: Death of a Magician.

"How can this even happen?" Twilight asks the air, pacing along the center of the Golden Oak. The sun outside is rising, casting morning light into the room. Princess Luna sits at the table near Twilight, while I slump against one of the bookcases.

Princess Luna's signal to her Night Guard allowed her to somehow convey the situation to them as well, so the bat-winged responders had snatched away Gauze Wrap and the required medical supplies from Celestia's castle wing before arriving. Princess Luna said her own personal doctor is a wing specialist, and that Celestia 'would yet soon be forcing Her medicinal specialist upon us regardless', so borrowing him now would be fine. Twilight had insisted on taking Trixie to the hospital in Ponyville instead of the Golden Oak, but Princess Luna said that this situation only happens once or twice every few centuries, so it would turn Trixie into a medical curiosity. Instead, she's laid on Twilight's bed on the upper floor of the Golden Oak, with Gauze Wrap tending.

For my part, I didn't argue with any of it. It's not like I have any clue how to handle something like this.

"Now thou see why We did not wish to bring Miss Lulamoon to Ponyville's medical facility, Miss Sparkle." Princess Luna says, commenting on Twilight's frantic pacing and self-questioning.

Twilight sighs. "I... I suppose so. But, I just don't get it! What happened to magical exhaustion? Pain? How can you just... do that?"

Princess Luna locks eyes with Twilight, but speaks plainly, in her own way. "Miss Lulamoon simply created herself a miracle to ignore such trivialities."

"...What?" Twilight's pacing stops as she turns to the Princess, mouth gaping slightly in confusion.

"Our Sister hath said she told ye the nature of our planet's Weave."

"Yes, but..." Twilight trails off, still confused.

"Then thou... you should know already, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna begins explaining, correcting herself to the modern pony vernacular. "A pony's connection to the Weave, as with all life, is special. It allows access to that which we call magic, and creates the cutie marks that speak unto a pony's soul."

"I already understand that, Princess Luna, but-" Twilight starts replying, but is cut off.

"It is more than just that, Miss Sparkle." Princess Luna continues. "A pony is more than just a cutie mark and the abilities deigned to it by its race. Our Sister has explained you the reason feelings and Harmony holds such power, yes?" Twilight simply nods, and the Princess continues. "But Harmony is more than merely the Elements. It is rare beyond its ability to document, but there are times, when a feeling is strong enough, a pony's heart can cry out and touch the Weave, even if that pony knows not of its existence. If that pony is lucky, the Weave will answer."

"So, Trixie, she..." Twilight mulls the information over in her mind.

"Yes." Princess Luna affirms. "Her heart reached out, and the Weave answered, granting her a power beyond her body's limits, as well as the ability to use it."

"I see..." Twilight's eyes fall. "But, how can that be called a miracle, with what happened in the aftermath?"

"Even a miracle has its cost, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna says, turning away from the unicorn. My eyes follow hers, reaching the table where a familiar hat and cloak lay on top, two sets of midnight-blue pony armor on the floor nearby. "Do not prove naive because the costs of those done by yourself and the other Element Bearers are tempered by the Elements of Harmony." She pauses, and a silence hangs. Seeing the look on Twilight's face over whatever accomplishments she and her friends have made being 'tempered' by these 'Elements of Harmony', Princess Luna continues. "Miss Lulamoon made clear she knew the price of her actions, did she not?"

"She did." Twilight replies with a slow nod.

"Then fret not, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna's voice grows firm. "Despite Our Sister's wish, there will always be Darkness beneath Harmony, just as there is Night after Day. However, we need not dwell on the dark. It is upon us to choose whether to celebrate a friend's victory, or become mired in that friend's sacrifices. We believe a pony like Miss Lulamoon would wish her friends to do the former."

I slam my fist back against the bookcase, unable to stay quiet anymore, my eyes turning down to gaze at my own feet. "But there's nothing to celebrate."

"Cloud..." The concern in Twilight's voice is palpable as she turns to me.

I keep my eyes firmly on my feet, unable to turn up to face her. "If I had listened to you, Twilight, this wouldn't have happened. I should have ignored that feeling and gone back to bed."

"If you had done that, dreamer, We would have set out alone against the creature, and the Night would need a new Mistress." Princess Luna states plainly. "It is only because events played out as thus that all four of us yet live."

"And I'm supposed to just accept that?" I ask, aggresssively. "She's supposed to accept that? Accept that this was the best we could do?"

"Yes." The reply is short and stern. "Sometimes, there is but no option where nopony can emerge unharmed. Miss Lulamoon surrendered a heavy price so that we may yet continue enjoying the gift of life." A stifling pause hangs before Princess Luna continues. "This is a lesson We have learned all too well, dreamer. To dwell on the past in lament is an insult to those who have sacrificed to ensure Us a future."

An insult? How can acknowledging that this should have never happened to begin with possibly be an insult? "If I hadn't given her that Materia on the train, or left without saying anything, or..." My voice begins trembling with a growing anger as I list each item off, but soon I'm interrupted.

Princess Luna's hooves slam against the table, drawing my eyes back up to her in a sudden jolt at the noise, her voice booming and powerful. "And if We had not been such a foal, We would not have become Nightmare Moon! We would not have cost Our Sister her connection to Harmony for the sake of granting us the mercy of imprisonment! We would not need bear Our Sister's gaze, brimming with inadequancy at not preventing Our folly! We would not need witness Our Sister's heart tremble each time she sends forth the Element Bearers, on missions that can no longer fall upon her own hooves!" She slumps back, a calm returning to her voice, but her eyes feel like they're able to pierce into my soul. "Our Sister's pain would be for naught if all We could accomplish was to wrap Ourselves in a quilt made of Our own self-loathing. What has transpired cannot be undone, and if it is to contain meaning, we must continue. Do you understand, dreamer?"

"..." I'm not sure I want to understand. I avert my eyes, unable to look at her anymore. Instead, they fall again on the familiar hat and cape. Will she even be able to wear those anymore?

Hooffalls on the stairs pull me away from those thoughts, and a glance up reveals the doctor, Gauze Wrap, descending back from Twilight's room. "I must ask everyone down here to please keep down the noise. The young mare's mind could do with some rest after what you all described to me."

"How is she, doctor?" Twilight asks, almost reflexively, at the doctor announcing his presence to the room.

Gauze Wrap nods. "She'll be fine, Miss Twilight Sparkle. Aside from a few bruises, Miss Lulamoon is unharmed, physically speaking."

"You call that unharmed?" I can't stop myself from interjecting, giving the doctor a glower.

"...I didn't think the obvious needed restating." Gauze Wrap replies after a moment of hesitation. "That can't be healed... but it also isn't threatening to the mare's life. I've done my best to cast it and prevent further damage. As long as her mind hasn't itself been damaged by the magics you described her making use of, she should wake up before the day's end, or possibly the next morning at most. In a strictly medical sense, she'll be fine."

"Fine, huh?" I continue my glower, but eventually let it drop away, releasing my anger by gripping one of my hands on the bookcase's shelves instead. There's no point in venting my frustration on the old doctor. "...Thanks, Gauze Wrap."

He gives me an uncertain look at being called something other than 'doc', then an acknowledging nod. "While I'm here, is anypony else in need of my help?"

Twilight shakes her head negatively. "I'm fine, thanks, doctor."

"Magic has already reset the bones of Our wing." Princess Luna says. "We have naught else but flesh wounds, and shall mend quickly, doctor." She gives Gauze Wrap a nod, who replies merely with a short bow.

"If my services are no longer required, Princess Luna, then-" Gauze Wrap starts, but the door to the Golden Oak bursts open, cutting off his sentence midway.

Through said door comes barreling a pink menace that my stupor had wiped from my mind. It slams directly into Gauze Wrap and pins him to the ground after a rolling tumble I'm sure defies both physics and logic, its face pressing directly against his. "Hey there, mister old important looking unicorn guy! Welcome to Ponyville!" It turns its head to me, a blaze of attention deficit and sugar as it raises an accusatory hoof. "You still owe me a hug, mister Grumpy McGrumpinster!"

"Pinkie." Twilight states with a deadpan, getting the poofy pony's attention. "The sun came up five minutes ago. What are you doing here?"

"Oh!" She hops up from Gauze Wrap, moving next to Twilight in a flash as the old doctor dusts himself off, words firing from her mouth like a machine gun. "I saw all the bat-ponies and the carriage and stuff in front of the library when I woke up so I thought maybe you guys got back from Canterlot so I came to see if Trixie was with you so I could talk to her about her 'Welcome to Ponyville' party that I still owe her also hello Princess Luna!" She ends the spiel with a big-toothed grin that I'm getting convinced is larger than her actual face the more I look at it. Princess Luna merely blinks, waving a tentative hoof in reply to the greeting tacked onto the end.

"Pinkie..." Twilight starts, her face flashing quickly through several emotions before speaking. "That's going to have to wait, Pinkie." She finally says, her voice tinged with depression.

The party pony becomes decidedly less party, concern replacing hyperactivity. "What is it, Twilight?" Her eyes glance around the room before falling on the items on the table. "Oh no! Something didn't happen to Trixie, did it?" She picks up Trixie's magician's hat, poking her face into it as if she's attempting to find the unicorn inside its depths. "Don't tell me she tried to do a disappearing pony act for the Princesses and made herself disappear forever!" She pulls herself out of the hat and gives Twilight another of the wide grins, but something about it looks a bit off this time.

"No, Pinkie," Twilight replies, her mood uplifting slightly at the pink one's antics, "it's a long story, but Trixie's... hurt. She's sleeping upstairs right now. The stallion you met on the way in is-" Twilight stops, looking around the library, my eyes soon joining hers on her hunt. At some point in Twilight distracting Pinkthulu, Gauze Wrap must have slipped out of the library, as there's no trace of him left in the room and the library door is firmly shut again. Smart guy, that one. "-is gone, apparently, but he was the doctor making sure Trixie recovers properly."

"Trixie's... hurt?" Pinkie Pie's ears twitch and droop slightly as she places the hat back on the table. "What happened, Twilight?" It's actually a bit... disconcerting to see an emotion that's not part of the cheer to party scale on her face.

"Like I said Pinkie, it's a long story." Twilight repeats, walking forward and placing a hoof against Pinkie's shoulder. "Why don't you go get the others? It'll be easier to talk to everyone at once about it."

Pinkie Pie shoots up, standing on two legs with a stature that would make even some humans jealous, saluting with her right hoof. "Okie-dokie-lokie! Harmony Bearers, assemble!" She turns and dashes through the library and out the door at speed my eyes can barely follow, running on two legs the entire time. I blink, Twilight blinks, Luna blinks, and then the books to my right burst off their shelf as Pinkie Pie pops out, wrapping my in a firm hug around my shoulders, though it's definitely not the Vicegrip Hug of Smiles and Friendship she had promised back at the train station. "And don't you worry, Grumpy Grumpetti! Pinkie's sure that Trixie will be just fine!" Before I can fully comprehend what's happening, the party pony is gone again. I turn my head to look inside the bookcase, only to be greeted with a wall. I tilt my head slightly, raise a finger to point at the space, and turn halfway to Twilight before deciding it's not worth it, picking the books up to place back on the shelf instead.

Besides, Princess Luna is here to pick up the slack. "Pray tell, Miss Sparkle, how did-"

"It's Pinkie Pie." Twilight says in an exasperated grumble. "If I ever figure out how she works, I'll be able to write a new book about the laws of reality and make Discord obsolete."

Princess Luna shudders. "Please do not ever commit that venture, Twilight Sparkle."

The Princess' sentiment sends the library into an awkward silence. I turn my attention away from the two ponies, instead giving it to the stairs leading to the Golden Oak's upper floor. I want to go check on her, but my body feels like lead when I think about it. Gauze Wrap said she should wake up before the day's end, but how would she react to this? Even if she knew this would happen, this isn't something you just get up and walk away from. It's...

"Dreamer." Princess Luna's voice pulls me out of my thoughts. It sounds much closer than before, and a quick scan shows her sitting next to me on the floor. When had she moved, and how had I never heard her? "Your thoughts still appear plagued."

"..." I turn away from her and back to the floor. Plagued is certainly a word for it.

She lets out a resigned sigh. "My Night Guard has retrieved your gemstones and the remainder of your weapon from Ghastly Gorge." This makes me glance at her out of the corner of my eye, only to note she's doing the same to me. "They shall also retrieve the remainder of your belongings from Canterlot and have them sent here." Her head turns to look at the ceiling. "In the previous millenia, before We became Nightmare Moon, a draconian smithy owed us a boon. I shall have my Night Guard seek him out, and should he yet live, reforge your weapon beyond an Equestrian blacksmith's capabilities."

I can only think of one reason she'd go to those lengths, one that helps partially snap me out of my stupor. "You think Jenova is still alive?"

"That you ask only confirms Our suspicions." She nods. "We noted its activities to be not unlike a virus or parasite from the previous collected specimens. While We currently do not feel its presence upon Equestria, or its influence upon the Weave, We believe that caution which normally characterizes Our Sister is best under these circumstances."

A pit begins to form in my stomach. "...So its possible that what Trixie did was pointless?"

"Nay, dreamer." The Princess says confidently. "What Miss Lulamoon has done is a unmatchable boon. As We have said, the creature's presence upon the Weave is no more. If another piece of it yet lives, it is unable to draw upon the Weave for power and knowledge, and will require a great respite to build itself back to such levels."

I sit for a moment, staring into my right palm, thinking. After a moment, I clench my fist and look up, meeting the Princess' eyes again. I can't imagine she knows exactly what she's stumbled upon, but its enough to kickstart my mind into realization. "We killed Jenova's heart. Now we need to kill Jenova's head before it builds itself another one."

"The burrows..." Twilight mutters, pulling both our attention to her. "Back in Canterlot, either you or Trixie said something about 'Jenova's head' as the reason we needed to investigate the burrows, right, Cloud?"

"That's right." I nod to confirm what she said. If we had investigated those burrows while that heart was alive, though, and the head actually is lurking there... things would definitely be far worse than they are now.

"But... how can that monster from the Ghastly Gorge just be a heart, and the head be separate?" Twilight asks. "Shouldn't it be, well, dead, if the parts are separated like that?"

"It's not like a normal body." I try to explain with my own limited knowledge of how Jenova actually works. "It has parts like a heart and a head that serve the functions of, and may even look like, a heart and a head. But in truth, its cells and the body parts made by them all operate independently, under Jenova's collective consciousness. If left alone, its cells can replicate and rebuild. If we want to truly kill Jenova, we need to destroy the consciousness itself, which should be controlled by the 'head'."

"I... see..." Twilight's eyes turn up as her face scrunches in thought, trying to understand the distorted biology of Jenova.

"Think of it as telepathy, Miss Sparkle." Princess Luna attempts to clarify. "If a unicorn levitates one-hundred spoons to assault you, you do not fight the one-hundred spoons, you fight the unicorn. The parts of the creature's body that do not contain the center consciousness are no different than those spoons."

"I... guess that makes sense." Twilight replies, half-accepting the explanation but clearly still trying to figure out the biological details that would make such a creature function.

"And as We noted, without its 'heart', the creature appears unable to gain influence over the Weave." Princess Luna stands up and begins walking to the center of the room. "If we are able to continue our assault before it rebuilds, destroying it should be a simple matter. We shall send a score of our Night Guard to the old diamond dog burrows, instructed to take no unnecessary risks, but to destroy the 'head' if it is present and vulnerable. It is too dangerous for those present to take on this task without proper time to mend first."

"They'll also be able to tell us if it's even there at all." I add. "If we have to take a few days just to regroup, we can't waste time on any wild goose chases once we're able to move again."

"Quite." Princess Luna says. "However, We must return to Canterlot to inform Our Sister of the change in situation. We will be in contact soon."

"Oh!" Twilight turns directly to the Princess. "Spike is still in Canterlot! Can you, uhm..."

"No worries, Miss Sparkle." Princess Luna nods. "We shall have him returned here shortly with the gemstones and other items from Canterlot."

Twilight bows her head slightly. "Thank you, Pri-"

And, for the second time this morning, the door of the library bursts open to reveal a turbo-charged pink pony running in at full speed. She stops in front of Twilight and Princess Luna, giving a salute with her right hoof, left hoof gripping a rope, trailing behind her to reveal Twilight's other four friends, all clinging to it for dear life. "Pinkie Pie, reporting! Mission complete, Ma'am Twilight Sparkle, ma'am!" She caps her statement by breaking out into another wide grin.

"That was too fast, even for me..." Rainbow Dash grumbles, holding a hoof to her mouth. "I think I'm gonna be sick." The remaining three don't exactly look better off than her, either.

Twilight blinks. "Do I even want to know how it turned out like this, Pinkie?"

"Eeeeeenope!" Pinkie Pie replies, her grin widening.

"I didn't think so."

The remaining four ponies finally shake themselves off, regaining their wit enough to notice the Princess in their midst and enter a courteous bow.

"Do not worry yourselves with such formality." Princess Luna says in reply to it. "We are but leaving shortly, it is past sunrise and We are needed in Canterlot. Miss Sparkle shall inform you of the events that have transpired." Before the group of no-longer-bowing ponies can ask what the Princess means, she slips through the open door, shutting it again with her magic.

And thus, all heads in the room now turn to Twilight, Rainbow Dash speaking first. "So what was so important you had to have Pinkie Pie do... well... that, Twilight? You didn't even tell us you were back yet!"

"Quite..." Rarity trails off in agreement, taking an extra moment to check herself over. "Pinkie said it had to do with Trixie, I think?"

"That mare's always gittin' into trouble somehow." Applejack rolls her eyes, causing me to clench my fist again. I wish it were simply just 'trouble'.

"She's not hurt, is she, Twilight?" Fluttershy asks, noticing and fluttering over to the hat and cape on the table, picking them up in her hooves. Her eyes scan around the room to find their owner, before falling on me and placing the items back onto the table. "Oh, Cloud's back!" She zips over and picks up my left arm in her butter-colored grip, gentle yet still strong to the point I'm not sure I could force my arm away if I tried. She pulls off the bits of armor covering the arm and inspects my bite wound. "Somepony even changed those bandages I put on for you!" Her eyes squint slightly as she examines the rest of my arm, seeing the spreading blackness. "It looks like an infection is spreading though..."

"Fluttershy." Twilight's voice catches Fluttershy's attention before her 'momma bear' mode can fully engage. "It is about Trixie. And... she is hurt. That's why we came back to Ponyville so suddenly."

"What happened, Twi?" Rainbow Dash asks, eyebrow raised. "Pinkie said you guys were just going to meet with Princess Celestia."

"It's a long story, Rainbow." Twilight replies, taking a seat at one of the chairs at the table. "I'll tell you girls the long version later, but we should get to the important part first."

The rest of the girls take up the other seats around Twilight's table. I, meanwhile, simply enjoy again having the freedom of my left arm, watching the group. I already know where this conversation is going, after all.

"Where is Trixie, anyway, Twi?" Rainbow looks from Twilight to the table. "Her tacky stuff is here but I don't see the walking ego anywhere."

"I'd be quite careful who you call a 'walking ego', Rainbow Dash." Rarity says with a mischievous grin, face raised slightly as she looks sidelong at the pegasus.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash hits the table with one hoof, glowering at Rarity. "At least I can back up my mouth!"

"Sure yah can, RD." Applejack says with a glance and a grin of her own, eliciting a growl from Rainbow Dash.

"This is serious, everypony." Twilight says, regaining their attention and stopping the catfight from progressing further. "A few hours ago, we were in the Ghastly Gorge-"

"Wait!" Rainbow cuts in immediately. "Ghastly Gorge? That's on the entire opposite side of Ponyville. Just how much traveling did you two do in less than two days?"

"I said I'll explain later, Rainbow." Twilight gives Rainbow Dash a stern look, quelling any further questions. "A lot of things had happened before that, but they ended up with the three of us and Princess Luna in Ghastly Gorge, fighting this... thing from Cloud's world." The five other ponies trade looks, clearly having multiple questions as to how a trip to see Princess Celestia over a letter turned into that, but they save them and allow Twilight to continue after passing short glances in my direction. "Cloud has those magic gems he carries around, called Materia, that let him use magic. He gave one to Trixie a long time ago, and she was able to use it to fight the monster when it looked like Cloud and Princess Luna were going to... well... lose, to avoid using a more explicit term." Rainbow Dash's mouth twinges slightly, as if she wants to interject, but she chooses not to, allowing Twilight to continue. "She used it, but... it was too much for her, for whatever reason. The magic started going more and more out of control, but when I told her to stop, she just wrapped her own magic around it to try and control it instead. Somehow, basic rules of magic like magical exhaustion and plain old pain from overuse just... stopped applying, and..." Twilight shudders before completing her sentence.

However, she isn't alone, and Rarity shudders with her, a hoof motioning slowly to her head, the motion catching the attention of the other four at the table. "Wait, darling, you don't mean that, Trixie, she...?"

"...Yeah, Rarity." Twilight replies, and Rarity understandably blanches. "She overloaded her horn trying to control the magic coming from Cloud's Materia to such an extent that her horn... it just... exploded." I bite my lip at Twilight's phrasing, sighing to try and release the tension.

"You mean," Rainbow Dash puts her front hooves together, then slowly separates them while making an explosion sound with her mouth, "and gone?"

Twilight merely nods, shuddering again, though it's hard to tell if she's shuddering out of sympathy for Trixie or because she's horrified of it happening to herself.

"Well, can't you just like, fix it?" Rainbow Dash asks, while the expressions of the other five ponies become darker.

"No, Rainbow Dash." It's Rarity speaking now. "Well, cosmetically speaking, yes, Trixie can have it made to look just as nice as her old horn did, or even better if she wants, but..." Her thoughts trail for a moment as she collects herself. "You don't need to be a student of the Princess to know that, while a unicorn's magic may seem abstract to non-unicorns, that it, and the horn that you use to make it, really aren't any different than a hoof or a wing. If it gets damaged, you can set it, and it can heal, but if the entire thing comes off, then..."

"But isn't a horn just a big old piece of bone that makes magic easier to use?" Rainbow Dash asks, apparently not accepting the explanation as-is.

"It is bone." Twilight picks things back up now. "But, basically, inside that bone is all the unicorn's magic. That's why a unicorn's horn can be sensitive to touch despite not having nerves or anything else inside it." Twilight pauses a moment. "In Trixie's case... I can only guess why this happened. When Cloud's Materia started going out of control, I think her magic wrapping around it was her somehow trying to pull the excess magic into her horn and control it. I don't even know how she'd do that part, but eventually... her horn couldn't handle holding all that magic. I saw it cracking and tried to warn her while there was still time. But, instead of stopping and letting the monster escape, Trixie kept going. She knew what would happen and she kept going..." Twilight trails off, her eyes focusing intently on the table.

Rainbow's eyes fall downcast as well now. "So, you mean...?"

"Yes." Twilight affirms with a nod. "When something like that happens, it expels all the magic in the horn. We can make it look like a horn again, if she wants, but we can't put the magic back in. She'll be fine, physically, since she luckily avoided any other serious injuries when the magical overload sent her flying like a rag doll. But, because she pushed herself so hard to use Cloud's Materia and make sure that creature didn't escape... she won't ever be able to use magic again." This time, I can't resist pounding my fist against the bookcase in anger.

As Twilight's explanation ends, her eyes close, and five more sets of eyes all turn to me, My eyes, in turn, immediately turn back to the floor, not able to meet any of theirs.

Chapter 37: Fashionista, First Class.

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Chapter 37: Fashionista, First Class.

Twilight spent the rest of that morning explaining what happened on our trip to Canterlot to her friends, in her obsessively thorough manner. She included everything: the truth behind this planet's Lifestream, the encounter with the Sephiroth duplicate from the Crystal Caves, Trixie using the spell to sort my memory, and finally Jenova itself. I'd avoided any questions regarding my memory, but she also asked me to explain the situation in the Ghastly Gorge, the key part she'd not been present for, and...

"So, let me get this straight," Rainbow Dash looks at me with a raised eyebrow as I finish, her hoof motioning with each point as she talks, "you were going to go all the way from Canterlot to Ghastly Gorge to duel a super powerful dude who could effortlessly kick your flank, alone, only to meet Princess Luna... and have the super powerful dude turn out to be a shape-shifting horror movie monster from outer space."

I nod.

She throws her front hooves out, motioning to me as she looks back to the others. "And you all say I'm the reckless one!"

The others ignore her quip, Rarity gulping to clear her throat. "So, while you and Princess Luna were fighting that... thing, that's when Twilight teleported Trixie and herself there, and..."

I nod again.

Things fall silent for a few short moments, until Rainbow Dash slams a hoof down onto the table, causing Fluttershy to retreat slightly into her mane. "And neither of you thought to try and stop her?"

The question makes Twilight flinch. "Rainbow... the thing, Jenova, it was attacking her specifically. I was doing all I can just to keep it from killing her."

"And what about Cloud, huh?" She whirls around to face me.

"RD, I think yer-" Applejack tries to calm the prism-maned pregasus, but is ignored as Rainbow Dash launches from her seat at the table, hovering directly in my face.

"What is with you, anyway?" She asks, giving me a glower, hoof pressed against my chest. If I didn't have the armor from the Canterlot storage still on, I'm sure she'd be grabbing my shirt instead. "You're supposed to be Trixie's best friend! Except, she maimed herself to save your sorry butt and I can't even tell if you care! All you've done for hours is just sit here and barely say anything unless we drag it out of you!"

"Rainbow Dash, dear, that's quite enough, I think..." Rarity gets up, but her voice trails, instead of it being the firm admonishment she most likely intended.

"You're right." My statement diffuses the fight before it can continue. I keep my eyes firmly locked on the hoof pressed against my chest, not wanting to look higher at the accusing pegasus. "I should have stopped her."

"Cloud..." I hear Twilight say. "You were suffering so much magical exhaustion I'm surprised you've even stayed conscious this whole time. You can't have-"

"Magical exhaustion didn't matter for Trixie, did it?" The reply question shuts down whatever train of thought Twilight was on. "...I should have been able to do something."

The hoof on my chest pulls away slowly. "Hey, uh, I didn't mean it like that..." Rainbow Dash stammers as she moves back slightly through the air.

I ignore her. "I'd given her one of my most powerful Materia when I didn't have my memory to know what it did." I let out a low, drawn-out sigh. "And then, ironically enough, I forgot about it. If I'd thought to ask to look at it after I'd gotten my memory back, I could've taken it with me. If I'd done that, maybe... Princess Luna and I would've beaten Jenova without needing Trixie and Twilight's help at all."

"Now, thinkin' that way don't help nopony, Cloud." The sounds of a chair shifting accompany Applejack's words.

"Then what does help them?" I ask, aggressively, though I can't find the energy to turn it into a yell. "What am I supposed to do now? The damn thing's not even dead..."

"Wait." Rarity's voice cuts in. "I thought the whole point of what Trixie did was to beat that monster?"

"She did." Twilight answers, saving me from needing to talk further. "This creature, the way Cloud explained it... I still don't understand how it can exist. It... sends other parts of its body out, controlling them with some sort of shared consciousness. What Trixie defeated was a very important piece of it, but unless we defeat the piece with the central consciousness, it can just make another one if it's left alone long enough."

"So what're we wasting time here for?" Rainbow Dash asks, punching the air with one hoof. "If this thing is so big and bad, we should be kicking its tail already!"

"Because, Rainbow," Twilight explains, "even if we find the central consciousness - the 'head' - we have no idea how strong it is. The part Trixie defeated - the 'heart' - was strong enough to beat Princess Luna, Cloud, and a dragon familiar Cloud had made with his Materia, and it still took that much to beat after Trixie and I arrived."

"So?" Rainbow Dash asks, flipping herself around in the air in annoyance. "We got this thing in a corner now, though, don't we?"

"Cloud has no weapon, Princess Luna is still too injured to fly, Trixie's, well... we're not doing well either here, Rainbow Dash." Twilight sighs. "All the magical exhaustion I suffered from teleporting Trixie and I to Ghastly Gorge in time has me barely able to use magic at all right now, and I'm probably the best off out of the four of us who were there. If the 'head' is even close to as strong as the 'heart' was..."

"Can't we just like, zap it with the Elements of Harmony then?"

"RD, don'cha listen when ponies tell ya stuff?" Applejack asks in reply, annoyed. "Twilight said she already asked the Princess about that. We ain't got no clue if Harmony will do... well... Harmony things, to a creature from outer space, and if it don't then Trixie'll be a lot better off than we will."

"Right..." Rainbow Dash grumbles. "But we can't just do nothing!" She begins punching at the air as she floats around the room, accentuating each of her declarations with the punch of a hoof. "We beat Nightmare Moon! We beat Discord! We kicked Changeling butt at the wedding! There's gotta be something we can do! We can't just sit on our flanks and let this thing bounce back!"

"It's alright, Rainbow." Twilight tries to assure Rainbow Dash. "Princess Luna is sending some Night Guard to investigate the burrows we think might contain Jenova's 'head'. If we're lucky, it'll be recovering and they can take care of it."

"I still don't like it, Twi." Rainbow Dash flips herself onto her back, flying in that nonsensical way that pegasus can apparently fly in as she cartwheel kicks the air, forehooves crossed against her chest. "We should be the ones taking this thing out after what happened to Trix, not some Night Guard."

"But, Rainbow," Fluttershy starts, face still partially masked by her mane, voice low, "it'll be better for Trixie to have some friends around when she wakes up, won't it?"

I finally decide to look up again as Rainbow Dash turns her head to face Fluttershy. "I guess so..."

Twilight smiles for the first time since we've returned to the Golden Oak, though her head is still held low. "Thanks, everypony."

"...Hey, Pinks, you okay?" Rainbow Dash asks, turning everyone's attention to the uncharacteristically quiet party pony.

Pinkie's standing on her hind legs, leaning slightly forward, both hooves pressing against the table. Her eyes are locked on Trixie's hat, with an intensity and seriousness I didn't think possible of her.

"Pinkie?" Twilight leans in, concern slipping into her voice.

"To never be able to throw another party again..." her front hooves tremble, "or never make ponies smile again..." her eyes steel, filled with a swirl of emotions I just know I never want aimed at me, "that monster, I'll... I'll..." her declaration is interrupted by three strong raps of a hoof against the Golden Oak's front door. Her ears pop upright at the sound, and she blinks, the emotion in her eyes being wiped away and replaced by cheer almost immediately as she jumps up into the air, right hoof raised dramatically. "I'll get it!" The remaining five ponies in the room and myself all look at her, dumbfounded, feeling the whiplash of her emotional flipping as she moves to the door in an impossible flash of hooves and swings it open. "Golden Oak Library! We're open! Temporary library assistant Pinkie Pie at your service!"

"Uhh..." Shining Armor blinks. He's dressed in a full violet set of armor, lugging a familiar crate in his magical grip.

"Hey, Pinkie." Spike replies, slipping off Shining Armor's back and through the front door. He quickly surveys the room, then breaks into a run upon spotting the lavender mare he's looking for. "Hey, Twi! You're okay!" He jumps up, into Twilight's front hooves as they exchange a hug.

"Of course I am, Spike." She assures him before turning to face the front door. "What're you doing here, Shiny?"

Shining Armor steps in, around Pinkie Pie, and shuts the library door with his hind-left leg. "I got permission from the Princesses - all three of them - to see things through with you guys." The emphasis on 'all three of them' is clearly meant to head of Twilight's follow-up question. "Princess Luna might be sending Night Guard ahead, but this stuff needed bringing down here anyway, and they agree we're at a point where it's better to be thinking a few steps ahead. 'Sides, Canterlot will be fine without me for a few days."

Twilight gives him a deadpan look. "You're using up your vacation time on this, aren't you?"

"Hey, I can use my vacation time to check up on my little sis if I want to!"

Twilight lets her expression fall, giving Shining Armor a small smile. "Thanks, B.B.B.F.F."

Shining Armor sets the crate down, pulling the one midnight blue helmet that was left behind out and placing it with the rest of the armor sets before sliding it over to me. "The rest of that stuff in there should be yours, right?"

I give him a nod and pull the box closer with one hand, leaning over to look inside. Fifteen pieces of Materia, gently reflecting the light of the library, a metal shoulder guard that must have finally made its way through lost and found, a... familiar crystal brooch, which Trixie must have left in my room when replacing it with the Contain Materia she used against Jenova, and... I reach in, pulling out the cowboy hat. I hold it in front of me, one side of the hat's brim in each hand as I look down at it, anger welling up again as I grip the sides of the brim tighter in my fingers. Some assistant I've turned out to be.

"Princess Luna told Princess Celestia and I what happened at the Ghastly Gorge," Shining Armor starts explaining to dispel the silence that had descended on the room, "including what happened with Trixie. I explained it to Spike, too, Twilight. I figured by the time I got here you'd have already told your friends and not want to explain it more than once."

"She'll be okay, right, Twilight?" Spike asks from his place in the mare's hooves.

Twilight shuts her eyes for a moment, letting out a sigh before answering. "Yeah, Spike, she'll be okay. She's sleeping right now."

"Oh!" Fluttershy's interjection sounds almost like a squeak. "Why don't I go look after her? I'm used to having to watch my animals recover sometimes so they don't hurt themselves in their sleep, so it won't be a problem for me to watch over her, just in case." With a nod from Twilight, Fluttershy flies up past the stairs up to where I presume Twilight's room to be.

After watching her disappear onto the second floor, I turn back down to the cowboy hat in my hands. I think back to what Gauze Wrap had said about her condition - 'As long as her mind hasn't itself been damaged by the magics'. Can that happen, with how unicorn magic works? Is it possible she'll just wake up some blibbering mess...?

My thoughts are cut short by a pink hoof placing itself on top of the cowboy hat. I look up, my eyes meeting the large, blue ones of the one pony I've always done my best to avoid. She pulls the hat out of my hands, spinning it in her hooves and planting it on my head. "Didn't Trixie teach you that hats go on your head, Cloud?" Pinkie Pie tilts her head slightly and smiles, though it's a small half-smile compared to the ones she normally sports. "Now buck up, buckaroo! We're gonna throw Trixie a 'Congrats-On-Beating-Up-The-Evil-Space-Monster' Party when she wakes up! Her 'Welcome to Ponyville' Party will just have to wait until later!"

"A... what?" Shining Armor turns to her, eyebrow raised.

"Oh, it'll just be a cake and some balloons!" Pinkie replies, bouncing on her hooves like a pogo stick to move back to the others. "But, everypony knows that you need to be positive to recover better when you get hurt. What better way to get somepony to think positive than a surprise cake?"

"There's no arguin' wit yah over this, is there, Pinkie?" Applejack asks in annoyance, face-in-hoof as she shakes her head.

"Eeeeenope!" Pinkie replies, her bouncing now taking her on laps around the table as Shining Armor takes her old seat and starts pulling off some of his armor pieces.

"Is it always this crazy around here, Twily?" Shining Armor asks, his eyes watching the pogo-pony each time she passes back into his vision.

"If you think this is crazy, you're in for a treat if you're sticking around, darling." Rarity replies in Twilight's place with a playful smile, as the other unicorn has placed Spike down on the table for the sake of burying her face in her hooves. "She hasn't said it yet, but now you're on Pinkie's list for a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party, too. Pinkie Pie tends to go a little... all out, for those."

"I... see..." Shining Armor laughs nervously. "Sounds like... fun... yeah."

"Shucks, Rares." Applejack chimes in. "Dun tease 'im like that. We both know it'll be fine."

Pinkie's bouncing continues, her legs making the unsettling sound of a bouncing spring. "Oh, oh, oh, I need to go! I've got a cake to bake! Balloons to inflate! Supplies to get! A party to plan!" She finishes her lap around the table and begins bouncing to the door, opening it, moving to the other side, and poking her head around and waving one hoof. "Catch you later, girls and guy and dragon and Grumpy!" She slams the door shut to a mix of goodbyes from the four girls and one dragon, and a confused wave from Shining Armor.

Rarity clears her throat once Pinkie Pie is gone, addressing everyone else at the table with an apprehensive expression. "Are we sure that Trixie will appreciate Pinkie Pie's... err... Pinkie-ness, in this situation?"

"It'll be fine, Rarity." Twilight assures her. "...I hope." Or not.

I lean back against the bookcase, head tipped to the ceiling and the hat's brim pulled over my eyes. Now that Trixie is stabilized, the events of the day and half-night's sleep are both finally starting to catch up to me. Maybe not sleep, but a little rest sounds good.

At least, it does until a certain small dragon starts talking to me. "Hey, Cloud."

I peek down at Spike out of the corner of my eye. "What is it?" I ask, perhaps a bit too curtly.

"Uh..." He stutters slightly at the abrupt response. "We're just gonna make some lunch. You want any?"

"...I'm fine." I reply after a moment and tip my hat back over my face.

A chair slides out from the table. "Spike, darling, forget mine as well." Rarity says, hoofsteps falling in my direction and causing me to let out a groan. My hat's lifted up in a magic pull as her face pushes its way into my vision. "Come on you, up. Up!"

"Why?" I give her a glare that hopefully sends the clear message of wanting to be left alone.

"Because I need your help on a lovely idea I had for Trixie." She says, giving me a knowing smile. "Now, come on, up! You'll rot a hole in Twilight's floor if you keep sitting there!"

I blink, and for the first time since we brought Trixie back to the Golden Oak, tentatively get to my feet. Getting my body to want to move again is a challenge, but since it's something for Trixie that's not a 'Congrats-On-Beating-Up-The-Evil-Space-Monster' Party...

"Off to the Boutique!" She declares, turning back to the table as we head for the door. "We'll be back before nightfall, girls, Shining Armor!"

I give them a half-hearted wave before shutting the door behind us, following Rarity along the path between the Golden Oak and the Carousel Boutique. Some passer-by ponies gawk a bit, likely not having gotten a good enough look at me without my various full-body disguises the last two times I was in Ponyville, but I just ignore them. "So, do you actually need help on something for Trixie, Rarity, or was this just an excuse to make me leave the library?" I ask her as we walk. With how often I seem to get played by ponies, I'm not interested in this venture lasting longer than it needs to if her premise is just a smokescreen.

"Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that." She replies, waving a hoof at me.

"If you don't actually need me, I'm leaving, Rarity." I tell her flatly, stuffing my hands into my pockets in annoyance.

"Oh, hush!" She waves me off one final time before resuming walking with all four limbs. "It's no fun if I spoil the surprise, now, is it?"

"Rarity." I make my voice more insistent.

The motion of her head says she's rolling her eyes even if I can't see it. "I just need your input on some clothing concepts for Trixie. I have her measurements and the notes from when I made her and Twilight costumes for the magic show, but you still know her a lot better than any of us do, darling."

"I can't say I'm the best fashion consultant, Rarity." I answer her, truthfully.

"Oh, Cloud, dear, you'd be surprised the kinds of things I can turn into useful fashion advice for my designs." She says, assuringly.

"I guess I'll take your word for it." I acquiesce, knowing there's no point in arguing further as we make the rest of the trek to the Carousel Boutique and slip inside.

"Sweetie Belle should still be in school, so we'll have the Boutique to ourselves for a while, depending how much time she spends playing with her friends afterward." Rarity explains as she heads over toward her fabrics, beginning to sort through them with her magic.

"Sweetie Belle?"

"Ah, you've never met my little sister, have you?" She begins setting aside spools of purple, white, gold, and black as she talks. "She's a bit of a handful, but she's my handful, if you know what I mean."

I lean against one of the desks in the room as Rarity continues sorting through her fabrics. "I can't say I do."

"...No siblings at all?"

"I only really had my mom growing up." I inform her, not entirely sure why she's got me so talkative.

"I see." She pauses for a moment. "Is she doing well? The last time you saw her, I mean."

This time it's my turn to pause, as I pull my eyes away from her and to a conveniently pony-free and ponnequin-free portion of the room. "She died five years ago."

"Ah... I'm sorry." The air fills with an awkward silence after her apology, only interrupted by the rufflings of her going through her various bits of fabric until she seems to finally find what she's looking for. "Alright, come here, Cloud."

I turn back to her and do as she asks, seeing a larger number of spools in what I assume is the 'good' pile - still of the four primary colors of purple, gold, white, and black, though it seems she's dug out quite a few shades of each. Some match the ones used on Trixie's hat and cloak, while others are noticeably darker.

"So, what are we doing, Rarity?" I ask again. She still hasn't given me a better answer than 'clothing concepts'.

"Isn't it obvious, Cloud?" She asks, levitating a pair of orange glasses from a nearby table and setting them on her face. "We're making the dear a new outfit!" When I don't reply, she lets out a small sigh and continues on her own. "I don't know what that hat and cape mean to her, Cloud, but... even if she wants to try, she'll reach the point where she won't be able to bear wearing them anymore. She doesn't seem like the kind of pony that likes not wearing anything, so having something new to wear will help her... you know... even if she doesn't want to wear it at first."

"...Yeah, that makes sense." I nod, despite Rarity's back being to me. "So, what do you need me for?"

"Right!" She replies, her mood brightening as she pulls over a sketchbook, working a quill with a flourish to quickly put designs to paper. "Even in this situation, I bet Trixie is still a showmare at heart, so I'm thinking something based on the vests they wear at casinos down in Las Pegasus. What do you think?"

She slides the sketchbook closer to me with her magic so I can get a better look. Thinking back to the times Trixie's spoken to me without needing to be Great and Powerful... "Yeah, I bet she'd love that, Rarity." She still likes to be a bit of a showoff, after all.

"Excellent!" She pulls the sketchbook back to her, the quill going to work again as it begins customizing and personalizing the design to minute details. "What about colors? Maybe I'm partial, but a lavender like we used for the show in Ponyville, or maybe a royal purple might work. That spectrum of color really does go well with Trixie's coat, but reusing the same colors as her hat and cape might send the... wrong message."

I turn my head to check the lineup of violets and purples Rarity has set up, mulling the options over a bit. "Let's try the royal purple." I suggest after a moment. Lavender may have also worked, but the outfits from our performance in Ponyville are still hanging in the library, so...

"Yeah, I was thinking that, too." Rarity affirms. "Be a dear, Cloud, grab me that along with the white and the shiny gold." I turn to the colors, hesitating a moment. "The shiny one, darling, you'll see it."

It only takes me a moment to grab both the white and the royal purple and bring them over to her as she pulls over a ponnequin with her magic and gets to work. I spend a minute looking over the golds and yellows she had set aside earlier, until I realize she means one that's literally shiny, the light of the room bouncing off it as it glitters. I reach for it with my left hand, and pause halfway through tipping it into my grip, catching a different glint from the corner of my eye.

"Hey, Rarity," I call over, turning away from the spool of fabric to look at her, "think we can incorporate one more thing into this design?"

Chapter 38: Birth of a New Moon.

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Chapter 38: Birth of a New Moon.

When Rarity and I return to the Golden Oak, the sun setting behind us, we're greeted by a giant, hanging banner with 'CONGRATULATIONS' in bold, colorful letters on the top line, and 'ON BEATING UP THE EVIL SPACE MONSTER' in smaller print on the line below it. I'm not sure why I'm surprised that Pinkie Pie's statement about the party theme was literal. Though... I couldn't read Equestrian writing before. Is inexplicably learning how to read another effect of the spell Twilight taught Trixie?

We both blink and take a dumbfounded look around the rest of the library. A mix of violet, azure, and white balloons are tied to the chairs and bookcases, and Trixie's hat and cloak have been moved to the coat rack. In their place on the table is a large, single-layer cake with frosting that matches the azure balloons, decorated with small, star-shaped yellow sprinkles.

"This is... actually really low-key, for Pinkie Pie." Rarity comments, entering the library.

I enter a few steps behind her, shutting the door with one foot, a box held between my hands that contains the results of my day spent with Rarity. It's not quite finished yet, though...

"Heya Rarity!" Pinkie Pie declares, cutting off the unicorn after appearing from... well, somewhere, and plopping a party hat onto her head. "Welcome to the party!"

"Pinkie..." Rarity gives her an unamused look, while Twilight and Applejack share a laugh from near the table, Twilight and Pinkie both wearing party hats of their own. Rainbow Dash is a bit above them, having somehow brought a cloud inside the library, laying on it and taking a nap. "How do you know Trixie will even wake up before we all go to bed?"

"Because I do, duh." Pinkie tilts her head, giving Rarity a 'why would even ask such a stupid question?' look.

"Well... alright then." Rarity admits defeat and heads over to the table with the cake as Pinkie Pie turns to me.

She holds up a party hat, and then stops. "Oh, right! You brought your own hat, Grumpy! Silly me!" She places a noisemaker into her mouth like a cigar and heads off to the table with the rest of the others.

With those four sufficiently distracted by their own talking, I glance toward the coat rack, spotting Trixie's cape again. I take a deep breath before reaching out to it, turning it to one side to reveal the Materia still sitting in its clasp. I pop the gem out and roll it in my hand, before slipping it into my pocket. I'll have to find an opportunity to put the original brooch back on later.

"You okay, Cloud?" Twilight asks from across the room as I step away from the coat rack.

I take a moment to clear my head before turning to her, idlying holding the box in my grip as I walk over toward the others. "I'm fine."

"What'cha got in yer mitts there, partner?" Applejack asks, raising an eyebrow and angling her head to get a better look.

Rarity replies for me. "Oh, just a little something I had him help me whip up for when Trixie wakes up, Applejack."

"Oh, really?" She looks from Rarity, to the box, then to me, eyes narrowing. "Ya sure ya ain't got somethin' yer not tellin us?"

"How uncouth, Applejack..." Rarity shakes her head disapprovingly while I shoot Apple, Texas Ranger a dirty look. "A friend can give another friend a get-well present without such implications!"

"Ya'll see, Rares." She says, laughing off my look.

Both Rarity and I let that particular conversation drop, and I turn my attention to the table again to get a better look at the cake. The star adornments along the side reach to the top, but stop as they near the center. The center of the cake is adorned with a star-tipped wand, resting in front of a waving curtain in the shape of a crescent moon, both drawn in sky-blue frosting and outlined in violet. The insides of both the wand and the crescent curtain are decorated with similar sprinkles to the ones on the outer cake, but they're white instead of yellow, and twinkle in the light of the library.

"So what'cha think?" Pinkie Pie asks, both her front hooves resting on my shoulders as her face leans over my right, her weight seeming to come out of nowhere and press against my back. She begins speaking again before I can answer, and despite her being so close to my ear, the words come so fast I can barely catch them. "I was gonna do a scene of her beating up the space alien for it but then I realized I didn't know what the space alien looked like and this was simpler and then I thought maybe simpler might be better because she might be tired from beating up the space alien and whatnot so I just went with this and I used lots of these special sprinkles to make it look really cool when the lights are on low but then I realized I didn't know what kind of cake Trixie liked so I just went with marble because two flavors are better than one and she'll hopefully like at least one of them you know?"

I blink, my brain taking a moment to catch up with the words it just heard. "I'm sure it'll be fine, Pinkie." I assure her, and the weight disappears from my back as the party pony begins buzzing around to check the decorations again.

I turn my attention back down to the box in my hands and head over to where I was sitting earlier in the day, the crate that Shining Armor brought filled with my Materia right where I left it. Where is Shining Armor, anyway? Slouching back into my seat to 'rot a hole in Twilight's floor', as Rarity put it, I set the box containing Trixie's new clothing inside it and slip the bangle off my left hand, unslotting each piece of Materia and letting both them and the bangle itself rest on the bottom of the crate. After adding the one taken from Trixie's cape as well, all twenty-four of my Materia rest at the bottom of the crate: eleven Green Materia, six Blue Materia, four Yellow Materia, and what was once three Red Materia, though the one containing Bahamut is still dull and grey...

I turn my head up at a burning smell, and see smoke coming from the library-house's kitchen.

"Shining Armor, what are you doing?" I hear Spike half-yell from the kitchen over some rather loud sizzling sounds.

"Just making a hay burger!"

"That's hay charcoal! Does not knowing how to cook run in Twilight's entire family?"

"Hey!" Twilight yells from the main room. "My cooking is just fine, mister!"

"You use a spell for making cereal, Twilight!"

"Oh, that's it!" Twilight fires back as the other three ponies at the table laugh to themselves. "I'm coming in there, Spike!"

"Please don't, Twilight!" Shining Armor yells in reply. "We've got everything covered in here, I swear!"

"You already burned the hay burger! I can't make it any worse!"

"Yes you can!" Both yell back at once.

"...Why's everybody yelling?" Rainbow Dash asks lazily from her cloud, looking over one side with bleary eyes as she's pulled forcefully out of her nap.

"Twilight's try'na cook again." Applejack replies flatly.

Rainbow Dash gulps, waking up instantly. "We don't have to eat it, do we?"

During the commotion, I'm able to slip open the box with Trixie's new clothing, add the finishing touches, and get covered again, due to all the attention focused on the catastrophe going on in Twilight's kitchen.

"Will you two just let me handle it?" Spike yells over the commotion of burning hay and unicorns. "I'm apparently the only one here who knows how to cook!"

"Sorry, little man!" Shining Armor slips himself out of the kitchen, using his magic to pull his little sister along with him. "I just wanted to help out while I was here!"

Twilight grumbles, her front hooves crossed as the fuming unicorn is pulled away by her brother. "I can't believe Spike said that about my cereal in front of everyone..."

"It's okay, Twily." Shining Armor says reassuringly. "Being a genius usually means you have some... weaknesses. Nothing wrong with it."

Twilight rolls her eyes, though whatever reply she intends to give is cut off by a creaking of the stairs.

"What're you ponies yelling about down here?" I feel a tremble of my insides as I hear that voice, taking a breath as I turn my eyes up to its owner.

"Twilight's try'na cook again." Applejack replies reflexively before seeing who asked the question. "Wait... Trixie, yer awake already?"

"You really should still be asleep..." Fluttershy says before Trixie can answer Applejack's question. She's fluttering just in front of Trixie, blocking my view of her as she guides the unicorn's shaky hooves down the stairs despite the protests against her being awake.

"I'm fine, Fluttershy..." Trixie insists weakly. "I'll get bed sores if I lie down any more."

As they reach the bottom of the stairs, the butter pegasus pulls away. Parts of Trixie's legs and waist are covered in small bandages, covering what are probably the scrapes and bruises Gauze Wrap mentioned earlier. No doubt they're why her steps are so shaky, and probably sore, but they're not what draws the most of my attention. No, what does that is her head. Bandages wrap both around her forehead and from under her jaw to the top, holding a cast of a horn in place on her forehead. The white spire sticks out like an unsettling reminder, and her matted mane is sticking out through the vertical-wrap bandages, trying in vain to hold its shape as it falls over the right side of her face.

The memory of what's under that cast invades my mind, and whatever good feeling I'd built up with Rarity earlier that day vanishes. Her eyes scan over the room and eventually turn to me, and I look away reflexively, slumping back against the bookcase the way I had the entire morning, tilting my head down to hide my eyes behind the cowboy hat's brim.

"Welcome back, Trixie!" Pinkie Pie says, though I don't bother looking over to see what her antics are this time.

There's a short pause before Trixie replies. "Is this the 'Welcome to Ponyville' party you promised, Pinkie?" Her voice isn't aggressive. It's curious, and if anything else, tired.

"No, silly! Read the banner!" There's a shuffle of hooves I assume is Pinkie orienting Trixie to see said banner. "It's your 'Congratulations-On-Beating-Up-The-Evil-Space-Monster' party! Your 'Welcome to Ponyville' party will be much bigger than this!"

More hooves clop against the floor, and soon Pinkie and Trixie's legs enter the upper edge of my vision as they approach the table.

"Uh, ya alright, Trix...?" Applejack asks, confusion in her voice.

"...Alright as I can be, Applejack?" Trixie half-asks in reply, now equally confused.

"You sure?" Rainbow Dash follows up.

"Do I have something on my face besides a big, ugly cast, Rainbow Dash?" Trixie's characteristic annoyance and impatience is finally beginning to seep through her voice.

"No, it's just that..." Rainbow trails off.

"...yer speakin' in first-pony an' usin' our names." Applejack finishes for her.

Trixie humphs, and I can picture the eyeroll in my mind as she speaks in a monotone. "Yes, you fools, an extreme amount of magical feedback has caused irreparable damage to my personality and started making me talk like a normal pony. The absolute shock and horror."

There's a stunned silence before Rainbow Dash speaks. "We deserved that, AJ, didn't we?"

"Eeeeeyup."

"Trixie! It's good to see you're awake already!" Twilight says, her legs galloping into view as well, her brother trailing behind her. "Spike! Make sure you make enough for Trixie, too!"

"I already was!" He yells back from the kitchen. "I know better than to not trust Pinkie Pie when she does Pinkie things! Glad you're feeling better already, Trixie!"

"So, how long have I been unconscious, Twilight?" Trixie asks, her hooves moving to face the unicorn.

"Maybe half a day or so." Twilight informs her. "It's a bit after sunset now. We weren't really expecting you to be up until tomorrow."

"Then why the, erm, party?"

"Pinkie said you'd be awake by sunset and started setting it up." Twilight pauses for a moment. "We've learned to eventually stop questioning when Pinkie says stuff like that and just go with it. She's usually right... for some reason."

"I... see." Her hooves move again as she shifts positions. "And what're you doing here, Shining Armor? Shouldn't you be in Canterlot?"

"Ah, well..." He trails off a minute, one hoof leaving the floor, presumably to rub the back of his head. "I took a bit of my vacation time early after I heard what happened to make sure you and Twily were okay." He punctuates his statement with a nervous laugh, like a truly awful liar.

"Right..." The lack of trust in Trixie's reply is apparent. Her hooves move again as she turns to face the table. "The cake is really nice, Pinkie."

"Thanks! I baked it myself!" Pinkie replies as she shuffles to get next to Trixie. "Oh, I didn't know what flavor to do so I made it marble! I hope that's okay, Trixie?"

"Yeah..." She pauses a moment. "That's fine, Pinkie."

"Um..." Fluttershy pulls attention to herself as she joins the group. "Are you sure you're feeling okay, Trixie?"

Trixie stretches and shakes her hooves out as she replies. "I'm sure, Fluttershy. My legs are just a bit sore."

Twilight lets out a relieved sigh. "It's good that there were no unexpected problems, then."

"There is one problem." Trixie states, her hooves spinning back around as she walks to the direct opposite side of the room as the table.

I tilt my head up at the rapidly approaching azure legs, far steadier than they had been just moments earlier. By the time I get my head up enough to actually look her in the eye, she's reached me and pounces, landing on my lap, her two front hooves pressing against my shoulders. They're pressing me back against the bookcase, pinning me as her back legs steady herself on either side of my own. I look into her eyes, caught completely off guard, our faces nearly touching, able to feel her breathing against me. Her eyes are the guarded, violet eyes signature to The Great and Powerful Trixie, nearly impossible for someone like me to read as her mane brushes against my face.

"Uhh..." Twilight trails off, unsure of what's going on.

"Oh my." Fluttershy squeaks.

"I see what you mean, Applejack..." Rarity half-mutters.

"Told ya." Applejack replies smugly.

"Are they gonna kiss?!" Pinkie Pie yells, far more excited at that prospect than I am.

"Please don't let this get weird..." Rainbow Dash mutters my thoughts for me.

Shining Armor, for his part, thankfully stays silent, and Spike is still in the kitchen, though the sounds of cooking get a lot quieter.

I'm not able to tell if seconds or minutes are passing as I stay locked with the unicorn's eyes, not sure I want to look away in this situation. I don't know what to expect. My mind runs through all the favorable and not-so-favorable outcomes of this situation, the continued muttering of the peanut gallery behind Trixie not helping any. What she ends up doing, though, is the one thing I didn't expect.

She backhands me. Hard.

"Will you snap out of it already?!" She yells as I turn my head back to face her again, the guarded eyes replaced by angry ones as the offending hoof returns to pinning me against the bookcase. "You haven't looked at me once since I came down those stairs!"

"Trixie, I..." I mutter pathetically, but she doesn't let me choke out an excuse.

"No! I know you! Especially now!" She rears her head back so she's looking down at me. "You're sitting there, stewing around in that stupid head of yours on all the ways this is your fault, aren't you?!"

I blink and mutter something incoherent, the rest of the ponies behind Trixie now completely silent. Looking up at her this way makes me feel unusually small.

"Well, just stop it! It's not your fault! Every pony and every person makes their own choices!" She stops, letting her words sink in as she keeps me locked in her glare. The message in her wording isn't lost on me. "Just because you want to be some hero doesn't mean you can blame yourself every time someone gets themselves hurt helping you!"

I look at her, mouth agape like an idiot, not knowing how to reply.

"Twilight!" She turns her head, finally breaking eye contact to look at the mare behind her. "Do you have a hoof-file in your room?"

"Um..." Twilight stammers for a moment. "In the desk with the mirror, yeah."

"Good!" Trixie finally hops off me, half-succeeding at masking a wince as she stands next to me. "If you want to mope so much, you can come help Trixie regain her splendid appearance by giving her a hooficure!" She quickly moves to the stairs and climbs them, slipping once with a small wince before regaining her balance and getting to the top. "Now, assistant!" She yells down, loud enough that I'm sure the windows in the library shake from the reverberation.

I blink and turn my gaze down to the other ponies in the room as Twilight's door upstairs opens and closes again. She had given me that order as The Great and Powerful Trixie...

"Uh." Shining Armor cuts into my thoughts. "Don't know what your relationship with that mare is, but you better get going. It won't be pretty if you don't." The stunned expressions on the other ponies in the room pretty much says the same thing, just not with words.

I stagger to my feet, still feeling whiplash from what just happened. I lean against the wall with my right hand as I make my way to the stairs, moving up them slowly. At the top, I take a moment to survey the second floor, finding the door Trixie had entered and approaching it. It's shut tight, so I give it a few firm knocks, just in case.

"Come in, Dusk." It's a measured, calm reply that I almost don't hear through the door.

I open the door slowly and slip myself inside, shutting it firmly and leaning my back against it. Trixie is sitting on a small chair in front of the desk Twilight had described, staring at herself in the mirror. Her eyes are hard and steady, locked with those of her reflection. On top of the desk is what I presume to be the hoof-file, given how it looks like a much larger version of a nail file.

"Come here, Dusk." She orders in the same measured voice as before. I slowly make my way over to her, too fixed on the unicorn to bother looking at the rest of the room. "Sit behind me."

I crouch behind her as instructed, my head nearly level with hers as we both look into the mirror at our reflections. "Trixie, I-"

"The bandages." She cuts me off. "Take them off. I don't know how."

It's a simple admittance, in that same guarded, measured tone. I reach my hands forward and begin feeling around the bandages until I find the points I can start unwinding them. I start with the vertically wrapped one that goes under her chin, then brace her horn-cast with my right hand as I unwrap the one along her forehead. Eventually, I get them all undone, and let them fall to the floor, only my hand keeping the cast in place.

"Remove it." She orders once the bandages are gone. "I need to see."

I slip the cast away, flinching and turning away from the reflection in the mirror.

"Don't look away, Dusk." That unchanging tone is starting to unsettle me. "Hold my mane back."

I turn and do as she asks, holding her mane back with my right hand. Not knowing what else to do with my left, I set it on her shoulder and look into the mirror. The jagged stump of a once-proud unicorn horn is protruding from her forehead, less than a quarter of it still left. My eyes can't help but trace along the edges of the horn remnants, and each one they do makes my stomach feel the tiniest bit more sick.

"Jenova is still alive, right?" Trixie asks after a moment of us both staring at her reflection. "That's why Shining Armor is here."

"...Yeah." I answer honestly, after a moment of hesitation. Part of me thought about saying no, but it's a lie that wouldn't have lasted very long.

She takes a slight but sharp breath, and her body trembles. If I hadn't been so close, I wouldn't have heard it. If I hadn't had my hand on her shoulder, I wouldn't have felt it. But they were there, and she reaches out, taking the file in her hooves and looking at it.

"Then let's not waste time." She takes the file, and places it firmly against the jagged top of her remaining horn.

"Trixie... what are you doing?" I look between the file against her forehead and her eyes in the mirror. Her voice's tone still hasn't changed at all, and her eyes are the same hard and steady ones as when I entered the room.

"It's just an ugly bone. I'm getting rid of it." How can she say that so impassively?

"It's not just a bone, Trixie, it's-"

"It's what?" She cuts me off again. "Useless now, is what it is."

I hesitate, but ultimately I can't stop myself, reminded of something Rainbow Dash had said to me earlier today. "It's like you don't even care."

"Will Jenova wait patiently and do nothing while I care?" She asks, impassive, still not so much as showing hesitation in her eyes. "We can't waste time dwelling now. This thing is just a reminder."

"Trixie..." I try to find the words to argue, but they get caught in my throat.

"What happened to your big talk back in Canterlot?" She asks, the file still pressed, unmoving, against her remaining horn, her eyes and voice still betraying nothing. "You could die? I could die? Compared to that, this is just a setback. One hoof, one foot, we keep going."

...So that's what this is.

I sigh, moving my hand away from her mane to her other shoulder. "Trixie..." I finally look away from the mirror, and to the unicorn next to me herself. "That doesn't mean we can't grieve when we lose something important."

It takes a moment, but the mask finally falls with the clang of a hoof-file, slipping from the grasp of a trembling unicorn and falling to the floor.

Chapter 39: Dawn of the Final Day.

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Chapter 39: Dawn of the Final Day.

Sunlight filters in from above, through the lake's surface, casting light along rounded rock architecture contained inside crystalline walls like an unbloomed flower. The walls keep the water of the lake at bay, despite not fully surrounding the structures, and the matching crystal stairs from the surface are somehow equally protected. Traversing them and the stone steps that follow eventually leads me to a flat rock surface, water gently resting against its side. The path forward requires hopping to a cylindrical platform, then another, five hops in total between ever-rising platforms, until one final hop lands me atop a larger, mushroom-plumed platform with the base of a ten-step staircase connected to it. These steps connect the platform to a large, railing-bound altar, four curved pillars supporting a small glass dome above it.

Traversing those ten stairs is like crossing a barrier, each one requiring a breath and a determined step. At the top, however... the altar is empty. I look around at the surrounding buildings and pathways, and... nothing, just the still water, and beams of sunlight from above. I reach my hand to my back, finding a familiarly-placed hilt, and draw the Buster Sword from its place, holding it in front of me by the hilt and back of the blade. The shine of the metal is gone, the engravings filled with dirt and the blade itself beginning to rust. I look up again toward the light coming from above.

This is the Forgotten Capital's hidden altar, where Aerith had come to try and call forth the planet's protector with the White Materia, and where she... The only way this place can be empty, and I can be here, holding the Buster Sword, is if...

"Come out, Luna." I say firmly, the words echoing slightly off the stone.

The clop of hooves on the steps behind me answers my suspicions. "You've become perceptive of Us after so many visits, dreamer."

I walk to the far side of the altar, resting the Buster Sword against the railing before turning and leaning against it myself to face her. "Hopefully you haven't come to ask for a tour of my head now that it's fixed."

"Nay." She shakes her head. "Tonight, We merely perform Our duty to quell a nightmare."

"Is that so?" I ask, only partially believing her.

"Quite so." She affirms, closing the distance between us, her eyes moving from me to the sword at my side. "This weapon you wield in your dreams has become quite worn."

"Use brings wear, tear, and rust." I recite the old saying from memory, looking sidelong at the blade myself.

"Hm?" She steps away from myself and the Buster Sword, looking around the dream version of the Forgotten Capital. "Is that why you stopped using it?"

"What do you mean?" I ask, turning my attention to her, though her back is to me now.

"You used a smaller sword with a bronze blade and eight gems against the creature." She states, turning her head back to me. "You must have a reason to retire an item that holds such importance to your heart that it appears in all your dreams."

I turn my attention back up to the sunlight glittering through the lake's surface. "I think... it just became too heavy."

Princess Luna giggles audibly, the sound amplified by the Forgotten Capital. "To be cryptic against We who safeguard dreams is a fruitless endeavor, dreamer."

"...Whatever."

Her wings flare and flex, the sound pulling my attention back to her as she takes to air, weaving between the various pieces of architecture that make up the Forgotten Capital. "Such a city beneath the water... it is good to see your world has beauty, too."

"I suppose so." I reply half-heartedly, turning my attention back upward.

After a few moments, another clop of hooves against the altar's floor signals Princess Luna's return to land. "Our visit does have more meaning than the mere dispelling of a nightmare." She says, pulling my attention back down to her as we lock eyes. "Though it was past the raising of the sun, We deployed Our Night Guard to the diamond dog burrow upon Our return to Canterlot, after parting the company of yourself and Twilight Sparkle."

"And?" I ask, a pause in her explanation as she turns to the side leaving me needing to prompt her to continue.

"The entire score of Night Guard have not returned." She says, her voice lowering slightly as she steps to the edge of the altar to look down to the water below. "It is safe to conclude that some presence of the creature still resides inside the burrows, though We can know not whether it is the controlling consciousness or but another piece."

"It'd be too easy any other way, wouldn't it?" I ask, looking at the Princess sidelong, though she doesn't react to my quip. Her gaze instead remains fixed on the water below. I sigh and push away from the railing, picking up the Buster Sword in my right hand and returning it to its place on my back habitually, despite this merely being a dream. "So, when do we leave?"

"It will take Us one night longer to recover Our physical form." She explains, finally turning back to me. "Those We sent to find the smithy have born fruit, however. The smithy says 'a toothpick the size of his nail' shall take less than a day with the materials We have provided him."

"So the day after tomorrow." This is, of course, considering this dream to still be the same day as before I fell asleep, and not as the day I'd be waking up into.

"Yes." She nods her head in confirmation. "We shall convene once more with Our Sister to decide the best course to approach this threat before then."

I walk up to the ledge she had just been looking over, crossing my arms against it and looking down into the water myself. "How is Trixie?" I ask, remembering the events of the previous night.

"The mare defies expectation, and has no nightmares." She replies, turning back to look over the ledge with me. "Instead her dreams sort through that which she's gleaned from the spell to repair your memory. As you are doubtless aware, her interactions with those memories were intimate by necessity in order to perform the magic Twilight Sparkle gifted her."

"Yeah..." I reply absently.

"They are not pleasant dreams," Princess Luna further clarifies, "but they are not nightmares of her new condition that require Our intervention."

I sigh. "I'd be less worried if they were."

Princess Luna takes a step back and flaps her wings, taking to the air and moving opposite me, hoving herself above the water. "We understand your concern, dreamer. Know We watch her closely."

"Thanks..." I trail, the sentiment not alleviating my concerns.

Her wings beat again, taking her higher into the sky, my gaze following her. "Daylight soon approaches. Make use of this day's respite well."

Her wings beat a final time and she ascends up, past the surface of the lake, the rays of sunlight descending into the Forgotten Capital intensifying as she flies ever higher. I squint my eyes shut, futily trying to press the sunlight back, and as I open them again, the Forgotten Capital is replaced with the ceiling of the Golden Oak, sunlight from the window at my left landing directly on my face.

...I need to stop sleeping under this stupid window every time I'm here.

I turn my head to the right and press my cowboy hat over my face to block out the light, taking a moment of bleary semi-consciousness to scan my eyes around the room. Shining Armor is sleeping on a bundle of blankets and pillows similar to my own, the two of us having split the items that Twilight had allowed Trixie and I to use last time the two of us slept at the library for a night. Twilight and Spike are sleeping in the upstairs guest room, since Trixie had, well...

Trixie had asked me to let her be alone for a while in Twilight's room the night before, once she had... recovered. However, 'a while' soon turned into the entire night. Any time someone tried to get her attention, they'd simply be met with a grumbling 'go away' from the far side of the door, be it myself, or Twilight, or any of the others, the door itself locked. Between myself and a unicorn capable of teleportation, a lock wasn't really a preventative measure, but we felt it better to let her be. When asked what had happened after Trixie pulled me in there with her, I simply told everyone that the hooficure she'd asked for had gone horribly wrong. An obvious lie, but they'd gotten the hint that it was something better left unsaid as we packed up the party and stored away the cake Pinkie had made for another day.

After a few minutes of trying to fall back to sleep, I hear rustling to my right as Shining Armor pulls himself up. "Hey, Cloud, you smell that?" He asks, audibly sniffing the air.

I slide my hat from my face to the top of my head as I lean up, supported by my right arm as I turn to him. "It's probably Spike cooking." I reply, the aroma of food from the kitchen beginning to meet my nose as well. If Spike's awake then there's no point in going back to sleep now.

"What's that about me?" A yawning dragon asks from the stairs, the clatter of his claws resounding against the wood, though he stops walking as a sniff of the air shows him taking note of the smell as well.

"...Twily's not cooking, is she, little man?" Shining Armor asks, gulping, though his question is quickly answered by the patter of lavender hooves on the stairway behind Spike.

"No, Shiny, I'm not cooking." Twilight rolls her eyes and shoots Shining Armor an annoyed glance as she makes her way down the stairs.

The four of us all trade looks, then turn to the kitchen. There's only one other possibility left, unless the library was broken into while we were asleep...

Our question is answered by the familiar voice of the one pony currently not in the library foyer, though its melodic, sing-song tone is a stark difference from what anyone is accustomed to hearing it using. "Who's ready for waffles?" Out from the kitchen steps Trixie, the bandages adorning her body the night before gone as she walks on her hind hooves. Her front limbs and head are balancing five plates of waffles with ease, her cargo not so much as jostling as she steps, steps, and spins on her right-hind leg, before taking another step, step, then spin on her left-hind leg. It's a simple dance, but impressive nonetheless given her recent condition, cargo, and pony anatomy. She reaches the table in the main room and takes an open-armed bow in front of it, the motion allowing the five plates to slide off her and onto the table with only the most minor of clatters of plateware against wood.

Twilight clops her hooves against the floor in the pony-equivalent of a clap. "I didn't know you could do something like that, Trixie!"

Trixie steps back from the table and takes a second bow at the praise. "I'm a mare of many practical talents, in addition to the arcane, Twilight Sparkle."

"Sweet! A unicorn that finally knows how to cook!" Spike declares as he heads over to the table, earning himself a glare to the back of the head from Twilight. "Wait... how did you make waffles? We don't have any of the tools for that."

"Tsk, little dragon," Trixie replies, flipping her mane to the right with a hoof, now back on all fours, "a magician never reveals her secrets." She gives him a sidelong look, her usual pride showing, but the smugness character to The Great and Powerful Trixie not.

With her mane brushed to one side, though, the only thing I find myself noticing is her forehead - flat as an earth pony's, the change in texture from fur to smooth bone previously hidden by her mane the only indication something's wrong. Even with her mane to the side, it's difficult to notice, and I can easily see myself missing it had I not known what to look for. She went through with it after I left, after all... A quick look to Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor shows they've noticed what she's done as well, as their eyes linger on her revealed forehead just a bit too long, but both stay silent on it.

"The bigger secret here," I begin, trying to pull my mind and everyone else's attention from the elephant in the room, "is you knowing how to cook at all."

"Hmph!" She throws her head back in reply. "A life alone on the road necessitates learning many talents, Dusk."

I sit up fully, folding my arms across my chest as I give her an accusatory look. "Says the one who insisted on eating every meal at a diner or hotel instead of cooking."

"Either way, it looks great." Shining Armor comments, making the save before Trixie can retort me. "Thank you, Trixie. But... are you sure you're alright?"

"Quite." Trixie nods. "Consider this an apology for the previous night's... behaviour. It ruined Pinkie Pie's party, after all."

"It's alright, Trixie." Twilight assures her as I finally decide to get up, and the five of us take seats at the table: Trixie at my right, Shining Armor left, Spike across, and Twilight to his right, across from her brother, the plates quickly distributed. "Everyone understands, I'm sure."

Trixie nods, but doesn't say anything in reply, turning down to her food. Eyes stay on her a moment longer, but, one by one, we each turn down to our own plates. An awkward silence passes, interrupted only by the sound of a single set of silverware against its user's plate.

"Hey, Trixie!" Spike says, mouth half-full. "These are great!"

A faint smile traces Trixie's lips before she comes out of her stupor, turning to Spike with a more characteristc grin. "Of course they are. A great mare can only be fueled by great food, after all." Said grin becomes her trademark smug smirk as she turns her attention to Twilight. "And certainly cannot be fueled by self-making cereal."

"Why's everyone picking on me, lately?" Twilight grumbles, front hooves crossed, glaring at Spike as she conveys an unspoken 'I'll get you for this, mister'.

I finally take the chance to cut into my waffle, skewering it on my fork and pulling it in for a bite. "I think they call this flirting, Twilight." I quickly shove said waffle piece into my mouth to hide my smirk at the oncoming fallout. Though, Spike has it right - the waffle's far better than I expected it to be.

"W-w-what?!" Twilight presses her front hooves against the table, leaning back as her eyes dart from me to the mare at my right.

Trixie leans in, resting her right elbow against the table and chin against the hoof, giving Twilight a grin. "You're especially cute when you're flustered, Twilight." ...What have I started?

"Trixie!" Twilight's now-confused protests get louder.

"Oh, hush, Twilight! It's just a joke." She rolls her eyes, then turns to face me, posture not changing as Twilight relaxes and lets out a sigh of relief. "Although..."

I turn my now waffle-less fork at her, pointing with it as I finish chewing and swallow said fork's previous contents. "Not interested. Ever."

"That's not what you said on Twilight's bed last night." What?!

There's a choking sound from Shining Armor on my left as Twilight's hooves again slam against the table. "On my bed?!"

I leave the fork pointing at Trixie as I turn to Twilight, whose face is a horrified mix of emotions. "She's joking."

"Am I?" Trixie asks, leaning closer.

I turn back to her, giving her a stern glare. "Yes!"

Trixie lets out a small, satisfied laugh. "Don't start what you can't finish, Duskie." She sits back up, returning to a normal sitting position as she takes the first bite of her own food.

I leave my fork pointed at her a moment longer, trying to find the words to retort, but failing, eventually turning back to my food and taking another bite. I can already tell this is going to be a very long day. Though, given tomorrow, that might not be as bad as it would be otherwise. The others get back to their food as well, the back-and-forth now wound down aside from some sniggering from Spike. Right now, I'm thinking it's better not to ask what he thinks is so funny, and it seems everyone else is thinking the same, as no one ever asks.

"It's good to see you're doing better so soon, Trixie." Twilight says cheerily, now halfway through her meal. "Though, I can't say any of us were expecting, well, this."

Trixie gulps down her mouthful of food, her notorous food-inhalation now leaving her as the one with the least left on her plate. "Is cooking for friends really so strange?" She asks, dodging the actual content of Twilight's question.

I narrow my eyes as I turn my eyes to her. "For you? Yes, it is."

Trixie skewers her last piece of waffle with her fork, waving it at me as she debates a reply, but decides to simply eat it instead and cast a glower at me. Now it feels like I'm the one getting the 'I'll get you for this, mister' look, except from Trixie instead of Twilight.

Once the rest of us make it to the end of our meal, Spike hops from his seat, collecting the plates in the practiced motions of Twilight's Number One Assistant. "Thanks for cooking, Trixie!" He stacks the five plates in his right claw, whistling to himself as he brings them back into the kitchen. "Man, it's good to only have to do the cleanup for once."

Not long after the small dragon disappears into the kitchen, the door to the library raps with the ever-more-familiar rapping of a hoof against it. "Come in!" Twilight calls to the door, slipping out of her seat at the table and taking a moment to stretch her limbs. "Library's open!"

The door pushes open, revealing Rarity, a pair of pink, gem-emblazoned saddlebags across her back as she steps inside and shuts the door. "Good, you're all awake, Twilight dear. And it looks like I'm not a moment too soon!" This makes me begin to wonder - does anyone in this town actually use this library for, well, library things? I've only been here a few times, admittedly, but I've only ever seen Twilight and her friends in here.

"Hey there, Rarity." Twilight greets as Rarity makes her way over to us. "Too soon for what? What's got you over so early in the morning?"

"You see, I just had to..." Rarity looks from Twilight, to me, and finally to Trixie as her voice trails. "...Cloud, you never gave it to Trixie, did you?"

"Gave me what?" Trixie asks, now looking between myself and Rarity questioningly.

"Cloud and I made you the most beautiful thing, Trixie, dear." Rarity informs her, wearing a proud smile that turns into a frown as she turns to me. "But it appears after the previous night's events, someone forgot to give it to you."

Deciding it best not to earn the ire of yet another unicorn today, I keep my mouth shut as I head over to the old crate, still sat right where I'd left it the night before. I pull out the box containing the fruits of my endeavor with Rarity, sitting down and sliding it to Trixie as Twilight returns to her seat at the table, clearly herself curious at this new development. I try to think of something that's not incredibly awkward to say as I pass it over, but settle on a simple "Here."

Rarity beams as Trixie slowly takes the box in her hooves. "Go on, open it! I'm so glad I won't miss the unboxing after all!"

Trixie turns the box over in her hooves, taking her time to look it over and test its weight before gently sliding the cover off the top and setting it aside. She reaches a tentative hoof inside and pulls out the topmost item - a deceptively simple-looking, white, button-up dress shirt with a popped collar and long sleeves, an untied royal purple bow-tie hanging loosely from it.

"Oh..." Trixie's hoof slides down the fabric of the shirt and into one of the many carefully-hidden pockets along its body, which may as well be invisible to the untrained eye. "I've seen practical performers in Las Pegasus wear things like this. Rarity, this is..."

"It's only half the set, is what it is." Rarity's pride in her work only seems to be growing at Trixie's reaction. "Originally, we only meant to make a vest reminiscent of what Las Pegasus showmares wear, but then Cloud had a wonderful idea or two and I might have gotten... carried away."

Trixie looks up to Rarity, then back into the box, and spots the second item in the set. She sets the shirt gently down on the table and reaches in to pull out the set's matching royal purple overcoat. Its golden, notched lapel glistens in the morning light that's filtering into the library, along with the matching cuffs on the sleeves. A front pocket rests over the right-breast, the opening outlined in more of the glittering gold, matching buttons trailing down the front of the coat. Trixie takes a tentative breath and opens the coat, feeling along the velvety, matching purple interior, soon finding what she was clearly searching for - even more of the well-disguised pockets, so that the coat could be opened and revealed to a waiting audience without exposing their existence.

She closes the coat in her hooves again, looking over the front once more, trailing one hoof along one of the golden lapels. "Hey... what's this bump?" She asks, her hoof stopping as she feels something unusual beneath the lapel. She unfolds the heavy, golden fabric to peer underneath, and is greeted by a glistening gemstone. She continues to examine under the lapel, only to find four pieces of Materia hidden behind the lapel on each the left and right side. "Dusk, this is..." Rarity wasn't able to properly replicate the linked Materia Slots present in my bangle or sword, but the patterned mix of one Red, one Yellow, and two Green Materia under each lapel wouldn't require them.

I shrug and fold my arms, leaning back in my chair to try and avoid the incoming awkwardness in front of the current audience. "It's not a big deal. It's not like I can use it all at once, anyway."

She lets out a small laugh and smiles, still looking over the coat in her hooves. "Thank you." She finally says, with a softness I'm still not used to hearing in her voice.

"I take it you like it, then." Rarity says, finally taking a seat at the table herself and resting her saddlebags on the floor.

"I love it, Rarity."

Twilight claps her front hooves together, beaming herself now. "Well, let's see it on you, Trixie!"

"Of course." Trixie nods and sets the coat down, picking the shirt back up and tossing it across her back, slipping her hooves through the sleeves. She buttons each of the cuffs, then begins her way up the shirt, each of the buttons in a royal purple to match the bow-tie when worn without the coat. Her hooves close the collar, then reach for the bow-tie, and Trixie bites her lip. Her hooves fumble at it, trying motions she'd clearly once memorized with her magic. After a moment, the tie glows a light blue and ties itself, a sympathetic smile on Rarity's face as her horn glows. Trixie looks up, returning it with a sad smile of her own. "...Thanks, Rarity."

Rarity simply nods as Trixie turns her attention to the coat. She slips it across herself, same as the shirt before it, though she takes a bit of extra time to adjust it on herself afterward. She inspects the coat's cuffs, finding they don't require buttoning, and moves to the body of the coat, taking her time as she slips each button into place. Once it's fully secure, she moves out of her seat, taking a few steps back and flipping her mane to the side with her right hoof in her signature manner. The coat's long tails reach down her back, extending to her flanks and obscuring her cutie mark from view.

"So, everypony, how do I look?" She asks, allowing some of her stage-confidence to seep into her voice and giving a matching smirk.

It's Shining Armor that's able to speak first. "You look great, Trixie."

"Calm down there, playboy." Twilight playfully nudges Shining Armor in the shoulder with a hoof. "Though, he's right. You look amazing, Trixie."

Trixie walks back to the table and takes her seat. "Thank you again, Rarity." Her eyes turn down to the box the outfit was packed in, and she notices a final item sitting at the bottom of the box. She lifts it out, clearly confused at the ornate gold Wizard Bangle resting between her hooves, eight more peices of Materia glittering inside it, three Green-Blue pairs alongside a Green Materia and the faded Bahamut Materia in the remaining two slots. "Dusk, why is this in here?"

"Because I want you to have it." I answer her simply.

"But, won't you need this to-"

"Look." I cut her off before she can complete her question. "Luna sent me a message through her ability to invade my personal space saying the guards she dispatched to the burrows never came back." I take a quick moment to formulate my next words, but continue before anyone else can interrupt. "She also said that everything will be ready for us to go there ourselves tomorrow and see exactly what's down there." I close my eyes and tip myself back slightly in my chair, trying to keep up my cool demeanor. "And I'm sure there's nothing we could do to make you stay here while we handled it, whether we wanted you to or not, right?" She simply nods, all the emotion that's been building up in her eyes since first opening her new outfit being replaced with a solid determination. "Then I want you to have that. Luna says she's handled getting my weapon repaired, somehow, so I'll be fine without it."

"But, Dusk..."

"...I'll be counting on you, got it?"

She lets out a small laugh, turning her attention back to the bangle between her hooves. "You're always counting on me, idiot." She slips the bangle over her front-left leg, the coat and shirt padding out the size of her limb enough for it to fit. She puffs out the cuff of her sleeve slightly and slides the bangle down, allowing the golden cuff to rest over it. This hides the inlaid Materia and most of the bangle itself, while also giving it a bit of added security to prevent it falling off.

"Wait." Rarity blinks as Trixie continues adjusting the bangle to give it the best purchase on her wrist. "You'll be leaving tomorrow to fight that awful creature again?"

"Apparently so." I shrug.

"I had some orders that needed to get done, but if that's the case..." Rarity turns froms to Twilight, "Twilight, none of these three have ever had a proper tour of Ponyville, have they?" She asks, motioning to Trixie, myself, and Shining Armor in turn.

"I don't think so." Twilight answers, a bit confused at Rarity's line of questioning.

"That's settles it, then!" Rarity slams a hoof down on the table. "The five of us can all go have a day on the town! A trip to the spa and café does sound quite excellent, and it'll be a great way to relax with all the things that've been going on lately."

"Rarity..." Twilight trails, looking between her and Trixie, the concern on her face obvious. The unspoken 'what if she's not ready to face other ponies yet?' is obvious on her face, but Twilight never vocalizes it even as her and Rarity trade looks.

"That sounds great, Rarity." Trixie says after a moment, looking between the other two unicorns. "If Twilight and the others don't mind coming, it sounds like it'd be fun for all six of us to get out for a day."

"Six?" Rarity asks, counting heads for a moment before realizing what Trixie means. "Oh, of course. We can't leave dear Spike out if he wants to come along, too. Where is he, anyway?"

"Just finishing the morning dishes." Twilight informs her.

"Ah, right. Well, one more thing." Rarity's horn glows, and one of her saddlebags pops open, placing a new, slightly larger box on the table and sliding it to me. "I noticed the... looks from other ponies as we walked to my Boutique yesterday, Cloud. It put the ensemble you wore on your previous trip to Ponyville in a bit more perspective, so I made you something quick last night to replace it."

I raise a curious eyebrow and turn to the box. I want to protest accepting it, but I can tell Rarity's the type of person who'd have none of it, so I slip open the cover of the box. What greets me is what appears to be a simple bundle of red fabric as I grip it and pull it out, the size requiring me to stand to remove it from the box completely. Once it's fully removed, it becomes more obvious what it is - a simple, full-body red cloak, with a fitted hood and a raised neck to cover my face in a manner similar to my old poncho.

Though, it's not solid red, the edges of the fabric containing a gold trim that matches the shine of the gold on Trixie's new outfit. However, the trim's not solid gold, either. I pull it closer to inspect it, and find the trim is actually small a pattern of symbols - a six-point star, a balloon, a four-point gem, a lightning bolt, a butterfly, and an apple, all outlined by a thin strip of gold running down either side to give them the illusion of being a solid piece of gold trim when viewed at a distance.

"So," I begin, turning to Twilight and Trixie, "which one of you told her that quip I made about wanting to go red while I was bleeding everywhere?"

"Oh, it's nothing like that." Rarity insists. "You just wear so much blue that I thought the red might be a nice contrast. Though, you should look inside. It's technically reversible."

"Inside?" I ask, opening the sides of the cloak to look inside. The inside is azure, and contains the same trim as the red outside. Everything else otherwise looks the same, except for one particularly obvious detail... "Rarity." I close the cloak and lower it so I can peer at its creator.

"What?" She asks me, feigning innocence, though her look says she knows exactly what the problem is.

"What is it, Dusk?" Trixie asks curiously. "What's inside?"

I quickly flip the cape over my head and shoulders, pulling the hood back for now as I set it into place. The red side is facing out and visible, and will be for as long as I have the option to choose which way to wear this 'reversible' cloak. "Some things are better left a mystery." I reply, causing Trixie to retort with a pout and a 'hmph'.

"Oh, come now, Cloud." Rarity says playfully, still wearing her innocent grin. "It's not that bad."

"Sure it's not." I reply, pulling the cloak closed. The fabric is quite soft, reminding me more of a thin blanket than a piece of clothing. "Thanks, Rarity."

"Don't mention it." She nods, then turns to Trixie. "Either of you. Now, let's get dear Spike out of that kitchen so we can have ourselves a good day while we have the chance!" She slips from her seat and heads off into the kitchen to see how the little dragon is doing.

Trixie soon follows suit, though instead of the kitchen, she heads to the coat rack containing her old hat and cape. She pulls the cape from the rack, and begins sifting through its apparently many hidden pockets, pulling out various basic magician's supplies and placing them in the pockets of her new outfit. One item in particular stands out, though - a fairly small, nondescript-looking wooden box, that her eyes linger on for several seconds before she stashes it somewhere inside her coat.

"Hey," she starts, standing on her hind legs to hold the cape out in front of her and inspect it with her front hooves, "does anyone know where the brooch for my cape is?"

"It's in the crate Shining Armor brought." I inform her. "I'd meant to place it back on after I took out the Materia, but..."

"It's fine, Dusk." She replies as she places the cape across her shoulder and returns to all fours, making her way over to the crate. She then pulls herself back up to her hind legs, supporting herself with her front elbows on the edge of the crate as she takes the brooch out.

Her eyes linger on it for even longer than the wooden box as she rolls it around in her hooves, clearly lost in an old memory. After a few long moments, she pulls her cape off her back and holds it in front of her, fastening the brooch in place before putting the piece of clothing back over her shoulder. She walks back to the coat rack and returns to her two-legged posture, holding the cape out in front of her one final time, its brooch finally back in place, appreciating some sentiment that's unreadable with her back to me before placing it on the coat rack again.

She takes a moment to collect herself before turning around and facing us again, a small smile back on her face. "Let's get going. Rarity's spa idea is sounding better and better the more I think about how sore I've been since yesterday."

Chapter 40: Day on the Town.

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Chapter 40: Day on the Town.

"So, the Day Spa first, Trixie?" Rarity asks, head turned to Trixie, the latter walking behind the former, as the six of us head out from the library. Rarity and Twilight are leading, both mares bearing their respective saddlebags, Spike riding atop Twilight's back. Shining Armor is to Trixie's side, walking behind Twilight, while I take up the rear, cloak drawn shut and hood down. My cowboy hat and armor pieces are left behind at the library, leaving me feeling, admittedly, a bit naked, considering I also lack both my weapon and my bangle.

"Ah, yes!" Trixie replies. "Though, I'm surprised a small town like Ponyville even has such a facility."

"We have lots of cool stuff in Ponyville," Spike cuts in, "like a joke shop, a costume shop, and a bowling alley!" Why would they even have... well, any of those, in a small town like this?

"There's also that marvelous café, Spikey-Wikey." Rarity turns her head to him. "We simply must go there for lunch!"

"Don't forget Sofas and Quills!" Twilight chimes in.

"Wait," I can't help but comment now, "Sofas and Quills?"

"Yeah..." Twilight turns and raises a skeptical eyebrow. "They sell sofas and quills. What's so strange about that?"

"What do sofas have to do with quills?" I ask in reply, giving her a skeptical eyebrow of my own from under my hood.

In response, all four unicorns and one dragon turn to me, perplexed, as if I've just asked an incredibly stupid question. "They don't sell sofas and quills together where you're from, Cloud?" Twilight asks tentatively.

"Nope." I reply. "We don't even use quills, technically."

"...You come from a strange place, Cloud." Twilight says, face scrunched in thought, before breaking out into a smile. "When everything's settled I have so many questions for you at this point!"

"The feeling's starting to become mutual..." I mutter, still trying to understand the logical connection between a sofa and a quill.

Sadly, Twilight hears me. "Oh! We could play Twenty Questions! It'll be great!"

"Twilight..." Trixie turns to Twilight, her face masked from me by her mane at this angle. "What kind of pony actually enjoys playing Twenty Questions?"

"My crazy little sister, that's who." Shining Armor quips, laughing slightly and shaking his head.

"Hey!" Twilight protests. "What's so weird about liking to learn stuff?"

"Hey, Rarity!" A high-pitched, girl's voice calls out from our right, causing all six of us to turn, cutting off whatever rebuttal would have met Twilight's question. Quickly homing in on us are three younger-looking ponies - an orange-ish pegasus with a purple mane, a yellow earth pony with a red mane, and the speaker, a white unicorn with a two-tone purple and faded-pink striped mane.

"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity calls back as the trio reaches us. Sweetie Belle... I think Rarity said that was the name of her younger sister? "You three are out bright and early for a weekend. Crusading again, dears?"

"You bet!" The orange one replies. "We won't get our cutie marks if we don't!" Her voice is a bit raspier than the others'.

"Hey, wait a gosh-darned minute..." The yellow one says, in an accent I've become familiar at deciphering thanks to Applejack, though hers isn't quite as thick, pointing a hoof between Twilight and Rarity, directly at Trixie. "Aren't you tha' magician that came ta Ponyville that time?" This... is going to go badly, isn't it?

"Yeah!" The orange one affirms, the three moving to Rarity's side so they can get a better look at Trixie. "She was performing in front of the library with Twilight a few days ago!"

"Ah, yes!" Trixie cuts in, taking up her stage mantle now that they've confirmed she's not getting another round of 'oh god why is there a bear stepping on our town' from them. She puffs herself up and presses a hoof to her chest in her characteristic manner. "Trixie did indeed perform in your fine little town of Ponyville earlier this week alongside the Magnificent Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight smiles sheepishly at the title while the yellow one speaks again. "Hey! Can ya show us a magic trick, Miss Trixie? All that stuff ya did with Twilight was super cool!"

Trixie's stage-swagger falters ever so slightly as Rarity answers for her. "I'm sorry, girls, but Trixie is... very tired, after some back-to-back performances, so she's with us to relax for the day."

"Aww!" The three grumble in unsettling unison, making me pray I never need to babysit while I'm here.

"Can't ya just show us a little bit?" The yellow one insists.

"Yeah!" The one I assume to be Sweetie Belle adds. "What if it's what helps us get our cutie marks in stage magic?"

"But you're the only one with a horn, Sweetie." The orange one turns to her, pointing out the anatomically obvious. "Bloom and I can't do that stuff."

"Hey." Trixie steps in, cutting off potential bickering as she leans her front hooves down to speak to them at eye level. "What're your names?"

"Ah'm Apple Bloom!" The yellow one replies, grinning.

"I'm Sweetie Belle!" The white one says, confirming my assumption.

"And I'm Scootaloo!" The orange one idenfifies.

Then, all three decide to yell at once, proving they definitely have the lungs for Trixie's job, at least. "And we're the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Definitely not babysitting while I'm in this place, ever. I'm surprised Rarity does so well just being related to one of them, though her sister does seem to be the most docile of the trio so far.

"Well, Cutie Mark Crusaders," Trixie replies, beckoning them to come a bit closer, "come here, and The Great and Powerful Trixie will share a special secret with you three. But no telling, okay?"

The three younger ponies get closer to her as the three older ones and a dragon watch her curiously. "No telling! We promise!"

"Okay. Look at this." Trixie says, giving them a stage-smile and reaching her right hoof up to her mane, sliding it back strategically so her hoof covers the place her horn once was while still revealing her forehead. "Still think you and your friend can't perform some good stage tricks just because you don't have horns?"

"Huh." Apple Bloom blinks. "Yer.. not actually a unicorn?"

"But you had a horn before..." Scootaloo trails off, equally caught off guard.

"Ah, little ones!" Trixie flicks her mane, standing back at her full height. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is but what the show demands. No more, and no less."

"But how did you do all that magic?" Sweetie Belle asks, a question I'm equally curious to see Trixie pull out an answer for. "Twilight didn't do all of it, did she?" Oh boy, that's some bait in the water if I've ever seen it.

Trixie, however, impresses me by not taking it. "Normally, a magician never reveals her secrets, but..." Trixie makes an exaggerated thinking face, pausing for a moment. Her eyes glance noticeably at her lapel for a moment, then she closes her eyes, sighing. She reaches into the coat's visible pocket and pulls out the deck of playing cards I've seen her use at every show so far. "Maybe a demonstration will help you fillies understand a bit better."

"Oh, cool!" Scootaloo declares as the three sit, Trixie taking a seat on the ground across from them as the rest of us gather around.

"Let's start with something simple." Trixie starts, nodding as she flips five cards from the top of her deck and displays them to the girls across from her. From my position, I see some sort of Equestrian face card in Diamonds, a Three of Hearts, an Ace of Diamonds, a Nine of Diamonds, and a Six of Spades. "Now, without saying a word, each of you choose one of these five cards and keep it in your minds." The three fillies nod, taking a minute to look over the five cards in front of them. "Got one in mind, girls?" They nod, and Trixie collapses the five cards back together, flipping them face down as she begins shuffling the five cards in her hooves, her eyes firmly held on those of her three audience members. After some twenty-seconds or so of shuffling, she flips over the current top card of the stack - the Three of Hearts. "Is this your card, girls?"

"Eeeeyup." Apple Bloom replies, blinking.

"Mine too..." Sweetie Belle confirms.

"Huh." Scootaloo looks curiously at the overturned card, essentially confirming it as well. "How'd you do that?"

"It's not time to explain yet, little ones." Trixie shakes her head, scooping the five cards up and returning them to her deck. She begins shuffling the entire deck in her hooves, her eyes never leaving her audience of three as she holds out the deck to them. "Would you girls like to shuffle the deck as well?" Sweetie Belle nods in reply to Trixie's question, taking the deck in her magic aura and shuffling the cards thoroughly herself, before passing them back to Trixie. "And now, watch!" Trixie flips the entire deck face-up, fanning it out for all to see. She quickly slides out a red face card and places it in front of the rest of the deck. "Using this Princess of Hearts, The Great and Powerful Trixie shall make a grand prediction!" She flips the deck back face down, and slides it to Crusaders. "Now, girls, choose any number of cards from the top of the deck and count them into a pile."

This time, Apple Bloom takes control of the deck and begins counting off cards from the top, making a pile of them in reverse order. "One, two, three..." She continues, eventually putting nineteen cards into a pile, handing the remainder of the deck back to Trixie when prompted. After a second set of instructions from Trixie, Apple Bloom takes her pile and begins splitting it into two, laying them out alternatingly, one in the left pile, one in the right pile, then one in the left again...

"And now, for Trixie's grand prediction!" She picks up the Princess of Hearts again, and places it between Apple Bloom's two piles. She then places her right hoof forward, in front of the corresponding pile of Apple Bloom's. "This pile's top card shall be a Princess!" She declares, and Apple Bloom flips it, revealing the Princess of Spades. Trixie then places her left hoof forward. "And this pile shall be a Heart! But not just any Heart! It shall be the previous card you chose together - the Three of Hearts!" Apple Bloom flips the second pile's top card, indeed revealing the Three of Hearts, of all cards.

"Whoa, that worked!" Apple Bloom grins at the successful trick.

Scootaloo rolls her eyes. "It's just a trick, Apple Bloom. There's nothing magical about it."

"Then how'd she make us all think of the same card?" Sweetie Belle asks, turning to her companions.

"Brain tricks, duh." Scootaloo replies matter-of-factly.

"No magic, little ones?" Trixie picks up her Princess of Hearts in her left hoof, smirking as the clear day is distrupted by a crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning curving from the sky and down onto the card, charring it as she flicks the remnants away with her hoof.

"Okay, you got me this time." Scootaloo blinks, eyes on the hoof where the Princess of Hearts used to be held.

"How'd you do that?" Apple Bloom asks insistently, leaning in. "C'mon, tell us! You promised!"

"You see, girls, how to make the magic happen is more important than how to do the trick." Trixie speaks with that softness I'm still not sure I'll ever be used to as she replies. "If performing a little magic is really what you want to do in life, it'll take more than a lacking a silly little horn to stop you." She gives them a small smile. "Though, having some good friends can help, too." ...That has to be the corniest non-answer I've ever heard in my life.

"Aww!" Apple Bloom seems especially dissatisfied with her reply. I don't blame her. "Tha's the kind of lame answer Twilight would say!"

"Hey! My answers aren't lame!" Twilight protests, eliciting some hoof-covered laughs from Rarity and Shining Armor.

"Quite!" Trixie supports her. "How else would Trixie perform her clear display of magic despite not having a horn?"

"Like I've been saying, it's just tricks!" Scootaloo answers quickly. "Really cool tricks, though..."

"Ah," Trixie sweeps her hoof dramatically, "and if Trixie told you the secret to those tricks, they would cease to be magical, would they not?"

"Yeah, but..." Scootaloo trails off, not able to pull together her reply to Trixie's question.

"I get it!" Sweetie Belle cuts in, stopping further protests from the other 'Crusaders'. "It's not about the magic at all, is it, Miss Trixie?"

"Exactly." Trixie says simply. "True showmareship is about the magic felt by the crowd, not that performed by the mare."

"Oh! Ah get it now... maybe." Apple Bloom turns her head up to think, a hoof beneath her chin.

"Also, uh, Twilight, Rarity, Miss Trixie," Scootaloo starts, getting all their attentions then pointing a hoof in my direction, "you know you got a creepy cultist guy following you, right?"

I can't help but look down at the cloak I'd received from Rarity again. I... can't exactly blame the kid for that one, thinking on it.

"That is merely Trixie's assistant." Trixie explains to them, motioning her own hoof to me. "Surely you remember him from our show in Ponyville? He suffers a condition that prevents him walking in the sunlight without his cloak." Wait, what happened to the really cool 'he's a drake that lost his tail to a cursed trident at Horse Shoe Bay' thing? Now I'm just allergic to sunlight?

"Oh..." Scootaloo mouths, before looking up at me. "Sorry for calling you a cultist, mister!"

"So, Crusaders," Apple Bloom wraps her front hooves around her two friends, "whaddaya say we go get our cutie marks in showmareship?"

"But how will we set up a show?" Scootaloo asks, her and Sweetie Belle both turning their heads to Apple Bloom. "The talent show's not happening again until next year."

"So?" Sweetie Belle tilts her head slightly to get a clear look at Scootaloo. "We'll just build a stage at our clubhouse and invite everypony from school there later! It'll be great!"

"Alright, Cutie Mark Crusaders! Let's go!" Apple Bloom darts off past us, the other two close on her heels as they run off to do... whatever they're planning. As long as no one tries to convince me to climb into a cannon again, I couldn't care less.

"Heh." Shining Armor laughs once the three kids are out of earshot. "Cute kids."

"Hey, Trixie..." Twilight turns to her, pulling everyone's attention to her and Trixie, as the latter returns her deck to her coat pocket. "That was..."

Trixie rolls her eyes. "I don't need you falling over yourselves every time this comes up, Twilight. Please."

Twilight smiles and gives her a nod. "Alright."

"Though," Trixie lets out a small laugh, "if I have to keep doing stuff like that, I'll have to replace my decks a lot more than I used to."

"Let's get going." Rarity nods her head toward the center of town as we begin walking again. "The Day Spa's not too far now." Following her motion, I see a cream-colored building with a purple roof that raises to multiple steeples. A green sign with an equally cream-colored pony hangs over the door, which itself has a small heart engraved on it. Small rose bushes line the outside of the building, accentuating the curled designs trailing along the walls above them.

Rarity leads, gently opening the door, and immediately she's approached by a blue-bodied, pink-maned pony. Her mane and tail are styled back smoothly, and she wears some sort of white choker and a matching cloth around her forehead. I'm sure both have more technical names, but beautification is far from my area of expertise.

"Ah, Miss Rarity!" The mare speaks, in a thick accent I'm not sure my world has an analogue for. "Your weekly appointment with Miss Fluttershy isn't for another day yet." It doesn't surprise me that Rarity is a regular in a place like this. "How can we help you?"

The rest of us step inside as Rarity replies. "Apologies, Lotus, dear. It's a bit of an emergency visit, you see!" She motions a hoof from herself to Trixie once the six of us are properly in view. "Our dear friend Trixie has come to visit after quite an... ordeal, let us say, and I just couldn't help but think of your and Aloe's lovely spa as just the thing to help her and everypony else relax afterward."

"Well, Miss Rarity, you have indeed come to the right place, then! Luckily, our morning schedule is quite open today, so you've chosen a perfect time." 'Lotus' motions for us to follow her. "Bath for six? Shall we also do the usual?"

"I was thinking a bit simpler, this time." Rarity replies. "Just a dip in the spa and a massage, please. A few members of our group might not... appreciate some of the finer elements of our usual weekly ritual."

Lotus laughs softly at Rarity's quip. "Yes, I see. Little Spike is with you this week, as is a rather handsome stallion." She tips her head back, giving Shining Armor, giving him a wink, causing him to reply with his usual nervous laugh and rubbing of the back of his head. "No mischief in the tubs, please!"

"Don't worry, Lotus." Twilight assures her. "My big brother here is already spoken for."

"Oh, your brother, Miss Sparkle?" Lotus shifts her attention to Twilight. "I haven't seen him around Ponyville before."

"He's from Canterlot, Lotus." Twight explains. "Today's a bit of a get-together of friends who normally don't see each other, in a way."

"Name's Shining Armor, Miss Lotus." Shining Armor introduces himself, giving her a grin to match his nervous laugh earlier.

"Ah, a vacation day with friends from far away." Lotus nods. "It is even more of a pleasure to host your group, then. Though, any introduction for your mysterious companion in the back?" Of course, whether it's the poncho, the cloak, or no disguise at all, any sort of introduction does seem destined to end with the 'what is that weird thing following you' line of questions in some way.

"My assistant, Dusk." Trixie introduces before I can even get my mouth open. "I'm a traveling showmare you see, Miss Lotus, and he is my companion. He's not the most talkative, and he has his reasons to keep under his cloak when possible. Don't worry, he doesn't bite... much."

"I see." Lotus nods at the introduction, just as she did for Shining Armor's. "Well, all our facilities are free until later today, so please, enjoy yourselves, everypony."

She leads us into the 'main' room of the spa - a single, large room nearly the size of the building itself. To the left are a number of massage chairs leading up to a massive, wooden tub, a stairway on its right side leading to a raised platform behind it as steam rises from the water. To the right of me are a number of what appear to be pony-sized personal baths and some privacy screens, the screens pulled open due to us being the first customers of the day. After Rarity tells Lotus we'll be making use of the bath first, she leaves us while Rarity and Twilight set their saddlebags against the tub.

"It's too bad I have to take this off again so soon." Trixie says to Rarity as she undoes the buttons on the coat. "It's already starting to feel like a part of me."

"I'm happy to see you appreciate it that much, Trixie." Rarity nods, using her magic to undo the bow tie as Trixie slips off the coat and proceeds to unbutton the shirt. "But, your body will equally appreciate the soothing water. It'll make you feel like a hundred bits!"

I lean my back against the tub, standing with my arms folded and right foot pressed against it as I hear the sounds of four ponies and one dragon enter the waters. I'm not sure why I expected anything other than a giant, unisex spa from a place where many of both genders simply walk around naked. Though, it's a bit curious that it's essentially a giant wooden bucket when all the smaller units seem to be made of more modern-looking materials.

I tilt my head back with a sigh, looking up to the ceiling. Now that things are a bit quieter, I find myself thinking back to Twilight's desire to learn more about my world. Specifically, I think the one question I've been avoiding since Twilight made me think of it back in Canterlot. Can I even go back there? Not just in the technical sense of returning, but, I suppose... should I? This time, what Jenova said isn't a lie, so it'll only cause problems, won't it? Though, I'm sure I can't stay here, in Equestria. Maybe if I become a hermit in some place like the Everfree Forest, it might work, but...

"Hey!" Trixie comes up to my right, poking her head over the rim, nearly level with my own head due to the tub's height. "Are you gonna join us, or just keep standing there like a creeper?" I make eye-contact with her, but she speaks again before I can reply. "Let me guess. Not interested." She says mockingly, rolling her eyes.

Rarity pokes out on my left. "I do suppose with all those extra clothes, it's quite a bother to get out of them for something like this, even if it is heavenly."

Twilight pops her head up on Trixie's right. "Why do you wear all that stuff anyway, Cloud? I never see you not wearing it."

Shining Armor's head comes into view on Twilight's right, but he says nothing.

I move my eye contact to him instead of the three mares. "Don't you have something to add?"

"Nah, I just wanted to do what everyone else was doing." He replies, grinning.

Trixie turns to him, tilting her head at him curiously. "Like sister, like brother, it seems..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight asks, turning to Trixie with a pout.

Trixie turns away from them, grinning. "Oh, nothing, Twilight."

"Right..." Twilight turns her attention back to me. "But, honestly, now I'm curious. If you're not gonna join us, at least indulge my curiosity a bit."

"Well, why don't you wear clothing all the time?" I ask her half-sarcastically, mixing in a bit of genuine curiosity with wanting some payback for the look I got when I asked about Sofas and Quills.

"Well..." Twilight either misses or ignores the sarcasm as she answers me. "Ponies only really wear clothes when they want to look nice, if they're cold, or if there's some other weather situation we can't deal with naturally. Otherwise, wearing clothes over your fur can get particularly uncomfortable, especially on a warm day."

"Right, but I don't exactly have fur."

"You could. Technically minotaurs only really have fur on their heads and their lower body." Twilight exposits. "Without you telling me or seeing for myself I don't have any reason to assume whether or not you have fur on the parts of your body you keep covered up."

"Well, I can guarantee you I don't have any fur hiding under any of my clothes, Twilight."

"It still doesn't explain why you don't want to join us in here, though." Twilight turns things back around to the original topic. "The water's warm and there's enough space left."

"Twilight." I look her in the eye. "I'm bipedal. No fur, no scales, and no tail."

"So?" Twilight asks, and I can see Trixie's poker face falling slightly as she chuckles, her head turned away from Twilight.

"Do I really need to explain the awkwardness that comes with also removing clothes from that equation?"

Trixie turns to Twilight as the latter mare tilts her head, still not understanding what I'm trying to convey to her. Trixie moves up to her ear, cupping her mouth with one hoof as she begins whispering to Twilight. Twilight's face quickly cycles through a number of looks as hints of red bleed through her lavender fur, at which point she pushes herself to the far side of the tub and dunks most of her head beneath the water, leaving only her nose, eyes, horn, and the top of her mane visible. Trixie, meanwhile, can't stop herself from breaking out into a fit of laughter at Twilight's reaction.

"Ah..." Rarity takes a small breath, choosing her words carefully, having figured out the finer details on her own. "That would be a bit... compromising, especially in a public location."

Trixie composes herself after a moment, hooves against the rim of the tub. "Doesn't change the fact they're both prudes." I shoot her a glare, and she answers the unasked question. "What? You could've just joined us. Nopony would've batted an eye if you hadn't made a big deal about it. Now, everypony is going to gawk if you give them an opportunity." ...She has a point, all things considered.

"I'll be fine." I assure her.

"Great!" Spike declares, using his feet to kick around on the surface of the water as he floats on his back. "More space for me to swim!"

Twilight finally pulls her head out of the water enough to speak. "You'll get cramps if you swim so soon after eating breakfast, Spike." She admonishes the little dragon, who waves her off with a claw.

"Bah, that's just a myth, Twilight." Spike says. "You should know that with all the books you've read by now."

Twilight silently descends back into the depths of the tub with an annoyed glower as the other three ponies begin relaxing again. I turn my head back up to the ceiling, letting myself descend back into my thoughts. Am I really just making too big of a fuss about this, like Trixie said? I'd like to think that, but the odd looks I get from all the ponies that I'm not friends with make me think otherwise. Most of the looks are merely curious, but... I'm still not exactly happy about being the village freak, at best, not to mention the many other problems that come from being the only human on a planet of pastel pony... things. It seems to be my only option, though, since going back to Gaia and having there be two 'Clouds' there is something I'm not even willing to consider, and I doubt there's miraculously some third world they can send me to that has humans on it. But even so, staying here...

"Ah, is the bath not to your liking, sir?" A voice pulls me out of my thoughts and I tip my head down, seeing a pony that looks strikingly similar to Lotus, except with the pinks and blues reversed. Her accent matches the previous spa-pony's as well. Sisters? Is this the one Rarity mentioned earlier, Aloe?

"He's just a stick in the mud." Trixie says over the side of the tub. "It'd do him some good to loosen up a bit, wouldn't it?"

"Loosen up, you say?" The pink pony says in reply, looking to Trixie and giving a grin. "I think we can help with that. Lotus!"

"Yes, Aloe?" Lotus replies, peeking her head back into the room from the welcome area.

"Come, Lotus!" She motions to her palette-swapped doppleganger as the latter enters the room, each standing to my left. "Our guest requires the 'loosening up', ya?"

"What are you two doing?" I look between them, doing my best to make my annoyance clear in my voice, before looking up to Trixie, who simply gives me one of her grins.

"We are doing the 'loosening up'!" Lotus declares as both grab my cloak, pushing me away from the tub and toward the massage tables to the left.

"Hold on!" I yell, trying to wriggle myself out of their grip, but the combined might of the two is... surprising. First Fluttershy, and now these two... how strong is the average pony, physically, anyway?

"Hush!" Aloe commands as the two deftly pull my cloak from my shoulders, tossing me onto one of their massaging tables with a single motion. "It is time for the 'loosening up'!" I feel two sets of hooves against my back before I can utter a protest, surprisingly keen in their aim despite not even removing my shirt, or, assumedly, massaging anything like me before. My muscles first spasm in pain, then relax and tingle as they do, in their words, the 'loosening up'. Surprisingly, if they have any comments on my physical appearance, they hold their tongues, focusing on their work. I'm grateful for that at least. And the massage, too, I guess.

I turn my head to lock eyes with Trixie, shooting her a dirty look over this situation, and she replies with her shit-eating grin and a wave of her front-right hoof. Her eyes, however... they're wrong. They're not the guarded eyes of The Great and Powerful Trixie, nor the confident eyes of Trixie Lulamoon, but rather... wistful. In just the tiniest way, either intentionally or not, her mask's fallen again.

Maybe that's the question I should be asking, instead. Not if I can stay here, or if I should, or what would happen were I able to 'return' to Gaia, but rather... if I stay here, will I be able to handle looking into those eyes anymore? I turn away from her and close my eyes, focusing on the skilled hoofwork of my two masseuses as that question stews in my mind. I'd given Trixie the bangle and all that Materia, but will she be able to handle it if she gets hurt again? ...Will I?

"And what do you expect to do?" Jenova's mocking question from the Ghastly Gorge pushes its way into my thoughts. What do I expect to do, when the chips are down? During that encounter, I was Princess Luna's second fiddle, and it took both of us and Bahamut to do any damage at all... and Bahamut's gone now.

But... I let out a small laugh, remembering Trixie's outburst at the library last night. Maybe she's right. Maybe I don't need to do anything. Things are a bit different now. This isn't her caught in the crossfire, such as in Appleloosa or the Crystal Caves. This is her decision now, and like she said, every pony and every person makes their own choices, right? I turn my head slightly to look to her again. Her back is to me now, sharing a conversation with Rarity as Twilight continues her stewing in the far side of the tub. Even if I grant what Trixie said, Jenova's still only here because of me, isn't it? She only became involved in the first place because I traveled with her, didn't she? If things had been different...

"Up!" Aloe's thickly-accented voice pulls me from my thoughts with the crack of a towel. "The 'loosening up' is complete!"

I give the pair thanks as I pull my cloak back over myself, moving to lean my back against the large tub everyone else is resting in as the pair of spa-ponies wave over for two more to come down. I hear the splashing sounds of two ponies getting out of the tub, and after a few moments, Rarity comes down the steps, mane wrapped in a towel, followed by Trixie.

"Feeling any better, dear?" Rarity asks, which I reply to with a small grunt and a shrug of my shoulders. Truth be told, my body does feel a lot better, at least.

"Now if only they could 'loosen up' your personality." Trixie says with her usual grin, flicking at me with her tail as she walks past, then resuming a conversation with Rarity.

"Right." I reply, shaking my head as she passes, then muttering. "Since when were those two so friendly?"

"They've been at it ever since those two dragged you off." Shining Armor replies, poking his head over the side of the tub again. "Talking about their times in the big cities like Manehattan and Hoofington. I wouldn't be surprised if they're trying to one up each other."

"Oh, hush, Shiny." Twilight admonishes him as she joins us at the tub rim, no longer hiding her face below the water, then sighs. "It's good to see her actually making a friend, though. Isn't it, Cloud?"

"Yeah... great." I reply absentmindedly, still stewing on my thoughts from earlier.

"You alright, Cloud?" Twilight leans over the side of the tub, craning her head to look at me more clearly.

"Hm?" I turn to her, contemplating my reply for a second. "...It's nothing."

"Right..." Twilight shakes her head, clearly not believing me, and returns to lounging on the far side of the tub, Spike backstroking nearby her.

Shining Armor takes the opportunity to lean in more himself, speaking more lowly. "Pretty sure I have a good idea of what's eating you." He says, his eyes moving from myself, to Trixie, then back again. I don't bother giving him a reply. "Look. Cadance was right. About Twilight, I mean. When I wasn't looking, my little sister grew up into somepony more than capable of handling herself, even when things get rough."

"..." I turn slightly to look at him as he rubs the back of his head.

"I guess, what I'm trying to say is..." Shining Armor sets his hoof back on the rim of the tub. "You gave her all that stuff and said those things back at the library because some part of you knows she's more than capable of handling herself, too, right? So, relax. Something might happen, but if you keep letting yourself get distracted, then something will happen." He lets out a snicker. "I thought you'd know that, considering you said you were military, too."

I can't help but give a small laugh in reply. "Thanks." I say after a moment, allowing myself to slump against the side of the tub, sitting. I hear a few splashes from the rim, telling me he's set off to rejoin his sister and Spike. Maybe he's right. What is, is. If there's anything I can do to stop it from getting worse, it'll be easier to do if I'm focusing on what's ahead and not worrying about everything.

"Next!" Lotus' voice is the one that cuts me from my thoughts this time, and I hear Twilight and Shining Armor begin a similar bath-exiting ritual to Rarity and Trixie's. After a moment, the remaining three from the tub pass by, heading toward the massage tables, and the white and azure pair return, still chatting amongst themselves.

"You were right, Rarity." Trixie says as Rarity giggles into a hoof. "I'm feeling much better after all that."

"It's quite exquisite, isn't it?" Rarity replies. "I come here each week with Fluttershy, and it's the most heavenly indulgence. Maybe if you stick around Ponyville, we can add you to our little dates, hm?"

Trixie pauses for just a moment. "Yeah... that sounds great, Rarity." She replies, though her voice sounds a bit distant. She turns, locking eyes with me and pausing, Rarity stopping beside her. She takes one step toward me, then two, and before long she's standing directly in front of me.

"...What is it?" I ask, a bit confused. In response, she pulls up onto her hind hooves, placing her front hooves on my shoulders and leaning in. It's not the rough pinning from the night before, but her eyes are still locked with mine, unreadable. What is she doing...? After a few moments, she tilts her head and grins.

"Relax, this is our day off, remember?" She says as she pulls her hooves away, shifting herself and sitting at my left side, her back to the tub as well. Rarity raises an eyebrow, but after a moment decides to sit to Trixie's left.

"That's what that was about?" I ask her, skeptically.

"What?" She huffs and feigns offense, turning her head up. "You're the one whose been the party-pooper so far. I need to be sure you at least get a little relaxation in before tomorrow, you know."

"And that's your job now?" I ask, raising an eyebrow to her from under the hood of my cloak.

"Well..." She puts a hoof under her chin, in an exaggerated thinking position. "I suppose I could ask Twilight to engage in a bit of emergency itemizing to be sure you get your requisite relaxation in, instead."

"Yeah, no thanks." I reply quickly, eliciting a laugh from both her and Rarity.

Trixie then gets up, looking around for just a moment before retrieving her shirt and coat. "Team Sparkle over there should be done soon." She comments, slipping the shirt over her back and her hooves through the sleeves. "Where to next, Rarity? The café you mentioned?"

"I'm thinking so." She nods as Trixie buttons the sleeves of the shirt and starts working her way up the front. "It's a bit early, but it just has the most delightful atmosphere. We can spend a bit of time just relaxing in the nice weather and chatting if we don't want to eat right away. This place shouldn't mind."

"Chatting, right. This one never talks, though." She says, motioning her head to me as she picks up her bow tie in one hoof. She wraps it around her collar and Rarity's horn lights up to help her wrap it, but I motion for her to stop, walking over to Trixie and crouching down so we're eye level.

"Here." I say, guiding her hooves in the first steps of fastening the tie. Across, then around, then twist, then over, then twist, then behind, then pull, then secure. I guide her hooves through each of the motions, but make sure she's performing them for herself. Once we're done, she takes a step back, adjusting the tie in one hoof.

She looks from the bow tie and then to me. Then, she grins, one of her mischievous, shit-eating grins. "Why am I not surprised you know how to fasten a bow tie? You're a bigger nerd than Twilight Sparkle."

I can't help but give her a single snigger before giving her some of her own medicine. "You're the one wearing it, you know."

"Oh, shut up!" Trixie huffs and turns away from me as she tosses her coat over herself, slipping into it and fastening the buttons as Rarity laughs into her hoof behind her. As she fastens the buttons along the front, she turns her head back to face me again. "Thanks."

"Ah, I forgot how refreshing a trip to see Aloe and Lotus can be!" Twilight comments as she and Shining Armor walk up behind us, Spike at his usual perch on Twilight's back. "I feel great!" The three of us turn to see her stretching out each of her four legs in turn.

"Yeah. Way better than anything we have in Canterlot." Shining Armor comments, cracking his neck. "I may need to make trips down here more often. So, what's next on the to-do list?"

"Trixie and I were just discussing that, actually!" Rarity rounds our group so that she's closest to the door, essentially taking the lead. "We were thinking we'll take the day a bit slow and relax at the café for a while, if that's alright with you and Twilight."

"Of course, Rarity." Twilight nods.

"The best part is," Trixie starts as the six of us begin making our way out of the Day Spa, "after that memory spell, Dusk might actually be able to read the menu now!"

"What?" Twilight turns to me as we walk. "You couldn't read?" She asks, confused, before her face falls in horror. "Does your world not have books?!"

...I think it's time for my brain to check out for the day.

Chapter 41: Move Out!

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Chapter 41: Move Out!

After assuring Twilight that my world did, indeed, have books, the remainder of our day 'on the town' was surprisingly relaxing, despite my company. Our day past the spa started with the café, where being able to read the menu did indeed make a difference. Though, still less than a difference than I would have liked - being able to read the menu told me that most of it was just fancy grass, fancy hay, fancy grilled hay in the shape of a burger, and other things I don't think my body can even digest properly. Thus, my trip to this café wasn't much different than my previous one to the place we ate in Dodge Junction - a salad of mostly-edible vegetation, though with a milkshake instead of cider. The main thing of note was that - despite her previous ribbing - a certain blue unicorn was surprising silent during our stay, leaving most of the conversation in the hands, or rather, hooves, of Shining Armor, Rarity, and Twilight, Trixie only talking when spoken to. We traded some looks, and once or twice, I again caught her with that wistful look in her eyes.

From there, our walk through the town turned into a sightseeing expedition to help Trixie, Shining Armor, and myself become better oriented with Ponyville's layout, more than anything else. Mainly, I learned to avoid an otherwise fine bakery called Sugar Cube Corner, Pinkie Pie's apparent place of employment, though the Perpetual Party Machine itself was absent, something Twilight thought very unusual. We also passed Sofas and Quills - proving that they weren't suffering from mass insanity, and it did indeed sell both sofas and quills. Weird.

While we also perused a few other places, such as a street market area, most of my day's attention was, instead, on Trixie. She didn't spend the rest of the day quite as quietly as she spent our time at the café, but... I could notice the small slips in her character throughout the day. I've become convinced that her entire face today has been just that - another character, which she layered that of The Great and Powerful Trixie atop for the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I won't be able to try and get her to drop that character until we're away from the others, though...

Which, at least in part, is why I'm happy our group is now back out front of the library, Rarity still accompanying us. There's still a bit of daylight left, but not much, as we end our day on the town. As Twilight opens the door, however...

"Surprise!" Pinkie appears in the doorway the second the door is open, front hooves open welcomingly, a can of confetti exploding in one of said hooves while she blows into a noisemaker, party hat atop her head.

"Ack!" Twilight jumps back in surprise, the rest of us taking a step back as well from the sudden jolt of pink jubilation. "Pinkie, what are you doing?"

"I'm throwing Trixie's 'Congratulations-On-Beating-Up-The-Evil-Space-Monster' party today because it got canceled yesterday!" Pinkie tilts her head as she talks, giving Twilight a look of 'isn't it obvious?' "Duh!"

"Is it really that surprising, Twi?" Rainbow Dash asks as she flies up behind Pinkie Pie, wearing one of the party hats as well. "Everyone else is already here, so don't sweat it."

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash move to the side so we can get inside the library, the party pony shutting the door behind us. Applejack and Fluttershy are sitting at the table and wave at us as we come in. Twilight looks around, eyebrow raised. "How did you even get in? I locked it before I left."

"I let them in, silly!" Pinkie Pie responds, bouncing on her hooves to move in front of Twilight and giving her a wide grin.

"...And how did you get in, Pinkie?" Twilight deadpans as Rarity pulls off both her own and Twilight's saddlebags with her magic, setting them against the coat rack.

Pinkie doesn't miss a beat in beginning her reply. "Well, first I-" Though, she's cut off by Twilight placing a hoof over her mouth.

"On second thought, nevermind, Pinkie. I don't think I want to know."

"Good!" Pinkie replies, darting away and then back to us in a single, fluid motion, before going down the line, placing a party hat on Twilight, Spike, Shining Armor, Rarity, then Trixie, topping it off by plopping my cowboy hat on my head. "Then it's time to par-tay!"

A quick look around the library shows all the decorations from the previous night - the banner, the cake, and everything else, all put up exactly where they were the night before, down to photographic precision. It's... scarily impressive, thinking on it.

"Heh." Trixie steps a bit ahead of the rest of us, taking the decorations in. "Maybe I'll get to enjoy it this time."

"Darn tootin'!" Pinkie Pie zips in front of her and shoves a noisemaker into her mouth before Trixie can react. Trixie replies by blowing into the noisemaker, prompting Pinkie Pie to do the same with hers. "See? Better than yesterday already!"

"Yeah... it is. Thanks, everypony." Trixie nods, moving the noisemaker to the side of her mouth.

"That new coat you have is nice, Trixie." Fluttershy comments as the remaining ponies convene around the table. I, meanwhile, head to the wooden crate that's become the holder of all my things, slipping off my cloak and folding it over once before placing it inside, slipping the cowboy hat back on my head afterward to avoid a rather nasty stink-eye from Pinkie Pie.

"Isn't it just?" Rarity chimes in, smiling at her work once again being appreciated. "It's the fruit of the little expedition I dragged Cloud out on yesterday."

"Quite!" Trixie stands back slightly, pressing a hoof to her chest dramatically, showing off both herself and her new clothes to the ponies at the table. She raises her dramatic hoof to her face, pressing back her mane in her characteristic flip. This ends up revealing her forehead, which causes Applejack and Rainow Dash to stare blankly for a moment, while Fluttershy's face quite visibly falls. The unicorns at the table shift slightly in their seats, doing their best to hide the still-fresh discomfort at what they're looking at. Pinkie, however, is just wearing an odd smile as Trixie flaunts. If Trixie notices any of this though, she does her best not to show it. "It accents my colors quite well, don't you think?"

"The gold's a bit gaudy, if you ask me." Rainbow Dash replies with a shrug, turning a bit to the side in her chair, the first to recover from her stupor. "Though, gaudy's right up your alley, isn't it, Trix?"

"Rainbow!" Twilight admonishes, Rainbow Dash's comment pulling all the eyes off Trixie and on her instead as she sniggers. "There's no need for that, is there?"

"It's not entirely wrong, Twilight." Trixie replies, shrugging her shoulders as she takes a seat with everyone else. "I can't exactly capture the imaginations of a crowd if I don't stand out, can I?" Her eyes then narrow, aimed squarely on Rainbow Dash. "Though, what have I said about calling me 'Trix'?"

"Ah, sorry, sorry," Rainbow waves a hoof at her nonchalantly, staying turned to the side for a moment, before turning to her with a smirk, "Beatrice."

"Why you...!" Trixie huffs herself up. "You remind me of a pony I used to hate!"

"You mean, you?" Rainbow smirks at her jab, leaning in slightly.

"Yes!" Trixie slams her hoof down on the table, leaning in as well. Rainbow's smirk meets Trixie's glare for a few seconds before both begin breaking down in a small fit of laughter.

"Hey now." Applejack cuts in once their fit dies down. "Let's cut this here cake and get to enjoying ourselves."

"Right! I must know if this cake is as delicious as it looks!" Trixie declares, eyeing the dessert emblazoned with her cutie mark as I take a seat next to her. "Finally decided to stop being such an anti-social weirdo and join us?" Trixie jabs as soon as I sit, not turning away from the cake as Twilight takes the knife in her magical grip and begins making slices into it.

"May as well." I reply. "It always seems like I leave this town the day after a party."

"Oh? You're leaving again already?" Fluttershy's ears droop. "But, you've barely had any time to rest at all..."

"We need to." I begin explaining. "Luna will be ready then, and we can't afford to wait. The longer we wait, the more it recovers."

"Yeah, but..." Fluttershy starts to argue back, but trails off, her thoughts picked up by Applejack.

"What about those Night Guard that Princess Luna sent?"

"They haven't made contact since they went to the burrows." I answer, leaning forward in my seat. "There's no way to know for sure until we go, but..." I fond my hands in front of me, looking down at the table. "But, they're probably dead."

A silence falls over the table for a second before Applejack speaks again. "So you an' Princess Luna are just gonna run in there and fight it on your own?"

"It'll be fine!" Trixie turns to Applejack, the mirth at the prospect of the cake still in her voice. "It's just, what, a shapeshifting parasitic alien that travels the universe and measures its victims in planets?" She waves a hoof toward me dismissively. "Pfft, for Dusk over here, that's basically a Tuesday. Besides, if things go sour, he'll always have me to fall back on."

"Wait, yer goin' too?" Applejack raises an eyebrow at her. "Yer barely even out of bed, Trix. That's just bein' reckless. 'Sides..." Applejack allows the rest of her argument to hang in the air, though it's not exactly hard for me to sort out what that argument is.

Nor is it for Trixie, apparently, as she pulls up one of the lapels on her coat, revealing the Materia underneath, smirking. "Don't worry, Applejack. I'm still quite capable of handling myself."

Applejack's eyes narrow and they turn from Trixie to myself. "Ah can't believe yer condonin' this." She says, her voice a mix of deadpan and accusatory.

Rainbow Dash pulls herself slightly into the air with a beat of her wings. "I don't see what the big deal is, Applejack." She says, punching the air with her front hooves. "As far as I'm concerned, this is just the spirit! I've been saying the whole time we should be the ones to beat the crud out of this thing!" She lands again, beating her hoof against the table as Twilight begins passing out the cake to each of us. "You know what? I'm going too! I'm gonna teach this thing what happens when it messes with my friends!" Here we go...

"RD, ya forgettin' again, no Elements of Harmony?" Applejack asks, giving the prismatic pegasus an annoyed glare. "The answer to Trixie goin' when she darn-well shouldn't be ain't you goin' off to get yerself killed too."

"We didn't need the Elements back at the wedding!" Rainbow Dash insists, crossing her hooves.

"That settles it!" Pinkie Pie cuts in, front-right hoof raised triumphantly, her declaration defusing the coming argument before it starts.

"Settles what, dear?" Rarity asks, cocking her head.

"Our party is now a slumberparty!" Pinkie Pie grins. ...Wait. All of them. At once. For an entire night? This is going to be an... experience, isn't it?

"...Excuse me?" Rarity tilts her head further, clearly confused at the pink pony's thought process. Or, if I'd hazard a guess, lack thereof.

"Well!" Pinkie Pie smacks her front-right hoof into her front-left hoof, like a fist into an open palm, except without fingers or thumbs involved. When she speaks, I'm certain she's intentionally trying to imitate Twilight's exposatory tone. "You see, Rarity. Grumpy and Trixie are going to embark on a big, dangerous quest tomorrow to fight the evil space alien, right?" Rarity nods. "So, what better way to see them off than a slumberparty? We'll all get to hang out until Princess Luna shows up, then we can have her give us the Elements of Harmony and all go beat up the evil space alien together this time! It'll be like a quest!"

"...Um, Pinkie, darling..." Rarity blinks, not quite sure how to reply to that, followed by Applejack.

"A sleepover sounds great, Pinkie." Twilight nods. "It'll be good to at least ask Princess Luna some questions about what she and Princess Celestia know before they leave as well. We can't be too careful at this point."

"Meanwhile," Trixie says, mouth half-full, before swallowing, "this cake is delicious!" Right. It appears everyone else had forgotten about the cake amid the discussion of whose going on which suicide mission tomorrow. Well, everyone else, except one.

"Pinkie's cakes are always the best!" Spike chimes in, his own mouth half-full as well, and already halfway through his cake.

"Spike..." Twilight shakes her head. "How many times have I told you to swallow your food before you speak?"

Spike swallows, casting an annoyed glance at Twilight. "What? Trixie was doing it, too!"

"Yeah, Spike, but she's..." Twilight starts, before Trixie cuts in.

"Rude, self-absorbed, uncultured, and generally a terrible role model?" Trixie grins as she talks. Since when was she into so much self-deprecating humor?

"...I was going to say an adult." Twilight replies, deadpan. "But I'm starting to question that, now."

The rest of us dig into our shares of the cake, the conversation taking a more casual direction as Rarity, Trixie, and Twilight begin filling the other girls in on the events of our day's field trip. Shining Armor and I share a couple looks as they talk, but it seems we've both decided it best to stay away from a seven-mare gossip train. That's one I'm sure we're both happy to see leave the station without us. The cake, on the other hand, is even better than the one from the first night I spent in Ponyville. Apparently, Pinkie's insanity and lack of heed for basic physics somehow translates into consistently delicious desserts.

Once we're done with our cake, the 'party' itself proves to be pretty tame. It's closer to a larger group of friends enjoying a night than anything else, if the decorations and banner are ignored. That isn't to say the party has no games, though - I doubt Pinkie Pie would allow such a party to ever exist, even with my limited knowledge of her. They're simple games, such as Pin the Tail and Rubber Chicken, with bits of friendly conversation and ribbing in between. And I, in my fashion, avoid all of them. Twilight indeed lives up to her word and tries to initiate a game of Twenty Questions, which goes nowhere when I show as much inclination to play it as the other games and, as Trixie predicted, no one else in the room wants to go anywhere near the game.

Things truly escalate, though, when Twilight pulls out the beddings for the night. I'd wondered before why Twilight kept so many spare sets of blankets and pillows stashed away, and now I know - sleepovers like these. Though, I didn't expect the first thing to happen to be a pillow flying through the air, clocking Rainbow Dash straight in the face. I trace its flight path with my eyes to find Trixie's hoof extended, a smug grin on her face, the coat and shirt made by Rarity removed for the night and folded next to what's quickly become my personal crate of holding things.

"It seems not even the fastest flier can dodge a strike from the greatest pillowfighter in all of Equestria!" ...Really?

"...Really?" Rainbow Dash echos my thought, eyebrow raised.

"Of course." Trixie flips her mane back with her right forehoof. "What kind of sleepover is it if there's no pillowfight to assert dominance between the participants?"

"Well- Hey!" Rainbow Dash winces, taking a second pillow to the back of the head.

"She's right, Dashie!" Pinkie chimes in, holding the pillow she just beaned Rainbow Dash with. "The pillowfight is basically the most important part of every slumber party!"

"Yes!" Trixie's eyes glance quickly to me, before returning to Rainbow Dash. "And be assured, in this test of skill, Trixie and her assistant shall be victorious!" Her third-pony speak is making a cameo appearance, though it has a clearly-playful inflection.

I decide this is one game I don't mind getting in on, taking grip of my pillow in my right hand. I narrow my eyes carefully at my target, wind back, and throw - nailing Trixie clean in the face. Her right forehoof raises, gripping the pillow and sliding it slowly off her face, eyes locked in mine in a glare.

As she speaks, she proves if there's one thing she excels beyond even Twilight Sparkle in, its an aggressively deadpan delivery. "Of course you realize, this means war." In response, seven more pillows fly through the air, striking Trixie from all directions, then sliding to the floor around her. "...I see I'm facing a coalition."

"Seems like it'd be better for you to sign a treaty while you still can, Trix." Rainbow Dash sniggers.

Rarity yawns. "Besides, dear, we best turn in early, considering the contents of tomorrow for Trixie, Cloud, and Shining Armor."

"Aw!" Pinkie Pie whines in protest, frowning as her poofed mane seems to deflate slightly, almost like it's a curly balloon that's inflated based on her mood and not hair. "But...!"

"C'mon, Pinks." Applejack comes up and drapes a hoof over Pinkie's shoulder. "It's been a fun party, hasn't it? Let's hit the hay and get some shut-eye. You dun wanna be sleepin' when they take off in the mornin', do ya?"

Pinkie Pie's pupils dilate for a second at the thought, before she bursts out of Applejack's grip. "Nope!" In a flurry of motion, she grabs a pillow and dives under one of the blankets, laying on her side. Once the dust settles, her side is moving up and down rhythmically, as if she's already somehow asleep.

Shining Armor and Trixie blink, clearly a bit dumbfounded at what they just witnessed - and I don't blame them. Our pillows return to their respective owners under the glow of Twilight's magic, and with a few more pleasantries we're scouting out spots for each of us to sleep. For once, I don't choose the spot under that accursed window, deciding to sleep next to a bookcase on the far side of the library instead. I shut my eyes and prop myself on the single pillow, trying to get myself to sleep, partly to be rested and partly to just get Princess Luna inevitably invading my dream-privacy over with.

"Hey." A certain voice stops me though, hushed as to not disturb the others in the room. I crack open one eye to see the silhouette of a particular azure unicorn, even if her colors aren't visible to me well in the dark, her blanket and pillow tossed across her back. "Do you mind?"

I close my eye again and shrug my shoulders, and hear the soft plopping of beddings against the library floor. She settles in, and everything is silent. I begin drifting off, until...

"Do you think we can do it?" She asks, softly.

I crack my eyes open, again turning them to her. She's laying on her side, facing me, eyes reflecting the moonlight seeping into the library's first floor. "Hm?" I ask back, in an equally hushed tone.

She closes her eyes, collecting herself for a moment before speaking again. "Jenova. Do you really think we can beat it. Shining Armor, Princess Luna, and us?"

"We have to." I reply simply.

"You know that's not what I asked."

I turn my eyes to the ceiling, exhaling myself and crossing my arms. "...It's pretty hopeless when you think about it, isn't it?"

"Yeah..." She sighs, and I hear her shifting under her covers. "But so what if it's hopeless, right?"

"Right." I close my eyes, allowing myself to relax for a moment before opening them again, turning them back to her. "Even if it's hopeless, we can't just give up."

"Mm." Trixie murmurs to herself, closing her eyes.

"Hey." I say, the one to break the silence this time.

"What is it, Dusk?" She asks, not bothering to open her eyes again.

"Is everything alright?" This is likely the last chance I'll get to speak to her with any candidness before everything goes belly-up, so it's time to see if I can suss out the cause of her weird behaviours today.

"As well as they can be in these circumstances." She replies with a groan, stretching under her covers and repositioning herself again.

"I can tell when you're lying, you know." I reply bluntly.

"Yeah... I know." The inflection in her voice becomes distant as she speaks. After a hanging silence, she speaks again. "...I'm sorry."

"For?" I ask, curiously.

"You don't have time to be worrying about me like this, right now."

I shake my head on my pillow. "You're wrong." I turn my head to face hers cleanly. "Tomorrow, I won't have time to worry about you. Right now though?" I turn my head up a bit, glancing out one of the windows across the library. "Right now, I have all night."

She laughs twice, muffling it with her hoof. "I suppose so. I'm just... drained. Tired."

"You could've told them no." I reply, understanding what she means. The day, the party, the many masks of Trixie Lulamoon. "They would have understood."

"Yes, but..." She averts her eyes from me. "If things go... less than well, I wanted to try having friends again, at least for a day." She locks eyes with me again. "Besides, if I push everypony away, I'll just become what I used to be." There's a pause as she laughs into her hoof again and smirks. "Or worse, I could become you. And we both know how awful that would be."

I give her a smirk of my own. "Yeah. In fashionista terms, it'd be absolutely dreadful."

With a final laugh, she sighs and closes her eyes again. "Goodnight, Dusk."

"Goodnight." I turn back to the ceiling, resting my eyes as well. The soft breathing to my side tells me it doesn't take long for her to fall asleep. Her words stick with me, though, and something deep in my chest stirs. Things can't go 'less than well'. I can't allow them to. Especially not now. It's with that thought, that determination, that I finally fall asleep.

The next thing I know, my body is heavy. I'm sitting, propped against something. I can hear wind whistling, the hum of an engine, tires grinding against the dirt. My vision, however... my vision is just a blur of light, and nothing on my body will move. Not an arm, or a leg, or even a finger. As I fight futily with my own body, another sound reaches my eyes - the crack of air, one after another.

Gunfire.

Someone grabs me, lifting me, dragging me as I hear the tires screech against the ground, the engine's roar becoming louder but more distant. Before long, I'm propped up against something again, my brain still swimming, my eyes still burning with light, my body still frozen. I hear a laugh, and someone shakes me. At that, my vision begins to clear, and I can see a man standing to my left, smirking, a cross-shaped scar on his left cheek, black hair slicked back aside from a single bang in front of his right eye.

Zack...? But...

He stands up, turning his back to me, the massive, single-bladed Buster Sword clearly visible along his back, the pristine metal shining in the sun. He begins to walk, in the direction the gunfire came from, and it takes everything I have to simply raise my left arm, reaching for him, mind still swimming, trapped like a prisoner in my own body. The sun glares in my eyes, obscuring vision, and...

Wait.

The sky, it's... rippling. Rippling with a deep blue, that temporarily blocks out the sun. Zack, still on the edge of my vision, takes one step back, then two, then turns and runs back to my side, scooping me up and throwing my right arm over his left shoulder, hoisting me up as he begins dragging me along the road. What's...?

"Buddy, you're not gonna believe it," Zack lets out an amused laugh, "but I think divine intervention just saved our butts."

There's a distinct clatter of something landing in front of us, and Zack stops walking. I concentrate, trying my best to raise my head, and see what's on our path. Blue. Wings. Four legs. Horn. Wispy, twinkling hair. Large eyes. I... I know what that is, don't I? I hear Zack draw the Buster Sword with his right hand, and feel his body tensing.

After a moment, it speaks. "...Ah, greetings." My eyes widen and my vision sharpens, the fog lifting from my brain. Princess Luna. Her expression is wrought with confusion, but it's definitely her. Then this is... a dream? Of course. A dream of when Zack... But, my body won't move, still. I can see, I can hear, I can twitch my fingers and toes, but I can't truly move, nor can I speak. Princess Luna's set things off course, but it seems the dream isn't dispelled completely. Zack is still present, and the effects of Mako Poisoning are still paralyzing my body. Has she only dispelled the parts of the dream that she deems to be a nightmare?

"Hey!" He calls back to her, waving at her awkwardly while the Buster Sword is still in his grasp. He turns to me, shaking me with the arm he's using to prop me up. "Cloud, look at this, man! It talks!"

The confusion on her face shifts to a smile. "Yes, We can speak." She nods, coming closer.

Zack moves us closer as well, both of them moving to close the gap in distance between them. "You the one that took care of those Shin-Ra creeps for us, erm...?"

"Yes." She nods. "And Luna, please. You are?" ...This is beyond uncomfortable, being passenger to Princess Luna essentially interrogating my subconscious.

"Zack Fair, SOLDIER, First Class!" Zack replies, planting the Buster Sword into the ground and giving her a thumbs up, then turning away, talking under his breath. "Wait, can't use that one anymore..." He scratches at his head a moment then turns to her again, thumb back in the air. "Zack Fair, ex-SOLDIER, First Class, mercenary for hire! Boring stuff, dangerous stuff, whatever it is, I'm your guy!" He then motions his head and thumb to me. "And this is my partner, Cloud Strife. You could say I'm the calm and he's the storm."

The Princess giggles, and I begin willing my entire body to move, to speak, to do... something, as she looks to me, her expression faltering a bit. "Your... companion, is he well?"

"He'll be fine." Zack shakes me again. "Just a bit of Mako Poisoning. Nothing you can't handle though, isn't it, buddy?"

She takes a few steps closer, coming uncomfortably close to my face as I'm able to force out a groan, then turning to inspect Zack with the same curiosity. "Your eyes appear the same. Brothers?"

"Nah." Zack leans in to her, allowing her a closer look. "Eyes infused with Mako. They're a SOLDIER trademark - eyes the color of the sky!"

"Ah..." Princess Luna takes a couple steps back as a rage-filled, desperate knot builds in my chest. I need my body to move! Her eyes turn to Zack's sword planted in the ground, and even in my state, I can see several expressions of realization flash quickly across her face.

Zack draws the sword from the ground, flicking his right wrist to try and shake the dirt off. He spins it between his fingers, and in that moment... I'm finally able to take a step. As he's placing the sword on his back, I slip away from him, taking one step, then two. "Cloud...?" Zack doesn't appear to move behind me. "You okay, buddy?" I stumble, falling forward with my arms out, my body landing against Princess Luna's, my hands digging into her mane as I try to stay upright, now on my knees.

"Lu... na..." is all I can manage to croak out, hoping that anger is properly conveyed in those two, weak syllables.

She closes her eyes, taking a breath before speaking. "Dreamer... We did not mean this. We merely sought to quell thy nightmare before our task on the morrow, but in Our haste, We have committed a terrible folly, and made thy pain greater." She pauses, taking a moment before continuing. "...Though it means naught, We offer thee Our deepest apologies." Her head bows, and she extends her wings. And, with a single beat, the dream dissolves, everything disappearing, including the Princess of the Night herself, and I'm left on my hands and knees in a void, my chest trembling. I raise my right hand up, now free to move again, and punch down at the void in frustration, and what meets my ears... is the distinct sound of a fist against wood.

"...Cloud?" A familiar speaker asks. "You alright?" Twilight Sparkle. I open my eyes, and find myself back in the library, sunlight filtering into the room.

"Yeah." I assure her as I sit up and look around. All the pony and dragon eyes are on me, Spike and Trixie halfway through setting the table for breakfast, stopped in their work. Everyone else is awake already. Twilight keeps looking at me, expecting a more elaborate answer, but I don't give it to her.

After a minute, she sighs, giving me a sympathetic look. "Well, I was just about to wake you anyway. Breakfast is ready."

I give her a small nod as I try to collect myself. "Thanks." From how Luna spoke, that... incident, seems to have been an accident, but...

"You okay there, big fella?" Applejack asks as we convene around the table.

"Yeah." I look down at the breakfast, a mix of waffles and... eggs? I look around the room, the other ponies around the table having a mix of greens instead of the eggs for themselves. At first, I assume the eggs must be something Spike cooks for himself, until I notice his plate has a... gemstone on it. A gemstone. Between the question of why they have eggs and why Spike's apparently going to eat a gemstone, though, I default to what I've been doing when I encounter something that seems to defy explanation here in Equestria - give up and roll with it. It's easier that way.

"Thanks for helping with the breakfast again, Trixie!" Spike picks up the gemstone from his plate as he talks, taking a bite and confirming both my suspicion and my resolve not to ask about it. "I'd never thought of making waffles like that, either! That's really clever!"

"Just some ingenuity my mother graced me with, Spike." Trixie replies, grinning proudly and showing how faux her humility really is. "Back when I traveled the road in my wagon, neither bits nor space allowed for much beyond the basic kitchen wares, so I was required to learn the old ways of cooking such things should I desire them."

Spike takes a swallow of his... gemstone. "Still. I was losing faith in unicorns that knew how to cook between Twilight and Shining Armor!"

"Oh, hush, Spikey," Rarity interjects after a swallow of her own food, "you know full well my cooking is marvelous, and I'm a unicorn, too, you know."

Spike gives a nervous laugh. "Of course I knew that, Rarity..." He replies, clearly sucking up as Twilight and a few others roll their eyes at him.

I stab absentmindedly at the eggs with a fork, raising them to my mouth and taking a bite. It's hard to even taste it today, though. Between the anger still stewing in my chest at Luna and the weight of what's to come on my shoulders, it's a bit difficult to enjoy the simple pleasures of a good morning's breakfast.

"Um... are you sure you're alright, Cloud?" Especially with ponies asking essentially the same question over and over again. This time, it's the flying butter stick.

"Yeah." I give the same answer I've been giving.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's all you've got to say, huh?" Rainbow Dash leans over the table, pointing a fork at me accusatorily. "We're supposed to be friends here, aren't we? The least you could do is open up a bit if something's eating you this much." She leans back, crossing her hooves.

"Yer one to talk, RD..." Applejack gives her friend a sidelong glance as she mutters.

"Oh, can it!" Rainbow huffs in reply.

"It was just a dream." I cut in before an argument between the two can get fully underway. "Nothing important."

"Want to talk about it?" Twilight asks, taking up the conversation from Rainbow Dash.

I turn my eyes from her, to Trixie, then back down to my food. "...I'd rather not."

"Probably better not to press this one, Twilight." Shining Armor warns her, and it's all I can do to stop a small smirk of appreciation from making its way onto my face. "I have a bit of experience with that look he's got." I'm beginning to take quite a liking to Twilight's brother, now, despite our tense first encounter.

Twilight nods, turning back down to her food. I take a look at Trixie again, and this time she's returning it, her eyes again unguarded, wistful, but also clearly sympathetic. I quickly turn back to my own food, deciding it's the most interesting thing in the room as I get to eating. Whatever chatter crosses the table ends up merely sounding like background noise. After I'm done eating, I excuse myself from the table and head over to my crate of things. No fuss involved, thankfully.

I strap on the leathers of my SOLDIER armor, then the chest plate from Luna's armory, then the matching arm guards, and finally, the cloak. I steady myself with a clench of my fist, and that's the time the one missing member of our party decides to show up. No chariot, no entourage, not even a knock on the door - a simple pop of a teleportation spell, and Luna is standing in front of Twilight's front door, inside the library. A solemn determination is etched into her face, her body clad in her usual battle attire.

She scans the room with her eyes before speaking, all eyes on her after her sudden entrance. "Excellent, the Bearers are all present. This shall make matters simple."

"Princess Luna...?" Twilight's question trails off as she tilts her head.

Luna's horn glows, and a golden box teleports in, held in her magical grip. The top opens, and inside it sit five golden necklaces and a single golden tiara. The necklaces bear gemstones in the shape of a lightning bolt, an apple, a diamond, a butterfly, and a balloon in their centers, while the tiara bears a six-point star on its crest, all similar to the ones inscribed along the gold trim of my cloak from Rarity. Could these be...?

"The Elements of Harmony?" Twilight half-asks, confirming my guess. "Why do you have those, Princess Luna?"

"Our Sister has entrusted them to Our use, Miss Sparkle." Luna explains, as her magic floats the items to the appropriate ponies. "While Our Sister, and indeed, Ourself, believe that relying on the Elements of Harmony to vanquish an interplanetary foe is a gambit that should be avoided, after the encounter in the Ghastly Gorge, we both deign it prudent to keep them as a last resort."

"So, that means..." Twilight starts, but gets cut off before she can finish her thought.

"You want us to come, right?" Rainbow Dash finishes the question, floating up off the ground with her wings and punching the air in what seems to be a usual fashion for her. "Good! 'Cuz I was planning to come anyway!"

"Do not be so eager, little one." Luna shakes her head disapprovingly at Dash. "This merely means the danger to you and the other Bearers is greater, not lesser. That we shall not return is an outcome that must be weighed heavily." Luna closes her eyes, and Rainbow Dash loses a bit of her bluster. "We shall understand if you Bearers wish to remain."

"No." A soft voice answers, and all heads turn to Fluttershy. I'd pin her to be the most against this plan, but... "If there's something we can do, and we don't come now... it'll be able to recover and become too strong for us to do anything later, right?"

Luna nods. "That is Our understanding of this creature, Miss Fluttershy."

"Then we have no choice."

"But..." Applejack turns to speak to Luna now. "What about Princess Celestia? If it's so dangerous, why ain't she here, too?"

"It is because it is so dangerous that Our Sister does not accompany us." Luna steps forward, meeting eyes with the farm pony, then looking across the room at everyone present before continuing. "Should our attempts to fell this monster meet ruin, Our Sister shall remain to attempt to find a new means to preserve Equestria." Luna takes a deep breath before continuing. "It has been Her burden to bear in the past, and She is ready to do so once more."

Silence takes over the room, the 'Bearers' as Luna referred to them as sharing looks, resolve for a mission most hadn't been expecting to undergo firming. The first one to speak, however, is Shining Armor. "Twilight."

"Shiny, I-" Twilight tries to head off what she must expect to be another 'it's too dangerous' speech, only for Shining Armor to use a hoof to place one of the pony-sized helmets we salvaged from Luna's old storehouse onto her head.

"Keep this on." He gives her a smile. "Those brains of yours are too important to let get knocked around."

"...Yeah." Twilight gives him a smile of her own as her horn glows, levitating the rest of the armor set over to herself as she turns to Spike. "Spike, I..."

"I'm staying here, Twilight, don't worry." He looks up to the unicorn, worry clear in his eyes. "I want to come and I appreciate Trixie standing up for me back in Canterlot, but... you wouldn't even be going yourself if you didn't have your Element of Harmony, right?" Twilight nods as he continues talking. "I don't have anything like that, and if you got hurt because you had to protect me, then..."

"Oh, Spike..." Twilight pulls the dragon in for a hug, squeezing him tight. "Everything will be fine, don't worry. We'll be back before you know it." I sure hope that'll be the case, Twilight...

"Dreamer." Luna's voice pulls me away from the pair, but when I meet her eyes, she flinches away slightly. "We have one more matter of business before we embark, however..." Her eyes turn to the floor as her horn glows, and she teleports in a second box. This one is resting against the ground, wood, and about five feet in length. It's a bit larger than I expected, but the shape is unmistakable - this must be the re-forged sword that Luna promised. She turns her eyes away from the box, looking toward one of Twilight's bookcases. "We sought to give you a boon, in gratitude at your efforts to preserve Our ponies... yet now We believe We may have performed an even greater offense than during our previous encounter."

I feel a knot build in my chest, and walk over to the box silently. I take a breath, wondering just what Luna's done this time, and slide the cover off, the wood clattering gently against the floor. Inside is... is...

The engravings along the guard are just as I remember them, but the metal is a midnight blue that matches my 'borrowed' arm guards and chest plate, instead of gold. Stemming from the middle of the guard, in line with the hilt, is the strip of metal meant to secure the Materia... but instead of two simple Materia slots, there are eight familiar, linked slots. The metal itself is bronze - easily recognizable as the metal from my previous sword, clearly salvaged and re-forged for this purpose. The blade is one-sided and straight, transitioning into a sharp, fourty-five degree slant near the tip. The blunt is wide, etched with familiar, lined engravings that disappear under the extended length of the Materia latch. The metal for the blunt, however, isn't the deep grey I remember. Rather, both the blunt and the blade are a shimmering silver, that easily reflects even the smallest bits of lights in the room. My face is clearly visible in the sword's metal, much like a mirror.

I take a breath and reach my right hand tentatively to the hilt, gripping it. It's a long hilt, able to fit both my hands with a bit of room to spare, the pommel a simple metal piece that matches the midnight blue of the guard. I lift, and even the weight is just as I remember it. My breath and my hand both tremble, as I transition the sword to a two-handed grip. I press the side of the weapon to my forehead, clenching my eyes shut. It might have its differences, but what this is intended to be is clear.

The Buster Sword.

The Buster Sword... Zack held it like this once, too, didn't he?

The memory plays back in my mind, a thing I've come to appreciate being able to do again. The two of us are sitting on beds at the inn at Nibelheim. It was just after our first trip to the Mt. Nibel Reactor. Something had happened... though, it's hard to remember what. This was the trip that sent Sephiroth into the mansion's basement, hunting for knowledge, so for now, the town was still in one piece.

"Don't worry, Tifa's safe." Zack assures me, as I stare into my hands, dressed in the uniform of the Infantry Division.

"If only I were SOLDIER..." I hadn't been able to do anything this time, either. "...Zack?"

"SOLDIER is like a den of monsters. Don't go inside." He replies, looking at me with a deady seriousness.

I sit up, leaning closer to him. "What happened?"

"I don't know, man. I thought I knew, but..." He groans and throws himself against the bed, sighing for a minute before slowly rising to his feet, taking one unsteady step after the other toward the center of the room, where his Buster Sword is resting against a table. "I'm with SOLDIER, so fighting's all I do. Sorting things out is someone else's job." His voice trembles, getting more aggressive as he talks. "What's going on? Who's the enemy? It makes no difference to me!" He grips the hilt of the Buster Sword in both hands, spinning in place to face me and bringing it over his head as if to swing it down. He stops himself though, his face becoming pained as he thinks to himself, eventually bringing the Buster Sword in front of him, resting the side of the blade against his face as he takes in a trembling breath.

"Hey, Zack?" I ask, as he takes another breath. "You know, I've never seen you use that."

Zack slowly moves the Buster Sword away from his face, looking at it, eyes clouded in thought. He grips the hilt tight, clearly lost in some fond memory. "This... is a symbol of my dreams and honor." He holds the blade out in front of him, eyes moving from the hilt to the tip. "No, it's more than that. That's right, I had almost forgotten... Thank you, Cloud."

"Right!" I say out loud, alongside the Zack in my memories.

"...Dusk, are you okay?" Trixie asks, pulling my from my thoughts as I turn to her. She's now fully dressed in her new clothing from Rarity. We lock eyes, and this time, I'm sure she's not the only one whose eyes are unguarded.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I stand, turning to her. "Don't worry. I mean it this time." I extend the Buster Sword forward, eyes tracing along the blade much as Zack had in my memory. "You know... it's a lot lighter than I remember."

The Princess lets out a breath behind me, and I can feel her eyes on my back as she speaks softly. "Just be more careful of the wear, tear, and rust this time." She was right before, I shouldn't have tried being cryptic to the Princess that governs dreams.

"Don't worry." I assure her, resting the weapon against my right shoulder, as I head over to my crate to retrieve my Materia. "I don't think that will be a problem anymore."

"The sword," Princess Luna starts, voice taking on its usual tone, "is made from a material known as Starmetal. It is a rare substance known for its ability to conduce various forms of magic. It is Our hope that this more conducive material will help you perform greater amounts of magic before succumbing to magical exhaustion." She closes her eyes, pausing for a moment. "That material is also why it shimmers so beautifully in the light."

"Thank you." I reply, giving the inlays of Materia along the blade a final check before securing them. "Are we ready to go, then?"

"Just one more thing!" Pinkie Pie answers, raising her hoof into the air. Her talking now just makes me realize how quiet she's been this entire morning. She zips over to me, reaching her hoof into my crate and extracting my cowboy hat. In a single motion, she's up my body, pulling my hood back, and slapping the hat down on my head once more. "Now we're ready!"

Heh. I tilt the hat down with my left hand, right still bracing the sword against my shoulder. Between the cloak and the chest plate, there's no arrangements of straps that would allow me to sheathe the Buster Sword properly... but right now, that doesn't seem like such a bad thing. "Alright, everyone." I turn to everyone in the room, giving my left fist a pump. "Let's mosey!"

There's one snort, and then two, as both Rainbow Dash and Trixie break down into a fit of laughter, one forehoof around the other's neck, their remaining forehooves both pointed at me as they lay on the ground in a fit. "Did... did he just say let's mosey?" Rainbow Dash asks in between her laughs. "That has to be the least cool thing I've ever heard!"

"He's such a dork, isn't he?" Trixie chokes out, pounding one hoof against the library's floor.

"Yeah, total egghead!" Rainbow Dash agrees, the two finally having their laughing fit calm as the rest of the ponies in the room can't help but have a small laugh themselves.

Yeah, this is how things should be. And, once Jenova's gone, this is how they'll stay.

Chapter 42: Looking for Diamonds, in All the Wrong Places.

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Chapter 42: Looking for Diamonds, in All the Wrong Places.

I really need to stay around alicorns more often. After Twilight and Shining Armor finish getting their armor on, and the ponies opt to give the remaining midnight set to Fluttershy, Princess Luna is able to use her definition of a 'short range teleport' to take us from the library foyer directly to the place I assume is Rambling Rock Ridge. Knowing the teleport is coming doesn't make it any less disorienting, though. I shake my head to clear it and and look up. The morning sun is bright, peeking over the tops of Rambling Rock Ridge's namesake - a large, chaotic-looking face that truly fits the name.

It doesn't take me long to find our area of interest, however. It's not the rock above, but rather, the ground below. Piles of dirt litter the ground, hole after hole dug. Some are filled in with a new pile of dirt, blocking them, but just as many are left open. I know that the diamond dogs live in burrows, but... seriously?

"Pretty much all of these should lead down to the burrows in some way." Twilight explains. "Last time we were here, that's how it seemed to work, anyway." I'm still not quite sure how that golden tiara is staying on properly for her with that helmet, but it seems to be working, somehow.

Applejack gulps. "Now that Ah think about this, though, it's gonna be a mighty bit difficult findin' anythin' down there..."

"We need to figure out how we're going to get down there, first." I reply, looking down one of the holes. It appears to be a straight fall into darkness - not the safest-looking thing in the world. "Can you teleport us down there, Princess?" I ask, turning to the alicorn of the group.

She shakes her head negatively. "Too dangerous, dreamer."

Twilight elaborates before I can ask for the follow-up. "You need a good idea of where you're going to teleport. If Princess Luna were to teleport us all down there blind, we'd most likely end up stuck inside a wall or something."

"Right..." I turn back and move to a different hole, trying to hunt out any differences in how they're dug.

"This place gives me the creeps..." Shining Armor comments as he looks around, scanning the nearby trees and ridges along with Princess Luna as the rest of us try to find a usable way down. "It's way too quiet." I stop and close my eyes, listening for sounds, and aside from the hooves of the ponies around me, he's right. There's... nothing. It's early morning still, but there aren't even any birds. That's never a good sign.

"Over here!" Rainbow Dash calls, waving the rest of us over with a hoof to a hole she's looking at. "This one looks good!"

We all head over, abandoning our current inspections and crowding around. "What's so special about this one?" I ask, looking at it. I've been looking for some kind of diamond dog service tunnel, or something. This just looks like... another hole.

"We slide down it like we did last time, duh." Rainbow Dash replies, rolling her eyes, flying a bit off the ground with her front hooves crossed. Taking a second look into the hole, I do see it's more slanted than the other tunnels. The dogs must use the nails on their paws to dig and climb along these things, if a steep and painful-looking tube-slide is the best thing we're getting to a proper entrance.

Rarity groans at Rainbow Dash's plan. "I'm so glad we skipped out on the hooficures from Aloe and Lotus, now. I can already tell it'll be even worse than the last time those ruffians dragged me down there!"

"Oh, cheer up, Rarity!" Pinkie chimes, poking her head down the hole. "Just think of it like a really long slide! It'll be fun!"

"A really long slide made of rocks and dirt, maybe." She huffs in reply.

"I'll go first." I volunteer, crouching next to the hole as Pinkie pulls her head out. I motion to the large sword resting limply in my right hand. "Between myself and this thing, you probably don't want to risk me landing on top of anyone."

"Right." Shining Armor nods. "I'll be right behind you. We can secure it if there's anything waiting at the bottom while the Princess and the girls come down."

I give him a nod and set one foot into the hole, then the other, using my left hand to stop myself from sliding away while I position myself. I flip the Buster Sword in my hand so the bladed edge is facing away from me as I rest it to my right side, grip firmly on the hilt. It's a tight fit, but it... mostly works. I give everyone around the hole a final look, prepping myself to slide in until I meet a pair of dark violet eyes. Said pair of dark violet eyes smirks.

"Geronimo!" Trixie yells, jumping from her spot across from me and landing squarely on my chest. The impact knocks out my breath and causes me to lose grip with my left hand, sending me on my trip sliding down the tunnel with an unexpected blue companion.

I'm pretty sure my yell of "Goddammit Trixie!" sounds fairly comical to everyone still topside. These is the kind of antics I'd expect from Pinkie Pie, not from her!

"What?" She protests, hooves around my chest, her mane blowing into my face as we both careen down the steep tunnel. "You were taking too long!"

I wrap my now-jobless left arm around her, securing her to my chest in case of any sudden instances of tunnels no longer being tunnels. "So you decide to use me for a sled? This is already dangerous enough as it is!"

"Oh, don't shoot me out of a cannon, Trixie!" She mocks, placing her right hoof to her forehead and taking a tone suspicious close to Rarity. "Oh, don't ride me like a sled down the long, dark tunnel, Trixie!" She places her right hoof back around my chest and gives me an annoyed look. "Is it your job to complain about everything?"

"Yes!" I yell in reply as the tunnel begins to weave, taking one corner after the other. The only good thing is that it seems to be becoming less steep, and not more.

Trixie sticks her tongue out at me, but thinks better of it as the tunnel takes yet another turn, deciding to keep it in her mouth to avoid biting it off. After a bit more sliding, the tunnel opens up into a cavern, us sliding out one of the side walls and plopping onto the cave floor. And by we, I of course mean myself. My unicorn stowaway wriggles herself free from my arm and jumps off, landing on the floor next to me as I pull myself to my feet. I shake my head clear and go to take a look around...

"How can anything live down here when it's so damn dark?" ...But Trixie's beaten me to it. Thanks, Detective Lulamoon, it's dark in a cave. Who would have guessed? "Gah! Times like this, I'd just..." She trails off, grumbling, though I can guess what she's thinking easily enough.

I rest the Buster Sword against my right shoulder, opening my left palm as the green glow of a Materia casts away the darkness around us. That glow is soon replaced with the flickering light of a Fire spell, bouncing orange off the walls and floor as the wispy fireball floats in my palm. The walls and floor aren't smooth by any means, but everything is a bit too... rounded, to be natural. A mine, maybe? It would make sense, given what I've gleaned about these diamond dogs.

"It's a bit spooky down here, huh?" Trixie comments, walking a bit ahead of me. "There are torches up here, but nothing's lit..."

"Get used to it." I reply as I catch up to her, seeing what she means - sticks for torches, placed in mounts along the walls, but with no flame to light them. I move the flame in my palm up to one, sparking it then pulling it from the mount, allowing me to extinguish the Materia-based flame. "If we're right about Jenova being nice and cozy down here, we'll be running across a lot more than unlit torches."

"Yeah..." She stops, turning back to me. The light of my newly-claimed torch glistens in her eyes, reflecting what's probably the final time I'll get to see under her mask. "There's no going back now, is there?"

"Nope." I shake my head. "Not unless you want to try crawling back up that tunnel."

She turns back to the path ahead, taking a few steps forward. "Good."

"Don't go too far ahead." I remind her. "We need to wait for the others."

As if on cue, we hear scraping coming from the tunnel behind us, and Shining Armor is shot out, landing with a grunt on his flanks. "Man, that's a wild ride." He says as he rubs at the side of his head, shaking it. He looks up at us once he's oriented, and lights his horn to add the rose color of his magic to the orange of my torchlight. "So, everything good down here?"

"So far." I reply, leaning against the cave wall. "There's some more of these unlit torches along the wall, but that's it."

"Spooky." He comments, walking forward to join us.

"That's what I said!" Trixie replies, the carry in her voice causing a small echo down the path ahead. "It's also... really stale down here. The air, I mean."

"We're pretty deep underground." Shining Armor says as he walks forward, inspecting the parts of the cave Trixie and I were looking at earlier. "That's pretty normal, but... yeah, it's worse than I thought it'd be."

There's more scraping, and the three of us turn back, just in time to see the pony-equivalent of a six-car pile up. The six Bearers are in a heap, with Pinkie Pie on top of the lot. "That was fun! Let's do it again!"

"Let's... not, Pinkie." Twilight groans, trying to struggle her way out from under her friends. She quickly gives that up, and instead lights her horn, using her magic to pull apart the pony pile so each of them can shake off and get oriented.

"This place wasn't so dark when those ruffians brought me down here." Rarity comments as her and Twilight Sparkle both light their horns, raspberry and light blue mixing into our existing orange and rose lights.

"It looks empty, though..." Fluttershy says, eyes darting around as the six ponies reach us.

"Spooky!" Pinkie Pie bounces down the tunnel ahead of us, turning around once she reaches the edge of our lights, grinning. "Whose ready for some caving?"

No one gets the chance to answer her question, as we hear the last expected set of tunnel-scraping, and Princess Luna is tossed out of its mouth, unceremoniously landing on her ass on the cave floor. She, however, doesn't seem to need any time to get oriented again, immediately getting up to her hooves. "Ah, that was quite exhiliarating!"

"I know, right!" Pinkie waves at her, still grinning.

I give the Princess a sidelong glance as her horn glows, and midnight joins our mix of lights. "I swear, if you call this place spooky..."

"Tis nothing 'spooky' about this place, dreamer." The Princecss says as she walks forward, our group reforming itself. "We believe the modern vernacular for Our feelings of this place would be... 'homey'." She says with a grin and I shrug, shaking my head.

We head forward, Shining Armor taking the initiative to decide the group formation. I'm leading, with Twilight and her friends behind me, while Princess Luna and Shining Armor take up the rear. The only one not following his plan is Trixie - a big surprise - who is walking slightly ahead of me. Despite our initial banter, a tense silence has fallen over our group as we navigate the cave. The colors of our hornlights and torch bounce off the walls and ceiling as we progress, blending together in a swirl of color that's reflected in the Buster Sword's blade. Princess Luna was right in her description before - the Starmetal reflects the light beautifully, bright colors blending together, interrupted only by the single strip of bronze, the Materia inside it twinking in the lights in their own way.

"Hey." Trixie stops, causing our party to halt. It doesn't take us long to see why. "Guess this is the fun part of the caving, Pinkie?"

"Yup!" Pinkie affirms cheerily as we look down a split of branched paths, tunnels twisting off our current path in at least four new directions. It seems the diamond dogs had more than a cave network going - they had a cave maze, if this first split is indicative of anything.

"Any idea where we go from here?" I ask, to no one in particular.

"Yes." Princess Luna answers. "The diamond dogs We interrogated back in Canterlot revealed to Us that Beethoven kept his 'prize' with the diamond dogs' treasure horde."

"...And how do we find that?" I don't see how knowing it's possibly in with their treasure horde helps if we have no idea where the treasure horde is.

"Oh, oh! Pick me, pick me!" Pinkie hops up and down, her right hoof raised excitedly as she grins. I give her a nod, not knowing quite what insanity to expect from her, and she starts speaking. "When Rarity was taken by those mean old diamond doody heads, we had Twilight use a gem finding spell because we figured Rarity would be near a big pile of gems since they took her to help hunt for them! So we just have Rarity use it now and look for the biggest pile of gems they've got!" ...I'm not sure what's happening. Pinkie Pie just came up with a sane, coherent, and usable plan.

"Excellent idea, darling!" Rarity closes her eyes, her horn staying aglow but the blue tint disappearing from our mix of lights. Instead, spots on the ground begin glowing in her magical aura, and the outline of the gems beneath the surface becomes visible. A quick look to the Buster Sword shows the Materia along it highlighted in blue, and the lapels and left sleeve of Trixie's coat are also glowing.

"Oh, that's neat!" Twilight moves in front of Trixie, looking over her glowing bits, clearly impressed with her friend's spell. "That spell even detects Materia, Rarity!"

"It's quite nice, isn't it?" Rarity grins proudly. "I may not be a magic efficionado like you, Twilight, but the few spells I do have, I don't cut corners on."

"Looks like Twilight was right about you, Rarity." Trixie says, turning down the tunnel that seems to have the largest concentration of gems, her voice taking on that distant tone.

"What do you mean, dear?" Rarity asks as the rest of us begin filing into the new tunnel forward, using our previous party arrangement.

"Trixie, I-" Twilight starts, but is quickly cut off.

Trixie speaks, talking over Twilight, though she doesn't turn to face either unicorn, instead keeping her gaze locked on the path ahead. "When we took the train to Canterlot, Twilight and I spoke of a few things. It simply came up in conversation that she thought you could have been an excellent magician had you not chosen to pursue fashion, is all." Her voice betrays the unspoken part of that sentence, the you could have been a far better magician than I ever was.

"Ah, well..." The measured tone in Rarity's own voice shows she, at least, picked up on it. "I'm flattered, really, but magical study like you and Twilight are into never clicked well with me. I'd have never gotten that far in it. These spells only work so well because they're part of my passion, you see."

"I see..." I see Trixie's head nod absently as her voice trails off, letting the conversation hang.

We keep walking, the tunnel opening up to the cave system at large. A stone bridge extends from the opening of the cavern behind us, to one directly across, a deep chasm beneath us. The lights of our group's torch and horns dance along the stalactites and outcroppings of the ceiling above us, but fail to reach the walls or the floor. How massive is this place?

"This way, everypony." Rarity turns her head to the left as we reach the far side of the bridge, instead eyeing a precarious path down the side of the wall. Looking at it, I'm not entirely sure how a pony would traverse something that thin without flying. Without being able to sheathe the Buster Sword, I'm not sure I'll be able to traverse it, either. Claw marks line the foot path and the wall it's against, leaving a clear hint on how the diamond dogs traversed it, at least. Rarity raises her hoof, pointing to the outcropping that path leads toward, a spacious platform with a more reasonably sized slope that leads deeper downward. "I think... we need to go this way."

"Can the Princess teleport us again?" I ask, after a quick scan of the faces in our group makes me think my assumption of them not being able to cross that ledge to be correct.

"We could." The Princess confirms. "However, to teleport you, Our eight ponies, and Ourself is quite a magical exertion, even if Our previous usage made you believe elsewise. It is power We would prefer to keep to fight the creature, if possible."

"Then it looks like this is a job for The Great and Powerful Trixie!" Trixie grins as she steps forward, reaching the ledge of our bridge and staring across the gap. Her declaration echoes through the cavern, causing her name to repeat back to us enough times that, at an earlier time, I would've mistaken it for her ego's air pump.

Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes. "I thought you didn't do the third-pony thing anymore, Trix?"

"Oh, hush!" She fires back, shooting Rainbow Dash a glare before turning back to the gap in front of us. "Watch, and be amazed!" She closes her eyes, and after a moment, her body becomes surrounded by the telltale green wisps of Materia magic. They extend out as two strings of magic, swirling together like a wide double-helix. They start at the ledge in front of Trixie, slowly making their way down to the lower ledge identified by Rarity, a path of ice forming between them, soon bridging the two areas together. For now, at least. She looks at her work and gives a smug grin. "How's that?"

"Oh, neato! It's an ice slide!" Pinkie praises as she pushes forward to get a better look at it. "Looks fun!"

"A slide, huh?" Trixie turns from Pinkie to her creation. "I suppose it is. Let's try it!" Trixie sits at the base of the 'slide' and pushes herself off, quickly crossing the gap with the ice.

"Woo-hoo!" Pinkie bounds to the front and jumps into the slide, front hooves waving in the air as she follows Trixie's lead.

"That's dangerous, you two!" Shining Armor yells across as Pinkie clears the chasm, both mares getting to their feet on the other side.

"Yeah, sister!" Pinkie says with a grin as her and Trixie share a hoof-bump.

"It's okay, Shining." Rainbow Dash takes to the air, hovering beside the 'slide'. "I'll make sure no one falls."

"Right..." He mutters as Applejack takes the trip across the slide.

Each of the girls crosses in turn, followed by Shining Armor. His time crossing, however, leaves cracks in the ice due to his added weight and previous six ponies' worth of strain. Which is why...

"Luna..." I mutter, looking at her as she sits at the base of the slide. "...Why?"

"Is it so strange for Us to take enjoyment in things like a normal pony?"

I shake my head as she pushes herself down the slide, but the sound of added cracks pulls my attention back to her quickly. As she slides, the ice behind her is breaking, falling into the chasms below. Good news, I don't need to slide across like a child. Bad news, I can't really get across now at all. Great. The Princess crosses safely and gets to her feet, giggling with Pinkie as Trixie approaches the ledge on her side.

"Think you can make another one?" I yell across, decided sliding across like a child is preferrable to trying to walk the ledge to my right.

"Just jump it, you big baby!" She yells back. Jump it? Is she nuts? "You used to clear stuff like this easily, didn't you?"

She's not entirely wrong, thinking on it. Were I still in Gaia, were I still... this wouldn't be a problem. The problem is that I'm not, and that situation has me weaker. Although, maybe... "Yeah, I got it!" I yell back across.

The ponies on the other ledge back up, leaving me some room as I try to give myself some room to run. With a running start, and the Time Materia, I might be able to clear it. I cast the Haste spell before I can consider backing out, and my feet get running, kicking off against the ledge, Buster Sword gripped tightly in the right hand and torch in the left. I can hear Rainbow Dash's wingflaps behind me, clearly ready to try and pull a recovery when this plan goes belly-up. The lower ledge, and in turn, the ground, gets closer with each second, and it looks like I might actually make it. Almost...

I toss the torch from my left hand, reaching forward and grabbing the far ledge as the rest of my body smacks into it. I can feel the rock strain slightly under my fingers, as my face lets me know how much it doesn't appreciate being impacted into the side of a cliff. The important part, though, is... "Hey, look at that. I made it."

I can't help but give a small grin as I feel Rainbow Dash's hooves under my arms, and the pull of magic around my left hand as it glows a mix of raspberry and midnight. After I set my feet down on the outcropping with everyone else, I look down at Trixie, and we share grins, me passing her a thumbs up with my now-free left hand. A certain lavender mare, however, isn't amused.

"Cloud, remember what I said in Canterlot?" She asks, deadpan, causing both myself and Trixie to turn to her. "I've reassessed it some. You're both idiots."

"Let's get going." Shining Armor says, his tone making it clear it's time for business, as Twilight and Luna's hornlights rejoin his in lighting our path. "Straight down, right, Rarity?" He asks, pointing a hoof into the depths of the cave. Far beyond our light, we can see a particularly large cluster being revealed by Rarity's gem-finding spell.

"Yeah. That's the biggest one I'm seeing." She replies with a nod, and we continue our descent.

Princess Luna has replaced Trixie at the front as we descend, her horn lighting the way down a mix of winding paths and hops between ridges. The more we descend, the more I realize just how completely unsurvivable a miss on that jump I made likely would've been. The distance between the ceiling and the cave floor has to be at least a hundred feet - probably more, as it's hitting the size where guestimation really isn't reliable. After finally reaching the floor level, we continue forward, along one of the walls. Though, soon, the walls start looking less like walls...

"Hey..." Twilight looks up along the wall, examining it. "These look like buildings carved into the side of the cave."

"Are you surprised, Miss Sparkle?" Princess Luna asks from the front. "Regardless of what your previous encounter with them may make you believe, the diamond dogs are a race with their own country. It is not surprising they would have housing, as well."

"I knew that, Princess, but," she continues looking along the walls, trying to peek into whatever windows or door frames she can without causing us to stop, "it's just, seeing it up close like this... it's so different from what you'd see in Equestria."

"And empty." I add, having taken some glances through the windows myself, and extrapolating from my previous experience. "Jenova's definitely been here."

Rainbow Dash gulps. "You mean, it... took them?"

"Yes." I nod. "Most likely. Either that or they were smart enough to run before it could."

"This is it... I think." Rarity says, causing us to stop in front of one of the buildings.

"A diamond dog banking facility." Princess Luna says, looking up at the building before us. "Of course." Its a larger building, with two tall, wooden doors - an unusual feature, considering most of the door frames and windows of the houses were devoid of wood and glass. Tall stairs and statues of diamond dogs lead up to said door, and above it is a sign in a language I can only guess is native to the diamond dogs. Even without being able to read it, its clear this building holds added import, and it seems Princess Luna has the reading part covered for us.

It's then that the doors of the bank burst open without warning, a creature launching at us from the darkness inside! Shining Armor and Princess Luna both prove quicker to the draw than I am, the former using a bubble shield to block the creature, filling the cave with the sounds of nails scraping on glass as his shield seems to effortlessly block its attack. Princess Luna quickly follows up, wrapping the creature in her magic and pinning it to the ground as it snarls and barks. We move in for a closer look, Twilight and Rarity using hornlight to reveal it in the darkness, and...

The creature struggling and snarling in Princess Luna's grip is best described as a chimera. A sick, demented chimera. It has the torso, wings, and legs of a bat-pony - one that bears the clear signs of fighting for its life back when it was still alive. Its tail is missing, and the flesh of its flank is tattered, leaving its cutie mark barely discernable. The front legs and head of the bat-pony are gone as well. In place of the front legs are a pair of the lumbering, muscular arms of a diamond dog, attached awkwardly into the pony's shoulders to give them proper mobility as they continue flailing in the Princess' grasp, their length slightly asymmetrical. The head snarls, drooling and barking as it stares at us with lifeless eyes, taken from a diamond dog as well. However, even in the multi-color hornlight, it's easy to see that the furs of the two arms and head don't match. Jenova clearly plucked the parts it desired from three different diamond dogs, like some sick science experiment. Its work is marked as its own by bits of its signature, sickly-blue flesh, applied almost like an adhesive to keep the diamond dog and pony parts connected together.

"This is..." Fluttershy mutters, taking a step backwards. "How horrible..."

"Ah think I'm gunna hurl..." Applejack mutters, gulping in a clear attempt to prevent that outcome.

"This is why the houses were empty..." Twilight mutters, collapsing onto her flank. "This thing... how...?"

I take a firm grip on my Buster Sword with both hands, though I leave it resting on my right shoulder. "Everywhere will be like this if we don't kill Jenova before it recovers."

Princess Luna looks down at the flailing creature before her. The color of her magic becomes more intense, as do its struggles, but after a short time, its eyes go wide and its body flops limply against the ground. She's clearly killed it with her magic, and I'm not sure I want to know the details on how. She sighs as she releases her magical grip, closing her eyes for a moment. "We art sorry thy hast met this fate, Evening Breeze." She says solemnly, slipping into older tongue, before her voice fills with anger. "To create such an abomination from one of Our Night Guard... the creature shall meet a true reckoning at Our hooves."

"Will I?" A shrill, female voice asks from behind us. We turn, and the speaker's teal, cat-like eyes greet us through the darkness, a star-speckled mane twinking despite the darkness around it. The rest of its body is framed by wispy, green threads of light behind it - the telltale light of Lifestream - and I recognize it as the alicorn form Jenova took briefly at the Ghastly Gorge. Its wings are spread wide, head raised, clearly taking pleasure in making itself looking large and intimidating. It's standing on the edge of a cliff we hadn't noticed due to our focus on the buildings - the wisps of Lifestream clearly coming from further below.

"Nightmare Moon..." Twilight mutters as I grip the Buster Sword, not delaying in taking up a fighting stance. The ponies around me don't delay, either - horns glowing, hooves digging into the dirt, and one particular blue pegasus taking to the air slightly above us.

Well, they don't delay, except for one. "I thought you were Nightmare Moon, though, Princess Luna?" Pinkie Pie asks, pointing a hoof between the Princess at our side and the alicorn across from us. "How can she be there if you're here?"

"It's just a ghost created by Jenova." I explain. "Somehow, it can read memories, and it takes pleasure in tormenting you before it kills you. This is just another one of its games."

"Oh!" Pinkie turns a stink-eye toward the fascimile of Nightmare Moon and digs her hooves into the ground as well. "Well that's not very nice! Let's kick its butt!"

"We hope thee have enjoyed thine time on Our planet, creature," Princess Luna steps forward, her voice firm and aggressive, "for it shall expire soon, along with thyself."

"Have you already forgotten our last encounter, Princess Luna of Equestria, Mistress of the Night, Moon, and Stars?" It jeers in reply, a wide grin displaying its fangs as its eyes narrow.

"I remember you losing last time." I answer its mocking before Princess Luna can, stepping forward along with Shining Armor to stand next to her. "And you're even more outgunned than last time."

It snorts, throwing its head back and letting out a shoulder-shaking laugh, the kind I would expect from Sephiroth, each cackle bouncing and echoing off the walls of the cave, before turning back down and meeting my eyes. "My numbers are the ones that are greater this time. Leave it to a vessel to not know how to count!"

"What do you-" I start, but Princess Luna cuts me off.

"One score of Night Guards..." Princess Luna's voice quakes in anger. "Thee shall know a torment far greater than Tartarus could dream to give, creature."

Its wings beat once in reply, and from the cliff behind it rise forms that, even in the dim light of the Lifestream wisps and assorted horns, are clearly more like the creature behind us. Their limbs and heads hang limp, like puppets being held up by their strings. Some sport the helmets, shields, and spears I remember being wielded by the diamond dogs the time I encountered them in Ponyville, while others have nothing but their claws and teeth. A score... twenty. Twenty Night Guards. Minus the one behind us, that must leave nineteen of them floating behind 'Nightmare Moon' like marionettes. It steps forward, eyes narrowing, the mirth of its mocking and jeering disappearing.

"This cave shall be your grave, fools." It states, before its mouth breaks out into a grin, dripping with malice, fangs bared once more. "Though, if its any consolation, I'll be sure it's only your spirits that make this their final resting place."

Chapter 43: Don't Forget the Kitchen Sink!

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Chapter 43: Don't Forget the Kitchen Sink!

The grotesque once-bat ponies behind the replica of Nightmare Moon twist themselves to life, howls and barks filling the cave as they stretch their limbs. I grip the Buster Sword's hilt and dig in my feet, readying myself as it takes a single step forward. The step acts like a signal to the dog-bat-pony monsters behind it, sending all of them lunging for us, spears raised and claws open as they fly past their controller and toward their targets - us.

In response, Shining Armor's horn glows, and a massive dome of rose magic encases us. Spears and claws slam and scrape against it, the piercing cacophony against the glass-like shield making my head feel like it's going to split open. 'Nightmare Moon' steps forward again, its horn glowing a pale, sickly green, and with a series of pops, the entire brigade of creatures has vanished. It's only for a moment, however, as another series of pops signals their return to existence, this time within the boundaries of Shining Armor's shield as their owner grins wide, fangs bared.

"Enough, cur!" The Princess' shout is punctuated with a blinding burst of magic. Even without being the recipient, the wind fallout it generates is enough to nearly sweep me off my feet. I squint my eyes as the light dims, and I can see Shining Armor's shield is gone, and our would-be attackers are scattered across the ground. All, except one...

There's a pop, flares of wings, and a shrill laugh as the construct of Nightmare Moon emerges from a burst of green teleportation magic. She's directly in front of us, shooting through the air with wings spread, and collides with Princess Luna, both rolling and toppling to the ground in a flurry of wings and hooves.

"Princess!" Shining Armor calls out as both him and myself turn to the fighting alicorns, now on the ground between ourselves and the girls.

"Behind you!" Trixie warns as the horns of both Rarity and Twilight light up, concussive blasts firing.

I spin back around in time to be greeted by one of the shield-and-spear bearing dog-bat-pony things ramming its shield directly into my chest, pushing me off my feet and slamming me into the ground. It leans its weight down on the shield and snarls, spear raised to strike. The spear plunges down for a killing blow, and I catch it in my left hand, straining against the surprising strength of the thing on top of me as it attempts to turn my face into a kabob. I grip the Buster Sword's hilt, scraping together enough focus to call on the yellow Enemy Skill Materia closest to the guard, and try to keep the spear back as I cast one of its spells. The beast atop me slams down, its shield pressing hard and sudden into my chest, winding me as the telltale 'bop!' and a glitter of stars in the sides of my vision tells me the Chocobuckle spell's hit true, stunning it long enough for me to toss it to the side and roll myself on top of it. In a less dire situation, I'm sure the surrounding ponies would've found the illusory image of the fat, yellow Chocobo flopping down on myself and my opponent quite humorous, but it only takes the quickest of glances to see everyone else is knee-deep in their own piles to deal with.

Keeping my left hand on the spear to pin it to the ground, I raise the Buster Sword in my right, spinning the blade to point it at the creature's chest, and plunge it in without a moment's hesitation. Then, with a single, gasping bark, it... dies? That's it? While this would be a lethal wound to most normal living creatures, Jenova's proven plenty able to circumvent that in the past. Even as I pull the Buster Sword out, the wound doesn't bleed, and the Buster Sword comes away essentially free of gore, so the creature wasn't 'alive' in the traditional sense, either. For all of the jeering Jenova did through its construct of Nightmare Moon, these things don't seem anywhere near strong enough. It's like it didn't care and just slapped these things together in the hopes of overwhelming us with numbers, like some knockoff toy company or something.

I get to my feet and try to assess the situation quickly. Shining Armor's linked up with at least Twilight and Rarity, as I can see him using his shields to block incoming dog-bat-ponies as a pair of concussive blasts work to knock them back. Bits of rainbow contrail hang in the sky, and occasional explosions combined with bits of confetti on the ground tell me there's a Party Cannon being put to use somewhere. I can't find the Princess or 'Nightmare Moon' anywhere, nor can I find... Trixie! I scan around, trying to catch even a glimpse of the blue unicorn or any of her Materia's magic, but I don't see her anywhere. That's when my eyes fall on the structure in front of me - the bank.

Without thinking, my feet are moving, Buster Sword held in both hands as I run through the previously-burst doors. The inside is filled with several overturned stone desks and stone chairs, claw marks lining not only the furniture but the floor and walls, too. I hear the scrapes of fighting and barking deeper in, and try to find a doorway deeper in.

"Well, come and get it!" The target of my search yells, anger and aggression easy to spot in her voice as lightning flashes to my left, revealing a doorway on the far side of the room. A crack of thunder accentuates a pair of the dog-bat-ponies being hurled from the room, their bodies sizzling and stilled. I linger a moment, looking at them to see if they twitch, but the loud thump of an impact against hard plastic gets me moving - the distinct sound of something hitting the diamond-shield made by a Barrier Materia over the glass-like dome shields of unicorn magic.

I turn into the room - some sort of office, from the looks of it - and immediately jump back, barely avoiding being caught in the black, sparking sphere of a Gravity spell that's now pressing the remaining creature against the floor. It begins struggling, and the inky blackness of the spell only becomes thicker, further obscuring the writhing target beneath it. After a few seconds, its motion cease, but the spell intensifies again, pressing it deeper into the ground before finally dispelling, leaving behind the remains a creature that's just a bit too flat.

"Trixie...?" I ask, standing just outside the doorway, turning my eyes from the thing in front of me to her. Her own eyes are wide, and have this strange glint in them, one that knots my stomach with a number of emotions I don't have the time to stop and pull apart right now.

"I'm okay, Dusk." She replies, though she sounds anything but okay. Besides her ragged breathing, her voice is quivering, clearly straining to keep itself together. With a bit of inspection, I can see her legs shaking slightly as well.

"Trixie, it's okay if you-"

"I said I'm fine, Dusk!" She yells, cutting me off, eyes clenched shut. The outburst catches me off guard, and makes the knots in my stomach clench tighter.

"Yes, listen to the poor mare." The voice I've come to recognize as Nightmare Moon makes me spin on my spot, raising the Buster Sword. It's standing casually in the center of the bank foyer, wings spread, a smug grin on its face. Wasn't this thing supposed to be fighting Princess Luna? How had it snuck up without making any sound? "Trust me, you'll know when she stops being fine."

It beats its wings and kicks its hooves to lunge forward, not even giving me the courtesy of being able to make a counter-witticism to its jeering. I adjust my grip on my Buster Sword and bring it up over my right shoulder, both hands tightly gripped on the hilt, prepping for a vertical slash. If this thing wants to charge me like that, I'll just cleave it in two and be done with it! I bring the sword down, no room left for the clone of Nightmare Moon to dodge unless it teleports or uses a similar trick. Instead of the expected tearing through flesh, though, there's a bright flash of white, and a collision of metal against metal that stops my attack mid-arc.

I get my eyes open again as my muscles flare from trying to overcome the force stopping my Buster Sword, and what's in front of me is no longer Nightmare Moon, despite the black feathers dispersed in the air around us. Piercing blue Mako Eyes, a black robe, flowing silver hair, and an eastern-styled sword of incredible length, defensively held in two hands as it blocks the strike of my Buster Sword. Of course, it wouldn't pass up an opportunity to use that form as well.

To my own surprise, I'm able to overcome not-Sephiroth's raw strength, forcing it to break the clash of blades and backstep into the bank's foyer. I don't waste time, rushing forward with blade at the ready. One clash, two clashes, three, metal clashing against metal as sparks fly, and I push it back to the foyer's far wall. Soon, it'd have nowhere to backstep to and I'd be able to-

On one of my swings, the clone of Sephiroth smirks, moving its right hand up to intercept the Buster Sword in a glow of pale-green magic. The sword glows green, and I remember our encounter in the Ghastly Gorge - right, able to use unicorn magic regardless of form. Forgot that one. It's the one to lunge forward this time, stabbing forward with its left-handed grip on the Masamune, aiming clean for my chest to open old wounds yet again. This time, however, something neither it nor I expect happens as both our ears are filled with the sound of metal scraping against metal, the blade passing harmlessly to the side of my chest instead. The chestplate from Canterlot! I didn't even feel the impact of its attempted stab, so maybe there's more to those enchantments Twilight mentioned than we suspected.

I don't waste the opportunity, though - channeling the power of a Materia as I grab the fake Sephiroth's stupid, snide face with my left hand, my Buster Sword still under the grip of his magic. With the help of the Fire Materia, an explosion erupts from my left hand, sending him slamming into the far wall of the foyer while I end up on my ass in the middle of it. I groan, and there's another flash of light, after which I'm able to catch a glimpse of the form of Nightmare Moon retreating through the bank's front entrance and back into the fray with everybody else.

A patter of hooves on the stone behind me alerts me to the approach of a certain azure unicorn as I try to get myself back to my feet. "You alright, Dusk?" She asks, though I can already feel the breeze of the Cure Materia over my body, taking care of whatever bruises and the bits of soreness I've racked up so far. I give her a nod, and the two of us head out of the bank in pursuit of the again-Nightmare Moon, and the sight that greets us is... interesting.

A number more of the dog-bat-ponies are strewn across the ground, though they're not all out of the fight yet. Above us, Rainbow Dash and Princess Luna are engaging in an air duel with a number of the creatures, in addition to Nightmare Moon, trading magical blasts and dodging spears and claws. To our right, Shining Armor is protecting the rest of the girls as they fight back the remainder of the creatures with magic and gunpowder-launched party supplies... though they're also being pinned down by Nightmare Moon. Directly in front of us, at the ledge where the occasional wisps of Lifestream can be seen, is, again, Nightmare Moon, wings spread and horn aglow. Three Nightmare Moons...?

I think I get it now. The reason the dog-bat-ponies seem weak and the reason I was able to overpower it when it took on the form of Sephiroth... none of these constructs are done yet, are they? We've come to crash its party before it was ready for us, so it's just throwing whatever it has at us and hoping we die. Trixie and I both seem to come to the same snap decision without communicating - deciding to run across the cave floor toward the Nightmare Moon at the ledge, before it can finish whatever it's planning.

"Look out below!" This time it's Rainbow Dash giving the warning, drop-kicking one of the creatures into the ground next to us, rock shattering beneath its impact. We turn our heads up, and see what the warning's for - the rest of the ones fighting her and Princess Luna have broken off, leaving the Princess and that copy of Nightmare Moon in a duel as the remainder of the dog-bat-ponies try to keep us from our goal.

"Dusk, go!" Trixie urges me, and I can see the aura of Materia around her as she keeps her eyes locked on what's above us.

"Right!" I keep running forward, trusting Trixie and Rainbow Dash to keep my back covered.

I go for what's become my standard - Haste from Time to close the gap combined with a fireball from Fire to try and break its concentration early. A green barrier rises, blocking the fireball, and I pull my sword up, ready to strike it and try to force my way through. A beam of red light flies past me, however, and smashes into the barrier - causing it to shatter like a broken mirror and giving me a clean shot. Looks like DeBarrier works on unicorn shields, after all! Thanks, Trixie.

I kick off the ground, taking into the air and sweeping the Buster Sword up over my head, locked onto my target. As I'm in the air, though - I see something that makes my aim falter, just the smallest bit, and I end up merely cleaving off one of the faux-Nightmare Moon's wings instead of cleaving the body apart. It turns to me, almost casually, grinning with narrowed, predatory eyes. If I caused it pain, it's not showing it.

"Looks like you caught a glimpse at my next surprise, hm?" It asks, mockingly, as Lifestream bursts up from the pit behind it, coalescing into a massive sphere.

I take one step back, then one more, as a roar causes the entire cave to tremble. The cocoon of Lifestream erupts open, revealing its contents - a massive creature of at least twenty feet in length - and I quickly find my steps back further multiplying as I try to rejoin the rest of our group.

A stubbed snout, covered in greyed bones, framing beady red eyes. A crown, protruding out in six directions from the back of its skull, the tips of the bones singed red. A distorted body, exposed, red muscles protected by nothing but layers of grey bone plates where scales once were. Claws and feet tipped in twisted, yellow nails. Once-majestic wings, now replaced with two frames of bone, curved into a fascimile of what they once were, yet still capable of flight Arms and a tail, covered in bony spines, tail adorned in a bladed tip.

This... this is why the Bahamut Materia had stayed grey after the defeat of Jenova's heart in Ghastly Gorge.

"You've got to be kidding me! How is this even remotely fair?!" Trixie yells in disbelief, the frozen forms of several dog-bat-ponies immobile on the ground next to us. I can guess how she took care of that mess, it looks like. "First all these sick Night Guards, then three Nightmare Moons, and now Bahamut?! We don't even have time to deal with one thing before the next thing shows up!"

The Nightmare Moon from the sky comes tumbling into view, slamming into the one standing on the ledge and causing both to collapse in a heap as Princess Luna lands next to us. Her breath is paced, eyes locked on the enemies in front of us. "It seems the creature has become desperate."

"That's what I was thinking." I look between the two Nightmare Moons trying to untangle themselves from each other to the one at our right, which is now backing off slightly, the remaining six bat-dog-ponies converging around it.

"So, uh," Rainbow Dash says as she glides down to us, our group taking the chance to regroup as well, "anyone got a plan? Because that's a dragon!"

"Well, we could always-"

"Hit it until it stops moving isn't a plan, Dusk!"

Shining Armor steps forward, horn aglow. "Well, somepony better think of something quick! Here it comes!"

Bahamut roars, and a buildup of blue energy in its maw reveals why everything else backed away from us. The blast erupts with a crack through the air, a ball of superheated energy wasting no time in traveling the short distance between the distorted form of Bahamut and ourselves. Shining Armor conjures a flat, rose-colored shield between us and the incoming sphere of certain, painful death, and the explosion that sounds from them colliding rocks the cave. I use my left arm to pull my cloak up over my face, wind and smoke billowing from the impact point, forcing my eyes to squint.

As the wind dies and the smoke clears, however, I see one thing I hadn't expected - Shining Armor's shield, standing in absolute defiance of Bahamut's strike, not even a single crack along its surface. Unlike everything else Jenova has thrown at us, there's no doubt about whether Bahamut's running at full capacity with an impact like that, so the shield surviving so cleanly is truly something else. I'd always figured that Shining Armor's butt-stamp being a shield had to do with being a Guard Captain, but I'm starting to think its meaning is a lot more literal.

Without warning, Bahamut surges forward, and our group scatters to the left, the only safe direction left for us to run as the dragon punches with its right fist, smashing through the face of the bank like it's tissue paper. I spin my head back in time to see its right arm tear through the wall of the cave as it swings its body to face us, unleashing an enraged, guttural, quaking roar, the debris from the wall creating a cloud of rock dust in front of it as larger chunks clink against a makeshift shield from Shining Armor. The cave itself rumbles from the abuse as stalactites are dislodged from the ceiling, crashing down dangerously close to us themselves.

"It's going to bring the cave down on top of us at this rate!" Twilight yells as she looks over her shoulder, panic seeping into her voice.

"Ahead of us!" Trixie yells as pops sound out to our front. Our attention snaps frontward, revealing the six dog-bat-ponies now blocking our path. Meanwhile, the sounds of massive claws slamming against the cave floor greets our backs, indicating we don't have time to stop and deal with these things, even as they raise their shields and spears to charge us down.

"Stand aside!" The Princess' eyes and horn glow, and she uses a similar tactic to the first time the creatures attacked us this way, an explosion of magic forcing them to the side and onto the ground. It doesn't take long for the rest of that event to repeat itself as well, one of the Nightmare Moon constructs teleporting in front of us, dangerously close, ready to attack during the lull in Princess Luna's magic.

Sadly for it, though, I teach it why it's a bad idea to use the same plan twice in one fight with a thrust of my Buster Sword. I skewer it through the side, just below the wing, like the kabob its minion tried to turn my face into earlier. I pull it off its hooves with a heave, arms straining and heart racing at the combined effort of lifting an alicorn without breaking my stride. With a horizontal swing of my sword, I toss it off as the body begins reverting back to whatever its original form was - most likely a diamond dog, but none of us waste time looking to confirm that as it slams into the cave wall. The scattered forms of the dog-bat-ponies don't seem to be getting back up, either - so the one that just went down was the one controlling them, it seems like. Hopefully that means they'll stay down.

The steps behind us get dangerously close, and Shining Armor spins back to face Bahamut again, raising another shield. The ex-Dragon King winds back a fist-balled claw and slams down a right hook against Shining Armor's barrier, the sound of the collision leaving my ears ringing. Shining Armor squints and grits his teeth against the force, but in the end, his barrier holds, again without even showing a crack. Bahamut takes a second swing, and then a third, but Shining Armor's expanding shield seems more than capable of handling it. It's like watching the unstoppable force try to slug the immovable object to death. Seriously, what is with this guy?

"Any plans yet?" I ask the group of ponies behind me, eyeing the remaining two Nightmare Moon constructs as they finally get themselves back to their feet. "Those two are gonna be on us any second."

"Thy corrupt dragon appears mightier than the original, dreamer." The Princess lowers her head, horn glowing. "We may not have the raw strength to-"

"Wait!" Twilight Sparkle stomps a hoof on the ground, her face glowing in realization. "Corrupt... even if it's from another world, the Elements of Harmony should work in that situation, right?"

"We'll just have to... try it." It's Shining Armor that makes the decision, speaking in between impacts against his shield. "I can't keep this... going forever!"

Princess Luna and I both give him a nod as she locks eyes with me. "Right. Dreamer, we shall handle the remaining constructs." She turns her gaze to Shining Armor. "Shining Armor, protect the Bearers as long as thee are able." He nods as the Princess turns to the unicorn at my side. "Miss Lulamoon, if either construct is able to approach, it falls to thee to defend Shining Armor, at all costs. Understand?"

"Yeah..." She replies, the darkness in her tone giving the knot in my stomach a third twist. "They' won't get past me, Princess."

Bahamut roars and jumps back as the three of us begin our approach on the remaining two Nightmare Moon constructs, Trixie stopping partway and readying herself should either myself or the Princess fail. I can hear the further crashes of Bahamut and Shining Armor behind me, but I can't spare the time to look back anymore. It looks like we have no choice - Shining Armor will need to defend the girls, Trixie will need to defend Shining Armor, we'll have to defeat the constructs, and the Elements of Harmony will have to somehow stop the rampaging Bahamut. If even one cog in our machine fails, we're probably all dead.

The Princess and I lock eyes with the Nightmare Moons, and a beam of magic erupts from her horn, catching the one with two functional wings off-guard and blasting it off the ledge, forcing it to go airborne. She blasts it again and again as we approach, juggling it further into the air, not allowing it the chance to recover as she kicks off from the ground, beating her wings to go airborne. That leaves me against the one-winged Nightmare Moon. I bring the Buster Sword over my right shoulder, and swing it down on the remaining construct on the ledge, and this time I'm not surprised when it transitions to Sephiroth's form and blocks the strike with its Masamune.

I bring the sword down again and again, each attack sparking against its own weapon as they're blocked. That's fine, though... right now, my main purpose is to keep it distracted long enough for the Elements of Harmony to do whatever it is they do. We lock blades, and it becomes a test of strength, each of us trying to force the other back. My muscles burn - the construct now taking Sephiroth's form definitely not a slouch - but with one step, and then two, I'm able to begin winning the contest. This is the final proof I need to know that they're at least weaker than the one from the Crystal Cave, and with our group, that's all that matters if the others can incapacitate Bahamut.

Then, with a pop, the clone of Sephiroth in front of me is gone in a flash of teleportation magic. Combat instinct kicking in, I spin on my heels and raise the Buster Sword defensively, catching the clone as it drops from above, its swing aiming to slice me in two. The metals scrape together as 'Sephiroth' touches down on the ground again, attempting to transition the strike into a horizontal swing, a parry with the Buster Sword the only thing stopping me from becoming the Headless SOLDIER.

"Stay back!" Trixie's yell snaps away my concentration as I hear an explosion above me. I chance a glance up to see the after-effects of a Flare spell, the construct of Nightmare Moon being propelled away from Bahamut and Shining Armor at high velocity, Princess Luna in pursuit. Glimpsing a bit further back, I can see a white glow building up behind Shining Armor - one I can only assume to be the power of the Elements of Harmony accumulating itself.

An impact against my Buster Sword pulls me back to my own fight as I'm forced on the defensive, the construct of Sephiroth striking with a flurry of Masamune swings, pushing me back as I fumble to regain my footing. After only a few steps, I can feel the edge of the cliff behind my heel, and I block one of his swings as I do my best to dig in, not having any ground left to lose. How much longer do those stupid Elements of Harmony take?!

Essentially answering my own internal question, two tri-color beams burst out from the brightness growing behind Shining Armor - one of green, blue, and purple, and another of red, yellow, and orange, swirling together in a double helix as they rise up to about the height of Bahamut's chest. They coalesce into a single rainbow of color, and fire like a beam at the dragon, twisting and wrapping itself around its giant form. It lashes out with roars and limbs as the rainbow attempts to ensnare it, wrapping it in a cocoon of energy that transitions into a solid white light, and-

A green bolt of energy hits my left shoulder from above, just under the shoulder guard and cutting right through. The impact and resulting pain of getting shot through the arm causes me to lose my footing completely, the Sephiroth copy able to press its weight forward and send me tumbling backwards off the ledge. As I fall I'm able to catch a glimpse of the false Nightmare Moon, a residual glow on its horn as it darts away from one of Princess Luna's attacks. It had used the spectacle created by the Elements of Harmony to move in and potshot me off the side of the cliff while my attention was on Bahamut and the copy of Sephiroth. Dammit!

I'm able to keep a grip on my Buster Sword with my right hand, and, thinking quickly, bury it into the side of the cliff, catching myself only a few feet below the ledge as I dangle from the hilt, bits of Lifestream floating up near my face. Curious, I turn down, and I see the thing besides Bahamut I had caught a glimpse of while using my Braver earlier - a massive ball of Lifestream, hidden deep in the crevace. It must be all the Lifestream that Jenova's sapped from the Weave that didn't get consumed by its heart. Is it using it to build its new body? There's no way any of these weak constructs could possibly be the central consciousness. It can never just be as simple as being locked in the bank vault, can it?

I turn back up to find the piercing eyes of Sephiroth glaring down at me, Masamune held in the construct's left hand, blade pointed down... directly at my fingers. My mind races through my options, trying to think of a good answer for getting out of this one. Not exactly much room to dodge, and most of the magic that comes to mind, it could easily dodge then strike. I get one stupid, desperate idea, and open my left palm, preparing to cast magic... when its eyes go wide, and the form of Sephiroth stumbles and trips over the side of the ledge, accentuated by a very familiar, very angry scream.

I follow its form as it tumbles through the air, and as it passes by, I can see the tails of a familiar, purple vest and equally familiar pale-blue mane and tail billowing as both forms fall into the Lifestream cocoon.

Before I can think, I've tightened my grip on the Buster Sword and planted my feet against the rock face. I dislodge the weapon from the rocks and kick off them, a single thought on my mind as I plunge myself into the Lifestream below.

Zack... Aerith... I've lost enough people who were trying to protect me. No matter what happens, I'm not letting myself lose another one!

Chapter 44: Trixie's Illusory World.

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Chapter 44: Trixie's Illusory World.

Falling. No, not falling. Guided. Guided by wispy threads of green. Shimmering, warm, flowing threads - threads of Lifestream, swarming above, around, and below. The momentum from kicking against the rock face and plunging into the Lifestream seems gone - replaced by the Lifestream itself tugging me forward. The twinkling lights and trails of green reflect perfectly in the Buster Sword's blade, creating the illusion that the blade itself is forged of swirling Lifestream. It's sweeping me along - a feeling I'm all too familiar with - except, unlike other times, there's an urgency in how I'm being rushed forward. It's like the Lifestream is speaking directly to my heart, or maybe my spirit. Go, quickly, it says. They're not words, but rather, a feeling.

Quickly... ahead of me, I finally see something solid. A chunk of land, surrounded by Lifestream on all sides. A collection of familiar, small houses, and a large tree that itself looks suspiciously like a residence. Some of the buildings are toppled, wreckage in the nearby streets, with large paw prints adjacent to them. It's only a small piece of the town, but it's definitely... Ponyville. Had Jenova used the Lifestream to construct an illusion of Ponyville when its construct and Trixie fell in? Building illusions and distorting space are both more than possible when deep in the Lifestream like this, as I've learned first-hand from Sephiroth. The 'town' extends on a single strip of land, with Twilight's library on one side, and the toppled buildings on the other, ending in a recognizable edge of town that I remember leading to the Everfree Forest. It's floating freely inside the Lifestream, like an island in a sea of green.

I touch down gently, my descent slowed as I near the ground by the force that lead me here. It's placed me directly in front of the Golden Oak's door. There aren't any immediate sounds - yells, fighting, or otherwise - so I start my testing my left arm. Motion is met with a wince, and attempting to hold the Buster Sword in a two-handed fighting stance sends a flare of pain down it as the damaged muscles attempt to support the weight. It's bearable enough if I need my left hand for focusing Materia, but I'll be using the Buster Sword one-handed until I can find Trixie and have her use the Restore Materia on it. Just great.

But where is she? I wasn't that far behind her, but the second she and the construct dove into the mass of Lifestream, I had lost them, and after piercing it myself, I hadn't found them again. Had they somehow gotten ahead of me? I rest the Buster Sword on my right shoulder and get moving, running down the one path available to me. I'd wasted enough time on my left arm. If Trixie's here, she's probably fighting against that construct that came down with her, or possibly lost somehow in Jenova's illusory world. The constructs don't appear that strong, so I know it's plenty possible for her to beat it, but...

I'm fine, Dusk!

The memory of that shout cuts into my thoughts and makes my run falter. Am I not putting enough faith in her? She hadn't needed my help in that bank, but instead of trusting her to handle it, I had rushed in without thinking and abandoned the others. If I hadn't done that, this entire situation could've played out differently, and I wouldn't be in here, trying to find her right now. Am I making that same mistake a second time? I abandoned the others to fight the remaining construct, and Bahamut, and whatever else Jenova has up there, just to dive after Trixie without a second thought, even though I know she's not the defenseless unicorn I met in the Everfree Forest anymore.

Every pony and every person makes their own choices!

Am I just letting guilt drag behind me and cloud my judgment again?

I shake my head clear of the thoughts and start running faster. I'm here now. This is the choice I've made. I don't have any time to regret it right now. If it's the wrong one, it's like Shining Armor said - hesitating will only guarantee the worst outcome. My only choice now is to find Trixie as soon as I can, then see what we can do from there.

In the path ahead of me is a pile of debris that doesn't fit in with the town. The bits of red that look to once be a roof and yellow wood that must've been the everything else could've easily fit in as materials for a house in Ponyville, but they didn't match any of the damaged ones nearby. A single wagon wheel sticking through the pile of wood hints at its previous purpose. If that were the entirety of the pile, I would keep running. There's one more piece, though - a piece that causes me to stop completely and fish through enough of the rubble to lift it out with my left hand, ignoring the pain. It's a sign, the one that I assume signifies the wagon's owner... a sign painted purple, and emblazoned with a familiar star-tipped wand. This must be the wagon Trixie has mentioned... meaning the footsteps... is this a recreation of Trixie's time in Ponyville? So, this illusion must be meant for her...

"Found Trixie's stage wagon, have you, Dusk?" A familiar voice asks, making me pick my head up away from the pile of rubble to meet its owner. From the shadows of two buildings on my left steps the mare I came here to find... except, not. Instead of the royal purple, gold-trimmed coat, she's wearing her old star-speckled cape with the jewel brooch, and her wizard's hat sits atop her head. Neither of those are the strangest part, however. The strangest part, to me, is the familiar horn jutting from her forehead.

"Trixie..." I mutter, letting the wood fall from my hands. There are plenty of questions I want to ask, given what I'm looking at, but keeping them straight and getting one of them to exit coherently-formed from my mouth is proving to be a challenge.

She smirks confidently, head held high, and trots over to me. "Trixie is fine, assistant."

How can she be wearing that? Where are the Materia? How could she have her horn back? My mind then finds itself on an amusing thought - the thought of when Tifa and I were tossed into the Lifestream at Mideel. The event that led to myself appearing in Equestria. Could this be a situation like that? Was I currently in Trixie's subconscious, and tasked with somehow fitting all the weirdly shaped bits of her personality together?

...I damn well hope not. Heaven knows I'm the least qualified person to be helping anyone with that.

I settle on asking a simple question as my lead. "What happened to you, Trixie?"

"Oh, you know, a little of this, a little of that," she says, waving her hoof dismissively, "nothing The Great and Powerful Trixie can't handle."

I step away from the wreckage of the wagon and eye her more closely. "What about the thing that came down here with you?"

She smirks, looking up at me, beaming confidence. "Do you truly think such a meager threat would be a problem for the greatest unicorn in all of Equestria?"

Maybe the Lifestream has affected her personality, somehow? She's acting far more like she did when she first met than the one I've come to know now. "...And what about your horn? And your Materia?"

"Don't know." She replies, simply. "When Trixie awoke, she was in this area, and the creature that accompanied her stood across. She was in her magician's attire, graced with the gift of her unrivaled magic once more instead of the Materia, and defeated the threat before her. Then she heard the footsteps of another and hid until you arrived at the wreckage of her wagon, assistant."

I study her, but she's fully in her stage-mask. Something is definitely wrong. It's eating at me, but until I can get a proper grasp on what's going on here, I need to tread carefully. "Can you take me to where you beat it?"

"Do you accuse Trixie of being a liar, assistant?" She shoots back, glaring indignantly.

"No, not that." I assure her. "I'm just wondering if there'll be any hints there on how we can get out of here. There's nothing of value here to us, it seems like."

"Right." She raises an eyebrow at me skeptically, before turning her head. "Come, then. It was near the edge of this conjuration of Ponyville that Trixie felled her foe. We only need to follow this path to its end."

She motions me to move ahead of her, and giving her a final glance, I get to walking. Soon, her hoofsteps fall in line behind me, and the two of us head deeper into the somewhat-demolished illusion of Ponyville. We pass the pawed footstep I saw from above, that I assume to be that of an ursa minor. If the size of the paw print is accurate to life, then even the ursa minor truly is quite the massive creature, at least the size of Bahamut. Possibly larger. And, if memory serves, the ursa major is even larger than that? Just how big do these things get?

It doesn't take much longer for us to reach the edge of the town - in a very literal sense. The ground ends in a cliff that would send anyone unfortunate enough to go over the side deeper into the Lifestream. The road has a few wrecked houses on either side of us, clearly the part of the town that took the brunt from the ursa minor stomping. The one thing it doesn't have though, are any visible remains of Jenova's construct.

"So, where is it?" I ask as I take a few more steps forward. I look around, trying to find any obvious paths forward through the Lifestream to get out of this dead-end Ponyville conjuration.

"Trixie obviously knocked it off the side of Ponyville, never to return!" She boasts from behind me.

"Trixie, these things can fly, you know." I reply, shaking my head and taking another few steps closer to the ledge, wanting to get a look over the side. "You can't just knock it off the side and have it not come back."

She huffs behind me. "Well, it didn't!"

I peer over the side. "It's probably still alive, then."

"Probably..." She says, her voice twisting maliciously.

I spin on my heel to find her eyes narrowned, face contorting in a dark sort of smug victory, as her horn glows a pale green. Before I'm able to properly compute the consequence of what I'm looking at, I hear a familiar, rage-filled cry from inside the dilapidated house directly to Trixie's right. The doors burst open as a form blasts through them like a rocket, slamming into Trixie's side. Her horn's magic misfires, a concussive blast of green flying past the right side of my head as the two forms tangle and struggle against each other on the ground. That's when my brain finally clicks and I realize what I'm looking at - the Trixie I plunged into the Lifestream after, clad in the gold-trimmed purple coat, wrestling against the one in the hat and cape. They roll until the vest-clad Trixie is atop the magician-clad one, and the vest-clad one throws a right-hook, only to receive a blast of green magic to the chest that tosses her into the air and back several feet. The magician-clad one rises back to her feet as the vest-clad one slams back against the ground, and I finally get a proper idea of what the situation is.

"Trixie thought she got rid of you, pest!" The thing taking the form of The Great and Powerful Trixie spits down at the real one. Had it thought it was done with Trixie, then took her form to try and dispose of me without needing to change the illusion?

Trixie ignores the jeer and shakes off the magical impact, rising on shaky legs, a small distance away from her caped doppleganger. She looks a bit beat up, but otherwise... "How could you fall for something like that, Dusk?" She asks, turning her head to me. "You're an idiot, not stupid!" Yeah, she's fine.

"Hmph!" The fake Trixie snorts and huffs, pulling the attention back to her as she grins smugly down her muzzle at the real one. "It's not your assistant's fault that Trixie is so great she outshines the original!"

I finally get my ass in gear, closing the gap between myself and Trixie, with the Buster Sword as readied as it can be in a one-handed grip. "You have to admit, Trixie. It's a pretty convincing copy."

"Oh, come on!" She stomps as she steadies her stance. "I was never that obnoxious!"

"Weren't you?" It taunts, its smugness never falling as it begins circling us with a slow gait. "Does the mirror harm your eyes, little one?" It stops, smirking as it reaches a hoof up to its forehead. "Or is it the futility? A mirror isn't quite the right analogy anymore, isn't it?"

"Is that all?" Trixie's hoof drags across the ground as she glares at her doppleganger. "I'm sick of listening to you talk."

"What would you rather do? Kill this puppet? And then what?" It flips its cape as it jeers, locking eyes with Trixie. Its voice becomes slightly distorted and decidedly more malicious. "You wretches are in my domain now. All your paths from here end in failure. Although," the distortion disappears, leaving behind the mimicry of Trixie's, a wide grin kreeping onto its face again, "Trixie supposes that, between the School for Gifted Unicorns and SOLDIER, both her present company are well-acquainted with being failures."

"It's just trying to get under our skin, Trixie." I try to soothe the mare in front of me, her body beginning to shake in anger. "It knows its too weak to beat us by itself if it doesn't."

"Tks-tsk..." The thing across from us shakes its head. "The one here most worried about weakness isn't The Great and Powerful Trixie, now is it, little Lulamoon?" Its eyes meet hers again as it raises its head, drawing itself up to look down its snout at Trixie. "You so love flirting with those feelings of inferiority, don't you?"

"Trixie..." Even with the looming form of one of Jenova's constructs in front of us, I find myself putting all my attention on the quivering mare in front of me. I place my left hand on her back and shake her gently, trying to calm her and pull her back to reality. "Nothing it says matters. You know that. ...We both know that."

"Doesn't it?" It begins walking forward, and I ready my weapon as it makes its slow approach. "Why don't you tell your assistant the truth, hm, little mare?"

"There's nothing to tell." Trixie replies through gritted teeth, her body tensing, ready to pounce. "So just stop talking aready!"

"If there's nothing to tell, then why are you angry?" It stops, smirking with satisfaction at Trixie's rising temper.

"Because your smug voice bugs me." Trixie retorts, but her breathing becomes heavier. She knows better, so why is she letting this thing get to her so much?

"That's too bad, because Trixie isn't done yet. Why don't we tell that guilt-ridden assistant of yours what really happened at the Ghastly Gorge?" It raises a single hoof to point at Trixie, its eyes narrowed. "Or, would you prefer your lies to die with you than have a confessional?"

"Trixie..." I move my hand from her back to her shoulder, trying to quell the way her body is shaking. "Relax, Trixie."

"Trixie Lulamoon, the mare that shattered her horn while using a powerful Materia to protect her friends from a monster. What a joke that is!" It jabs its hoof in the air accusatorily at Trixie, causing Trixie to wince in response. "You let it shatter that day! No, it's worse than that. You wanted it to happen!"

"Shut up!" Trixie's body and voice both tremble, the rage and pain rising up in her voice as the construct's barbs dig into her.

"You wanted to destroy the thing you hated most!" It jabs its hoof, making Trixie wince again. "And what was that? The Great and Powerful Trixie, that's what! You're just a weak, petty, lonely little creature, who thought she could leave Trixie behind if she cast her magic away!" It punctuates each sentence with another jabbing hoof, causing Trixie to wince back again with each in turn. "Everypony else may think you've changed, but you haven't. Everything you do is for yourself, because, deep down, you're just a scared, self-serving mare." It presses the once-jabbing hoof to its chest. When it speaks again, its voice is again distorted. "If I didn't intend to kill you, I might just pity you." Its eyes are closed, a grin smug even beyond the others its used plastered to its face, clearly relishing in the pain its causing.

A curdling, pain-filled scream, a sound more animal than mare, causes its eyes to snap back open, but its too little, too late for it to react. Even I'm stunned at the speed Trixie's hooves get moving, rushing down the construct across from us. "Shut up!" She yells, with a hate and a fierceness that makes the words only barely discernable as something other than another animalistic cry. She spins on her front hooves, turning to deliver a buck to its chin that snaps its head back instantly, flinging it off its hooves and slightly into the air. It flops back to the ground, landing on its side with a thud, but that's not where my attention is drawn.

No, what's getting me, is my glimpse at Trixie's eyes. They're... wild, misty... a surge of emotions all crashing together a once, solidifying in a piercing hatred that I'd started to become convinced could never be worn by a pony. Her face matches, contorted in wrath and anguish, muzzle drawn to reveal her teeth. Seeing her like that shakes me to my core. But... why? Why had Jenova's words hurt her so badly? Were they... true? Would she really disfigure herself over something so petty?

The construct pulls itself up on shaky hooves, laughing darkly. "Has Trixie struck a nerve?" It coughs, hacking up dark-looking gunk onto the ground. "It didn't work, you know. They look down on you more now than they ever did. At least The Great and Powerful Trixie had her pride."

"I said shut up!" Trixie's yell is punctuated with the glow of a Materia, and the inky glow of the Gravity spell surrounds the construct and slams it back to the ground. "Shut up!" Water condenses above it, creating a spear of ice, tip aimed down, then released, pulled into the well of the Gravity spell to skewer the construct to the ground. "Shut up!" Lightning cackles through the sky, and arcs doward. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up shut up!" Each declaration punctuates with another cast of magic - more ice, more lighting, stronger gravity, explosive bursts, winds that toss strewn rubble, a comet that crashes onto it from above and obscures it from view completely. I don't know which spell stops it from being able to maintain its form as one of Jenova's constructs, but I do know that losing that form doesn't stop Trixie from flinging her magic wildly at its corpse.

"Trixie, stop!" I finally find the strength to yell, running over to her and using my left arm to pull her gaze away from the mess she's created and towards me, ignoring the pain that accompanies it. "Snap out of it, Trixie! It's dead!"

"Dusk..." She mutters, almost inaudibly, the glow of Materia finally fading from around her. Her body trembles as she comes back to reality, her breaths fast and shuddering. The hate disappears from her eyes, but the pain, the everything else is still there. I place a hand on the back of her head again, intending to press her to my chest to try and calm her down in the same way I had done during the incident with Beethoven, but she pulls away, steading herself on her feet as she turns her back to me and takes a few steps forward. "Dusk... can I ask you something?" She turns her head up, taking deep breaths to calm herself.

"Yeah...?" I reply, my voice trailing, staying kneeled and still.

"If..." she starts, but stops to take another breath. Her voice is shaking, despite what I imagine are her best attempts to keep it steady. She takes a moment of silence to collect herself before trying again. "If everything it had said about me just now were true... we'd still be friends, right?"

"...Of course." I reply after a moment of my own. Did that mean what it said was true, then...?

"...Thanks, Dusk." She nods, despite the fact her back is to me. "That means a lot to me, right now."

"Trixie...?" I mouth dumbly, trying to form a question but failing.

"We need to talk, but... after we beat it, okay?" She turns her head up again. "For now, let's get going. It's expecting us."

"What do you-" I start asking, but stop as I turn my head away from her and back up to the path I'd traveled down to get here. It's gone, the path in front of us instead leading to a massive, metal staircase. It leads up to a familiar industrial spire - lined with steel pipes and beams, doors and pathways marked with black and yellow caution stripes. It towers, stories taller than the Golden Oak or any structure that should have been in Ponyville, its crest adorned with a red diamond, backed in a black square, with white writing inside - Shin-Ra. I can't help but let out a small laugh. Maybe having that construct take Trixie's form made her sense of grandoise rub off on Jenova. "The Mt. Nibel Mako Reactor. Fitting."

"Yeah..." Trixie cranes her head up to see the top of it. "It's a lot more massive first-hoof than it is seeing it in a memory." She smirks and turns back to me. "It must be hard to make things this massive without pony magic."

I sling my Buster Sword over my right shoulder and give her a thumbs up with my left arm, doing my best to cover up another wince. "Thumbs help." Though, that's what makes me remember something important. "Trixie... can you come here first? I could use a bit of a fixer-upper on this arm."

"Oh, right!" She turns and gallops over to me, realization finally replacing all those grim emotions she'd been bearing before. "I forgot, your arm, you..." She trails off as she closes her eyes, the glow of Materia around her once more, but for a less savage purpose. "Hold still, I'll get it."

The cooling tendrils of the Cure magic wash over my body, again soothing my muscles, but the pain in my arm won't subside. Trixie pushes the magic, squinting her eyes shut in concentration, but it doesn't seem to stick. I pull back my cloak far enough to get a look at what's actually happened to my arm, now that we're, in a sense, free of immediate danger, and a potential cause of this unexpected complication in magical healing becomes apparent. The black splotches that have been advancing up my arm since I was bitten by that one chupacabra-thing of Jenova's have at least reached my shoulder, past where the wound passing through my upper arm is. Is it blocking the Materia's healing somehow? "I don't think it'll do any good, Trixie."

She opens her eyes, looking at me, then at my open cape, seeing what I'm looking at and turning her head away quickly. She turns, facing her back to me again. "...I see." She takes a single, deep breath. "Let's get going then, Dusk." Without waiting for me to reply, she begins walking forward in slow, measured steps, reaching the stairs and beginning to climb them.

I rise to my own feet, following behind her as we climb. It's a long climb, made longer by Trixie's pace. I don't rush her, though, keeping my own stride in check as we make our progress up the stairs. It's not entirely bad to be taking it slow, though. If we fail, this is essentially our walk up the stairs to the guillotine, so we might as well take our time and enjoy it. We finally reach the top, and enter through the yellow-and-black-stripe lined doorway, the metal door that would prevent entry to the Mako Reactor left ajar.

Once inside, I find myself laughing a second time. "Looks like it cut to the chase." I can't but comment at the sight in front of me. Jenova's skipped on recreating most of the Reactor - the main entrance leading directly to a red-tinted room, a second long staircase in the middle leading further up, platforms covered in pods on either side. At the top of the stairs is a single door, massive letters above it. J-E-N-O-V-A. After I'm done taking in the room, I turn my eyes back down and go to move forward, only to find Trixie pressed up against the pod nearest the staircase, straining her body up on two legs as tall as she can go, front hooves pressed against it so she can see in the glass. I take a few steps to close the distance between us before speaking. "What is it, Trixie?"

"Dusk..." She starts, trailing off. She doesn't seem to be fussing about what's inside the pod, so I assume the contents are what's supposed to be in there - something that had once been human, drowned in Mako until it distorted into a monster. Something I'd rather not lay eyes on again. With my memories, the sight of it wouldn't surprise her. "It's nothing, Dusk." She shakes her head after a moment and pulls away from the pod, getting back on all fours and running ahead of me to climb the stairs. These stairs, thankfully, don't take anywhere near as long to climb, and we soon find ourselves staring at the giant steel door between us and, presumably, Jenova.

"Looks like it didn't leave the front door open after all." I lower my Buster Sword from my shoulder, taking a one-handed fighting position.

Trixie grins and looks at the door, and I can see a glow of Materia as red-hot energy gathers around the door's center. "Well, let's knock." She quips as the energy brims into an explosive Flare that blows the door off its hinges, tossing it in its entirety into the next room, which seems to be nothing but the gentle green of Lifestream.

We step forward, and the bits of the Mako Reactor around us, including the blown-off door, dissolve into green wisps of Lifestream, released back into the aether around us. We're not even in a room anymore, from the looks of it - just floating about in the sea of green. Though, we're not alone, either. Across from us, towering, is something that looks like some weird mix between an egg and an unbloomed flower bud, made entirely of leathery-blue flesh. It has to be the same height as Bahamut, if not larger. Its 'shell' writhes from what seem to be internal impacts as we approach, whatever has been growing inside clearly wanting out. After a few steps, a massive claw-like appendage pierces through the bottom half, covered in a goopy, black fluid, causing us to stop as we gaze up at it. Though, a quick glance at Trixie confirms that neither of us are feeling the mess of fear that one might be expected to in this situation. Instead, she looks to be as inexplicably, almost disturbingly calm as I feel about what's in front of us.

"We're screwed, aren't we?" Trixie asks, though her tone is more like she's setting up for a bad joke than pondering her imminent doom at whatever's in front of us.

"Probably." I answer as a second claw tears out the opposite side of the 'egg', the top stretching and distorting. "You ready for this?"

"Yeah." She gives a small nod as a sharp-tipped tail bursts out the side of the 'egg', tearing across its back side then looping its tip up to slice open the top. "Pretty exhausted from using so much Materia, but," she lets out a laugh, "I can sleep when I'm dead." A pair of giant-sized and claw-tipped, but otherwise human-looking hands push their way up through the new slice in the 'egg' top, and begin pushing to part it. "Think everypony else is alright?"

"Hope so." I answer as we hear the tearing of flesh, the egg beginning to part along the front from the hands' pushing. "Won't be much point to this if they're not."

"They better be! There won't be anypony left to give me one of those stained-glass windows if they're not!" What appear to be massive wings spread inside the egg, distorting its shape and forcing it further open, its tough hide clearly reaching its breaking point. "I want a nice, big one, that everypony can see! Trixie's heroic sacrifice to delay the giant space monster long enough for the Elements of Harmony to vanquish it!" She smirks and gives me a sidelong glance. "If there's enough room, maybe they can put you in one of the corners or something."

I return her grin and her glance. "Thanks."

It finally bursts out, the bits of fleshy 'egg' getting tossed in all directions as it takes its first beats on powerful wings. It lands in front of us, towering as it stares down. It's a strange mix of creatures that in another context might be morbidly fascinating to behold. Its head and torso are similar to the Jenova I remember from the containment tube at Nibelheim, and in turn, at the Ghastly Gorge. It has the blue, sickly skin in the fascimile of a human woman, with long, matted hair that covers the right eye. The left one gazes down at us as it this time glows a mix of colors, fading between each color of the rainbow in turn. The arms, however, are different. They're now large and muscular, the flesh a strange imitation of scales as each finger tips in a long claw. Outside of the five-digit layout that betrays influence of a human limb, it looks similar to what I might image Spike having, were he an adult dragon. The leathery wings of Jenova are changed as well, now massive and in the shape of an angel's or a bird's wings, complete with feathers... except a bit twisted in the bone structure, and entirely made of brown flesh. The artery-like tubes still connect to the torso, extending down to the rest of its body, but that rest of its body... Jenova looks in many ways grafted onto an entire separate creature, placed on the center of its back like it's riding it as a mount, though it's clear that the 'halves' are indeed both parts of the same being.

The 'mount' has its own head, a gross distortion of a pony's, with solid-red eyes and a mouth full of sharp, meat-tearing fangs. A twisted horn juts from its head, bent and jagged but cresting in a tip, lined with the ridges of a unicorn's horn. Where a pony might have fur, it simply has flesh, the same color as Jenova's wings. Four massive, trunk-like legs keep it standing, the front two now looking closer to paws instead of claws now that they're not tearing through the egg and covered in gunk. The back two legs, though, are distinctly hooves, and a massive, muscular tail smashes the ground behind it, covered in spines and sporting a hooked tip. The torso is thick, leaving the legs looking a bit short given the overall size of the creature, but the width of the legs betrays plenty of muscle to keep it standing. Proportionally, its more reminiscent of a lizard than a pony. Wings jut from the sides of the 'mount' as well, but their leather flesh this time is a bit more appropriate, as they appear to be either draconic wings or bat wings. The lower body writhes and stomps around slightly, testing itself for the first time as the head throws itself back and roars, a gurgling and otherwordly sound.

The beats of a heart echo through the Lifestream, much like the time we fought it in Ghastly Gorge, but from this angle its impossible to see what might be causing the beating. The full form of Jenova is easily as large as the egg it hatched from, the familiar torso and its 'mount' each taking up roughly half its total height, leaving even the distorted pony head of its lower body towering a few feet over us.

"So, Trixie..." I look to her after taking in Jenova's full form. "Got any idea what the plan should be?"

She looks back to me, and gives me a knowing smirk. "Hit it until it stops moving?"

I steady my weapon and my stance, turning my attention back to the enemy in front of us. "Right. Hit it until it stops moving."

Chapter 45: When Hope Reaches Zero...

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Chapter 45: When Hope Reaches Zero...

A guttural roar emanates from pony-like lower head of Jenova's new form, fangs bare as echoing voices overlap in a strange, discordant sort of harmony. The force of the roar alone requires me to dig my feet in and brace myself, cloak flowing against wind and myself wondering how the rules of physics apply in an aether of Lifestream. I look to my feet, and as if to answer my question, what was once formless green mist is now a small piece of land, littered with sand and rocks beneath us. How?

“Stop daydreaming, Dusk!” Trixie snaps me out of my wonder to look at the towering form of Jenova before us, now taken to the air with its four wings beating in a slow rhythm, matching the steady beat of its heart in my ears and somehow keeping it aloft. The air around it cackles with energy, strands of lighting crossing the spectrum of the rainbow's colors and more, slowly building up energy atop its horn for the first time. Is it having trouble channeling Equestrian magic through its new horn? It didn't use one last time, so why would it choose to now?

There's no need for communication on what we do next - that is, run, the desert-like land below us extending with each step away from Jenova, Trixie's mind surely turning over as fast as mine in an attempt to formulate a plan for fighting something like this. A crack rips through the air, and my instincts flare, telling me Jenova's just unleashed its first true piece of unicorn magic without the need to look - a concussive beam not unlike ones I've seen ponies like Twilight perform, aside from the scale of the casters. Riding that same instinct, I crouch down, wrap my left arm under Trixie, and kick off from the ground, ignoring the pain in my arm as my body flies upward. The blast explodes with a direct hit on our previous location as I leap, the distance something I'd thought lost to my memories. Come to think of it, my first day I traveled with Trixie, I scooped her up like this, too, hadn't I? Though, I distinctly remember her shouting 'Put Trixie down!' back then.

My mind lingers a moment, but there's really no time to consider what's allowed me to seemingly regain the abilities befitting the name 'Cloud Strife', nor to consider why the leap ends with us landing on a metal catwalk. We keep running, taking a sideways glance over the railing to see that Jenova is now below us, while ahead of us is a massive, concrete pillar, with a winding, metal staircase along its exterior, heading further up.

“This is...!” Realization dawns on Trixie, causing a realization to dawn on myself as well - a realization that I'm never getting used to her having access to my memories.

“Keep running!” We turn and begin up the stairs, boots and hooves reverberating off the metal steps. My ears pound with a rapid heartbeat as we scale the structure, but I can't tell if it's Jenova's or my own. This staircase... this pillar... this is some kind of recreation of when Shin-Ra destroyed the Sector 7 support pillar, meaning this staircase should culminate in a large service platform. The disorienting heartbeat becomes the source of a plan as we near the top, the sounds of wingbeats echoing from below making it clear that Jenova isn't far behind.

We finally break the top, the platform being just what I remember as I take a second to orient myself and run for one of the ledges. “The heart!” I yell as my mind races, hoping my words convey my plan to Trixie in the frenzy of the moment. The heart... even if this is technically the 'head', the pounding that echos through the Lifestream means its body still has a 'heart' built onto it somewhere... If we can destroy it, it might cause its entire body to stop functioning. We hadn't seen it from the front, but what we had seen were the distinct tubes that normally connect to Jenova's heart, barely visible as they connected to its back and to its 'mount'. Somewhere in that mess - on its back - must be the heart!

I leap over the ledge, spinning to find myself just in time to jam the Buster Sword's blade into Jenova's right shoulder blade as it ascends to the level of the service platform, and then higher. The upper body shrieks in pain as the sword lodges itself in place, leaving me dangling over the mess of tangled tubes that serve as what I imagine must be this heart's many arteries, sending the Lifestream it's absorbed coursing through its veins. I scan through them all, with the back of Jenova, the back of its lower half, and the arteries all blending together as masses of sickly, discolored flesh, the smell of it overpowering. Amidst it all, however... I see it, pulsing grotesquely, arteries extending from it as it rests against the back of the 'mount', halfway between the start of the tail and where Jenova's main torso attaches to it. I place a foot against Jenova's back, but before I can try to kick off and attack it, Jenova thrashes and rolls itself over in the air, dislodging the Buster Sword from its back and sending me on a one-way trip to the ground... wherever the hell that is.

I pull the Buster Sword in front of me, drawing my eyes along the Materia lining its blade, hoping the added visual stimuli will help me will a course of action into my mind. As one begins to form, however, I feel a tug along the back of my cloak and find myself pulled into a dark room, a door slamming shut in front of me as I topple against the floor. I take a moment to catch my breath, the sound of Jenova's heartbeat temporarily replaced with that of wooden wheels grinding their way along a dirt path. “What the...?”

“It's my old wagon.” Trixie's voice explains from behind me. “I think I figured out what's going on, Dusk.”

“What do you mean?” I ask as I draw myself up to a sitting position and lean myself against one of the wagon's side walls, realizing just how cramped this thing must've been to live in, even for a pony of Trixie's size.

“It's the Lifestream.” She says as I turn to face her, her having taken the moment I was adjusting myself to sit next to me. “I think it's trying to help us. It's pulling things from our subconscious, our memories, something, and reconstructing them in a similar manner to the way Jenova made the illusion of Ponyville. I leaped after you when you went over the ledge to land on Jenova - because of course I did - but I was too slow. Instead of falling, though, I landed on a trampoline I used in one of my first magic acts and then on top of this thing, and noticed little wisps of Lifestream around them. It'd also explain the catwalk and the support pillar, wouldn't it?”

It would - thinking back to when we landed on the catwalk now, I'm not sure how I hadn't noticed. It had been the same catwalk that I fell from before landing in the Sector 6 slums and meeting Aerith for the first time, pulled right from my memory then connected directly to the Sector 7 support pillar. Is this really the work of the Lifestream we're engulfed in, asserting whatever bits of will and consciousness it has to rebel against Jenova and protect the planet?

The sounds of the wagon's wheels are joined by not only a pulsing heartbeat, but also the stomps of hooves and paws. Another question without the time to ponder it - Jenova's coming again. On a three-count, I kick open the wagon's door and we both leap out, a dirt path extending both forward and back as we touch our feet to the ground, and a forest extending in all other directions. We leave the wagon to roll along its path, running into the trees without a look back, the sounds of wood shattering joining the rest behind us.

Trixie squints her eyes shut as we run, face distorted in concentration. Is she trying to will something to appear...?

The trees burst open without warning, leaving us to run out into a massive dirt clearing. Rocks are both piled in mounds and laid out in rows, and what I recognize to be a pony-drawn dirt tiller is left abandoned in the middle. As we reach it, Trixie skids to a stop, turning on her hooves to face the treeline, further heavy hooffalls and cracks of tree trunks telling us our pursuer is coming close.

“Trixie-” I turn the second I see her stop, confused, but she cuts me off before I can get another word out.

“I'm done running!” She declares, widening her hooves into a four-legged fighting stance and lowering her head. “I'm at least giving this thing a black eye before I go down!”

The final row of trees breaks, and we're left face-to-face with Jenova as it steps into the field, as I realize it must be the 'rock farm' Trixie worked on. It smirks at us with its pseudo-human head, visible eye glistening, like a predator smug that it's found its prey trapped in a corner with no escape. A hint of green escapes from under Trixie's lapel as she wordlessly calls forth magic from the Materia, but... nothing happens. Jenova's smirk widens, but as I turn my glance down to Trixie, I see she's wearing a smirk of her own, growing to match.

The rocks around us rumble, and as I turn my head I see the wisps of inky Gravity magic around them, tendrils seeping through every rock in the quarry. In a burst of sudden movement, the rocks begin to launch themselves from the ground at a breakneck speed, firing like missiles at Jenova, aim true - as if gravity's shifted to draw them to Jenova instead of the ground without warning. I'm reminded of the time Twilight Sparkle flung the mine cart from the Crystal Caves at the clone of Sephiroth, and find myself impressed despite the situation we're in that Trixie's somehow discovered a way to replicate a unicorn's levitation spell with the Gravity Materia, and on such a scale.

Jenova wraps its arms and faux-feathered wings in front of its upper torso defensively, the horn on its lower head lighting in an attempt to summon some sort of defensive countermeasure. Its magic reaches a peak, first in a ripple, then in a burst, a flow of color that might've been beautiful from any other source sending Trixie's rock-projectiles back where they came from. Except...

“Trixie... look.” I say, trying to get her to notice as well. Its spell had been just a little too late, allowing the first volley of rocks to connect and tear against the flesh of its wings. The flesh of its wings, which...

“Its not healing.” Her smirk from attacking Jenova widens into a proper grin. “We can kill it.” As she says it, her body trembles. However, an onset of panting betrays what could've otherwise been construed as excitement for its true source - the Materia usage is catching up with her, if it hasn't already.

“We need to make a plan, though...” I eye Jenova down as I feel tugging on my cape, a familiar weight sprawling up it and wrapping her hooves around my neck.

“The plan right now... is run!” She says in-between sharp breaths, clearly doing her best to collect herself as the magical exhaustion from the Materia hits her body in waves. Her plan isn't any better than the complete lack of plan I have, though, so I turn tail once more, pushing both my body and my Time Materia for everything they're worth to make some breathing room between us and our pursuer. The rock farm disappears, as do the trees, allowing us to break into a recreation of the Crystal Caves, its namesake crystals each aglow with the soft, green light of the Lifestream.

“The longer we take, the more adept it gets at magic...” I muse, mostly to myself. “If we're going to beat Jenova, we need to do it soon.” I turn down all-too-familiar paths in the Caves, knowing they won't help us lose Jenova for long.

“Did you... find the weak point?” Trixie asks, her panting only getting heavier. “That's what you jumped off the platform for, right?” Behind us, Crystals crumble and shatter, massive hoofbeats making the Caves tremor. Jenova's taking the direct route.

“...Its heart is on the back of the lower half.” I reply after a moment, not sure what she's planning. “We don't have a good way to reach it, though.”

“Shiva.” She replies, drawing up either a second wind or an excellent mask to push her previous panting and trembling away. “I'll summon Shiva. It can fly. You distract Jenova for a moment and I can have Shiva move in and attempt to strike it directly with its ice magic from behind. That'll work, right?”

“Trixie, if you-”

“It'll work, right?” Her voice is firm, decisive.

“...It has a better chance of working than any of my ideas.” I admit hesitantly.

“Then put me down, Dusk.”

I stop, digging my feet into the cave floor, and turn to face the impending form of Jenova, steeling my resolve. “No.” I place my left hand against the hooves crossing my neck, gripping them tightly to prevent her from getting off.

“Dusk!” She protests, doing her best to wriggle free from me. “We both know it's the best plan! Put me down already!”

“No!” She stops struggling as I lock my hand tighter around her hooves, my body starting to tremble. I'm done feeding into your self-destruction, Trixie. “We're both coming back from this. Being able to see them will make those stained-glass windows a lot more enjoyable, won't it?” I can see wisps of the Lifestream trailing up from the ground around us. It must intend to try and change the scene before Jenova reaches us.

“Dusk, you-”

I cut her off, forming what plan I can on the spot to head off her protests. “This form of Jenova is as slow as it is large, it seems. So, I'll rush it down with the Time Materia, circle around it, and attempt to get in position to strike its heart directly. You just hold on and cover me the best you can with your less straining Materia, Trixie.” As I finish reciting the certainly-suicidal plan, my body trembles, not in fear but in anticipation.

“Dusk-”

“It'll be fine, Trixie. I trust you.” I squeeze her hoof tighter still. I feel like I've tapped into some sudden well of power. Whatever trepidation I had is gone, replaced with a singular determination. “It won't-”

“Shut up, idiot.” She cuts me off with a disapproving monotone before her voice softens. “...You're glowing.”

Glowing? A quick look down confirms that I'm indeed giving off a mist-like, sky-blue glow. Well, that explains the sudden well of power, the anticipation, and singular determination. Much like the jump from earlier, this is another feeling I thought would be lost to my memories - the strength of the Mako pumping through my veins, reaching an emotion-fueled crescendo to push me well beyond my normal limits. Of all the times to feel this again... “I guess I am.” There's more than just the glow, though, as I notice threads of Lifestream circling my feet as well. The strands of energy reach their way up, gently encircling the hand grasping Trixie's hooves.

“Let's get her, Dusk.”

“Yeah. Let's.” The cave around us dispels, returning to its natural state of flowing Lifestream, leaving nothing between us and Jenova's monstrous form. Without hesitation, my feet begin to move, and I feel Trixie's hooves grip tighter around my neck, my own hand not leaving them as we rush into battle. Jenova's visible, rainbow-hued eye glistens maliciously and its smirk widens as we approach, jeering wordlessly.

The Time Materia's magic comes as second nature to dodge the gnashing maw of Jenova's lower head with a weave to the right, and a stomping paw with a weave to the left. We dart below it, and aim for our first target: its left-hind leg. I draw the Buster Sword behind me, guesstimating the correct spot and unleashing a horizontal strike. Its slow, but not completely immobile, a fact I'm looking to change before it can regain its full magical prowess it wielded at the Ghastly Gorge. The lower head lets out a pained howl, but there's no time to see if the hit landed true as we pull out from beneath it, heel turning and leaping to attempt to get onto its back. We soar up, reaching heights above the entire creature, and quickly scan its back, identifying the target. I turn the Buster Sword to plunge down on it and end this fight quickly-

“Tail!”

Trixie's warning comes a bit too late as the tail strikes me clean in the chest, swatting us away like a pair of bugs as we soar through the air in a new, horizontal direction. “I forgot about that...”

“Leave it to me, Dusk!” Trixie says as our momentum stops, and I can feel my body being rotated around, as if the pull of gravity itself is rotating. I've got to wonder if being naturally creative with magic is a unicorn thing, now. “Ready?” She asks, as I look up, seeing Jenova now directly 'above' us, its own gravity unaffected. Its body is turning to us, limping but not completely immobile, and its wings beat, taking it slightly off the ground. Seems like we did some damage to it, at least. “Go!” And now to do more!

This time, I'm what's launching as the projectile for Trixie's modified Gravity spell, Buster Sword at the ready as the distance between us and Jenova closes even more rapidly than it did under the influence of Time. The horn of the lower head lights, but it soon realizes whatever spell it's readying won't finish in time and takes a swipe at us with a massive, draconic claw. I prepare for the full impact, with flesh-tearing action, but our course seems to correct itself, lowering my trajectory enough to fly under the swipe and have a clear path to land directly on top of of Jenova's lower half.

There's no way I'll be able to slow myself and take proper aim at its heart at this speed, so as my boots land on its leathery hide, I run with the flow, aiming for the next best target. I dig the Buster Sword's blade into the base of one of its bat-like lower wings, using both my strength and the force of my current speed to cut through, severing it from the main body a single slice. I jump, kicking away from Jenova in order to avoid the tip of the scorpion-like tail skewering us like a kabob, and feel Trixie's Gravity magic adjusting my trajectories already.

“Tail?” She asks.

“Tail.”

We launch forward as Jenova whips its heads around to face us, the spell from before now glowing atop its horn, now fully-charged-looking. It's too late, however, as I bring the Buster Sword down along the midsection of its tail and-

My ears are rocked by a disorientingly loud version of a certain, signature pop sound, and Jenova is gone. Did it just teleport? I twist in the air in time to see that not only that it did, indeed, teleport, but its now behind me with a massive fist aimed directly at my face - as well as the rest of me. I pull the Buster Sword up defensively, and in front of that, a distinct, diamond-shaped Barrier erects itself, but it only takes a split second to learn how useful those are as the impact shatters the spell and sends both myself and Trixie on a one-way course to eating some dirt.

I hit the ground and tumble, losing grip on both Trixie and my Buster Sword as I eventually roll to a stop, my everything flaring in pain. I scrape myself up to my knees, then my feet, shaking my mind clear and scanning the ground, only one thing on my mind.

“Trixie!” I run, seeing the crumpled form of azure-and-purple amidst the Lifestream. I check her over quickly. Breathing, but not moving... dammit! “Trixie!” I yell, shaking her and trying to jar her back to consciousness. “Trixie, wake up!”

“Urgh...” She murmurs, her eye fluttering open after a moment. Behind me, I hear the landing footsteps of Jenova, but right now, all my attention is focused forward.

“Come on, Trixie, you need to wake up!”

She grumbles and pulls away. “The flowers are too comfortable...”

Flowers? I look around and indeed, the green that was once Lifestream is now a small bed of flowers, growing spitefully in the face of the monster behind us. I shake her again. “Now who's being the idiot? You know you can't sleep on the flowers.”

She stretches her legs, yawning and rolling herself onto her stomach. “Shut up.” The stretching makes me notice something, though. The bangle of Materia I gave her, one of the Materia along it is glowing a bright red.

I grasp the hoof bearing the bangle and pull it up slightly, calling her attention to it. “Trixie... what are you doing...?” I ask, trying to mask the panic in my voice. There's no way her body can handle using a Summon Materia at this point.

“That... I'm not doing that, Dusk.” She looks up at me, the full extent of her exhaustion now etched on her face, but her eyes meet mine. She's definitely not lying, but-

My half-finished thought is answered by a roar that echos through the Lifestream, snapping up even Jenova's attention as we all turn skyward. At first, it looks like merely a speck, but the speed its approaching is beyond incredible. Within seconds, Jenova's hand-like claws are locked against another set, belonging to a new, sleek, but distinctly dragon-shaped attacker. Blue-white scales glisten against the soft green of the Lifestream, layered with those of glistening gold along its shoulders and chest. Its arms, legs, and tail are both as familiar and powerful as they'd ever been despite their new colors, pressing back the massive form of Jenova. Its neck is thick, lined with scales like armor that crest into its head, which still sports its distinctive but now-white horns. The snout is plated with what may as well have been a piece of pointed armor, reminiscent of a large beak. Two new horns extend from the back of its head, as well, glistening in the same gold as its chest and shoulders, curving back and then up. Its last new feature, however, is also its most prominent - six massive wings, lacking their clawed tips but distinctly powerful. Its a form that exudes both power and elegance. And on its back, gripping its neck and barely distinguishable, were six forms I'd come to know all too well. But, is it really...

“...Bahamut?” The last word escapes my lips as I watch it wrestle Jenova in disbelief.

“Not late, are we?” Shining Armor? I turn to see him and Princess Luna descending into the Lifestream, him holding her front hooves much like I had when her and I had rushed off to the Ghastly Gorge.

“The cavalry has arrived, dreamer.” Princess Luna sets herself down next to us after placing down Shining Armor. With a glow of her horn and a pop, I see my Buster Sword floating in her grip. “Dropped something?”

“Thanks.” I nod as I take it in my good hand. “But, Trixie is-” I turn to her, only to see her now completely passed out.

“Fear not, dreamer. Shining Armor shall guard her.” Her wing waves at the stallion behind her, cutting off a protest before it could start. “And we shall fight. Miss Lulamoon has already gone above her station in this conflict.”

“It's not that.” I grip the hilt of the Buster Sword to calm my nerves. “I'm guessing you used those Elements of Harmony to pull Bahamut from Jenova's influence... but, they restored his connection to the Materia on the bangle I gave Trixie. If this doesn't end quickly, then-”

“Then we end this quickly, dreamer.” She says, stepping forward and flaring her wings.

My emotions begin to take hold, my calming exercise of gripping and un-gripping the Buster Sword's hilt no longer enough. “But how?” As I ask the question, I realize how little I've come to care about whether we defeat Jenova, and how much I care about just getting Trixie out of here alive. “Its regained use of most of its magic, we'll be lucky if even Bahamut can-”

“Quit your foalish blubbering,” she cuts me off, back to me, “Lest you wish all Miss Lulamoon's suffering in this quest to be for naught!” After a pregnant silence, she continues. “We fight.” Her voice is solemn as she steps forward, taking to the air. “No matter what happens.”

I pull up my Buster Sword, eyes scanning the blade as I grip the hilt one last time.

No matter what happens...

Chapter 46: Destroyer of Worlds.

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Chapter 46: Destroyer of Worlds.

A burst of multi-color light breaks the clash of titans, Jenova's second head unleashing a concussive spell to blast Bahamut away and give it some breathing room. It steadies itself, but its back-left leg trembles, the heartbeat ringing through the Lifestream escalating in rhythm, making one thing clear - the injury Trixie and I gave it earlier is preventing it from fighting Bahamut in a straight test of strength.

“The horn!” Princess Luna commands alongside a beat of her wings, ready to lunge into battle. “The horn must be severed if our dragon is to best this creature in combat!”

The horn? “No!” I yell before she can take off. “The heart on its back! Can't you hear it beating from here? We need to hit that if we want to cripple it!”

“Even so, dreamer - we must create an opening with which to strike.” To punctuate her lack of desire to debate the topic further, her wings beat again, and she's off, flying into the massive-scale duel ahead of us, weaving in the air to avoid the fallout winds from a magic blast and white energy stream connecting in a mid-air clash.

Create an opening? There's no time for just breaking this thing down anymore! Before, when it was Trixie and I fighting, maybe, but now...

I move to run after her, but Shining Armor's voice cuts me off. “Relax. We'll beat this thing and everything will be fine. Got it?”

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

There's only one way everything will be fine.

I rest the Buster Sword over my shoulder and get running, strafing to Jenova's side and scanning for some way to insert myself into the battle. Bahamut, now airborne, circles its injured prey, Jenova using burst after burst of concussive magic to force Bahamut to keep a distance. Jenova itself stays grounded despite its leg injury, deflecting further burst streams from the dragon with multi-colored barriers as it returns fire. Princess Luna's midnight blue form weaves between the trading projectiles, searching for the best angle to strike against its horn.

A roar of the lower head indicates the end of Jenova's tolerance of its game with Bahamut, however, and its twisted horn glows a bright white, emitting a wind blast that forces me to dig in to retain my footing. When the winds and lights clear, the Princess and Bahamut have both been forced back, but are still airborne, while Jenova's arms and upper wings are outstretched, taking a pose I can feel the jeering smirk from without seeing it. What I do see, though, is what's floating around its arms and wings - specks of light, twinkling like multi-colored stars, their number far higher than anything I can guess. Princess Luna used a similar technique against the 'heart' in Ghastly Gorge, except nothing on this scale. Is it seriously able to mimic spells by sight now?

Answering my question, Jenova's wings beat and arms lurch forward, 'throwing' the orbs of light at the Princess and Bahamut. The pair weave through the sky to dodge the seemingly infinite number of projectiles, the tails the lights leave behind them making them resemble multi-colored shooting stars, breaking and mixing in what would be beautiful patterns of light from another source.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

That sound won't let me forget the source of the light, though - but it does help me notice that Jenova's attention is entirely focused on its airborne attackers, despite its heartbeats ringing in my ears.

Seeing my opportunity, I make my move. I circle around the side with the severed wing, so all it'll take is a running leap to give me a clear shot at my target - the heart! One strike... all it'll take to end this fight is one strike! I take to the air, raising the Buster Sword to swing, and look to the side, spotting the tail, already rearing up to strike me from the sky. Not this time, though... this time, I'm ready for it. I clutch my Buster Sword tightly, yellow Materia shining brightly as a flower-shaped shield forms, six petals and twelve faces capable of deflecting even Jenova's tail strike, though it cracks as the tail's sharp tip slides against it. It's all I need from Big Guard, though, as I land on Jenova's back, right at the base of the tail. I turn and quickly sight my target... only for my footing to jostle as Jenova rears up and its wings pulse to take it airborne. I slip, grabbing one of the fleshy arteries on instinct to prevent falling off its back entirely.

The world around me tingles and wobbles, my stomach dropping as I curse this sensation that's slowly becoming familiar as I clench my eyes shut. A moment later, I'm still dangling from Jenova like a rag doll, but when I look down, I can see we're now behind and above the Princess and Bahamut, the latter unleashing one of its torrents of white energy from its mouth and evaporating the shooting stars of Jenova's stolen spell. It doesn't take long for them to turn and find Jenova's new position, though a second lurching of Jenova's body pulls my attention away from them and directly above - where Jenova's scorpion-like tail is descending for a second strike.

Not having another option, I place a boot against its hide and kick away, barely dodging the tail's tip as I hurl myself backwards through the air. Luckily, something catches me under the arms, preventing me from needing to make a second part of the plan where I actually land safely.

“Dreamer!” Princess Luna's frustrated voice emanates from just above my head. “Cease thy stubbornness and assail the horn with us! This endeavor shalt succeed only if we fight together!”

“Then help me hit the heart and finish it off!” I yell up to her as she flies up, moving to regain the height advantage over Jenova as it dodges another of Bahamut's breath attacks.

She lets out a very un-princess-like groan of frustration at my rebuttal. “When did thee come to be so driven by thy emotions?!”

Ba-thump-ba-thump. Ba-thump-ba-thump.

“That's none of your business!” I protest, wrestling away from her grasp now that we're above Jenova again. I swing the Buster Sword, using its weight to redirect my descent slightly to aim myself directly at its back for another pass. As the distance closes, however, my eternal rival, the tail, makes its move. It lashes its stinger forward, directly for my face. With no other options readily available, I bring the Buster Sword up to block the stinger, the impact ruining my descent path in an instant.

I don't let that stop me, though, falling on the side with the remaining bat-like wing and plunging the Buster Sword deep into it from above. The leathery flesh holds even as my body swings to one side from my momentum, a firm grip on the Buster Sword's hilt the only thing preventing it from tossing me away entirely. The wing continues beating alongside the others as Jenova does its best to maneuver its unwieldy body through the air. Each beat dislodges the sword slightly, until an upward beat is enough to dislodge it, and in turn, me, completely, flinging me off.

And, if things aren't bad enough - it's the return of the tail. This time, however, it's my advantage, as it's not quite ready to strike. Instead, I'm able to lodge the Buster Sword into the side of the tail, much like the wing before it. I barely get a moment to try lodging it deeper, the tail wasting no time in thrashing and trying to toss me aside. I might as well be at a Chuckin' Chocobo Rodeo where each bird just chucks you onto the back of an even angrier bird.

I steady myself on the tail as best I can despite everything, ready to pull the Buster Sword out and make my move - when I'm flung from my perch yet again. This time, the cause of my ire is Bahamut deciding to body slam Jenova out of the sky. I realize as I flip through the air again that I'm essentially bunch of potatoes in a red sack and a cowboy hat at this point. Argh!

Ba-thump-ba-thump-ba-thump.

I don't even register the Princess plucking me from the air again until she speaks, her voice barely able to overpower the pounding in my ears.

“Why?” She asks, her question needing no further words.

“I said-” I start to rebuff her, but I'm cut off by her jerking both our bodies harshly to the side, wings beating fiercely to pull us from the path of a tumbling Jenova, its own wings flailing and magic encasing its body. A stream of white, crackling energy passing soon after illustrates the cause behind Jenova's panic to regain control of its descent, Bahamut leaving it no quarters to collect itself. The reverberations of the blast through the air temporarily drown out Jenova's heart, and the short reprieve from its mocking beats changes the answer waiting on my lips. “Because if she has to, Trixie's gonna push herself to keep Bahamut manifested until she's dead. I can't let that happen!”

“Dreamer...” Her voice trails and her wing beats slow as we hover in place, Bahamut's massive-yet-swift form passing us by as it pursues Jenova back to ground level.

“What? You can't protect everyone?” I tremble, feeling like a floodgate's opened inside now that I've started speaking. “I know that already, but... if I can end this fight in one strike, I need to try. You must be able to understand that.”

“...Yes, We - I - understand thy sentiment.” She replies after a moment of hesitation. “I shouldn't indulge this notion, but... let us assail thy target once, in unison. Should our offensive fail, thee shalt follow mine orders thereafter. Is that acceptable?”

“Let's get it.” I nod, accepting her 'terms' as her body lurches, propelling us to the fight below. Jenova's manifested yet another multi-colored bubble shield to defend itself against Bahamut's destructive energy stream, the attack scattering along the shield's surface like sparks of white lightning. We use Bahamut's attack as a distraction, circling around to Jenova's back in the same manner I had initially. “Careful,” I warn, “that tail seems to act independently of the rest of the body and attack when we get near the heart.”

“We noticed not...” The Princess replies dryly.

I turn my head up, debating mentally for a moment before speaking. “I don't think sarcasm suits you that well.”

“Mayhaps not.” She nods. “Let us strike!”

Ba-thump-ba-thump-ba-thump-ba-thump.

The heartbeat returns in force as Princess Luna swoops in, myself in tow via her front hooves. She unleashes a concussive blast from her horn, the trajectory dead-on for the heart without the need to pinpoint it for her, but the tail moves in, its thick hide blocking it without any visible damage.

She swoops in low, banking hard as she passes near the tail's tip, baiting it into a strike it has no hope of landing. I turn my eyes down, locking my attention on the target below and allowing the Princess to focus on defense and evasion. She weaves through the air, baiting the tail into one attack after another, the concussive blasts of her horn sounding off in turn. I don't need long to figure out her plan - wrap the attention of the tail around herself, and drop me while the remainder of Jenova is battling Bahamut, leaving a precious uncontested moment to strike the heart. It's a plan where any number of things can go horribly wrong... but it was probably the best one for attacking the heart without breaking down the rest of Jenova's body first.

My attention is pulled from the heart when Jenova's entire back half buckles, its legs falling out from under it as it collapses against the ground. Looking to the front end, I see it again locked claw-to-claw in a test of strength against Bahamut, but this time Jenova's pinned, its secondary, pony-like head pressed under one of Bahamut's powerful legs. A desperate spell charges on Jenova's twisted horn, while another buildup of white energy begins in Bahamut's mouth, ready to wipe the monster off the planet if Jenova can't finish its spell in time.

Ba-thump-ba-thump.

“Now!” Both the Princess and I yell in near-perfect unison as she releases me from her grip. The distance between myself and the heart closes rapidly as I spin the Buster Sword in my hand. No need to waste time swinging - a single plunging strike into it should end it. Jenova... this ends now!

Ba-thump, ba-thump. Ba-thump-ba-thump. Ba-thump-ba-thump-ba-thump-ba-

It's stopped. The only sound left is the crackling of Bahamut's charging breath attack. How peaceful it is, without the sound of its blasted heart beating. I can't help but smile at the gruesome sight skewered to my Buster Sword. It's finally over. It-

“Dreamer! Behind!” My eyes go wide and I spin immediately, pulling the Buster Sword free of the heart - and I barely register the incoming form of Jenova's scorpion-like tail as its tip slams directly into my chest, metal twisting and snapping as the force of the blow flings me from its body. I can't even feel the pain of the wound as I tumble through the air, my mind still reeling with disbelief at the sight in front of me. Jenova's still moving - wings and limbs still beating and struggling beneath Bahamut's grasp, with Princess Luna's blue form streaking around the front to try and assault the horn, which is still charging its spell.

But... how? The heart's gone. The heartbeat's gone. Shouldn't it be left unable to circulate Lifestream through itself? As my back slams against the ground, making the pain from having my chest gorged come to the forefront, I hit my realization. It isn't healing. It has no Lifestream intakes. Its back is covered in circulatory arteries but its not actually taking in any Lifestream.

“Cloud! Hey! Hang on, buddy!” Shining Armor's voice barely registers as I see his head enter my vision. Had I landed that close to Trixie? Not that it matters, at this point... Jenova's played me like a fiddle - capitalizing on my experience with its previous form, and said form's necessity of circulating Lifestream into itself to function. Princess Luna was right... our target should've been the horn...

The heart was a decoy.

Is that why it'd also been silent since assuming that form? Letting us... letting me focus so intently on that sound, pulling that one memory forward? Son of a...

I pull myself onto my elbows, head swimming as Shining Armor uses his magic to pull open my cloak and inspect my wound. The chestplate from Princess Luna's storage lays shattered - it the only thing that saved me from being run clean through. Its not a pretty sight, though, so I look back up. If Bahamut can land its blow against Jenova, at least-

Jenova smirks as Bahamut's building energy reaches a crest, passing its point of no return, the spell on its horn finally manifesting. In another situation, I might be impressed with its strategic deviousness, or disappointed in the anti-climax of the spell it's chosen to use. The magic flows from Jenova's horn like a snake, wrapping itself around Bahamut's muzzle and sealing it shut. Jenova's horn glows with an intense rainbow as it works, holding Bahamut in place and preventing its burst stream from escaping, its faux-feathered wings folding protectively over its upper torso.

And, in that moment, Bahamut's attack explodes.

The Lifestream's soft greens become overwhelmed by the brilliant white of Bahamut's blast as I wince and cover my eyes with one arm. A crash resounds from behind us, as seven smaller impacts happen nearby. I blink my eyes clear as the light fades and try to take stock of the situation. A bubble of Shining Armor's magic is surrounding both us and Trixie, shielding us from the blast. Nearby, I can spot the six groaning forms of Twilight and her friends, trying to pull themselves to their feet after being flung from Bahamut's back. A bit further away, I see Princess Luna, crumpled onto her side, chest moving with signs of life but not visibly conscious... she must've eaten quite a bit of force from that blast to be in that state. The largest crash must've been Bahamut, but from my half-prone position, there's no good way to see exactly where he landed, assuming he's still manifested after that.

Though, we're not the only things to have survived the fallout of Bahamut's blast - across the Lifestream, Jenova begins to rise on shaky legs. All three of its remaining wings are in tatters, the frames and scraps of the insides all that remain from using them to protect its more vital areas. The remainder of its body is covered in burns, still sizzling, steam rising, much of its leathery browns and blues charred black. Its heavily damaged, for certain, but the only thing that matters is that its still standing - and it seems to be in plenty good enough shape to take on the tattered remnants of our group. D-

“Darn it!” Rainbow Dash takes the curse from my mind, in a slightly more palatable form. “Look at that thing! I know it wasn't a direct hit, but look at it! How can it still stand in that state?”

“Ah'll give it this, it's a stubborn one, alright.” Applejack pulls herself to her hooves, herself and the rest of Twilight's friends grouping around Rainbow Dash. “Really knows how to take a lickin'!”

“That just means we'll need an extra-special party after we beat this one!” Pinkie Pie springs up in place, apparently unfazed by being flung from the back of a dragon during a magical explosion.

I grip my right hand at the talk of continued fighting, and I feel it... the hilt of the Buster Sword. I somehow hadn't lost it while being flung from Jenova. I close my eyes and tap into the complex web of magics stored in the Enemy Skill Materia again, using my left hand to pull my cloak over my chest and hide away my wound. If they're still willing to fight, there's one spell I have left that can help.

“Plan, anyone?” Rarity asks. Their group has coalesced next to myself, Trixie, and Shining Armor, each sparing worried glances towards their unconscious Princess, but focusing on the task in front of them. As they turn to face the looming form of Jenova, a gentle breeze blows, the winds shimmering white, each of them shaking their heads as their scrapes and exhaustion disappears. The White Wind eases the pain slightly from my own chest, but I don't need to inspect it to know my chest is having the same issue as my left arm - no longer responding properly to magical healing. Is the damn scorpion tail coated in cthulu-rabies as well? I wouldn't be surprised, at this point.

“I think the Elements of Harmony are all we have left, girls.” Twilight replies, steeling her gaze ahead. “Wanna give it a taste of friendship and see what happens?”

And these are the ponies that made fun of me for saying 'Let's mosey'. If I were in a better state than right now, I'd be offended.

“I thought there was no way of knowing what the Elements of Harmony would do to a being from another world?” Shining Armor half-asks, half-argues.

“Well, we have to do something!” Fluttershy answers, her demeanor anything but her namesake.

“There's not much else we can do against something like that, anyway.” Rainbow Dash picks up the point from her. “Besides, the Elements made Cloud's dragon-thing super-powered and super-cool looking. They have to do something to it!”

A roar from Jenova's lower head cuts off further arguing, snapping all eyes forward as it begins charging, dropping magical pretense and intent on just crushing us while it has the chance.

“Here it comes, girls!” Twilight yells, calling their attention to the task at hand as their eyes close. The gems inlaid to their Elements glow a matching color, an aura that extends out and wraps around each pony in turn, pulling them several feet in the air as the magic builds itself up to a fever-pitch. Bands of white light shoot out, connecting the six of them as a rainbow manifests from the space between them, arcing high into the air before turning and aiming itself straight at Jenova.

The rainbow light wraps itself tightly around Jenova, trying to consume its entire being as it twists and turns along and around the various limbs of its massive body. It thrashes against its rainbow-colored bindings, tearing at the threads of color with its claws and fragmenting them for mere moments before they reform. It's... working? Jenova continues thrashing, its lower head roaring and biting against the rainbow as the claws tear and tail jabs, until the full creature is consumed by the light.

Twilight and the others descend back to the ground, panting as their Elements of Harmony continue to brim with magical potential, their work visibly incomplete even if they've released their Bearers from the trance-like state.

“Think Princess Celestia will have room in her statue garden for one this big?” Rainbow Dash quips as the rainbow-colored magic of harmony grips tighter against Jenova's body. I don't think I want the answers to the implications of that question.

Another, rage-fueled roar cuts off any potential reply as Jenova's lower head tears through its forming rainbow cocoon, followed by its claw-tipped arms, tearing the rainbow shell away from itself much like it did to the egg it hatched from. In response, the rainbow ripples, rebinding itself around Jenova and pressing its body against the ground, fighting against its many powerful limbs to keep it in place.

“Tarnation!” Applejack curses. “The Elements can barely hold this thing down! How are we gonna finish it off like this?”

“I've... got it!” A new voice says between pants.

“Trixie...?” I pull myself to a proper sitting position, bracing myself against my Buster Sword as I turn to her.

She looks at me and smirks. “Was there ever any doubt?” She puffs herself up, hoof to her chest, though it doesn't mask the wobbly way she's currently standing. “Should've used a different healing spell if you wanted to keep me asleep for this part, Dusk.”

Twilight turns to her, sporting a small smile. “What's your plan, Trixie?”

“The same one Dusk and I always use in times like this.” Trixie returns Twilight's smile with one of her own. She does her best to steady herself, taking a few deep breaths before continuing. “Hit it until it stops moving!” She stomps her hoof, drawing my attention down to the Red Materia on her bangle, glowing brighter than ever before as Lifestream gathers around the gem. “Bahamut! Rise up!” Behind us, claws crash against the ground, first one, then another, as the dragon obeys her command.

“Trixie...” I mutter weakly, pulling myself up to my feet with my Buster Sword. All I can think of right now is the Ghastly Gorge, where I had also been injured, and where she... “Trixie, if you push yourself like this, you'll be risking a lot more than just a horn. Don't you understand?”

“I understand just fine, Dusk.” She rebuffs me, head held high. “But there's no choice, is there?” Her gaze turns squarely on the pinned form of Jenova. “Bahamut, fly!”

Following her order, the dragon's massive wing beats send gusts against our back as it takes to the sky, stopping far above us and spreading out its six wings, hovering. Without need for a further order, energy builds in its maw, green wisps of Lifestream joining the white electricity as it charges its final strike.

I grip the Buster Sword's hilt tightly in both hands, still using it to support my weight and barely suppressing a scream. The one thing I'd wanted to prevent... it was here, staring me in the face, a smug dose of reality to remedy my stupidity. Then, reality decides I haven't had enough, and doubles my dosage. Jenova writhes, still struggling against its rainbow-bindings, but after a moment, I see a second aura of rainbow magic join the first... one that distinctly does not belong to the Elements of Harmony.

“Dammit!” I curse. “The horn!” Its horn. Its horn is free from the binding of the Elements of Harmony, and both its heads are turned directly at Bahamut as it struggles to manifest a final spell. Was this thing going to win, even after all this, simply because I didn't follow Princess Luna's plan?

“Dusk...?”

No... I can't accept that...

I pull the Buster Sword from the ground, gripping it in both hands, the pain from both my left arm and my chest the furthest thing from my mind as I take rhythmic breaths, readying myself.

“The horn. Its charging a new spell to deflect Bahamut's attack.” I explain to Trixie once I'm steady. “We have to get rid of it. If this attack fails, we know you're going to be in no state to do another one, even in the best circumstances.”

“You can barely stand, Dusk! It's suicide!” You're one to talk, Trixie. “Even if you get the horn, you won't get away in time!”

“But there's no choice, is there, Trixie?”

I don't let her argue further, propelling my body forward with force of will. The distant pain disappears entirely as my muscles cry out. I feel the blue glow of the Mako flowing through my veins without needing to see it, Buster Sword over my right shoulder and gripped tightly in both hands, running at full sprint. Both of Jenova's heads are turned skyward even as it fights against the powers of Harmony, leaving me completely undetected on my approach. With a single leap, I'm atop the pony-like head, directly between its eyes as I swing the Buster Sword at the horn's base, the magic crackling and fighting, trying to resist my attempt to shatter its focus point with everything it has.

Time slows as I clash against the horn, magic running down the Buster Sword's Starmetal blade. I smirk. What Princess Luna had done in an attempt to make Materia easier to channel is now acting as a magical lightning rod, preventing Jenova from simply blasting me away. I don't know quite how long the clash truly lasts - a few seconds, a few minutes? It takes every bit of strength I'm able to muster, but, eventually, the Buster Sword cuts through the horn, severing from its owner. I spin the sword in my hands, not satisfied, and jam it blade-first into the Jenova's remaining stump, wanting to ensure its magic is well and truly sealed as I look up.

A burst stream - white with faint lines of green - descends from the sky, its target clear as Jenova does everything it can without its horn to try and escape the clutches of the Elements of Harmony. My gaze turns from the impeding blast to Jenova's upper 'head', its true head, and its one visible eye, and what I see there gives me a twisted sense of satisfaction.

Fear.

For possibly the only time in its existence, Jenova, destroyer of worlds, is experiencing true fear, all but confirming it has no escape from impending doom from above. I clutch my eyes shut and keep a tight grip on my Buster Sword, even as the thrashing of the lower head finally dislodges me from it. It flings me away, but its too late. Even if there's some magic it can manifest with only a stump of a horn, it doesn't have the time.

It only takes another second for my world to go white.

Chapter 47: From Jenova, With Love.

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Chapter 47: From Jenova, With Love.

I know I told Twilight Sparkle that death hurts like hell, but... I didn't think death actually hurt like hell. My muscles feel like they're screaming, though my chest is giving me the worst of it. A light burns against my eyelids, but there's no going into it in my condition, so right now it's just another layer of discomfort. I groan and shift, trying to ease the pressure on my chest. Why couldn't being dead be more comfortable?

“Cloud?” A voice meets my ears and a pressure I soon recognize as a pair of hooves rests against my left arm. Either that blast from Bahamut wiped out all of us or I have the devil's luck.

I force my eyes open, vision blurry as they try to adjust to the light pouring into them from the right, only for my vision to be filled with yellow and pink. Don't tell me...

“Oh my, you're awake!” My brain finally kicks into gear enough to recognize the voice as Fluttershy. The room starts coming into focus, small and mainly composed of wooden hues.

“I'm... alive?” I croak out, my voice hoarse.

She disappears from my sight, and I hear a few hoofsteps as she crosses the room, followed by the creak of a door. “He's awake, everypony!” She yells through the halls of wherever we are, voice echoing slightly.

“Where-” I start to ask the most obvious question, only to be interrupted by a coughing fit. As I regain my composure, I decide to transition from the most obvious question to the most important question. “Where's Trixie?”

I pull myself up onto my elbows to face Fluttershy properly as she turns back to me. “Oh, um. Trixie, well, she-”

The door behind Fluttershy slams against the wall as its thrown open, a familiar whirlwind of personality forcing its way into the room. “She thinks she's going to kill her assistant herself after such a foolish stunt!” She declares, stomping her way over to my bed, head held high.

Our eyes lock, her using her signature bravado to mask whatever she's actually feeling. We stay that way, in a moment of tense silence, until I can't help but smirk. “Please don't tell me you got your brain magic-fried and you're speaking in third person again.”

Her glare hardens with a “Hmph!”, though after a moment she finally drops it. “Good to see you're doing better, Dusk. We were getting worried.”

“Over what?” I let myself slump back into the bed, the slight impact against the mattress still sending enough of a jolt through my chest to make me wince, and slip my hands behind my head. “I always bounce back. Freak of scientific engineering and all.”

“Dusk...” Trixie hesitates, finally breaking eye contact.

“...What is it?” I ask, probing once it's clear she won't continue on her own.

“You've been unconscious for three days, Dusk.”

...Three days...? “I don't believe you.”

She finally looks back up at me, eyebrow raised. “Pardon?”

“I don't believe you.” I shrug. “There's no way Princess Nosy would stay out of my head an entire three days. She's far too into invasion of privacy for that.”

“The truth is, Dusk, Princess Luna didn't exactly bounce right back either.” She turns to look out the window. “She's fine now, mind you, but she was out an entire day after that mess, too. Can't say I blame her. Not just that last fight, but she'd just come off getting hurt pretty badly at Ghastly Gorge, too. I guess even an alicorn has their limits.”

“Yeah... guess so.” I close my eyes for a minute, turning my head up to the ceiling and taking a deep breath before reopening them. Wood ceiling, too. I must be in a guest bedroom at the Golden Oak. “So, how'd you avoid being on the wrong end of some magical shake 'n bake?”

“No idea, honestly.” She replies with a shake of her head. “Even after the White Wind, I could barely stand, but... the more I concentrated on Bahamut's Materia, the more I felt like I could just... do anything, you know? Like no matter how much I pushed, there was also some more energy buried away somewhere to put into it.”

I smirk, thinking back to how the Lifestream welled around Bahamut's Materia during those last moments. I suppose not every miracle has to be big and flashy, does it? “Yeah, I get it. Doesn't explain how I didn't get turned into stardust, though.”

“Oh, that's because I pulled you back with my magic once Jenova flung you off.” Twilight's voice chimes in, causing both Trixie and I to turn to the door. Said Twilight Sparkle lets out a sheepish grin, her head poking around the frame of the door. Fluttershy must have gotten her, since I don't see miss winged butter anywhere.

“And just how long have you been there, Sparkle?” Trixie asks, narrowing her eyes. “This is twice now you've spied on us after Dusk's indulged himself in his strange fascination with being stabbed in the chest.”

I give the side of her head a deadpan stare. “Fascination? That's what this is?”

“Hey!” Twilight perks up and enters the room properly, walking over to us. “You didn't catch me this time, Trixie! I'm getting better at it!”

It's Twilight's turn to be on the receiving end of Trixie's confused, raised eyebrow. “Is sneaking up on ponies really a skill you wish to practice, Twilight?”

“Anyway,” I cut in as Twilight shrugs her non-answer at Trixie, “I guess I should thank you for not letting me get turned extra crispy, Twilight.”

“Technically, you'd have to thank my brother for that one.” She explains. “I grabbed you out of the air, sure, but the blast that dragon's attack left was... we honestly weren't sure even Shining Armor would be able to block the fallout from that one. He almost didn't.”

“That big, huh?” She nods in response to my question. “I'm guessing between that and the fact we're all still here means Jenova's a pile of ash right now.”

“Yeah...” Twilight continues. “After the dust settled, we were at the bottom of that ravine Jenova was storing the Lifestream in. Without Jenova to force it into one place, the Lifestream bubble we were all inside must've collapsed and went back where it belonged. We hunted around just in case, but the only bit we found of Jenova was a charred piece of the horn you cut off that Rainbow Dash decided to keep as a trophy.” She shakes her head. “I didn't have enough strength left after all that to teleport that many ponies, so it was a bit of an adventure in itself getting out of there with all three of you unconscious.”

“...Not Trixie's finest moment, collapsing just after besting her foe.”

“Are you sure you're not fried back into third person?”

Trixie huffs. “Shut up, idiot.”

I relax against my pillow, noting just how small the bed actually is. I barely fit on it, but that's not so surprising if my hunch on it most likely being Twilight's guest bed is correct. “At least we're all back in one piece, right?”

“Yeah... about that...” Twilight replies hesitantly as she walks past Trixie, coming to the edge of the bed. Her horn glows its faint raspberry color, the glow spreading to the blanket covering my chest and pulling it back. I'm not exactly surprised at what I see, layers of bandages much like the time I was subject to Gauze Wrap in Canterlot.

“Yeah, Twilight,” I start, looking up at her quizzically, “I got stabbed in the chest with some crazy demon scorpion tail so hard it shattered an enchanted chest plate. I don't need you to show me the logical outcome of that when it hurts to breathe.”

“It's more than that.” She says, her magic now reaching to the bandages and slowly unraveling them. “Last time this happened, even before you had your memory back and you used your magic to heal it, your body recovered at a rate we'd have expected from one of the Princesses. But now...” She unwinds the last of the bandages and pulls them off, exposing the wound hiding below. My chest is sporting a rather nasty scar around the impact point, stitches still visibly holding things together. That's not the worrying part, even if it's a sign of uncharacteristic vulnerability. The worrying part is around and inside the scar - my entire chest and stomach are covered with inky splotches of black. I pull my left arm out from under the sheets and give it a look over as well, only to see the infection on it passes my shoulder. Just below that, the wound from getting magick'd through the arm is wrapped up in another bandage, and I decide I'd rather not unravel it and see how it looks. The two areas of infection - my chest and my arm - have overlapped to the point I can't tell where one ends and the other begins, though, and it wouldn't surprise me if it's started going down my legs or - yep, there it is, on my right shoulder.

Just. Beautiful.

“I see your point, Twilight.”

“Nothing we do seems to help it.” She continues. “Gauze Wrap tried his Gauzinga and Trixie tried pretty much all of your recuperative Materia once she was able. I even tried some spells I found in books around the library that posited being able to speed recoveries. They've been debunked as junk spells for years, but I thought maybe they'd work against something like this... but I guess not. We're not even sure if you're healing naturally, honestly.”

“So, Jenova gets the last laugh, huh?” I can't help but laugh lowly to myself. “Could be worse, I guess. It's looking pretty dead, so even if this kills me, it's just a Pyrrhic victory for a petty space parasite.”

“How can you be so blasé about something like that?!” Trixie protests, stomping a hoof against the ground. “What if this does kill you?”

I give her a sidelong glance. “You're one to talk.”

Trixie's gaze quickly turns downcast, and my conscious starts rebelling against me. Too low.

“...It's not all bad news,” Twilight, thankfully, breaks the awkward silence, “once Princess Luna recovered, Trixie explained to us where the dark splotches came from initially, back from the incident on the train. Princess Luna said she might have the resources to do something about it, but she wouldn't tell us anything more before she left.”

“Have the resources?” I repeat the phrase, turning it over curiously in my brain. How do you just 'have the resources' to deal with being infected with space parasite cancer?

“I don't know any more than that.” Twilight shakes her head. “That's what she said. I remember it really distinctly because I thought the way she phrased it was strange, too.”

“I see.” I pull myself up with my arms, doing my best to push the pain in my left arm and chest out of my mind as I get into a sitting position. “Well, time to get out of this bed.”

“Are you sure you should be moving so soon, Cloud?”

“Does it really matter?” I reply to Twilight's question with one of my own. “You said yourself you're not even sure if I'm healing naturally at all, and if I'm not, I'm gonna need to learn to deal with it. No time like the present, and all that.”

“Yeah, I suppose...” Twilight trails off as I swing my legs off the side of the bed. “Let me get your bandage back on, at least.”

“Alright.” I nod. “I'm sure my shirt's ruined again, so I should have something covering this ugly mess.”

“Rarity's handling that.” Twilight nods as she starts wrapping the bandages back on. “Though, she had a glint in her eye when she got her hooves on your shirt, Cloud.” She grins. “You might be getting a bit more than you're expecting, knowing her.”

“You put her up to something, didn't you?”

“No!” Twilight protests. “Promise!”

I turn to Trixie. “Then what about you?”

“Huh?” Her head snaps up, snapped out of a trance of staring at the floor.

I shake my head. “Don't worry about it.”

“All done!” Twilight declares cheerily, taking a step back. My bandages are indeed all back in order.

I push myself up from the bed, wincing at the pain of moving. This is definitely going to take getting used to. “So, where did Fluttershy go? She was here when I woke up but she never came back after Trixie came in.”

“Oh! She's downstairs.” Twilight turns, leading the three of us out of the room. “She's cooking some lunch with Spike. It's a bit after noon, now. The others had to get back to their usual activities but Fluttershy's been coming over every day when she can spare time away from her other animals to look after you.”

I take things slow, leaning against the railings to help myself down the stairs to the library foyer. “Other animals?”

“Heh... her words, not mine, I swear.”

Trixie laughs to herself. “Smooth, Twilight.”

The three of us soon reach the table, Trixie and Twilight taking seats across from each other while I get the 'pleasure' of being stuck between them. A whiff of the food in the air catches me off guard, though. Something's... different. I take a peek toward the kitchen just as Fluttershy peeks out of it to see what's going on.

“Oh, you're walking around already, Cloud! That's good to see!” She smiles. “I thought I heard somepony coming down. Lunch will be ready in just a minute!” And, with that, she's gone back to the depths of the kitchen as fast as she appeared.

“She's... cheery.” I comment.

“She's just doing well in her element, Cloud.” Twilight explains, prompting me to shoot her a dirty look. “Not that I mean...”

Twilight trails off, but Trixie picks up for her. “Sure you don't want to go live with all the furry woodland creatures yet, Dusk?” Trixie turns to me with one of her grins. “Seems like a nice gig. Look how happy she is to cook you lunch, Duskie-Wuskie!”

I groan and bury my face in my hands. “I hate both of you.”

The clinking of plates against wood pulls me out of wishing I were still unconscious. I look down at a truly marvelous sight - fish. Cooked fish! And eggs! I glance up, and meet the sheepish smile of the Cat Lady herself. Maybe I should rethink being a furry woodland creature, if it comes with something besides grain and fruits...

“H-hope you like f-fish.” She says with a small stutter as Spike sets out the food for the ponies. “I don't normally cook... that sort of... thing...” she starts to explain, obviously setting aside some discomfort, “but I remember when we first met, so I thought meat might help you regain your strength faster. F-fish and eggs are the only things of... that... sort I'm willing to cook though, s-so I hope it's okay, maybe?”

“It's more than okay.” I assure her with a nod, sweeping up my silverware, my body suddenly craving the sustenance. Maybe I have been out for three days...

“This still feels so strange, to me,” Trixie starts, in between bites of a hayburger, “just a few days ago, we find out there's a world-munching alien out to destroy everything and fight it - twice - and now we're just... eating lunch, like nothing happened.”

Twilight gives her a friendly smile. “You get used to it.”

“Yeah...” Trixie nods. “I figured. It's just... the whole 'save the world, be a hero' thing is going a bit different than I'd always thought it might as a filly.”

Twilight's smile becomes a playful smirk. “Not as glamorous as you'd hoped, oh Great and Powerful one?”

“Something like that.”

“Cloud,” Fluttershy cuts in, “slow down. You'll give yourself a tummy ache eating that fast.”

I look down at my now one-quarter of fish and eggs, and back up to the sheepishly-grinning Pegasus across from me as the other three table members break into fits of stifled laughter. I give her my best deadpan. “Yes, mom.”

“Aww, Duskie, change your mind on joining the other woodland creatures at last?” Trixie jeers with sarcastic sweetness, emphasizing with a sly grin.

I decide to play a bit of hardball with her. “And what would you do without your precious assistant?”

“Ah, I've already considered that!” Trixie replies with a knowing nod. “She would simply take Twilight's assistant for her own use. He's more portable and assistant-y.”

“Hey!” Twilight protests, scooping up the dragon mid-way through a bite of his lunch and hugging him between her forehooves with a pout. “Spike is my Number One Assistant, you!”

“Yes, Sparkle, but Trixie has something you lack.” She gives another nod. “A willingness to indulge young Spike in his fill of Donut Joe's most delicious of donuts!”

“I think that's just you being a glutton, Trixie...” I mutter, giving her a sidelong glance.

Spike swallows and turns to Twilight, smirking. “I don't know, Twilight, she drives a hard bargain.”

Twilight huffs and turns to him. “You wouldn't dare!” Then, she grins. “Besides... Trixie travels a lot. If you went with her, think of how much less time you'd get to spend with Rarity.”

“Darn...” Spike mutters, his turn to huff now.

“Oh, got it for the fashion-pony, little one?” Trixie asks, leaning in and grinning and Spike from across the table.

“Oh, l-” Spike starts, before gripping the table. He lets out a burp, unleashing a tail of emerald fire, that soon unveils a scroll that drops onto the center of the table.

Trixie blinks. “Well, that's an interesting form of indigestion.”

“A letter from the Princess!” Twilight scoops it up in her magic, unfurling and reading it out loud.

To My Most Faithful Student and Friends,

My Sister has informed me on the outcome of your journey to Rambling Rock Ridge, and of Cloud's condition thereafter. I apologize for not writing or visiting sooner, but I have been maintaining My Sister's duties atop my own as she recovered. She is now well, however, and insists upon bringing Cloud to Canterlot to further examine whatever infection the creature has brought upon him. She has asked me to write you to say she shall be arriving at Golden Oak tonight to retrieve him and assumedly Miss Lulamoon. It sounds hollow after such an experience, but I hope all is well, Twilight. I'll write again soon. I'd like to hear all about everything that's happened with you since you left Canterlot. My Sister isn't the best storyteller.

Yours,

Princess Celestia

“Hold on.” Trixie blinks. “Princess Celestia sends you letters... by using Spike as a mailbox?”

Twilight laughs lowly. “Sounds kinda bad when you put it that way.”

“The timing on that one.” I mutter, pushing my now-empty plate away. “Even when she's not barging her way into my head... did she just sit there, watching my dream in whatever way she does, waiting for me to wake up so she could have Celestia send us some dragon-mail or something?”

“Maybe she did.” Trixie leans back in her seat. “You might have a royal stalker, Dusk.”

“That's even less funny than your usual jokes, Trixie.” I shake my head, not even wanting to consider that.

“Oh, cheer up, Cloud.” Twilight's horn glows and I follow the strands of magic with my eyes. My box of things from before we left for Rambling Rock Ridge is still in the corner, now glowing with her magic, until something is hoisted out of it. A familiar, now-ruined breastplate levitates over to me and I take it in my hands. “Saved this for you. Shining Armor wanted to junk it, but...” she smirks, “I thought, once Rarity comes around, you might want to harvest the shoulder pads off it.”

It hurts with my chest, but I can't help but laugh.

Chapter 48: Shoulders II - Fashion Boogaloo.

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Chapter 48: Shoulders II - Fashion Boogaloo.

After breakfast, we - and by we, I mean Twilight's list - decide it's time to go visit Rarity and see how she's decided to mess with my wardrobe. Thankfully, my cloak is inside the Wooden Crate of Holding alongside the broken chest piece, so I can at least avoid looking like a giant wreck in public. It doesn't stop the ponies outside from giving me looks - and not the usual curious or confused looks, but sympathetic ones. It's not until I notice Trixie is getting similar looks that I piece it together - Twilight, her friends, and Shining Armor had dragged us not only out of that cave system, but all the way back to Ponyville. Not only must that have taken hours, but its not surprising that the other ponies noticed a ragtag mess like that coming back to town. I wonder what story they fed them? It seems good enough that they're not running up and asking questions, at least. Either that, or their desire to has worn off in the three days I was passed out.

Regardless, the walk there has more pressing issues than just the passers-by. More than once, I find myself leaning against houses or fences to ease the strain of the 'longer' walk to Rarity's Carousel Boutique. 'Longer', in this case, meaning a distance greater than that between the Golden Oak's guest bedroom and its main foyer. It feels like more than simple pain and strain of the wounded muscles, as well. Is whatever lovely infection Jenova's left me with spread enough that it's started sapping at my remaining strength? Dammit... if that's true, I gave it three days to do whatever the hell it wanted. Just... work through it, Cloud. No point griping. If I'm lucky, Luna will be able to do something about this. If she's dream-stalking me to send summons that soon after I wake up, she must have something.

Our pace is slow, almost painstakingly so, mainly due to myself. Trixie and Twilight chat lowly to themselves, but every so often sneak glances back in my direction. Spike is walking beside Twilight, whistling to himself, while Fluttershy's gone back to her animal shelter of a home. I have the broken remains of the chest plate I took from Princess Luna's storage under one arm beneath the cape, at Twilight's suggestion, along with the leather of my original SOLDIER armor, to see what we can get done about the whole shoulder pad issue. After a short walk that feels like miles, we finally arrive outside our destination, still bearing its disturbing ponnequin motif. Don't think I'm ever getting used to that. A knock and a few traded greetings later...

“Come in, come in, dears!” Rarity beckons us, shutting the door after I duck under it and hobble in. Ducking to get into pony doorways, that's another thing not helping my current state whatsoever. “It's good to see the two of you are doing better.” She states, nodding between myself and Trixie.

“In a sense.” I nod as she leads us away from the work area and into her kitchen, giving me another doorway to duck under in the process.

“Come now, everypony. Sit, sit!” She motions to the kitchen table. “I'll make us some tea.”

“Thank you, Rarity.” Trixie says as we take seats. It's still weird seeing her be... polite. I set the broken chest plate and other bits on the floor against the chair for now, leaning back to relax after the walk over taking so much out of me.

“So!” Rarity exclaims after setting a kettle to boil, turning on her hooves. “I take it you are all here to see how I've devised to exemplify Cloud's fashion and unique physique, now we've finally gotten a reprieve dealing with such dreadful creatures!”

“Um...” I cut in as she walks over to the table, raising an index finger questioningly. “Could I possibly just get my shirt back, as-is?”

“Not a chance, dear!” She replies, grinning. I fire a dirty look at Twilight, still convinced she's out for revenge for the whole shoulder pad incident in Canterlot. “Now get that cloak off, we need to see how these look on you.” She turns to Spike. “Spike, could you please get the box on my desk in the other room? I need to hunt down what Sweetie Belle did with my tea. I asked her to prepare some this morning and I haven't seen it since.”

“Sure thing, Rarity!” Spike hops down from his seat so soon after getting it, a spring in his step as he walks back into the other room.

“That's adorable.” Trixie comments as both her and Twilight break into a giggle the second Spike is out of earshot.

“He's such a helpful little gentledrake, really.” Rarity replies as she digs through a cabinet. “A-hah! Found them!” She turns, heading back to the stove, opening a nearby cabinet with her magic and floating out an assortment of tea cups. “So, Cloud, Trixie, how are you two doing? It's nice to see you both up and about at last.”

“Both?” I question as I drape my cloak over the back of the chair. “How long was Trixie out for?”

“Oh, she didn't say?” Rarity lets a playful grin escape. “She was the first one of you to wake up.” Rarity explains, arranging the cups on the table as she waits for the water to boil. “She was up before we even got back to Ponyville, actually. It was just that once we got there, we could not get her to leave that dingy old library. No matter what we did, she just refused to step out!”

“My library's not dingy!” Twilight huffs.

“And I merely had no reason to leave!” Trixie follows suit.

“Ah, right.” Rarity nods, her grin widening slightly. “That's why you were pacing new grooves into Twilight's floor, too, yes?”

“Of course!” Trixie raises her head, and I suppress a laugh at her obvious attempt to protect her pride. “It's how I cope with boredom, is all.”

“If you were bored, there were books, Trixie.” Twilight decides to get in on the ribbing. “You know, books, in my dingy library.”

“Trixie, Trixie,” Rarity drapes a hoof around Trixie's shoulders, “it's okay to be worried about somepony. We wouldn't prod you so much if you weren't still so... prickly.”

Trixie shrugs. “It's a work in progress.”

The kettle whistles as the water hits its boiling point, Rarity freeing Trixie from her grasp as she turns away to dole out the tea.

“Sorry I took so long!” Spike calls out, upper half hidden behind a deep-looking cardboard box as he walks back into the kitchen. “Took me a minute to find the box Rarity meant. There's like seven of them out there.”

“Organized chaos, dear Spike.” Rarity nods as she pours one of the cups of tea. “I've made you well aware of that concept by now, yes?”

“I wasn't complaining, Rarity.” Spike quickly defends. “Just, you know, I didn't organize it, so to me, it's just chaos.”

“It's fine, Spike, just set the box next to my chair there.” Rarity instructs him as she finishes with the tea, setting a bowl of sugar in the center of the table. “Yes, there. Thank you, Spike.”

“No problem, Rarity!” Spike pulls himself back up into his seat, grinning stupidly as Rarity reclaims hers.

“So, Cloud, you never said,” Rarity's horn glows as she talks, levitating the box onto the table as she sifts through the contents, flashes of familiarly-hued fabric visible, “how are you feeling? You looked like quite the dreadful mess before we bandaged you up, but if you're walking so soon, it must be healing quite nicely.”

“Actually, that's why we're here, Rarity.” Twilight cuts in. “Cloud needs to head to Canterlot tonight, so we needed to see if you had his shirt ready since, well...” she trails off, motioning her head to my mess of bandages.

“Yeah.” I nod, picking up the conversation. “This mess here doesn't actually seem to be healing at all.” Rarity visibly winces at the thought as I continue. “Lovely infection from an angry space parasite, I know. However, Princess Luna claims there's something she can do for it, hence another field trip so soon.”

Rarity nods. “Well!” She pulls a shirt out from the box. It looks just like my usual, except with a golden, miniature representation of the Buster Sword emblazoned along the front.

“No.” I say quickly, before Rarity can enter any kind of spiel to sell that to me.

“What, dear?” She feigns an innocent smile. “It's the same old shirt. It just has your cutie mark stitched on.” I raise a finger to reply, but she continues. “I know, you don't technically have a cutie mark, so I hazarded a bit of a guess.”

Remembering what those are supposed to symbolize, I ask the one question I probably don't want the answer to. “...And what's my special talent supposed to be, in that case?”

Rarity's grin widens, and she shoots Twilight a knowing glance. “Why, heroing, of course.”

I turn my gaze to Twilight as well, sighing. “I thought you said you didn't put her up to anything?”

“I didn't!” Twilight raises her hoofs defensively. “She just... asked me for a recommendation... Heh...”

Trixie rolls her eyes at me, before giving me a knowing look of her own. “Besides, Dusk, it suits your personality, doesn't it?”

I lock eyes with her. “You say that, but if you had a shirt with the symbol best matching your personality on it... I don't think it's appropriate to mention in front of Spike.”

Spike chortles. “Oh, man! I bet it's a-”

A purple hoof plugs his mouth as Twilight glares at him. “Don't you even go near this, mister.”

“Ah, well.” Rarity folds the shirt up with her magic and sets it on the table, pulling the conversation back to the topic at hand. “I can't just give you plain blue, Cloud. Especially for somepony who wears clothing as much as you do, accessorizing is just a must!”

“Well, how about this?” I ask, deciding to head off whatever her second recommendation. I heft up the chest plate followed by the remaining armor pieces, laying them across the table and giving one of the shoulders on the plate a rap of my fist. “A hero's true accessories are their shoulder guards. I know leather and metal aren't exactly your usual but if you want to help me accessorize, I'd like to see what I can salvage from this old plate.”

She raises her eyebrow, taking up the broken armor in her magical grasp to get a better look at it. “Hmm... maybe. It's certainly an interesting material. Very light. There's traces of an old enchantment on it, but it seems to have left now that the plate is broken.”

“Yeah, that's fine.” I give her a nod and lean back in my chair. “It's not like I can expect to be fighting any time soon like this. Right now, you could say its all about the fashion.”

A smirk spreads across her face as a glint enters her eyes. “It'll be a bit of a challenge, but I think I can work with that.” Her horn glows and she experimentally bends part of the chest plate. “Surprisingly pliable under magic...” She pulls it closer and attempts the same bend with her hooves, furrowing her brow as it refuses to give the same yield. “Quite a bit more resistant to more brutish shaping methods, though. Interesting material, indeed!”

“You almost sound excited.” I can't help but smirk. “I figured shaping metals would be a bit out of your comfort zone.”

She sweeps up the chestplate and armor in her magical grasp, stepping away from the table with a smirk of her own. “You'd think, but I have experience with the unorthodox!” She heads off into her workshop, calling behind her. “This shouldn't take long at all, dears! Make yourselves at home and relax a bit. I've already got something in mind!”

I blink and turn to the remaining table occupants as the telltale sounds of Rarity performing what I've come to dub The Sounds of Fashion after my last trip here start to ring out from her work area. “Huh.” I mutter after a moment. “That went a lot better than expected.”

“Then you should be worried.” Trixie says as she leans back in her own chair, rocking it on two hind legs, front hooves gripping the table. “It's quite clear Rarity and Twilight are in cahoots, after all.”

“Oh, not you, too!” Twilight protests. "All I did was recommend the cutie mark thing as a joke!"

"I don't believe you." I say, causing her glance to go from Trixie to myself.

"And why not?" She pouts. "What makes you think I'd actually want to make you look ridiculous?"

I shrug. “Precedent.”

“Well, I don't!”

Trixie leans forward, eyeing Twilight smugly. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

Twilight blinks then returns her smug look with one of her own. “Or maybe placing all the blame on me is a cover, and you're the guilty one all along, Trixie!”

Trixie gasps theatrically, placing a hoof to her mouth in mock-shock. “Trixie would never do such a thing!” She turns to me, eyes pleading. “Would she, Dusk?”

“Yes.” I answer flatly, crossing my arms over my chest.

Trixie pouts as Rarity's voice resounds from the work room. "Spike, dear, could you come here a moment, please?" She pauses a moment, and then continues. "I could really use a bit of assistance, if you don't mind!"

"Coming, Rarity!" Spike jumps out of his seat, with an obedience and snappiness far above what he normally exhibits for Twilight as he saunters confidently into the other room.

Trixie giggles again, this time more audibly now that its just the three of us in the room. "I just can't get over that!"

"Yeah." The laughter's contagiousness makes its way to Twilight. "Plus, with Spike's love of comic books, I bet he can give Rarity plenty of suggestions on how to make her work look more hero."

I groan and meet her eyes again. "I thought you said weren't up to anything."

“I guess everypony's out to get you, eh, Dusk?” Trixie prods, giving me a mischievous look.

“Yeah.” I reply, darting my eyes between the remaining pair. “With friends like you, who needs enemies?”

“It's not like we'd ever actually do anything that bad, is it?” Twilight asks in a mix of playfulness and skepticism.

“Harlequin. Cannon.” I reply flatly.

“You're still on about that?” She pauses for a minute as we hold each other's gazes, then rolls her eyes. “Oh, fine, I'll go keep an eye on them to be sure you don't end up with Spike's face on your chest this time, alright?” Her question drips with mock-annoyance as she slips out of her chair and makes to leave. “I'm kind of curious what Rarity's up to anyway.”

Silence hangs over the table for a moment as Twilight's hoofsteps fade into the other room, before Trixie finally breaks it. “And then there were two.”

“Don't sound so disappointed about it.” I quip back, prodding her verbally.

“What?” She shrugs. “You're only the most boring pony to be around in the history of ever.”

“Then why do you insist on hanging around me so much?”

She leans back, pressing her front hooves against the table and rocking her chair on its back legs again. “Oh, you know. Figured it'd be a good way to slow down my otherwise hectic life of showmareship.”

“And how'd that turn out for you?”

“Backfired terribly, of course.” She punctuates her statement by resting her front hooves on the table now, essentially mimicking my posture as the front legs of her chair thud against the ground.

I can't help but let out a small laugh, though its quickly cut off from a wince at the pain in my chest. “Good to see you're doing better.”

“Why wouldn't I be?” She asks, eyes glancing over and meeting mine. “I'm not the one with a hole in her chest. Again.”

“Exactly.” It's my turn to shrug my shoulders this time. “I'm used to it, but everyone keeps making such a big fuss over it I've barely gotten a chance to ask how you've been doing.”

“Well, I'm fine.” She replies, but quickly breaks into a large yawn, covering her mouth with a hoof. “Just drained. And restless. Odd mix, really.”

“Restless?” I ask. I can already imagine where the drained part comes from.

“Oh, come on. You're probably already feeling it too, which is the real reason you brought that chestplate with you.” She nods, giving a moment for me to reply that I let pass before continuing. “I feel like we should be out there, traveling Equestria, on some grand adventure to hunt down any missing bits of Jenova now that the main conscience is severed, wipe out any bits of its presence that are left. I mentioned it a bit this morning, but... it just feels wrong, you know? One day we fight the giant space monster from Tartarus and the next we're eating breakfast and having tea.”

I lean back in my chair, stretching my legs out under the table and my hands against its side, taking up Trixie's old position of rocking in it. “Now who's the one with the hero complex?”

“Oh, shut up.” She sighs, tracing her hoof along the rim of her teacup. “I suppose its the natural progression from being a showmare to whatever I am now, but still. It feels useless to just sit around like this and wait.”

“Well, by tonight we'll be carting off to Canterlot and hopefully getting somewhere.” I assure her. “Speaking of, got any idea what Nosy has up her crown yet?”

Trixie sits up, raising an eyebrow. “Why are you asking me?”

“Because, you're supposed to be the smart one while I just swing a big, dumb sword around.” I reply, returning to a more standard sitting position myself. “That's how this whole dynamic is supposed to work, right?”

“I suppose so...” Trixie trails off. “Wait a minute.”

“Think of something?”

“I think so.” She nods. “I was just thinking about the peculiar way Princess Luna talked before leaving again, and had a bit of a realization.”

“Told you that's how the dynamic works.”

“Shut it.” Trixie huffs. “I'm being serious here. She said 'resources', right? Well, do you remember the first few times we met her first-hoof?”

“Yeah.” I nod. “Discounting her mental trespassing, we met her first after the incident on the train, and then in Ponyville, before we went to Canterlot and everything started going nuts.”

She nods in confirmation. “Well, the first time we met her – the train – she ended up taking the infected chupacabra with her back to Canterlot, right?”

“Yeah... she also mentioned having a place to store them.” I add, the gears in my own brain starting to turn. “Oh, boy. What sort of unethical acts of science do you think she's committing up there?” I ask, half-joking, though the use of the word 'resources' is starting to align itself in my mind in a new, slightly dreadful way.

“She did say she was looking for a way to kill Jenova back then, right?” Trixie's brow furrows. “Maybe she found something that lets her push the cells out of hosts.”

I smirk. “Either that, or I'm the next one in line to be put on the dissection table for the sake of scientific advancement. Wouldn't be the first time, after all.”

“That is so unbelievably unfunny in this situation, Dusk.” She shoots me a glower, leaning forward for a moment before backing off. “Though, it is Princess Luna. I doubt she has some sinister shop of horrors going on up there, assuming this is even what she's talking about.”

We fall silent, both stewing in our own thoughts for a minute or two before Rarity's voice calls out from the other room. “Oh, Cloud, dear, I've got a sample for you to try if you'd like to come see!”

I pull myself from my seat, grunting slightly as I use the table to steady myself. “Time to face the fashion.”

Trixie slips herself from her own chair with a grin and leads as we move from the kitchen to the workspace. We're not in the room long before a piece of blue fabric finds itself hurling through the air and landing on my face.

“Put that on, Cloud, would you?” Rarity asks, her glasses set on her face and horn aglow as she leans over a table. “Just doing some finishing touches here.”

I pull the fabric off my face to find, unsurprisingly, a shirt. My shirt, though the golden emblazoning is still present on the chest. “Rarity-”

“Just trust me and do it, Cloud.” She cuts me off sternly, not leaving room for negotiation. I shrug and pull it over my head for now, deciding it to be a battle better fought later. The mass of bandages mess with it slightly, leaving it fitting a bit tighter than I'm used to, but I'll get used to it. I still take a moment to adjust it in that regard, though, doing my best to try and minimize that feeling.

“Happy?” I ask once I'm settled with it, causing her to turn her head.

“Quite!” Her horn's glow intensifies slightly, and a mass of leather I recognize as my original armor levitates its way over to me. “Now this, please.”

I look at it awkwardly for a moment before following instruction, first with the belt piece and then with the shoulders. As I'm settling it on my shoulders, I notice the straps that go over them appear to be evened out and reinforced with leather taken from the straps that used to sheath my sword across my back. Those latter straps aren't particularly useful to me anymore, anyway, due to the size of my current weapon, especially factoring in the cloak, so its not a meaningful loss. The reasoning for the change, however, eludes me until I fix everything the best I can get it and turn to her again.

“And, the finishing touch!” I take a good, honestly stunned look at what she's offering me before finally taking it.

The chestplate is no longer recognizable. Firstly, the color – what was once midnight blue is now a glistening silver, a striking attempt to recreate the color of the Buster Sword's Starmetal, the midnight blue now being born on the armor's ridges and borders in a manner similar to said weapon's hilt. The prominent shoulders are still there... though they've been redone, decidedly larger than before, artistically curved and pointed in a way clearly meant to emphasize style before form. They use other bits of salvaged leather to connect to the remainder of the armor, now a single piece of metal only large enough to cover my breast at best, now flat with only a minimal bit of curvature in contrast to the original piece. This time, thankfully, no cutie mark is plastered to the front.

I turn the piece over in my hands and examine it more closely, seeing further leather harnesses wrapping around to an unguarded back. I orient it and slip it over my head, finding the reinforced pieces of leather from my old armor are working as padding to hold the weight of the new shoulder pieces and potentially protect my shoulders from them if they take an impact. The breast piece neatly covers the emblem that Rarity's emblazoned on my shirt, and some flexing of my arms find my mobility be better than it was in the old plate, if anything. It's still light, which thankfully means it's not irritating my chest as long as I leave a small bit of give in how its secured.

“Hero-y enough for you?” Twilight ribs as I look the final ensemble over.

“Maybe.” I nod, deciding not to bite back this time. Spike gives me a grin and a thumbs up for his part, clearly proud of whatever part he played in the work.

“Here, take a better look.” Rarity says as her horn glows again, this time pulling over a pony-sized full-body mirror from one of the walls. It cuts off my head but its far enough away that I'm still able to get a good look at my shoulders and chest – and I'm thinking this acceptably passes the coolness requirements.

“This is a lot more than I was expecting honestly, Rarity.” I commend her as I give a rap on the chest plate, wincing slightly as I realize the mistake of doing that while wearing it in my condition. The good news is that it at least feels as sturdy as the previous one.

“I've actually got a bit more.” She says, hovering over two more pieces of armor that are styled similarly to the shoulders. “I had dear Spike run back to the library and grab the arm pieces since they'd no longer match the set anyway and had a bit of fun with them.” She takes a moment, fastening them one at a time to either side of my belt, leaving the metal guards resting against my hip and outer thigh on each side. “A bit much?”

“I think I'll keep them.” I reply after looking them over for a minute. “Never really sported something like these before.”

“Excellent!” Rarity beams proudly. “I really did quite outdo myself, after finding just what I could do with the right spells. Twilight's already put some basic magic-retardants on it so you shouldn't need to worry about someone else trying to reshape it while you're wearing it.”

“Shouldn't you have waited to see if I liked it before doing that?”

Rarity's beaming transitions into a knowing grin at my question. “Cloud, dear, I'm a professional. I knew you'd like it on the first go.” She then shrugs, and throws a glance over at Twilight. “And, unlike my other friends, you're decidedly less picky.”

“Here.” Trixie's voice cuts in before Twilight can reply to Rarity's barb, and a familiar red cloak finds itself to be the fabric draped across my face this time. I pull it off to see Trixie walking back into the room, a mischievous grin on her face. “I bet with shoulder guards that large you look super intimidating with that now.”

Good point. I nod and toss the cloak over me, pulling the hood up the way I would wear it while walking through Ponyville. “I think you're right, Trixie.” I need to have Rarity move the mirror further back to get a proper look at it, but the width of the shoulders with the cloak draping over them does indeed make me look strikingly more massive, though now my boots and some of my pants are noticeably exposed through the bottom. Not a big deal, though.

“Don't let being all intimidating get to your head, Sir Broods-a-Lot.” Twilight quips and nudges a hoof against my leg. “We're only just getting used to you not being a giant sourpuss.”

“I'll think about it.”

Chapter 49: To Be Magnificent.

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Chapter 49: To Be Magnificent.

We spend a bit longer in our friendly visit with Rarity, and parting with her finds me to be the new owner of the box that she had Spike fetch from her work room while we sat around her kitchen table. Inside that box are a number of shirts-and-pants sets clearly made to mimic my existing set – correctly pegging me as a utilitarian, I see. However, it makes me aware of a certain luxury I've been lacking since my arrival in Equestria – a proper change of clothes, instead of being stuck making awkward attempts to re-wash my existing set whenever an opportunity presents itself, and I find myself appreciating it quite a bit.

After parting ways with Rarity, Trixie and I head back to the Golden Oak while Twilight and Spike set off to continue down their list of chores for the day, no doubt informing the rest of her friends that we're doing better and get another get-together going before Luna comes to sweep us back to Canterlot during the night. This is all starting to get far above my threshold for social gatherings, but I suppose I can't complain when I'm freeloading. For now, however, I'm simply relaxing in one of the foyer chairs, cloak draped across the back and new armor set on the floor beside me. Normally, I'd keep them on for that whole 'disguise' factor, but I've come to the conclusion that nobody actually uses this library besides Twilight, despite it basically being the center point of the entire town geographically. Weird, that, but I'm not complaining.

Trixie's sitting across from me, as we both ponder a similar problem.

“What do you ponies do to pass time, anyway?” I ask, leaning back in my seat. Our mutual problem, in this case, is boredom.

“You're the one that wanted to come back here, Dusk.” She admonishes with a roll of her eyes.

“Well, sorry I've got a scoop missing from my chest cavity. Again.” I shoot back.

Her eye-roll transitions into a head-shake. “Weren't you just complaining about being doted on because that doesn't actually bother you back at Rarity's?” She flashes a grin. “Make up your mind already, will you?”

“You gotta admit,” I start, stretching both my arms forward and cracking my knuckles, ignoring the accompanying chest discomfort, “it worked as a good excuse to get us out of Twilight's newest to-do list. You can't tell me you were looking forward to walking the entire town and having the same conversation at least three more times after Rarity's.”

“Yeah, nope.” She agrees. “Though, we'd at least be less bored.”

“Maybe.” I nod. “We could always slip out on our own to find something to do and try to beat Twilight back here.”

“And do what?” Trixie asks. “It's not like either of us really know a damn thing about this town besides the last time we went out with Twilight.”

“Point.” I sigh and shrug.

“We could...” Trixie trails off, looking around a moment before turning back to me, “always read a book. We are in a library. Technically. A library for one is still a library, right?”

“I was wondering the same thing, earlier.” I let out a small laugh. “Though, we can't honestly be considering that one.”

“What's wrong with that idea?” She asks, placing a hoof to her chin and closing her eyes, mimicking being in deep thought. “You can pick out a book with an interesting cover and I'll read it to you until Twilight gets back. Sounds like a fine idea to me!” She punctuates her sentence with a sideways, mischievous grin.

I fire back with a deadpan. “I can read just fine now, you know.”

“That remains to be proven!” She exclaims, her eyes snapping open and hoof pointing to me accusatorily.

“Right...” I shake my head, deciding not to point out the obvious flaw in that one.

Silence falls between us for one minute, then two, the atmosphere shifting slowly from levity to awkwardness.

“Hey.” Trixie says, breaking it before too long.

“What is it?” I ask, eyeing her curiously. She's resting both her front hooves against the edge of the table, looking down between them instead of meeting my gaze.

She moves one of said front hooves into the depths of her many-pocketed coat, withdrawing a wooden box and setting it on the table. It's remarkable in its plainness, and it takes me a second to recognize it as the box she took from her old cape when she first received her new outfit. “Do you know what's in this box, Dusk?” She asks after another small passing of silence.

I raise an eyebrow. “No? Why would I?”

A sad-looking smile makes its way across her lips. “I figured. You're not one for peeking, are you?” It's a statement, not a question, despite the phrasing. I know her well enough to know that. Is she testing me on how much I pried into her thoughts back when she used the memory spell? “In that case, I have a bit of a confession.”

I lean forward, resting my elbows on the table and folding my hands together, resting my hands on them as I keep my gaze locked on her. “You've become really intense lately, you know.”

“No matter how many times I tell you to shut up, you never learn, do you?” She shakes her head, unable to resist letting a small laugh escape. “Besides, I''m not really sure how serious this is, in the grand scheme of things.” She lets out a deep sigh before continuing. “When we first met, I might've... lied to you a little.”

I don't know what reaction she's expecting from me, but I don't think a shoulder-shrug is among them. “That's not too surprising.” I let a smirk slide across the side of my face as I try to lighten the air a bit. “Did you give me a fake name, too?”

That finally gets a bit of a laugh out of her, before she carries on. “Not quite. I lied about my intention. I wasn't heading to Appleloosa before we met. I was considering it, sure, which is why I was still practicing my routine, but I had a different goal in mind.”

“Now I'm curious.” My eyes pass between her, and her box, which her own eyes are locked on. “Go on.”

“As I'm sure you remember, I had a very... powerful grudge, back then.” Her eyes finally turn back up to face me. “My actual plan had a lot less to do with reviving my career and a lot more to do with getting payback on a certain lavender host of ours.”

“Why am I not surprised?” I shrug, again. “How'd you intend to do that?”

“Cheating.” Her eyes pass back to the box on the table. “I just hadn't worked up the courage to go through with it when you decided you were entitled to a free booking of The Great and Powerful Trixie's Most Famous Feats of Magical Ingenuity and Illusory Awe.”

I cringe inwardly at the overblown mouthful of a name. “Please tell me that's not what you actually called your routine.”

“What?” She huffs up. “It made Trixie sound more impressive!” She then deflates, eyes returning to her box. Silence hangs between us again for a minute, before she breaks it once more. “I suppose I just wanted to say thanks. I imagine my path would've turned out a lot worse than it has if you hadn't given me a reason to try a final round at showmareship.”

“Worse?” My eyebrow raises as I feel a pit start to form in my chest. She'd said payback and cheating to do it. The gears in my head turn when she doesn't reply to my question, opting to remain silent instead. I'll probably never truly know the limits of what does and doesn't go in Equestria, but I know those limits often impressed me in how flexible they seem sometimes. I also know Trixie can do some really stupid things when she's pissed, especially back when her and I first met. “What's in the box, Trixie?” I ask the million-dollar question. Whatever she's referring to must be in there.

“It's... nothing important. Not anymore.” She replies, sweeping the box up with a hoof and stuffing it back into her coat. “Promise.”

“You know that's not a good enough answer.” I stand up, leaning over the table, supporting myself with my arms and mentally telling my chest pain to stuff it as I lock my eyes on Trixie. “You've got my entire brain swirling around in that head of yours, the least you could do is not keep secrets from me after you prompt the honesty to begin with.”

“Sorry, it's just...” Her words trail off as she turns her eyes up to meet mine. “I probably can't even use it anymore, honestly.” She shakes her head, the sway of her mane making the likely reason she can't use it anymore obvious as my stomach knots a bit. That's a sight I'm never going to be used to in its entirety, I think. She meets my eyes again and gives me a another sad smile. “Sorry, this has all just been weighing on my chest and I didn't know if I'd get another good opportunity to talk to you about it. Thanks for listening.”

I lean in a bit more, my face making my disbelief clear without the need for words.

“I'm telling the truth, honest!” She protests my silent accusation. “I'll be fine, Dusk.”

I sigh, and take my seat again, crossing my arms. “Fine, you win.”

“Of course!” She brings herself up in her seat and crosses her hooves, mimicking my posture. “Trixie is always victorious in the end! You know this, Dusk!”

“I suppose I do.” I lean back in my seat and rest my eyes, letting my mind churn undisturbed. Once upon a time, my mind would churn over whatever the contents of Trixie's box are, but despite not believing her answer, I find it easier to trust in than I used to. While it's definitely something important and likely dangerous in there, she's no longer the mare that would recklessly toss its power at whatever her mood decides deserves to be the victim. Instead, the more pressing matter in my mind is again Princess Luna. Now that Trixie mentioned her actions back at the train, I've remembered her similar actions back in Ponyville. I wonder if having my memory back in this situation is letting my past experiences make me paranoid.

“Time sure flies, doesn't it?” Trixie's voice breaks me out of my thoughts.

I shake my head clear and turn to look out the window. The blues of the sky are now a mix of reds and yellows as evening settles in. I can't resist a bit of a chuckle. Even Twilight must realize how under-trafficked this library is if she's so open to spending entire days away from it like this. As my eyes scan along the wall from the window, they lay upon one of the few things I haven't seen since our battle in the caves – the Starmetal Buster Sword.

Before I even realize what I'm doing, I find myself standing up, slowly making my way over to it, one hobbled step at a time. It's laying on the floor against one of the walls, requiring me to bend to a squat to reach the handle. I grasp it tightly in my right and and take a breath, steadying myself with my left as I slowly pull myself back to my feet. It takes a lot of willpower to resist jamming the blade of the sword into the floor and using it to pull myself up that way – but the lecture I'd receive from Twilight over putting a giant hole in her floor is enough to deter me from the easy path.

“Dusk?” Trixie's voice calls from the table, tinged with a mix of concern and confusion, but I ignore her.

Once I'm back to my feet, I try to lift the sword in one hand. It moves, but its... heavy. I need to grip the handle with both hands to maneuver the weapon with anything close to the nimbleness I'd need to actually make use of it – but doing that causes the flaring pain from my punctured left bicep to join in with that of my chest. Beyond the mere pain, however, some testing swipes and spins are enough for me to decide my suspicions are confirmed. Whatever Jenova's infection is, it's definitely leaving my body weaker, for one reason or another. Even without the injuries, I can't imagine I'm much stronger now than I was when I first arrived in Equestria.

Argh! Frustration quickly builds again as I realize just how far down the scale of dead weight I may as well be relegated back to in this condition, should another fight break out. I close my eyes and let the moment pass, however. This isn't Gaea, and there's no more Jenova. At most, there might be some aimless pieces of Jenova, wandering on instinct, but they wouldn't be more threatening than any of the other dangerous fauna I've seen in Equestria so far, and this place seems otherwise peaceful.

It's okay to be like this right now.

But it's not. It's just not.

“Dusk?” Trixie's voice calls from behind again, much closer this time. “You okay? You look like you're in Super-Brood-Mode again.”

Heh. I lean the Starmetal Buster Sword up in a crook where a bookshelf meets a corner, balancing it to allow it to stay upright without the blade digging into the floor. “I'll be fine.” I assure her, turning to meet her upturned gaze.

“You know you're a much worse liar than I am, right?” She asks, tilting her head and raising an eyebrow.

“Yep.” I give her a thumbs up as I meander back to my seat.

“Then why do you bother?” She continues pressing with questions as she resumes her own seat.

“It wouldn't be Super-Brood Mode if I just came out with it, would it?”

She gives me a deadpan glare. “No, but it'd make both our lives easier.”

A response of 'You're one to talk' gets caught in my throat as the door to the library clicks open. Both Trixie's head and mine snap over to see a familiar duo make their way inside, with enough bustle and colors behind them to ensure the rest of the group is in tow before I can even make out any distinct forms.

“We're back, everypony!” Twilight calls out as her and Spike enter first, followed by – yep – the entire rest of the group, including the two who already know Trixie and I are up and doing fine.

“Yo.” I give her a wave of welcome anyway, even if I'm not exactly looking forward to the coming probe of questions from Pink, Prism, and... Apple. Damn. Almost had some fancy mental alliteration. Applejack raises a hoof in returned greeting, but as she goes to speak, I decide to save some time and cut her off. “I'm alive. Trixie's fine. I have Space-AIDS thanks to Jenova and a giant hole in my chest that doesn't want to fix itself. Both of us are going to Canterlot tonight once Princess Luna arrives to try and cure said Space-AIDS.” Applejack blinks. “That cover everything?”

“I was just gonna say 'howdy'.” She replies, eyebrow raised. “But yeah, that covers all the follow-ups I was gonna throw yer way.”

“You're leaving already?” Pinkie pouts, lower lip quivering and eyes watering in a way that can't be natural to most ponies. When I nod, her expression quickly switches to being especially grumpy, giving me a stink-eye. “Do you to realize how far behind I am on my party schedule because of you two? Huh?!” She punctuates her final word with a hoof to my good shoulder.

“Uhh...” I blink, left a bit speechless. “I didn't realize you took those quite that seriously.”

Her grumpiness quickly evaporates into a cheery grin. “I don't! I don't even keep a schedule! Who do I look like, Twilight?”

“Hey!”

“Don't you worry, Grumpy! Whenever you and Trixie are done with all this important stuff, Pinkie Pie will be right here to give you both the bestest Pinkie Party ever!” Her eyes narrow down, in a gesture that would be threatening coming from anyone else. “Even if she has to hunt you down to the ends of Equestria to do it.” With that, her face breaks back out into a grin and she bounces on her four legs, a single motion letting her flop her way into the chair to my right. Okay then.

“So, Cloud, what do you think?” Rainbow Dash asks open-endedly as her wings beat, letting her quickly bridge the gap between the girls and myself as she hovers near my head. “Wall-mounted or trophy? I totally yanked a piece of that thing's horn after we beat the tar out of it.”

I meet eyes with her, ready to ruin the idea of her new conversation starter. “You should probably turn it over to Twilight and have her send it to the Princesses. Its hard to say just how little of Jenova is really needed for it to start bounding back under its own power.” Or for someone like Sephiroth to be able to gain control of it, I add mentally. Sephiroth had the ability to completely dominate its consciousness in my world, so whose to say something like that couldn't happen here if the loose bits of Jenova were still around and alive?

“Oh, come on!” She protests. “Its just a bit a horn! Bones aren't even alive to begin with!” She blinks, then turns to Twilight. “Are they?”

Twilight simply shakes her head. “I told you not to keep it when you first took it, remember? Don't come looking to me for help on this one.”

Rainbow Dash crosses her forehooves, flipping onto her back in the air as her wings beat. “Gee, thanks, Twi.”

“So,” Rarity cuts in, “any idea when Princess Luna is actually getting here?”

I shrug. “Nope. Her note only said 'tonight', from what I remember.”

Twilight's horn glows, summoning the piece of paper in question in front of her muzzle to verify with. “Yep. Princess Celestia didn't specify beyond that. How prompt do you think she is on these sorts of things?” With a pop, the note is gone again.

“Probably the second the sun drops.” I answer speculatively. “She does kind of have a stick up her-”

My sentence gets cut off as a glow of Twilight's horn forces my jaw shut. “No crude jokes in front of Spike, you!”

Blue pony one and blue pony two break down into spontaneous laughing fits, while Applejack grins and I can hear Pinkie's giggling beside me. Rarity shakes her head in disapproval to match Twilight's, but Fluttershy, head mostly hidden behind her mane, seems to have a hoof pressed against her lips to suppress a laugh of her own. I'll take five out of seven.

“Come on, Twilight.” Spike huffs and rolls his eyes at her. “It's not like I haven't heard that one like a bajillion times already, anyway.”

“Yeah!” Rainbow affirms, zipping from my side to Twilight's and wrapping a hoof around her. “No need to go overprotective soccer mom there, Twi.”

“What?” Twilight protests. “I'm just making sure Spike grows up into a proper gentledrake and not one of those crude kids you see these days!”

I swear I can hear a 'plink' sound as Pinkie's eyelids blink, soon followed by snorting laughter from Trixie. “Geez, Twilight! You really are like one of those soccer moms! Soon we're gonna have to start calling you Twimom!”

“I think what Trixie's try'na tell ya, sugahcube,” Applejack steps in, “is tha' we know you take raisin' Spike seriously and all, but girl, loosen up a little. Bit o' ribbin' never hurt anyone, y'hear?” Emphasis her point, Applejack lightly nudges Twilight in her ribs.

“Yeah, yeah...” Twilight relents as the rest of her group makes their way over, Twilight using her magic to scrounge up enough chairs for everyone so we can sit at our impromptu Round Table. “Though, as much as I hate to say it, I think Cloud's right. Princess Luna seems the type to be... punctual.”

“Quite.” Rarity nods, agreeing.

I turn to look out the window again. The reds and oranges of evening are slowly being encroached by the colors of the night. Not much longer now. A knot in my chest tightens, but I can't tell if I'm anxious, impatient, or both.

“You alright, Cloud?” Applejack asks. “Y'all lookin' pretty spaced out right now.”

“Yeah.” I shake my head. “I'm fine. Guess I'm getting a bit impatient, is all.”

A grin plasters its way halfway across her face as her eyes narrow mischievously. “Lookin' ta be rid of us that quick, huh?”

I lean back in my chair, arms crossed along my chest. “Whose to say?” I shrug, and continue before anyone else can sneak a word in. “I just don't like waiting. Not in these circumstances.”

My eyes cast along the group to see if my answer is satisfactory until they eventually meet Rarity's, whose twinkle knowingly in response. “Ah, I get it. Don't you fret dear, everything's gonna turn out just fine. It always does, one way or another.”

As if on cue, hooves patter against the ground outside the door of the library, followed by the distinct sound of chariot wheels. Everyone's attention turns to the door, and before long, its rewarded with a firm, three-rap sequence of strikes against the door.

“I'll-” Spike starts, but is cut off by a pink blur whizzing past and to the door, pulling it open with a cheer.

“Welcome to Golden Oak Library! Head Librarian Twilight Sparkle is in today! Part-Time Assistant Pinkie Pie here at your service!” She greets a stallion member of Luna's guard with a toothy grin, while he takes a moment to break from trained emotionlessness to gape in confusion.

“Well, yes,” he starts, quickly regaining his character. “Her Majesty, Princess Luna, has business with one,” his head turns down, looking at a piece of paper in his hooves, “one 'Cloud', located at this residence, to be attended personally upon the deliverance of this notice.” He gives a short bow of his head, stepping back and allowing the taller form of Princess Luna to take up the frame.

“Ah, thank... you.” She pauses, catching herself on language before giving a nod to him and turning to Pinkie. “Miss Pie, it is good to see you are well.”

“Yupperoni!” She affirms with her characteristic excitement. “Fit as a fiddle after kicking some alien butt back to the depths of space!” She turns to us, skipping into the room at an even pace. “Hey everypony, Princess Luna is here!”

“We can see that, Pinkie.” Applejack replies deadpan. “Thanks.”

“No problemo!”

I turn back outside, seeing that night has indeed properly settled over Equestria, then turn back to the Princess. “I've learned not to ask under normal circumstances, but, how did you get here so quickly?” I look between her and the window again. “Night just barely fell.”

She lets out a mirthful chuckle. “Oh, that is quite simple, dreamer.” She says as she steps into the library. “We simply took flight as Celestia lowered the sun, setting the moon and stars in place as we journeyed from Canterlot to Ponyville, allowing Us to have the night complete upon Our landing at the entryway of Miss Sparkle's humble abode.”

She gives me a look that says her explanation makes perfect sense and I'm dumb for not considering it. Okay, there's punctuation, but damn, that's... a thing all its own.

“Y'all are lookin' a might bit better now, Princess.” Applejack comments with a nod. “We was worried about'cha, since you weren't lookin' that hot when ya left for Canterlot before.”

Princess Luna gives her a nod in reply. “We appreciate your concern, Miss Applejack. We assure you that We are improved greatly and that We shall only continue to do so.”

Twilight decides to respond by giving her a playful grin. “So, when can I come by to continue those language lessons, so we can start finally stomp that pesky Royal We out of your vocabulary, Princess Luna?”

“Ah, Miss Sparkle.” The Princess shakes her head, keeping her face held serious, though the corners of her mouth twitch slightly. “There are truly some beasts that no mare can slay, let Us assure you.”

“Right!” She nods. “I'll have Spike take a letter later. Princess Celestia can set us up for next week!”

“Curses...” The Princess grumbles, eliciting giggles from the table, sans-Trixie.

After the group falls silent for a moment, Princess Luna speaks again. “We hate to intrude upon this gathering more than necessary, but the dreamer must embark alongside Us to Canterlot with utmost haste. While there are no immediate threats to Equestria, We are indeed now behind on Our more mundane royal responsibilities and can't dally beyond what is necessary at this time.”

“Right.” I pull the armor off the floor and quickly fit it over myself, followed by my cloak in a practiced sweeping motion as I get to my feet. A moment later I've crossed the room, gathering the Starmetal Buster Sword, though one thing is missing. My eyes find my Crate of Holding and I make my way over to it, pulling a familiar cowboy hat from its depths and flipping it onto my head, pulling the hood of the cloak over it. Once I'm set, I scoop up a box from within my Crate of Holding, containing all the clothes Rarity had so graciously made for me earlier. That should be everything.

“I'm coming too, of course!” Trixie quickly jumps down from her chair, rounding the table toward the space between myself and Princess Luna. “That's not a problem, I hope, Princess Luna?” She's become noticeably bolder speaking around royalty than she used to be, I can see.

“Ah, of course not, Miss Lulamoon.” Princess Luna assures her. “We quite planned on that eventuality. We simply did not include you in the royal notification should there be another matter which more greatly required your attention, as your attendance is not mandatory, though indeed welcome.”

“Excellent!” She grins, nudging her head in this direction. “Though, my attendance might as well be mandatory. It's not like we can trust this doofus to go anywhere on his own, anyway.”

I fire a glare at the table of again-giggling ponies as Trixie and I cross the distance of the library to where Princess Luna is. “There is nothing else either of you have forgotten, yes?”

“I'm set.” I confirm to her with a nod.

Trixie, however, looks around the library foyer for a moment. “Wait!” She exclaims, turning her back to us and facing the table again. “Twilight, can you come here a moment?”

Said mare blinks in confusion before exiting her chair, crossing the distance between herself and Trixie. “What is it, Trixie?”

“Close your eyes for a minute, please.” She instructs Twilight once Twilight's finished her short journey across the library.

“Huh?” Twilight crooks her head in confusion.

“Just do it, please.” Trixie instructs again. “Trust me, nothing bad, promise.”

“Uh... okay.” Twilight complies, closing her eyes as Trixie turns and heads over to the coat rack.

With deft hooves, Trixie scoops up her old hat and cape, returning to Twilight. The cape is soon flourished along Twilight's back and snapped together at the brooch with practiced showmareship, and the hat set evenly on her head. Trixie steps back as Twilight opens her eyes.

“Presenting, once more for mares, gentlecolts, and foals of all ages, the Magnificent Twilight Sparkle!” Trixie beams as she gives the stage introduction, one foreleg swept in Twilight's direction.

Twilight only takes a moment to identify the garments she's now wearing. “Trixie? What are you doing? These are super important to you, aren't they?”

“Well, now, I'm giving them to you, the same way any showmare passes their wares down to their star apprentice.” She winks and turns her back to Twilight, and from my perspective its easy to see why – Trixie's struggling to keep up her facade. “Besides, those were important to The Great and Powerful Trixie, and she's like, so last week. The Magnificent Twilight Sparkle is totally in right now. I'm sure Rarity can tell you that fashion is just as fickle as showmareship, so strike while the iron's hot, as they say!” She waves her front hoof dramatically above her head, then changes to a beckoning motion. “Come, Dusk, we have business to attend to! Let's be off!”

And with that, she pulls the door open and heads into the newly laid night. I turn my attention back to Twilight to see her gently draping the fabric of the cape across her front with one hoof, grasping it as her eyes waver.

“Come, dreamer.” Princess Luna snaps my attention away from her. “Miss Lulamoon is correct. We must make way to Canterlot.”

“...Right.” With that, we turn and follow Trixie into the night, only one carriage-ride away from whatever awaits in Canterlot.

Chapter 50: Legacy.

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Chapter 50: Legacy.

“Is all well, Miss Lulamoon?” Princess Luna's voice breaks the silence hanging over the chariot ride to Canterlot.

The wind billows past as the chariot cuts through the night, my cloak fluttering against it, though the Princess' ethereal mane is unaffected. Trixie, meanwhile, leans over the side, eyes trailing over the ground below as it whips past at the impressive speed of our bat-pony chauffers. The wonder from her previous chariot ride isn't present this time, her mood a weight that presses down on the atmosphere of the entire chariot.

She breathes deeply. “I'm fine, Princess. Thank you.”

I lock her in a sidelong glance. “Are you sure you're a better liar than I am?” I don't need to see more than the back of her head to call that one out.

“Hmph.” She attempts to huff, but it falls flat. She soon turns and sits normally, letting me get a proper look at her face. Her face is etched with trouble that she attempts to disperse with a sigh. “Fine, I'll talk.” Her eyes turn sidelong as well to meet mine. “Take notes, Dusk. This is how you connect with ponies.” It's intended as a joke, but it lacks her usual punch or delivery.

“Funny.” I quip regardless.

“I thought so.” She nods, turning her head to look up at the stars. She stays silent for a time, but I don't prompt her to start talking. Its clear from the look on her face she's turning the words over in her head, unraveling some complex emotional knot before speaking. After a time, however... “That magician's set used to belong to my grandfather. I'm sure you already know this, Dusk, but after I flunked from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, my grandfather would tell me tales of traveling stage magicians, awing the lands by using their wits and ingenuity to bend simple spells in unexpected ways, making them appear to be master mages whose feats would sometimes stump even the most magically versed unicorns, at least for a time.”

“Oh!” Princess Luna claps her hooves together, her tone injecting a bit of cheer to the conversation. “We remember such traveling performers in the far past.” Her cheer, however, quickly gives way to a wistful disappointment of her own. “They are... quite a scarcity, in these days. The poor facsimiles in Las Pegasus appear to be all that yet remain of that trade.”

“Yeah, not too many traveling showponies these days.” Trixie agrees with a nod. “But, come to find out, my grandfather was one of those showponies in his youth, and once he saw my interest in it, he pulled out one of his old routines for a birthday party of mine after I'd flunked from Celestia's School as a means of cheering me up. I was enamored by it immediately. His tricks were mesmerizing, really, especially to someone like me whose not exactly great at conventional unicorn magic – and there was more than one I never figured out how to replicate.”

“He sounds like quite the guy.” I comment before I can help myself, though thankfully, it gets her to finally crack a smile.

“He certainly was something else.” She nods. “I took some acting lessons with a sister of mine, and convinced him to pass his art of showponyship down to me. My mother – his daughter – had never been interested in it, nor had her husband once she married, so he had resigned himself to letting it die out before I showed up. Fate's funny like that, I suppose. He taught me the ins and outs, the basics of both the magic and the show, beefed up with those acting lessons to help me recover whenever things went badly. He wouldn't teach me his signature tricks, though.”

The Princess' head tilts curiously. “He sought to pass his legacy down and yet he only taught the fundaments of his art?”

“It was more than the fundamentals, but... I suppose you could say that. He had his reasons, though. He said that every showpony needed to explore the world, develop their own technique based on the sights they see and the ponies they meet.” She pauses for a moment. “The most important part of true showponyship being to leave a mark on the ponies in their audiences that only they can leave.” She laughs soberly. “I really screwed the pooch on that one, huh?”

“You've not done quite that badly for yourself, Miss Lulamoon.” Princess Luna replies, attempting to reassure her.

“It's not that simple.” Trixie shakes her head. “When I was finally ready to set off on my own, grandpa gave me my hat and my cape. I wanted to become great, have my name passed along the winds back to my home so grandpa would know his legacy didn't go to waste. But... I wasn't that fortunate. I journeyed for quite a time on my own. Years. I'd built up some fame, sure, but it wasn't enough.”

She pauses again, and a pregnant silence hangs in the air. The subtext fills itself in at her hesitation to continue, but she eventually finds her voice. “One day, a letter found its way into my hooves from back home. I hadn't gone back there since I started my journey. Not that I had reason to avoid them, I was just taking grandpa's advice to heart. When I came back, I wanted him to be proud, and my reputation to precede me. But, I'm sure you've both figured out what happens next. It wasn't bad, mind you, grandpa was quite old, by then, and wasn't known for being particularly hardy. Just went to sleep one night and...”

Trixie chokes something back and takes another deep breath before continuing. “Do you remember what I told you once, Dusk? How I became The Great and Powerful Trixie, instead of just playing the role? This is around the time that started. I felt lonely and hurt despite the fact I'd always traveled alone anyway. My emotions were raw, so I pushed everyone and everything out. Easier. And then Ponyville. Again. Every tiny failure of The Great and Powerful Trixie to me had become far more than mere wounds against my pride. I just became so consumed by it all...”

She falls into a silent slump, thoughts visibly swirling around her head again. Princess Luna says nothing, and I find myself lacking on words as well, so I simply set a hand against her back, hoping the comforting gesture properly transcends species.

“Thanks.” She says after a moment. “I... I just really messed up. Grandpa gave me his legacy and all I did was shame it.” She sucks in air through her teeth, biting down on her lower lip to keep her composure stable. “I'm sure Twilight Sparkle will do better.”

Its Luna that speaks up first. “You're judge yourself much too harshly, Miss Lulamoon.” Trixie looks up at her, their eyes meeting, Princess Luna giving her a friendly smile as she continues. “The mare you are now is no longer the mare of your past.”

“It's not who I am now.” Trixie shakes her head. “It's not even who other ponies view me as now. It's...” she bites at her lip again, forming the words carefully in her mind before speaking, “I lashed out and tarnished something special to me. I don't think I can ever go back to it, now. Dusk did his best to get me to try, but with each show I did, each day that passed, I realized The Great and Powerful Trixie had become somepony I hated. I hadn't lost the passion of the stage, but I didn't want to be that pony ever again.” She sighs, then turns her gaze skyward. "And now, the longer I'm removed from that identity, the more I feel I've made the right choice."

"I..." the bit of hesitation in the Princess' voice, or possibly the lack of Royal We, causes Trixie to look back down at her, letting their eyes meet, "I understand you clearly, Miss Lulamoon."

The Princess and Trixie both divert their eyes from each other, each finding opposite sides of the chariot increasingly interesting. After a moment, Trixie's head turns up to the sky again, and a realization makes its way into her eyes as she turns back to us, now that she's no longer focused on relating her story to us. “Hey, when did we arrive in Canterlot?”

“About halfway through.” I reply with a shrug, earning a swat of Trixie's hoof against my arm.

“Ass.” She huffs, properly this time.

“We thought the dreamer was a 'human', not a donkey, Miss Lulamoon.” Princess Luna chides her playfully, twisting on the double-meanings of Trixie's words to provoke another huff from her. After a moment, the conversation dies down completely once more, and the Princess takes the opportunity to get us to the matter at hand. “Come, there is much to show and lodgings to be allocated, we must make haste.”

Princess Luna steps from the chariot, and I follow soon after, with Trixie taking up the rear. A quick glance around identifies the building structure of Canterlot's castle, but not from any of the admittedly few angles I'm familiar with it from. A back entrance, maybe? There's quite a bit of bat-based security, and none of the grass or gardens I've come to associate with the castle's courtyards from my previous visit. Instead, a stone path leads up to an imposing set of double doors, set to a wall with no windows or other visible form of entry.

I take this moment to ask something I really should have asked before even getting in the carriage. “So what's your plan, anyway, Princess?” I ask as the Princess uses her magic to push open the massive doors. The bat-ponies from before have assembled into rows on either side of us, giving a salute. “You haven't exactly been forthcoming on the details of what's going on here.”

“You shall see.” She replies with her characteristic vagueness and steps inside. Trixie and I follow soon after. Past the door is a corridor of stone, torches lining the walls for light as we journey deeper.

“Bit spooky for Canterlot, isn't it?” Trixie observes, her place behind me slowly shifting to being in front of me as my condition causes me to grit my teeth and slow my pace somewhat.

“Mayhaps.” The Princess confirms. “However, 'tis but a direct path to the old castle dungeons.”

“Dungeons?” I ask, letting out a nervous laugh, gritting down the accompanying pain. “What're we getting locked up for?”

The Princess giggles. “Nothing, dreamer.” She assures, before turning her head to me with a smirk and a raised eyebrow. “Unless you wish to be bound for something.”

“Yeah, no thanks.” I answer, just a bit too quickly, hoping that particular implication is just a quirk of her archaic vocabulary.

“Only 'no thanks', not 'not interested', Dusk?” Trixie jabs verbally, turning to me with a mischievous grin of her own.

“I think its your turn to shut up, Trixie.”

“Never!” She fires back, a bit of a spring in her step as she increases the distance between us, turns back, and raspberries. At least she's somewhat back to normal.

The hall soon splits into a path forward and a branching stairwell downward, which Luna soon takes, prompting us to follow after. “According to Our Sister, these dungeons were decommissioned many centuries ago.” Princess Luna starts explaining, breaking the silence that'd fallen on us after my trade with Trixie. “As society grew, the older incarceration methods were decreed too inequane.”

“Then why are we going down there?” I ask, partly out of my own self-disgruntlement as I deal with the tribulations of my newest rival – stairs.

“We've... re-purposed them, in a manner of speaking.” Princess Luna clarifies in her own way. That is, not clarifying at all. “Inequinity isn't a cause of concern when housing creatures that lack it.”

She can't be implying what I think she's implying.

Trixie decides to ask the follow-up as the stairs mercifully transition into another hallway, this one lined with many reinforced, metal doors. “What do you mean, Princess?”

“See for yourself.” She says as we stop in front of the first door, which on closer observation has two movable slits in it, one each at pony and alicorn eye-levels. Convenient, in my case, as Princess Luna's horn glows, pulling back both slits. Metal bars block the view-ports from being completely obstructed, and inside...

Inside, is a writhing, furry, blue mass. Its exact form is hard to discern at first glance, bound in a series of thick, metal rings that hold its limbs tight to its body and what appears to be its mouth shut. Piercing eyes, filled with instinctual concept, peer back at me as I finally begin to comprehend its form. Four feline legs are pressed up against its body in the rings, as well as a tail, and certain... less natural looking growths.

“No way...” Trixie trails off, stepping away from the pony-level view-port.

Its the Jenova-infected chupacabra from the train. My attention snaps to Princess Luna, not even noticing I've dropped the box of clothing Rarity gave me until it hits the floor with a thud. “Are you stupid or something? This thing should be dead, not sitting in a cell.” I can feel my disbelief boiling over at what I've just seen, and its more than enough for me to drop the respectful pretense that Luna's title of 'Princess' might otherwise afford her.

“Not at all, dreamer.” She shakes her head, taking the bluntness of my outburst in stride. “We kept specimens so that We might analyze the parasite for points of weakness. Now, We continue to keep them so that We may find a way to reverse the path of the parasite and potentially cure what ails you. It is the minimal debt of service owed you by Equestria.”

“Well, I don't want it!” I snap back. “What if one of these things gets out somehow? I've some chest pain and my body's weaker. Big deal! I can live with it, if it means getting rid of the rest of Jenova's traces.”

“Their escape won't be an issue.” She replies, turning from viewing into the cell to face me. “Upon the death of the primary creature, the remaining infected creatures seem to have regained their initial instincts upon being freed from the central consciousness. The creature in that cage, mentally speaking, is no different from any normal chupacabra, as far as all tests indicate. Even if it should escape, reclamation would be but a simple procedure. Additionally...” She turns her full body to me now, face serious. “Consider, dreamer, that you are only but perceiving your predicament in one direction.”

“...What's that supposed to mean?” I turn the statement over in my head, not having any real clue what she's talking about.

“You view it as the parasite's infliction weakening your body as its primary goal, yes?” I nod, and she continues. “That is only but one way to view its course, however. It is possible the creature, Jenova's, infection, could have any number of aims. Simple death of the host is one, but t'was a cunning and resourceful creature. Such a petty aim in its parting affliction seems a grave underestimation of its intent and ability.”

“Just tell me what you're getting at, already.”

“It is equally possible your body is weakening because it is fighting against the parasite's infection to the limits of its ability, and that the parasite's goals within you deal in its self-preservation.” She looks into the cell, then back to me. “Were We a creature of its capability, it is surely an option We would consider, at least, if at all possible. What would make yourself a suitable host for such a thing over others We are unsure of, however.”

“Self-preservation?” The thought strikes me, but it – and her logical train – make some form of sense. All those lovely experiments Hojo subjected me to a world away would make my body hardier for such a thing, if nothing else.

“Tis but a theory.” She says with a nod. “But it is why We cannot simply comply with your wish. Once We ascertain the true nature of your ailment, mayhaps, but until that time... observation is needed.”

I let out a single, sarcastic laugh. “I guess I am getting locked up after all, huh?”

“Now, hold on!” Trixie cuts in, hoof pointed accusatorily at the Princess. “You said you had a solution to all this! Then we come here, and you've got who-knows how many of these things down here in a freak-show lockup, and you've yet to say a single thing about the entire premise you brought us here on!”

“Ah...” It's the Princess considering her words carefully this time. “Don't believe We have brought you here under false pretense. While We have yet to fully purge the creature from a host, it has proven receptive to magical treatment." She moves her gaze from Trixie to myself. "Upon the morning 'morrow, those We've assigned to this cause will attempt to impede its progress in infecting you further, dreamer.”

“Right...” My voice trails as I begin to wonder just how many of these things she's captured. Looking down the hall, there are quite a number of cells, so I'm left to wonder just how thorough she's been.

“Shall we leave this dungeon?” The Princess asks now that both Trixie and I's questions have died down. “We can have a member of our guard escort you to the quarters We've prepared for your arrival.” Without waiting for our answer, she turns and begins leading us back up the stairs, the way we came. Trixie helps me collect up the box I dropped earlier and we make to follow her.

One trip up the stairs, and down the hallway we bypassed earlier, and through another set of massive double-doors, and we're finally in a more recognizable part of the castle. There are bat-pony guards for this door as well, ensuring that no one can wander into the old dungeon area that Luna's re-purposed from inside the castle, either. A quick look around at all the moon-based upholstery gives me the hint that we're in her private wing of the castle. Nice and direct path, at least. From here, she passes us over to one of her Night Guard, a rather prickly stallion who responds to Trixie's few attempts to be sociable with curt answers, or none at all.

Thankfully, he leads us a stairs-free path down one hallway to our left, then another to our right, before finally stopping us in front of a door with an ornate, midnight-blue trim. He hoofs it open, then beckons us to enter. Inside is a rather nice change from the last time I stayed in Canterlot. Instead of a spartan hospital room, it's some kind of guest room, decorated in Princess Luna's personal colors, with a wall-sized window on the far side. Inside the room itself are a pair of ornate bureaus with a matching, pony-sized mirror, a door that I imagine branches into either a washroom or a closet of some kind, but most notably to me – a pair of unusually large beds, that I can only imagine are meant for non-pony dignitaries. I suppose I'll be able to sleeping on a bed where my feet don't dangle off the foot onto the positives of this trip, if nothing else.

From the doorway, our stallion guide speaks in a deep, gravely voice. “Princess Luna has instructed me to inform you that you may venture anywhere you like upon palace grounds during your stay. If you need anything, there shall always be a pony stationed outside. Please, enjoy your stay.”

He gives us a nod, and before either of us can reply, he's out the door, shutting it behind him. We make our way over to the pair of beds, Trixie quickly claiming the one closest to the window and jumping up onto it. I, meanwhile, gently set the Buster Sword across the tops of one of the bureaus and my box of clothes atop that, before finally sitting on the remaining bed's edge. Its... quite soft. Spare no expense when you're royalty, I suppose.

“So...” I start, turning to Trixie, but she cuts me off immediately.

“When do we bust out of here?” She asks, flopping down on the bed and turning to me. “I know you're planning it.”

“I dunno.” I lay back onto the bed myself, placing my hands behind my head. “The beds are nice. I'm thinking about staying.”

“Sure you are.” She quips back, laying flat against the bed.

“I at least want to see what she has in mind, first.” I reply after a moment. “This situation is getting really sketchy but I'm still willing to give her a bit of the benefit of the doubt. There's always the chance her doctors or whatever can actually help.” I pause a second before continuing. “Besides, she does have a point in us not knowing what this infection Jenova left me with is actually doing, aside from most likely killing me.”

She sighs. “I guess so.”

“Hey.” I call over to her, curiosity getting the better of me before I can stop it. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” She replies, now rolled onto her back and pawing at the air absentmindedly with her front hooves.

“That story about your grandfather... that's the memory you passed on to Twilight so she could teach you that spell, isn't it?”

Her hooves stop pawing the air, her face becoming inscrutable. She lets the silence hang in the air a bit before replying. “So what if it is?”

This time, I let the silence hang. I'd asked, but I hadn't really thought of what to say if she'd said yes. Though, I suppose there's really only one thing to be said. “Thank you.”

She resumes pawing at the air. “Yeah, yeah.”

Chapter 51: It's Weak to What, Now?

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Chapter 51: It's Weak to What, Now?

I awake suddenly, body shivering despite the heavy blanket currently wrapped around me. My face is covered in sweat, and I need to focus to regain control of my labored breathing. It takes me a minute to realize I'm clutching the blanket tightly, and a bit more than that for my mind to stop racing and finally let me get a grasp of my surroundings. Right... Canterlot. The guest room that Princess Luna had set aside for myself and Trixie.

“Hey, you alright?” A tired voice asks from the bed to my left, punctuating the question with a drawn-out yawn. “You've been freaking out for the last thirty or so minutes now. Nightmare?”

I collapse back against the bed, looking up at the ceiling as a soft glow of sunlight emanates from behind the room's massive curtain, enough to indicate the coming of the morning without any of it seeping into the room. I'm not surprised that Luna's personal wing would be on the west side to avoid pesky sunrises as she tries sleeping. Once I've got myself fully calmed, I finally reply. “Sure feels like it.”

“Feels like it?” I can hear rustling from her bed. “You don't remember?”

“Weird for me, I know.” I finally pull myself up into a sitting position with a wince. “Maybe that's a good sign, though.” I turn my head to face her, finding her rolled on her stomach, head up and facing me, eyes half-drooped with tiredness.

She lets out another, short yawn, covering her mouth with her hoof. “What do you mean by that?”

I fling my legs over the side, sitting on the edge of the bed. It must still be pretty early. “If I can't remember it, that must mean no weird space aliens or pony princesses were involved, which just makes it any old nightmare, right?”

“I suppose so.” Trixie replies in a half-mumble. “Now, Trixie requires the rest of her beauty sleep... good night...” And, with a plop back on to her side, head meeting pillow, the beast slumbers once more.

I shake my head clear of the remnants of sleep, knowing full well after how I woke up that following Trixie's lead isn't a thing that's happening. Deciding to make the best of the current situation, I decide to head to the washroom, which, like the beds, has a manner of upscaling that confirms to me this room is definitely for some sort of inter-species dignitary normally. Not only do I get to sleep on a bed where my feet don't dangle off the end – I get to wash in a room not made for a creature half my size. A miracle of life, truly.

A miracle soon ruined when I pull off my shirt to see the mess of bandages along my chest and around my left arm. Without a new set, I can't wash while wearing them, and I'm not sure if washing without them is safe given the nature of what they're covering. I resign myself to simply washing around them the best I'm able, and see what I can do about that situation later.

Once I finish, I return to the main room to indulge in another of my newfound appreciations for simple pleasures – a clean set of clothes via Rarity. Folding the old set and placing it aside to wash later, I fish into the box and pull out a new set of clothes. Visually, they look identical to my original set – though mercifully, this second shirt is lacking the decal-work Rarity put into the previous one. Once I get them on, however, the difference is made clear. While my original set is of a coarse, sturdy material, the sets crafted by Rarity are soft, designed with comfort in mind instead of durability, and right now that's a change I can appreciate.

Who knew the simple pleasures could be so nice?

I take a moment to flop back on the bed and enjoy said simple pleasures. After that, though, it's time to get moving. I strap on my boots, pull on my gloves, and soon my armor is all in place. I pull my cloak over myself and decide it better to leave the Buster Sword where it lay for now. It'd be quite awkward to carry it around the castle halls, especially without a proper sheathe. Not that I should need it, anyway. I take a final look back at Trixie, whose now got a pillow clutched between her hooves, pressed up against her chest, back in what appears to be a restful sleep. I should be back before she wakes up. One cowboy hat and drawn hood later, and I'm heading for the door.

Outside, I pass the promised guard next to our room with a silent nod. The stoic stallion from last night has been replaced with a mare that returns my nod with a respectful salute. It's a bit surprising to see one of the bat-ponies at this hour, but I assume I've caught her a bit before the change of shift. Either that, or Luna's giving us twenty-four hour bat-protection. We'll see, I suppose. Remembering the path from last night, I take a right turn from our door and head down the hall, taking the first left into the branching hallway. I'm not sure if Luna's guards will let me do what I have in mind, but I'm going to try. I want a better look at the things she's keeping in that dungeon, one way or another, for my own curiosity if nothing else.

One left later and I can see the large doors we entered through the night previous, with a bat-pony guard to either side. Not surprising, as I'm sure these are most definitely staffed by bat-ponies at all times. It doesn't seem within Luna's style of leadership to delegate this sort of responsibility to outside her personal guard at any point. Hopefully, however, bat-ponies might actually make my job easier over the traditional guards I'm used to seeing around Canterlot in the daylight hours, as I enact Plan A – striding up to the door like I own the place.

“No entry.” The guard on the left says flatly as the two cross a pair of spears held in their hooves, blocking the door. His voice is stern and uncompromising. There goes Plan A. Time for Plan B.

“Why not?” I ask, letting my gaze drift between them. “My protégé and I were brought here personally by Princess Luna and shown this facility just last night."

“No entry.” The same guard repeats. “This area is under strict orders to only allow access to those escorted by Princess Luna herself or those on the approved shortlist.”

“Getting a personal walk-through from the Princess herself doesn't put me on the shortlist?” I ask, trying to see what leeway I can use to leverage them into letting me by.

“No.” The other guard replies this time. His voice is surprisingly high-pitched and nasally. No wonder the other guy does most of the talking. “Princess Luna putting you on the shortlist puts you on the shortlist.” The stallion then pulls out a rolled parchment, unfurling it and reading it to himself. “And as far as our most up-to-date shortlist is concerned, there have been no new additions within the previous two nights.”

I decide to push my luck, going for the longshot. “And what if my name's already on there?”

The guard with the list raises an eyebrow. “Name?”

“Cloud.” I reply, remembering that the guard that read her summons at Golden Oak referred to me simply as 'Cloud', so if my name actually is on there, that's most likely how its been noted.

“Nope. No one with 'Cloud' in their name is on the list.” The guard rolls the scroll up and places it back under his armor. “No entry.”

Plan B is a bust. I decide to go for a longer-shot with Plan C as I pull back my cloak enough to expose my infected left arm, holding it up to the two guards. “I'm the whole reason she's still keeping the stuff down there alive and I really can't even go down and look at it?”

“Sorry.” Its the stern guard speaking again. “No entry. No exceptions. Princess Luna makes the rules, we just enforce them.”

“Right.” I decide to cut my losses, turning back the way I came, giving the two guards a wave over my shoulder as I head back. “I'll be sure to lodge a complaint to whichever nimrod incorrectly put 'anywhere on the palace grounds' on my permission slip!”

On the walk back, I consider plans on how to get around the security, since simply asking nicely isn't going to get the job done. Hit it until it stops moving is off the table as well, for obvious reasons, so this is getting complicated. Maybe I can have Trixie make a distraction? Or, the more logical part of my brain says, I could just ask Princess Luna to give me permission. It's not like I'm suspecting her of hiding something down there. I simply want to see the extent of what she's been up to, especially after it she seemed to rush us away after showing us the bare bones of the operation last night.

But, it's Princess Luna. She's... vague at times, most times even, sure. I've even admitted to myself I don't think she's hiding something, so why do I feel so paranoid about it? Old habits die hard, I guess. But, on the other hand, if she has nothing to hide, why aren't Trixie and I on the shortlist the guard mentioned? It's possible she simply forgot or didn't think either of us would be interested in heading down there a second time, but at the same time...

It's a bridge I'll have to cross when I get there.

I give the mare standing guard at our room another nod as I return, entering to find both beds empty this time, the curtain drawn open. Looks like Trixie woke up in the time I was gone, and the sound of running water from the washroom tells me exactly what she's up to. The different parts of her coat ensemble lay with care on her bed, the bangle of Materia I'd given her resting beside them.

I flop onto the bed, relaxing and staring at the ceiling until I hear the water from the other room cut out. I turn my head to the washroom door in time to see it open, the expected occupant exiting with her mane wrapped up in a towel. “So, where'd you head off to?” She asks as we catch eyes and she makes her way over to her bed.

“You know, just a bit of poking around.” I reply, waving a hand in the air nonchalantly. “Wanted to see if I could somehow get back in that dungeon Princess Luna showed us last night so I could poke around. Wanted to see what kind of crazy critters she has in her petting zoo.”

She lets out a single, small laugh as she reaches her bed and tosses her shirt across her back. “I'm guessing that went about as well as not, considering you're here and not down there.”

“You'd be correct.”

She gets her forehooves into the shirt with a surprising deftness, then closes the buttons along the shirt with her hooves without any of the problems I remember her having previously. Did she practice buttons when no one was looking? Now there's an amusing mental image. “What made you do that, anyway? Decided you don't trust Princess Luna all that much, after all?”

“I'm not sure.” I answer honestly. “Part of me thinks I'm just being paranoid. That tends to happen with me when dealing with people who put Jenova-infected creatures in cells and hide them away from everyone. I can't imagine why.”

“Yeah.” Trixie rolls her eyes as she tosses her coat across her back next. “No clue why, there.”

“Careful with that cynicism.” I admonish her. “You'll turn into me, at this rate. And that'd just be terrible.”

She looks up at me and smirks as she buttons up the coat. “I suppose I could go back to full-time third-pony egotism, if you prefer.”

“...On second thought, keep the cynicism. Consider it an early birthday gift.”

“I knew you'd see things my way!” Her smirk turns into a full on grin as she walks back to the washroom with a skip, but turns and pokes her head out at the last moment. “But, sadly for you, I'm keeping both!”

A few minutes later, she exits the washroom again, mane now in its usual, groomed condition. Surprisingly quick, all things considered. I'd pegged her as the type to spend god-awful amounts of time on it. Either it just easily shapes into the way she likes wearing it or she's a hair wizard. On second thought, hair wizard is probably something that actually exists in this weird place, so nevermind.

My bed suddenly squeaks down, a new, pony-shaped weight on the mattress as she walks over to me. In her mouth is the last remaining piece of her ensemble – the bow tie. She stands over me, eyes looking down her snout to meet mine, confident smirk upturning the edges of her mouth.

“Really?” I ask.

She transitions herself from her smirk to a pout.

“You still haven't figured out how to tie this yourself?”

The pout transitions in a beg, complete with wide, pleading eyes.

“Fine.” I reach up, grabbing the bow tie as she sits next to me, beaming in victory as I pull myself into a sitting position of my own and start to secure the tie around her neck. “One of these days, you're going to have to learn to tie this thing for yourself, you know.”

“Maybe!” She replies. “But that is a bridge that I shall cross when it presents itself.” She gives me a knowing look before continuing. “For now, pamper Trixie! It's what she keeps you around for, after all!”

“Sure it is.” I reply as I finish fastening the tie.

“We still have a guard out there?” Trixie asks, changing the subject.

“Uh... yeah.” I reply, a bit confused.

“Good!” She jumps down from the bed, heading for the door. “I'm gonna bug them about getting that testing Princess Luna was talking about started. Might as well get it over with now before we start fueling our conspiracy theories too heavily.”

Point taken.

She cracks the door open, poking her head out, and I can hear the sounds of conversation on the other side of the door even if I can't hear the words being said. After a bit, she steps back and turns to face me. “Hey Dusk, get up! He says we can head up to the infirmary ward to meet the specialist or whatever that Princess Luna is sticking you with, and get breakfast once we're there.”

He? I guess that poor mare finally got her shift-change.

“Let's get going!”

“Yeah, yeah.” I push myself up from the bed and survey the room, deciding to grab my trusty Buster Sword this time before heading off.

“You're... really gonna lug that around and freak out pretty much the entire castle, aren't you?” She asks, eyebrow raised.

“Totally.” I confirm as I adjust it in my grip, holding it in a reverse-grip where the blade points behind me, blunt-side to the ground to minimize any chances of me damaging government property. That's always a mess to deal with, after all.

Almost as much of a mess to deal with as government employees. “We can't allow you to carry weapons freely inside the castle, sir.” This new stallion guard states as Trixie and I leave the room. He's a bat-pony like the rest, confirming that our guard is also going to be twenty-four hour bats.

“Shining Armor said that last time I was here.” I reply, smirking from behind my cloak's hood despite the fact the stallion can't see it. “I ended up winning that argument, so lets just skip this one and get going.”

He looks from me, to my sword, to Trixie, and back to me, then shrugs and turns to lead us forward, seemingly far more resigned to let the argument fall than his door-guarding counterparts. I'm not complaining. Too bad the other guards weren't so cooperative, though.

He starts by leading us along the path I've started becoming familiar with – right from the room, then left turn, connect into one of the larger hub-rooms of this wing of the castle, that also branches into that dungeon area. From here, however, we swing another left, branching instead into a massive hall with an arched ceiling, ornate pillars trailing down in support every few steps.

“So,” Trixie cuts into my thoughts, pulling me away from admiring the architecture, “nervous about your check-up, Duskie?” She asks, head over her shoulder and tossing me a mischievous, half-lidded look with the grin to match.

“Maybe.” I reply, catching her off-guard with my forwardness.

Her eyebrow raises, then she shrugs as she lets her pace slow slightly to walk beside me. “Suppose that's fair. It's not like we know what kind of freakish experiments they intend to put you through, after all!”

“Right, because that makes me feel loads better.”

“But, seriously,” the mischief cuts away, “what's to be worried about? You're the one who wanted to agree to this in the first place, remember?”

I shrug. “Call it a side-effect of my newfound vulnerability.”

“Sure.” She propels herself slightly in front of me, a playful skip in her step as she looks back over her shoulder. “Let's.”

It doesn't take much longer for the guard to escort us to... wherever we've ended up in this maze of a castle. Any bearings I might've been developing got lost with my conversation with Trixie, but we can't be that far out from where we started. We now stand in front of a nondescript door, easily replaced by any other door that I can surmise from this area as I look up and down the hall. Princess Luna's medical wing, most likely. The guard pushes the door open and motions us inside, to find a room not all that different from the one I was laid up in last time I came here. Window, chair, stand, bed, and nothing else, a spartan room with spartan furniture.

“Please, wait here.” Our escort says with a nod as he closes the door behind us.

I decide to sit in the chair instead of on the bed, deciding the back support is preferable to the softness, setting the Buster Sword down beside me. Trixie takes the initiative to claim said bed for herself, sitting on the edge closest to me.

“You know.” I start, looking at Trixie from under my hood.

“No, Dusk, I don't know.” She replies, locking eyes with me as a smirk slowly spreads across her muzzle.

“Really?” I shake my head. “That's the kind of awful joke I'd expect Twilight to use on Spike to get him to stop using slang.”

She shrugs. “I guess I was just hanging around Twimom a bit too long, huh?”

“Maybe.” I lean back in my seat, back pressing against the wall. “I was just wondering why they dragged us all the way out here instead of just sending whoever it is right to our guest room. I'd figured Princess Luna would want to keep things as low-key as possible.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Trixie shakes her head. “Professionalism, dear Dusk. We are still well within Princess Luna's personal quarters as far as the castle is concerned, and there is a certain expectations for one's private quarters to be, well, private.”

“You say that, and yet we're the guests of Princess Privacy Invasion herself, remember?” I remind her. "She doesn't seem to even know what that word means, half the time."

“Ah.” She sucks air through her teeth. “Point taken.”

At that, the door handle jiggles, catching both our attentions as it swings open to reveal... pink. A familiar pink. One with horns, wings, and a three-tone mane, and a height only matched from normal ponies by the likes of Shining Armor. “Ah, welcome! Doctor Cadenza is in today!”

I raise an eyebrow, perplexed. “Okay, gonna be honest, this isn't close to what I was expecting today to go like.”

“Princess Cadance!” Trixie enters an immediate, reflexive bow. While she seemed more comfortable with Princess Luna, it seems old habits die hard with the other members of royalty.

“Please, Trixie, I said last time, just call me Cadance.” Our new arrival says with a smile, causing Trixie to raise from her bow.

“Oh... right. My apologies, Cadance.” Trixie nods. “But, what are you doing here? We were expecting... well... anything else, really.”

“Weird, right?” Cadance replies, giggling as she makes her way over to us, door now shut behind her. “Aunty Luna caught me up on all the weird stuff that's been going in this adorable fit of frustration. She showed me those nasty looking creatures she has, and how she was trying to get the thing infecting them out somehow. She said they showed receptiveness to magic but not enough to actually change anything. I'm not particularly good with my magic, but after explaining everything, aunty asked me to try seeing if I could do anything, and I decided to humor her.” She shrugs her shoulders. “Turns out, whatever the thing is, it responds strongest to Love Magic, of all things, so now I'm on the case, for bettter or worse." She winks. "Besides, I kind of owe you ponies one for taking care of my Shiny for me.”

“Love Magic?” Trixie asks the question faster than I can.

“Well, don't you know?” She glances to Trixie. “I am the Princess of Love, after all. Kind of has a bit of an influence on how my magic affects things, or so it seems.”

“Princess of Love?” I tag with Trixie on the question-asking. “I get the whole Princess of the Day and Princess of the Night thing given how everything works around here, but what purpose does the Princess of Love serve?”

“Well, you know,” she waves a hoof dismissively, “help ponies with their relationships, either realizing or holding onto their feelings. I'm technically supposed to deal in far more than that, helping struggling ponies find and build their familial and platonic bonds as well as their romantic ones, but for some reason, I always get pigeonholed into doing that last one and never any of the other ones. I can't for the life of me figure out why.”

“So basically, you just kind of go around and... spread love, and stuff?” Trixie asks, head tilting. “I didn't think we'd need an entire Princess for something like that.”

“You'd think!” Cadance gives a large smile, before leaning in to Trixie. “Then again, a few birdies have told me that you might be in need of my more classical services in addition to the one I'm here for.”

I whistle loudly. “Not interested.”

Trixie smacks a hoof against her forehead. “And I thought we'd finally gotten over ponies implying that...”

Cadance giggles. “Relax, its just a joke. Though, if you ever do need my services-”

“Can we please, just, not?” I cut in, trying to pull this conversation literally anywhere else. To help further this objective, I pull my left arm out of my cloak, flexing it in front of me and properly showing off the visible signs of Jenova's infection. “Besides, if you can actually do something about this, I'd like to handle that before anything else.”

“Ah, right, that's why I'm here, isn't it?” She asks, turning back to me and examining my arm. Her eyes run up and down it as she takes in the details of my splotchy doom. “This looks really... different... is this really the same creature's doing?”

“Sadly.” I confirm for her.

“Right, well.” She gulps. After a moment, her horn glows. Her voice's timber is the exact opposite of what might be described as confident. “Well, here goes, um, something, hopefully, everypony.”

It's at that moment I realize – I'm now in the care of someone who might as well be wearing a sign that says 'I have no idea what I'm doing', and my support network is Trixie.

I'm so screwed.

Chapter 52: A Chance Encounter.

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Chapter 52: A Chance Encounter.

It's... warm.

Cadance's magic, that is.

Its light-blue glow extends from her horn, wrapping itself around my arm and making its way upward. Soon, my entire body feels enveloped in its embrace. In another context, it would be a comforting experience, but the splotches on my exposed arm and the Cadance's effort-scrunched face serve as reminders as to its true purpose. She wills her magic across me, the spell intertwining itself in whatever ways she's developed in her short time working alongside Princess Luna. The intensity of the glow begins to build as time passes, obscuring my vision bit by bit until I feel like I'm swimming, then going further still. Seemingly all at once, the blue becomes white as the magic boils over with an audible pop, leaving my ears ringing slightly as the room slowly comes back into focus.

Sound comes back before vision, tired panting the predominant noise to hear. As my vision clears, the noise's owner comes back into focus as well – an exhausted Princess Cadance. She's clearly pushed herself to the limit in order to do... whatever she's done, but my brain is still reeling too much to properly take stock.

Trixie's isn't though. “Dusk, Cadance... I... I think that did something!”

Did something. Yeah, blew my brain into an incoherent mess is what it di-

I finally get enough of my bearings back to pull up my left arm and give it another once-over, quickly seeing what the 'something' that Trixie's talking about is. The black splotches... they're not gone, but they're faded, now merely appearing to be darker patches of skin.

“Aha!” Cadance cheers, taking a step back, looking pleased with her work.

I clench my hand open and shut a few times. Everything feels normal.

“How do you feel, Dusk?” Trixie asks, leaning in from her seat at the bed.

“Let's find out.” I answer, pushing myself from the chair to my feet. The pains in my chest and arm are still present, but that's not surprising in itself. I reach for the Starmetal Buster Sword with my right hand, grasping the handle and spinning it casually in my grip so the blade goes from floor-facing to ceiling-facing. “Interesting. I definitely feel stronger than I was just before.”

“That's good, isn't it?” Cadance asks, causing Trixie and I to give her inquisitive looks. “What? I only really get to test this spell on stuff like a chupacabra and a timberwolf. It's my first time with test subjects that can actually report things!”

“It's leading me to think Princess Luna was wrong about one thing.” I reply, causing Cadance to be the one to take up the inquisitive look as I continue. “For me to feel stronger so soon means Jenova's infection must be attacking my body aggressively, unlike Princess Luna's hypothesis that it might merely be my body's immune system draining my strength to fight against it. Its not like your spell had any healing element to it, Cadance, based on how my chest and arm still feel, so if it were my body being naturally drained, it wouldn't recover so rapidly.”

“Hey, Dusk, speaking of healing elements...” Trixie trails off as she closes her eyes. I know exactly what she's thinking as the gentle breeze of a Cure spell trails its way along my body in an attempt to refresh and revitalize it. “Anything?”

I set the Buster Sword against the wall and slide my right arm under my cloak, pressing against the bandaged area of my left arm that was punctured during the fight in the burrows. I wince and suck in air through my teeth, having applied a bit more force than I probably should have, the sight of the reduced discoloring of the splotches getting my hopes a bit too high. I shake my head. “Still nothing.”

So, even with Cadance's help, magical healing is null. I'm guessing that means my body's natural healing is also still null, but that'll take more time to determine. Ah, well, baby steps it is.

“Its progress, at least!” Cadance, despite the failure of our most recent test, is beaming positivity. “We've proven that you're just as receptive to the same treatments as the creatures that Aunty Luna captured. Its not perfect yet, but we'll get there!” She nods before continuing. “It also sounds like you narrowed down some of the guesswork that Aunty Luna was making as well, which I'm sure will help in one way or another.”

“Hopefully.” She does have a point – any progress is progress, even if its not quite the progress we want just yet.

“I should warn you, however.” Cadance's cheer and positiveness is cut away for seriousness. “The effects of the spell I used, despite taking quite a toll on me, are only temporary. This 'Jenova' thing, its infection, whatever it is – I still don't entirely understand where one ends and the next begins – can bounce back very quickly. It'll only take half a day for the symptoms to start returning, and by the next day you'll be back where you were before, if your progress mirrors that of the others I've used my spell on so far.”

“So basically, you'd have to use that spell on me every day, in its current state.” I simplify her explanation back to myself, putting my own damper on the room's positive attitude.

“Yes, but with time and a little bit of luck, I'm sure we can improve it.” Cadance replies, starting to let the seriousness flow away and her positivity to return. “Plus, it means you two get to hang around me a bunch, and everypony knows Mi Amore Cadenza is the Alicorn Princess to be around!”

I sit back in my chair, leaning back and crossing my arms, amused. “Is that so?”

“It is.” Cadance nods. “My dear Shiny already gets jealous over how many unofficial Cadance fanclubs pop up among the Royal Guard, though I find it quite flattering.” She lets a hoof raise to her chin, thinking. “You know, if you're looking, you could always join the Royal Guard. Shiny says you're ex-military where you're from and that you're something else when the going gets rough. You'd probably land yourself as a Princess' personal guard pretty quick.”

“Not interested.” I reply. “I'm ex-military for a reason. I'd like to keep it that way.”

“Understandable.” She nods. “Then, I have another offer.” Her horn glows, pulling the door open. A tray containing three drinks and a box with a familiar-looking branding float their way into the room. “Breakfast?”

“Donut Joe's!” Trixie bounds to her hooves even faster than the first time Cadance was the bearer of all things donut-y.

Cadance levitates one of the cups over to Trixie, the latter taking it in her hooves and sniffing in the distinct aroma of coffee. “Hope neither of you mind cream and sugar.”

“I'm not sure loading Trixie with caffeine and sugar is the best idea.” I quip, earning myself a stink-eye from the mare as Cadance passes me a cup as well. “Thanks.”

A few seconds later, Cadance has passed out the accompanying donuts. And with that, the gorging begins, a ravenous Trixie tearing into her share of the baked treats with a passion that borders on terrifying, eyes twinkling in excitement.

“My, I think the last time I saw anypony this excited was back when Twilight would get a new book as a filly.” Cadance comments with a giggle, biting into a donut of her own.

I sip at my own coffee. “Remember to breathe, Trixie.”

“Shut u-” Trixie's protests get cut off in a coughing fit as she smacks a hoof against her chest. “Don't you dare say a word.”

As I continue to work at my share of the Donut Joe's, a new idea enters my head, looking back to Cadance. “Hey, Cadance, you wouldn't happen to be on a certain shortlist to get into a certain holding area, would you?”

“Hm?” Cadance turns to me, raising an eyebrow as she sips at her coffee.

“Princess Luna showed us her little setup she has last night, but when I tried to get in there today, nothing I tried would get them to let me in again.”

She pulls her coffee away from her lips after hearing my explanation. “Well, what do you want to go down there for? It's nothing all that interesting, really. Its honestly a bit depressing seeing all those creatures caged up like that.”

“Just... curious.” I answer measuredly. “You know how Luna is, vague about everything. I just want a better idea of what I'm in for, and see just how extensive her operation down there is.”

Cadance mulls it over as she chews on a donut, replying after a swallow. “I suppose that makes sense. Let me guess, you want me to try and get you two in there to poke around?”

“You just have a built in detector for telling when someone's up to no good, huh?”

“You could say that.” She shrugs. “It comes naturally with a career in foalsitting. Though, in this case, I think its okay to cause a bit of trouble for Aunty Luna.”

I smirk. “Good to hear.”

Cadance tips her head back, drawing a long sip from her coffee cup. She then flings the cup with her magic, landing it squarely into a trash bin near the door. “Shall we? No time like the present, right?”

“Nice shot.” I get up, grasping the hilt of the Buster Sword with one hand and carrying my half-finished coffee with the other. “Let's get going, then.” My gaze soon falls on a certain azure mare, who returns it blankly for a moment.

“Oh, right, going places or whatever.” She finally says as she jumps down from her perch on the bed, holding the remains of her own coffee in one hoof. I guess its not surprising she can walk fine on three hooves, considering I've seen her go for short stints on just two.

“Normally you're the one whose excited for snooping and adventure.” I can't help but prod at her, given her uncharacteristically zoned-out state.

“Yeah, well, its not often I get a morning with my precious Donut Joe's!” She huffs. “So excuse me, but I'm going to enjoy it while I can.” Trixie then makes her way for the exit, and after trading a pair of shrugs, Cadance and I soon follow.

“So,” Cadance is quick to start small-talk as we traverse the halls back the way we came, our original escort instructed to return to his post and informed that we'd be delivered later, “how'd you two end up together, anyway?”

I sigh, shaking my head. “Didn't we just-”

“Not like that.” She giggles. “I mean, how'd you meet? You're a bit of an... unexpected combination, in more ways than one.”

I glance over to Trixie, who's usually all too eager to jump right in and field these questions herself. However, she simply takes another sip of her coffee. Once she catches my eye, she simply waves the hoof holding her coffee at me dismissively, turning her gaze back to her cup. That's new.

“Well,” I shrug, “a bit of fortunate coincidence, I'd suppose. We were in similar circumstances, both needing a bit of direction. It led us to traveling the same path for a time, and here we are.”

She turns her head to look back at me, eyebrow raised. “And you call Aunty Luna vague?”

“I never claimed I wasn't.”

That line elicits another round of giggles from her. “Fair, I suppose.”

The clink of spears crossing pulls us from our conversation, as we arrive at our target. “Persistent, aren't ya?” The nasally-sounding guard quips as we close the remaining distance of the hall between us, though the eyes of him and his guardsmate soon move from myself to my pink companion, compelling them into a respectful bow. “Princess Cadance, ma'am!”

“Ah, yes, my subject did mention he came to you before about inquiring entry.” Cadance says, ignoring their greeting, her voice measured. “Well, I must request you allow my subject and his companion to accompany me into the subject hold. We need to perform tests that simply cannot be done elsewhere.”

“Ah... right.” The two look between myself and Cadance a few times before finally bowing, stepping back and holding their spears at attention.

Cadance's horn glows, slowly pushing the double doors open and revealing the torch-lit, stone hallway. With a nod to each of the guards in turn, she leads us into the breach of Luna's 'subject hold', as she put it. “Come, let us work quickly.”

We follow, with Trixie being the one to break the silence as we make our way to the stair well, after enamoring herself with her coffee for so long. “You've got that serious, Princess-ly tone down pretty well when you want it, Princess Cadance. Someone in my line of work can appreciate that.”

“You think?” She replies, turning to Trixie with a cheery grin as she leads us down the stairs. “You won't believe how long I had to spend in front of a mirror practicing that stuff! It still feels a bit weird ordering ponies around like that, though.”

As we follow her down the stairs, I find that, while my wounds make going down the stairs still not the most pleasurable experience, especially while carrying the Buster Sword, I no longer view their existence as a crime against humanity. Small victories.

“I can always take over for you if you like, Princess Cadance.” Trixie gives her mane a characteristic flick of her hoof, even while going down stairs, without missing a beat. “Aspiring Princess of Humility, at your service!”

“Are you sure you don't mean Princess of Hubris, Trixie?” I cut in, before polishing off the rest of the coffee I'd been carrying from breakfast.

“Yeah, and who asked you, anyway?” She fires back with a huff.

“You two are absolutely precious, you know that?” Cadance quips over her shoulder.

Trixie bites her lip at Cadance's ribbing, choosing to stew silently the rest of the way down the stairs as we reach a familiar hallway of metal doors.

As we enter the hall, Cadance shivers. “This place always gives me the creeps.”

“I can't imagine why.” I comment as I walk forward, sliding open the view-port on the first door to get another look at the infected chupacabra. Its writhing, squirming against its bonds in its cell, an act that quickly causes me to shut the view-port and move onto the next one. In the next cell are a number of pink and blue bunny-like creature with black antlers, deep red eyes, and sizable fangs, their bodies wrapped in similar metal bindings to the chupacabra. Its hard to tell why they're being kept at first, until I see the missing spots of fur, revealing the sickly, tell-tale blue flesh of Jenova's more standard infection.

“Not pretty, is it?” Cadance asks from behind me as I move onto the third door, the usual cheer in her voice completely evaporated. “It makes me wish I were more like Twily. It pains me to make such slow progress on pushing the infection out of them.”

Those kinds of feelings are ones I'm all too familiar with. “You're doing the best you can. It's not worth beating yourself up over it. Take it from someone who knows.”

I slide the third view-port open and my eyes widen at what they have the gall to shove in that cell. This creature is massive, easily taller than myself, body in multiple layers of restraints that its muscles are visibly fighting against even if it's merely sitting in the center of the room. A feline head is wrapped in a red mane, bat-like wings protruding from its broad back as pawed limbs ripple with strength. On this one, the primary place of infection is a lot more obvious – a blue, splotchy, scorpion-like tail that's barely visible over its mane. It makes my body shudder and the hand holding my coffee cup subconsciously reach for my chest.

“I suppose so.” Cadance answers as I close the third view-port. “I should warn you, the next one is... particularly gruesome looking.”

I pop open the fourth view-port, despite her warning, and meet an unsettling, yet familiar sight. Much of its body, including the entirety of its head, have been rebuilt by Jenova's flesh, leaving only the scantest bits of wood along its body to remind of its original form. Its striking eyes glow green, and three whip-like tentacles protrude from its back, bound against it along with its limbs by circular, steel bindings. Its been quite a while, but its unmistakable – the timberwolf I encountered alongside Twilight and her friends on my first night in Ponyville.

I step back reflexively from the door as its eyes lock on mine, and it growls through a locked-down muzzle. Oh boy, it remembers me. A sound catches my ear under the guttural growl, though, one I can't quite pinpoint... until the binding on its maw snaps, flinging the two halves across its cell as they clang against the walls. The binds around its body soon follow suit, snapping against the strain of powerful legs and thrashing tentacles as it rises to all fours.

“Back up!” I yell to the two ponies to my right before tossing my coffee cup down and dodging to the left, spinning the Buster Sword into a battle-ready position despite the tight corridors.

The metal door bends with a thud, causing Cadance's head to whip back to Trixie. “Go back up to the guards where we came in! Tell them Subject Four is going berserk again!”

“But-” Trixie goes to argue, but a second slam against the door silences it in her throat as she turns and runs back up the stairs.

With a final, metal-crunching impact, the door flies off its hinges and smashes into the opposite wall, the warped form of the once-timberwolf angled directly for me, piercing green eyes locked on mine. It leaps from the crumpled door with a surprising speed, any attempt to strike it from the air impractical at this close a range as I raise the Buster Sword up for defense instead. Its body impacts the Starmetal blade, easily barreling me off my feet, jaws snapping down at me as I use all the strength I can tap into to try and push the beast away. Its three tentacle-like limbs lash out wildly, striking the walls and leaving gashes in the stone. The timberwolf must not know how to properly control them, else I'd be horribly skewered right about now.

Its body is soon encased in the blue of Cadance's magic, its weight slowly lifting as Cadance struggles to pull it away. Its... surprisingly powerful, however, and even with the reprieve from the infection Cadance's magic gave me, wrestling it back is causing my chest and arm to scream in pain.

The clopping of multiple sets of hooves rings out from behind Cadance, echoing down the staircase. It looks like Trixie didn't take long to rouse the cavalry, but the timberwolf quickly snaps my attention back to it with a bite that comes a bit too close to my face, its weight pressing heavy against the Buster Sword again. Thinking quickly, I grab the underside of its jaw in my left hand. Its weight leans in further, claws scratching against the Buster Sword's Starmetal, with only one arm's worth of resistance, but I only need a precious second as one of the Green Materia in the sword glows, the wisps of green Lifestream energy trailing their way to my palm. The Fire spell in my palm soon explodes, nowhere to go with my left hand pressed directly against the timberwolf's jaw, ears ringing as the beast is finally blown backwards, stunned enough for Cadance to finally get a firm grip on it in her magic.

As I'm able to collect myself and raise up on my elbows, I see Trixie finally bounding down the stairwell, flanked not only by two bat-pony guards but two unicorn from the standard Royal Guard as well. Cadance tosses the stunned timberwolf back into its cell, with the two bat-ponies immediately grabbing the bent door and jamming it back into the frame, holding their weight against it. The unicorns, in turn, begin the work of reshaping and repairing the door. Cadance's horn, meanwhile, glows a shimmering blue as she engages in the task of holding the timberwolf itself back, her face skewed in concentration as sweat beads from her brow. There's a single flash of blue from around the frame of the door, then a second, and then a third. The cynic in me finds the sight disturbingly similar to someone administering electrical shocks. Finally, the door is back in place, and clangs of metal emanate from inside the cell as the two unicorns work to re-bind the timberwolf once more.

Panting, I lean myself against the wall, using both it and the Buster Sword to draw myself first into a proper sitting position, and then back up to shaky feet. “Yeah, Luna, perfectly safe.” I quip sarcastically under my breath.

“Dusk! Are you alright?” Trixie asks, peering up at me with concern while Cadance and the guards finish re-securing the timberwolf in its cell.

“Just peachy.” I reply, panting, still feeling the sarcasm. Seeing her face fall, I give her a thumbs up with the arm I'm not using to lean on my Buster Sword. “Don't worry, he didn't get a bite out of me.”

She sighs with relief. “Good. I was worried. I mean, right now, even a small wound can be a huge problem, so...” She lets her worry wash away with a playful grin. “You know, that thing was really pissed at you, Dusk.”

“Yeah,” I look back up to the door, which now has both view-ports closed, “I mean, I only bludgeoned it into an ungodly mess with a pipe, I can't imagine why it'd be mad at me.”

That line gets Cadance to turn her attention back to me, an eyebrow raised. “You have history with that one?”

“A little bit.” I confirm for her. “Met it on my first night in Equestria, not long after I met Twilight Sparkle and her friends. Didn't have memories or a big sword back then, so when it decided to run out of the Everfree Forest with its buddies to chow down on some ponies I had to beat it back with a metal pipe that Pinkie Pie pulled out of her mane somehow.” Cadance raises her hoof, a question on her lips, but I head it off. “Don't bother asking how. I've come to learn no one understands how anything Pinkie Pie does actually works.”

Cadance nods. “...Well then. I'm sorry, about, well... that... happening.” She says awkwardly, motioning to the now-fixed door, the four guards taking up a formation to watch over it for the time being.

“Its fine.” I assure her as I get myself back together properly. “I think that was all the info I needed on Luna's little project down here. I just needed to confirm it was dumb and dangerous.”

“Even still,” Cadance replies, “we need to try and fix them, if we can. Its not their fault they're like this, after all.”

“How many times has that one gotten out like that?” Trixie asks, changing the subject slightly. “You told me to say that it was berserk again, so this has happened before, right?”

“Yeah...” Cadance's eyes glance at the door, then back to us. “That one is really difficult to control and more resistant to my magic than the rest despite it simply being a timberwolf. Every so often it lashes out, but its never gone quite that mad before.”

“It's probably because its infection is far more progressed than the rest.” I theorize. “Like I said, it was the first one I saw once I arrived in Equestria, and I arrived in the Everfree Forest, which is the timberwolves' home if memory serves. So its likely that the timberwolf was one of the first creatures infected since it was weaker and nearby, assuming that Jenova started from roughly the same point I did.”

“Maybe...” Her thoughts trail as another set of hooves make its way down the stairs. Our heads turn to find another of the Royal Guard, who walk up to Cadance, beckoning her with a hoof into a private conversation. After sharing a few terse words, the two part, the Royal Guard heading back the way he came.

“My apologizes, again.” Cadance bows her head to us slightly before resuming eye contact. “Aunty Tia just asked me to come see her. It's apparently an emergency. We'll have to continue things tomorrow, most likely. You two know the way back to your room, yes?”

“We'll be fine.” I assure her as she moves to follow the guard out. “Thanks.”

“So sorry, again!” She yells over her shoulder, waving a hoof until she begins to disappear up the stairs.

We soon follow, and as we traverse the stairs, Trixie turns her head back to me. “So, looks like our day's shot. What do we do now?”

“I'd like to say 'kick Luna's door down', but I doubt we'd get far.” I grumble, though loud enough that I know she can hear.

“Not unless you want to start a war with the bat-ponies.” She flashes me a playful grin in an attempt to lighten the mood. “I have an idea, but you're not gonna like it.”

“What is it?”

She shrugs. “Why don't we just... veg out for the day? We're getting walled here, anyway, thanks to royal bureaucracy.”

“You're right.” I assure her. “That idea sounds awful. Cadance has me feeling as good as I'm probably going to get since our fight with Jenova and you want me to just lounge with it?”

“Well, what else are you gonna do?”

“...”

“Exactly!” She flicks her mane back to emphasize her 'victory'. “It's not my first choice either, Dusk, but let's both be honest, a lot's been happening, and you need to decompress a bit. You can spend the day to organize your thoughts into something coherent instead of that conspiracy theory mess I'm sure is going on up there, and we can try to get hold of Princess Luna tonight. It's not going to do us much good to be fretting right now when there's not much we can do, anyway.” She stops at the top of the stairs, turning to face me with a confident smile. “Trust me, Dusk. I'm a workaholic, and if I tell you that you need a break, you need a break.”

“...Fine.” I finally acquiesce. Maybe Trixie's right.

“I knew you'd see things my way!” She declares, turning on her hooves and leading the way back to the main castle. “Plus, now we can at least make full use of that fancy room Princess Luna set aside for us. I'll even tell the guard that a side effect of Cadance's spell was to make you absolutely ravenous so he can earn that paycheck carting up more food than we know what to do with! Might as well live like royalty while we have the chance!”

I can't help but laugh to myself as she continues on in her plans to abuse the castle help for all they're worth as some kind of petty revenge for being stonewalled. Never change, Trixie.

Chapter 53: Under the Moonlight.

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Chapter 53: Under the Moonlight.

Eyes. Piercing. Green. Cutting through endless blackness. Etching themselves against my soul.

The world slowly comes into focus. The floor and ceiling are stone, stretching endlessly high, barely perceivable through the darkness. I step forward, into the depths, right hand clenching the hilt of the Buster Sword as it rests against my shoulder. I breathe sharply as I progress, the atmosphere becoming as oppressive on my breathing as the blackness is on my sight. Those eyes cut through all, their presence felt even if not seen.

A single glint breaks through the void ahead... followed by a second, and a third. Soon, its the tiniest bits of glistening green, wisps reflecting themselves to wrestle against the dark. Lifestream, pressed against the floor by the black above. It's not alone, however, in its defiance of the dark. Colorful spires rise from the ground, reflecting the light of the Lifestream in their crystalline forms. At first, they're no larger than twinkling pebbles, but as I journey deeper, they rise higher, eventually matching the crystals of the Crystal Caves in height as the Lifestream clings and flows around them.

I continue forward, but soon, the sight of a second mist stops me in my tracks.

Purple, gaseous in form, weaving through the crystals, only a speck at first, it wrestles against the Lifestream for prominence. Tendrils soon reach out, thick and unyielding as they slowly choke out the gentle green. The cave descends again into near-total darkness, only the reflection of the dim purple from the crystals permits any sight at all.

And then, the light of green returns.

Not the green light of the Lifestream, however, but the piercing, intense green of eyes, reflecting in one crystal, then the next. Soon, every crystal in the cave reflects the ethereal eyes, bathing everything in its stark green, the purple haze swirling into a crescendo around them. My cloak billows against a sudden wind, whistling through the paths between the crystals and sending the purple mist flowing past at my feet. A single, white speck passes under the hood of my cloak as others begin to appear, traveling along the winds. The lone speck is cold as it presses against my skin... snow.

The ceiling of the cave dissolves, dispersing into sheet after sheet of snow as the winds only become more intense. I brace myself, pulling my cloak over my face with my left arm as my right digs the Buster Sword into the ground to brace myself against the ensuing blizzard. The greens of the eyes are blurred by waves of white, but even so, one by one, I can see each set of eyes disappear from their crystal homes.

Clouds of purple ascend from between the crystal spires, resisting the winds as they coalesce into a single point above them. From them appear a single, massive set of green eyes, outlined in purple and encased in a swirl of darkness. Inside the green eyes' framings are striking red irises, colder than the blizzard and twinkling in their malice.

I pull the Buster Sword from the ground, gripping it in both hands as I pull it in front of me, feet digging in as I resist the intensifying blizzard around me. The winds carry a sneering chuckle as I ready myself, muscles tensing, ready to-

“Dusk! Come on, wake up already!” Trixie's voice floods my ears as reality is jerked out from under me, heart racing. I can feel her hooves pressed against my side, shaking me as my eyes flutter open. “Geez! Finally! You were freaking out enough to wake me out of the best sleep I've had in ages!”

A dream...? Yeah, that makes sense. I had a nightmare last night, too, didn't I? Was it similar to this one?

“Sorry...” I apologize as I place a hand to my forehead. I'm sweating, and my pulse is racing. Wait... when had I fallen asleep?

Trixie and I had come back from seeing Luna's little lockup with Cadance, and Trixie followed through on her plan of getting unnecessarily pampered by the castle staff pretty much to the letter. She even somehow sussed out that the castle keeps a supply of fish on-hand in case it has to house dignitaries from the Griffon Kingdom. It made for quite an appreciated surprise for me when the first food cart had been delivered. After that, she had set off to explore the castle, complaining about how she'd not gotten to the last time we were here, while I'd decided to stay behind and take advantage of the quiet to try and sort through all the ideas that'd been swirling through my head these last couple days. It'd been... more effective than I'd expected. Maybe Trixie had a point, Cadance's treatment having some effect had taken enough stress off my shoulders to help me put the other thoughts in my head and figure out which bits of paranoia might have some credence.

I must have drifted to sleep at some point during that, as I don't remember Trixie ever coming back into the room, and I can still feel my feet dangling off the side of the bed from laying back on it perpendicularly.

“Dusk, I think your nightmares are getting worse.” Trixie says, pulling me back to the present.

My breathing and pulse have returned to normal, so I use my arms to prop myself up, wincing. A quick glance at my forearms shows Cadance's warning coming to pass – while they've not returned to pure black, the splotches are far darker than they were the last time I checked them.

“I remember it this time.”

Trixie pulls herself up onto my bed, sitting next to me. “The nightmare?”

“Yeah.” I nod, clenching a hand to my chest. Something deep inside is stirring, not unlike...

“Wanna talk about it?”

“Yes, do tell us about it.” A third voice breaks into our conversation, pulling both our attentions to the doorway. The room is lit by a mere sliver of moonlight from the window and adorned in midnight blue hues, leaving the Princess of the Night deceptively camouflaged from us were it not for the sparkling in her ethereal mane.

I pull myself up into a proper sitting position. “You know, you could try knocking.”

“Something has come over the creatures in holding.” She says, ignoring me as she closes the distance between her and us. “We felt it ripple across your dream as well.”

“Come over them?” I ask, gripping my chest tighter. Were they feeling it as well? The tugging reminds me of the tugging from my last stay in Canterlot, and the tugging Sephiroth would use to control Jenova's cells. Its... different, though. Imprecise. The feeling is better described as being drawn by a magnet than it is by being summoned.

“Yes.” She confirms. “We've had to more than double the allocated Night Guard because they're exhibiting uncharacteristic aggressiveness.”

“...I feel it, too.” I confirm to her after a moment. “Jenova's cells are resonating.”

Trixie looks between the Princess and myself, flashing between a number of emotions before settling on disbelief. “There is no way that thing is still alive. We vaporized it with rainbows and dragonfire!”

“It's not Jenova, Trixie.” I assure her, causing her to let out a relieved sigh. “It's... something else.”

“Any hypotheses, dreamer?” Princess Luna asks, reaching the bed and sitting on the opposite side of me from Trixie. “We failed at reaching your dream before you woke, so your insight would be much appreciated on this matter.”

“I don't know.” I answer. “The dream itself didn't really mean anything to me.” I stop a moment, thinking. The yearning in my body soon pulls my mind to a single conclusion. “I think the reason it didn't mean anything to me was because it wasn't meant for me.” Princess Luna merely nods, and I continue. “I can't pretend to know that much about how Jenova works, honestly, but based on what I'm feeling, my guess is that the remaining cells are reaching out, confused, trying to find the main body...”

I trail off, and Princess Luna picks my train of thought up. “And since the creature is dead, they instead react to whatever powerful psychic impulses they can discern.”

“Maybe.” I nod. “In my world, Sephiroth was able to basically have full control over Jenova and all its cells... including the cells that were in my body. It's possible that someone else could gain control over any remaining remnants of Jenova for their own purposes if such a person ever discovered them.”

“That's... a troublesome thought.” She replies.

“Yeah.” I turn my head to make eye contact with her. “It's why I keep telling you to just destroy all those things you've captured and be done with it. Even if they're not dangerous individually, there's no telling what someone with access to magic like what exists here in Equestria can do if they gained control of enough of Jenova's remaining cells.”

“Dreamer... it is not that simple.” Princess Luna argues, returning to her hooves, stepping out in front of the bed to face me. “Even beyond your own infection, there is no method of knowing of how deep the tendrils of the creature's influence dug before it was defeated. We hunt as We are able, but yet, We must have a solution that does not involve killing. If We uncover a pony that has its touch but yet lives, should We just extinguish it as well?”

I stand as well, my temper rising. I can understand her concern, but... “If it's so important, then test your methods of killing off only the pieces of Jenova on me, then!”

Her eyes narrow, clearly ready to give a biting reply of her own, but instead she sighs, tension visibly releasing from her body as she meets my eyes again. “Do you wish me to speak frankly?”

No 'Royal We'? I have enough experience with certain other ponies dropping certain other speaking eccentricities to know this is a terrible sign. “Go ahead.”

“We've considered your idea before. However...” She turns away, taking a few steps toward the door before finally turning back to me. “The reality is, your body does not heal of its own accord. Your infection spreads and you grow weaker as days pass. Am I wrong?”

“What are you getting at?”

“What I am 'getting at',” she replies, without hesitating, “is that we do not truly know how long you can survive in this state, especially as a subject of a constant magical probing that may agitate your infection further.”

“So you're saying he might die, then?” Trixie asks, her voice quiet and drained.

“It is not what any of us wish to see, but it is the reality we must be aware of.” The Princess replies as I sit back down on the bed next to Trixie. “If there are no other subjects in such an event, we will be helpless in our ability to develop a magic that can directly counter the spread of the creature's presence.”

It's my turn to sigh, now. On one hand, especially after tonight, with the current tug in my chest, I can't accept that the risk of keeping so many remnants of Jenova in one place is acceptable. On the other, its hard to think of a compelling counterargument to Luna's case. She's thinking further ahead, more worried about the ability to help others while I'm more concerned with essentially cutting off a gangrenous limb. Cadance's concerns yesterday were pretty similar. Are they too being too compassionate, or maybe, have I just become too cold-hearted?

“I still don't like it.” I break the silence that'd settled over us during my moment of mental self-sparring, still feeling compelled to protest but still having no better reply.

“Do not worry,” Princess Luna says reassuringly, “with the discovery that another presence in Equestria is now agitating the cells of the creature, I will not hesitate to be rid of them if I deem the threat beyond acceptable limits. I am not so foolhardy as to not understand the risk of such creatures free again upon the world, and under another's organized control.”

“I hope so.”

“However, you've yet to tell Us the contents of your dream itself, dreamer.”

I shrug. “You technically never asked.”

“Now is not the time for coyness.” She replies tersely.

“Right...” I take a moment, setting aside all our talks of Jenova to try and recall my dream again. “I remember these... eyes. They were striking and green. Glowing with magic, maybe, with these slit-like, red irises. Everything was cold, and dark. There were also lots of crystals, like from the Crystal Caves, but there was also a blizzard of some kind.”

“That's all?” She asks after a moment.

“Yeah.” I confirm for her. “It was all really vivid, but that was all that happened during it.”

She nods, turning for the door, looking back at us over her shoulder. “Get some rest. We will do Our part to see your dream is not intruded on again tonight. Goodnight.” With that, the door handle clicks in her magical grasp, the door cracking open enough for her to walk through, before gently closing itself again.

I flop back onto the bed, letting my arms sprawl out on either side of me. “What a mess...”

“Dusk...” Trixie says from beside me, her voice still quiet.

“Hm?” I turn my head to face her, to find she's looking out the window, face framed in moonlight.

“It's... I don't know.”

“You're letting what Princess Luna was talking about bother you, aren't you?”

She breaks her gaze away from the window, her eyes meeting mine. “...Maybe.”

“Don't.” I say, turning my eyes from her to the ceiling. “She didn't say anything we weren't already aware of. Besides, Princess Cadance's treatment seems to at least slow it down some. As long as we can keep up with those, things should be okay, Trixie.”

“Even so...” I feel her weight flop against the bed as well.

“Hey. I'm supposed to be the one who worries over everything.” I turn my head to her with a playful smirk. “I don't appreciate this role-reversal.”

“Sorry.” She replies, forgoing her usual sarcasm. “I just feel so helpless. Princess Cadance and Princess Luna are doing what they can, but now that you're the one who needs help, I can't do anything.” She sighs wistfully, eyes turning to look back out the window. “If I still had my horn, maybe I could help them somehow.”

“Trixie...” Her horn... it's the first time she's mentioned it since the night she filed the jagged pieces away.

“I know. Based on what everypony's said, I wouldn't actually be able to do much of anything even if I had it, but I'd at least be able to try.” She looks down to her hooves, drawing one of them across the blanket in idle circles. She goes silent for a time, but I don't know what to say. I should tell her not to let herself feel so guilty, but for some reason, the words won't form. It feels like my own guilt over her condition is a weight against my throat. Mercifully, she breaks the silence after a while. “I should have just asked Twilight Sparkle to help me.”

“What?” I ask, confused.

“At the Ghastly Gorge,” she clarifies, “Twilight Sparkle saw what was going to happen with my horn. She tried to stop me. If I'd asked, I'm sure she probably already had a plan in mind to help. We both know that's how Twilight is.”

“I can't argue that.”

“But... I didn't want her help. I didn't want to stop.” She turns her head to face me again. “I know that probably doesn't sound all that surprising in itself, but it's not how you think, either.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, turning my own head to meet hers.

“Everyone thinks I did some big, noble thing, but the truth is a lot more petty than that.” She swallows and takes a steadying breath. “...Really, I was just running away from myself. You know how my state of mind was back then, by this point. I'll be surprised if you never suspected it yourself.”

“I... what do you mean, Trixie?”

“Ah... alright, Dusk. Just don't be too disappointed in me.” She says, turning back to the window. “The real reason I didn't ask Twilight Sparkle for help back then had nothing to do with my pride or anything else. When I felt that first crack in my horn, a lot of thoughts went through my mind at once, too many for me to really describe here. I was scared, as well as many other things, sure, but... in the end, one thought stuck in my mind.

“If my horn shattered, I'd never be able to perform again. It'd be the death of The Great and Powerful Trixie.”

She falls silent after that, but there's nothing more that needs to be said. Between the talk we had in Canterlot all those days ago, and what she confessed in the chariot ride, I know more than enough to put the rest together for myself. Even so...

“Trixie...” Even with her confession, I still feel that weight on my throat over this topic, unable to shake myself free. No matter how hard I try, I can't get a single question past my lips – Why? Why did she think that was a good idea?

“But, even still, I don't regret it, you know?” She continues, pulling me back from my thoughts. “It was stupid... more than stupid, I know, but I wouldn't change how things have played out since then for anything.” She looks at me, eyes misty, and grins. “Except maybe the part at the end where you're too hardheaded to listen to Princess Luna and get stabbed in the chest. Again. That part's sucked so far.”

I place a hand to my chest, pressing down, biting my lip against the ensuing discomfort. “Yeah, you're telling me.” I return her grin with one of my own. “Then again, without it, you probably wouldn't be so forthcoming, would you?”

She flops onto her side again, looking back out the window. “Who's to say?”

“...Right.”

“Good night, Dusk.”

“...Don't you have your own bed to sleep on?”

She groans. “Its all the way over there and I'm tired.” She yawns. “Too much self-reflection leads to an exhausted Trixie.”

I shake my head, resigning myself. “Good night, Trixie.”