> Burnt Offerings
>  by Spike the Scribe
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Act One Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Burnt Offerings by Spike the Dragon

Act One: A Night of Many Changes




Ponyville, 23 of September, 1000 Solar Reckoning (SR), Morning


The last day of summer started fairly normally. The nights were still pretty warm, probably courtesy of Princess Luna trying her best to win over her subjects after the thousand years of imprisonment on the moon, and the days were still as beautiful as ever. I awoke to the sound of my caretaker and friend moving about groggily, and as were my duties as her number one assistant, the task of preparing breakfast fell onto me. Without as much as a single complain I rushed to the kitchen and began preparing the morning meal.

Oh, but where are my manners. I should have introduced myself a long time ago. My name is Spike. I know, I know, “What kind of pony name is ‘Spike’?” Well, to tell the truth, it isn’t. For you see, I am a dragon. No, not the average gigantic, fire-breathing, treasure-hoarding monster that is used to scare little foals into submission by their parents, although I can breathe fire if I need to. I’m a ‘baby’ dragon. Not to get confused –a dragon may be the age of a fully matured pony yet still be considered a ‘baby’ by purely physical standards. I’m more mature than most my age (which incidentally is fourteen, at least from the day I hatched). Either way, just so you guys get the idea of how I look: I’m about tree-and-a-half hoof tall, have purple scales, green spines going from the top of my head to the end of my tail, bleached-green scales on my underbelly and a pair of green (some say emerald) eyes with slits for pupils. I know, all in all I’m not that impressive looking. Especially without wings. But I digress.

Breakfast was a quiet affair, like most times. Twilight, my caretaker slash best friend tends to be a bit… groggy… in the morning, usually from pulling all-nighters. I’m quite used to that actually. Living with her for basically all my life I learned that there was no force in Equestria save for Princess Celestia herself who could make her stop reading books. Then again, she is the Princess’ personal student, so she takes her research and studies extremely serious. Really, I mean she would probably flip if she discovered she was late with a report or something. Hm… Now that I think about it, I should probably describe Twilight as well.

Twilight Sparkle, a young unicorn mare, age… well, I probably shouldn’t state a ladies age. Suffice to say she’s considered an adult. Either way –she has a lavender coat with a blue mane and tail, one purple and one rose-colored streak going through both of them. She has lavender eyes and her cutie mark is a six-pointed pink star surrounded by five smaller white ones. Also she’s Princess Celestia’s personal student, as I already noted, and recently she acquired the position of a librarian in the quiet town of Ponyville. Exceptionally gifted in the field of magic. And not a morning pony.

Prepared for her usual morning state I served her, along with her scrambled eggs and toast, a cup of green tea. Most ponies reacted better to coffee in situations like this, but Twilight not only was for the most part caffeine-proof, she actually hated the stuff, and personally, I don’t blame her. I don’t have the slightest idea why would anypony drink that stuff. What matters is that the tea I served her managed to wake her up enough for her to start functioning normally. After a few minutes our plates were empty and Twi was ready for the day.

On today’s agenda Twilight had some magical exercises. As the highly magical unicorn as she is, Twi had a surprising knack for learning new spells, which reflected on today’s training regime. She prepared a list of twenty-five spells, ranging from simple variants of the standard unicorn levitation charms to complex conjurations. My personal favorite was the growing spell, which enabled Twi to conjure up a stylish mustache on my upper lip. I mean what’s cooler than a instant mustache? Sadly, she didn’t let me keep it.

Twilight’s exercises lasted for a few hours, even though I suspect she could easily manage the same in a single one. I mean come on, did she really need to go through the information about every single spell three times? A bit of a waste of time in my opinion. Still, she was adamant on keeping everything proper and by the book, and despite my best efforts I couldn’t get her to loosen up. At least the spells were worth it.

Once Twilight finished with her daily workout (if you could call what she did a typical unicorn workout that is) we both decided, that a small walk outside the stifling library would do us good. The day was nice, no rains or other unpleasant atmospheric events scheduled for the next few days, and just a few clouds were visible in the air, carefully maneuvered by the pegasi weather teams. All in all, it was a most pleasant day for a stroll.

I engaged Twilight in some small talk, trying to get her to finally see, that her special talent really was magic. She of course brushed the prospect off, claiming that she wasn’t anything special, and that she suspected there were tons of unicorns more magical then her. A load of horseapples in my opinion. One doesn’t become the Princess’ personal protégé if there isn’t something special with ones magic. Still, she refused the notion, clinging to her version.

I was about to renew my efforts when suddenly I was cut off by the appearance of two charging unicorn colts. And by cut off I mean practically run over by those two, galloping in blind abandon, not in the slightest concerned that a dragon was being injured. Those two were obviously Snips and Snails, the two infamous young unicorns, known in Ponyville thanks to their rather… unique behavior. They were for the last few months in a serious need of a new ‘hero’ to worship; the last one didn’t last that long, skipping town as soon as he could, just so  he could free himself from his two adoring fans. Then again, he did unintentionally lead them to get their own cutie marks, so it was obvious that they would see him that way. Either way, I was being dragged by those two, galloping trough town like if there was an emergency.

“Snips?!” I shouted, trying to get them to stop. “Snails?! What’s going on?!” Soon enough I found out that my request had one serious flaw. I should have foreseen that once those two stopped, I would be flung into the air like a bullet shot from a slingshot. And that’s exactly what happened.

“Haven’t you heard? There’s a new unicorn in town!” Proclaimed Snails, the taller of the two in his rather… slow… way of speech.

“They say that she’s got more magical powers than any other unicorn ever!” Added Snips, the more round one, his voice cracking, though if from excitement or puberty I can’t be quite sure. Either way by now I managed to pull myself out of the heap I landed in and I walked to the two, a seriously not amused expression on my face.

“Really?” Asked Twilight before I was able to say anything. She followed us all the way from where Snips and Snails run into me (a good eighty hoofs or so) and looked… well, distressed, like if something was troubling her. In hindsight I believe she was half expecting to see somepony acting like a braggart version of herself, though back then I couldn’t be so sure. Still, I decided that enough was enough, and that I didn’t want to see Twi acting like that.

“No way, that honor goes to Twilight here!” I countered Snips’ declaration, pointing a claw in the mare’s direction. I admit, she did look somewhat embarrassed by that little praise I gave her, especially considering it was in public. I even think I saw her blush for a moment, though her coat’s color is such a shade of light purple that it’s sometimes hard to say. After just a few seconds however she regained her composure and asked a question that troubled the both of us:

“Where is this unicorn?”

“Oh, she’s in the town square!” Answered Snails, and without any warning he jumped over my head and ran in that direction. Seriously, doesn’t he know things like that are dangerous? “Come on!”

“Yeah! Come on!” Added Snails’ inseparable companion, charging right behind his friend, again not looking who was in front of him. Luckily I managed to dodge that one.

I shared a look with Twilight and shrugged slightly. Either those two were delusional (which, as unfriendly as it might sound, I actually suspected), or there indeed was a new unicorn in town. Whichever was true, there was no harm checking it out, right? That is besides the possibility of getting overrun by those two again. Not wasting much time the two of us followed the dynamic duo deeper into Ponyville.

Finding the place wasn’t that hard, even if one was completely obvious to the layout of Ponyville, which we weren’t. Right in the middle of town square stood a massive crowd of ponies, most of them (excluding the flying pegasi) straining their necks, trying to take a better look at the small caravan that stood parked in front of town hall. It didn’t look that impressive at first glance, just a simple traveling cart, complete with a little purple sign displaying a wand tipped with a five-pointed star and a ‘wisp of magical sparkle dust’ surrounded by a plethora of smaller white stars. Even so before the two of us were able to make our way through the crowd of ponies and into the front lines a seriously upbeat, already greatly annoying voice began proclaiming in showpony style:

“Come one! Come all! Come and witness the amazing magic of the Great and Powerful Trixie!”

During this little intro the cart unfolded, forming a small stage with a dark purple curtain, above it a larger version of the banner I described earlier and a series of strange contraptions with fireworks attached to them. Although you wouldn’t see me say that out loud, I did find it partially impressive; the mechanics used to make this little caravan be able to transform like that must have been complex and at the same time compact. It was all destroyed by the voice of the mare announcing her arrival.

There was a small explosion of purple smoke, accompanied by a flash of what I came to associate living with Twilight as a magical sparks and fanfares produced by yet another contraption hidden inside the cart. Once the clouds of smoke cleared, a cyan mare with a silvery mane and tail stood there, draped in a purple cloak and a pointy hat, both of them covered in a multitude of silver and gold stars, posing in a overly confident fashion. I almost instantly felt a dislike towards her. Something in the way she looked at all of us, as if she wanted us to challenge her was definitely off, and it made my spines stand on end. I was more or less convinced then and there that this unicorn was nothing but bad news. I didn’t however had that much time to ponder that, because this Trixie character decided to continue her little show:

“Watch in awe as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats of magic ever witnessed by pony eyes!” Something told me there and then that she was a wandering magician, a show-mare performing magical tricks for some bits. I actually don’t know what gave me that idea. Was it the exaggerated way she acted? Or maybe it was the fact that once she finished her speech and stood on her hind legs the contraptions mounted on the top of her cart began to go off, showering the scene in a multitude of colorful sparks? I don’t know really.

“My, my, my… What boasting!”

“Come on! Nopony is as magical as Twi…” I began, only to realize two things. One: Twilight was giving me a meaningful look, definitely not wanting me to finish what I was going to say. Two: the one that acknowledged the boasting of this whole Trixie for what it really was, was none other than Rarity, a white unicorn mare that I… well… I had a crush on! There, I said (wrote) it. Nonetheless, Rarity, who must have heard what I was going to say looked at me, her elegant, blue eyes gleaming with her unasked question. I instantaneously lost my nerve. “Um… he-hey Rarity, I em… mustache!” Aaand just like that I fled. If I was going to impress her, I definitely needed my manly mustache. Eh… Why did Twilight have to remove it?

Yes, well, I kinda lost the conversation that went on between Twi and some of our friends –mainly Rarity, Applejack (orange earth pony, blond mane, one of the best farm ponies around) and Rainbow Dash (cyan pegasus, rainbow-colored mane, great flier, probably as boastful as the unicorn on stage, though less annoying). What can I say, I panicked there for a sec. What I did manage to discern however was that most of them were pointing out the boastfulness of the newcomer, and if I’m not mistaken, I think I heard Rarity pointing out that one’s magical talent didn’t mean that somepony automatically was better than any other. While I agreed with her wholeheartedly, I did notice that it made Twi look a bit… downtrodden? I was beginning to guess that she was getting self-conscious about her own talent, and that could lead to some nasty things in the future.

“Well, well, well… It seems that we have some neighsayers in the audience.” My musings were interrupted by this whole Trixie, tough it seemed that she was almost waiting for something like that to happen. “Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical abilities of the Great and Powerful Trixie!? Do they not now that there in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?!” Yep, she definitely had all this planned. Her speech was so practiced that it seemed that she was saying all this in an almost bored fashion. Suffice to say, I was not impressed, and nether were the others.

“Pff… Just who do she thinks she is?” Commented Rarity, and I was soon to follow.

“Yeah! Especially since we all know that Twilight here is…” Yet I wasn’t allowed to finish my thought. Twi got sure about that.

Before I knew what was happening, Twilight pushed me out of the crowd and out of earshot of our friends. This was beginning to get annoying, especially that I knew for a fact that this whole Trixie wasn’t half as good at magic as Twi. I was expecting my friend to try and coax me out of saying anything else, and exactly that’s what happened.

“Did you see how they reacted to Trixie?” She answered my question about what was going on, though I already knew what was the matter. “I don’t want anyone thinking that I’m a showoff.” Once again, I knew this was stupid, and I wanted to protest, saying that showing up that mare wouldn’t be showing off, but I was interrupted by the sound of fanfares and fireworks going off, as well as the flashes coming from the stage. Definitely flashy, that’s for sure.

Twilight trotted back in front of the crowd, trying either to defuse the situation or not to look like if she was backing out, I couldn’t tell. I for one hoped that she wanted to take my advice and show Trixie who’s boss. Then again, I knew Twilight good enough to know that she wouldn’t actually do that. I was just going to follow her back to the front rows when something caught my eye.

I froze mid-step, turning my head to the left. For a moment I thought that I’ve seen something strange down the road. I’m not exactly sure what it was, I only caught a glimpse of it. Whatever it was, it definitely had white, feathery wings and for one reason or another it seemed, that it was… glowing? I’m not entirely sure what I saw or how to describe it, all I know is that it radiated some kind of light; a light that I felt I saw somewhere before.

“…vanquish the dreaded Ursa Major!” I was brought back to reality by the voice of the showpony, exclaiming something quite ridiculous. I may not pay attention to Twilight all the time, but I do remember hearing about constellations and their physical manifestations in Equestria, and I seriously doubted that somepony as loud and obnoxious like Trixie even seen one before. Most of the local ponies however seemed to buy her story, especially thanks to the ‘special effects’ she provided with her fireworks and parlor tricks. I was about to make my way through the crowd and say what I thought about her lies when that strange something once again peeked out from its hiding place, making me again stop in my tracks.

What was that thing? What did it want? Why was it hiding? Those and similar questions ran through my head a mile a minute, and for the love of Celestia, I couldn’t find the answer to any of them. What if this thing was spying on us? What if it had some sort of sinister agenda? What if it was some sort of Trixie’s associate and he/she and the unicorn mare were in fact burglars, using the mare’s show as a diversion? I couldn’t just let something like that happen now could I? I mean I’m not exactly the pinnacle of bravery, quite the contrary, I tend to over-dramatize a lot and sometimes I’m as fearful as a certain yellow-coated pink-maned pegasus mare, but I couldn’t just let somepony steal in the light of day.

I briefly thought about asking somepony for help, like Rainbow Dash or Applejack. Both of them could handle this case better than I could, that’s for sure. Unfortunately, both of them were busy at the moment with Trixie, and if my theory about her working with this burglar-pony was true, she would easily figure out that I figured her scheme out. So, with a heavy heart, I decided to go in alone, hoping for the best.

The ponies of Ponyville were too focused on Trixie and her apparent challenge (I heard something along the lines of ‘anything you can do, I can do better’ or something) to notice one small, purple reptile, and to be honest, I preferred it that way. I crept as stealthily as I could towards the alley I saw the weird thing in, keeping to the walls to avoid being spotted by it. I easily noticed, that there was a lot of light coming from that place, like if somepony cast a light spell of some sort and didn’t concern him/herself with being found out. Audacious, that’s what this guy was.

I crept slowly towards the corner of the house, mindful of the shimmer coming from the alley. I studied it carefully, trying to discern if the would-be culprit had noticed me or not by its movement. Right now it seemed that I was still undetected. Once I reached the corner of the building I noticed that the light source moved slightly, as if readjusting, not concerned about my presence. Those were great news, I would be able to make a jump on the burglar, maybe even scare him enough to give up without a fight. If bad came to worse I would most probably use my dragon fire to keep him at a distance and then call for help, dropping the stealth act and flushing the thief out.

I took a deep breath. “This is it Spike” I told myself. “Just keep it together buddy. If all goes well, you’ll probably become the hero of Ponyville. Hay, maybe even Rarity will take notice of your bravery!” After that little pep-talk I gave myself I jumped the corner and with an outstretched claw I pointed at the supposed culprit triumphantly.

“Aha!!!” I exclaimed loudly. Unfortunately, my moment of glory didn’t last long. Before I was even able to take a better look at the thief I was blinded by an extremely bright flash of light. It was so bright that I had to shield my eyes with my own claws. It was painful too, I felt like if somepony decided to trow sand straight into my eyes. What was weird(er) however was the fact that once I closed my eyes, my ears (yes, I know, reptiles doesn’t have ears; well we do, they’re just internal) were filled with the weirdest of sounds. It was something akin to some kind of music, like if an orchestra was playing somewhere in front of me, and playing a extremely beautiful song at that. I also heard some kind of bells toll, though they were distant and almost completely unrecognizable. What was the weirdest thing about the sound however was that I also heard something like a voice. I’m not entirely sure what it was, I know for sure only that it belonged to a stallion, that it was really comforting and peaceful and that it spoke in a language I have never before heard in my life.

I’m not sure how long all that lasted. For me, it felt like an hour has passed since I was blinded, but at the same time it felt like I only just came out of my hiding place around the corner. The bright light began to gradually lessen after a few moments, as well as the sounds filling my ears. After a moment or two more I was able to pry my eyes open and take a look around in hopes of locating this whole somepony who decided it was a good idea to try and brake into somepony’s house.

For a few seconds me eyesight was blurry, everything looking like amorphous blobs of color. I blinked a few times. It helped. Now I was able to see exactly who was standing in front of me.

I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.

There, in the place where there should be the would-be burglar sat none other than Pinkie Pie, a pink (go figure) earth pony with a darker pink, curly mane, blinking her own big blue eyes in obvious confusion, a blue balloon hanging from her mouth, just like if she was about to inflate it. That definitely took me of guard. Why was she here? Come to think of it, what could possibly confuse Pinkie to such an extent? She normally acted like if the laws of physics didn’t concern her at all (I personally believe she just rejected reality and substituted her own), and things that nopony else could explain were nothing new to her. Now however she looked as clueless as I was, even more so.

After a few moments of staring wide-eyed at each other the pink mare took a look around, and then looked back at me.

“Did‘ya do that Spike? ‘Cause if so, than that was one hay of a trippy teleportation spell.” She finally said, and although she tried to sound her useful cheerful self, I was able to pick up on the fact that she was still a tad bit confused by the situation. Nonetheless, I answered her.

“I have no idea what just happened. And no, I didn’t teleport you here… I’m a dragon, remember? Not a unicorn. No magic.”

“Oh, silly Spike, of course you can teleport without being a unicorn.” She answered, this time actually forgetting about the fact that she was confused and being her usual, random self. “You just have to go through this really big ring with a vertical, glowing pond in it. Oh, no, wait. That transport’s between planets. Maybe you have to touch this weird thing on your chest and tell somepony named ‘Scotty’ to ‘beam you up’. Yeah, that sounds more like it…”

“…” I really was at a loss of words by this point. Pinkie Pie was sometimes (well, most of the time) so random that nopony was able to pinpoint what exactly she was talking about. Figuring I wouldn’t get any useful answers from the pink mare I began looking around the alley in hopes of finding any sort of clue as to the whereabouts of the would-be housebreaker. To my misfortune, Pinkie noticed what I was doing.

“What are ya looking for Spike? Can I help?” Well, technically I didn’t want to look for this burglar alone, so why not.

“I’m looking for somepony.”

“Oh, oh, you’re playing hide and seek? Can I play too?” I already regretted my decision. “Who are we looking for? Is it Twilight? Or maybe Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy?”

“Listen Pinkie, I’m not quite sure who I’m looking for myself.” I tried to explain. Unfortunately, Pinkie wasn’t going to let me finish.

“Well that’s a weird way to play hide and seek. I mean how are you going to look for somepony if you don’t know how that somepony looks like? Duh! How did you even get somepony to play hide and seek with you if you don’t know how he looks like? Don’t say that you met a stranger trough a chat box and invited him here. Don’t you know how many absolutely cuckoo ponies do that and then ponynap foals?  Seriously, you shouldn’t…” I had just about enough of her rambling at this point, so I did the only sensible thing I could –I shut her mouth with my claw. She still went on and on even though her mouth was blocked.

“Listen, Pinkie, I’m not playing hide and seek with anypony, alright? I’m looking for somepony who was trying to break in to this house, a burglar, you get it?” I tried to get her to finally stop, and surprisingly, it worked… for all of five seconds, during which she took a step back, gasped loudly and dramatically, and prepared to launch another volley of words:

“Then why didn’t you say so in the first place?!” I resisted the urge to facehoof (faceclaw?) at this. “Really Spike, this is important business you’re talking about, and you just fool around and keep talking about hide and seek. The mean burglar meany pants could be anywhere by now, and you just stand around and chat like nothing’s happened.”

“I was trying to…”

“Don’t you worry your little purple head now, your good old auntie Pinkie Pie is on the case!” She exclaimed, patting me on the head with her hoof, and then produced out of nowhere a Sherlock Hooves kind of cap and a pipe, which she promptly began to puff, producing bubbles. I only looked at her wide eyed, and began thinking that this was probably even worse than letting Trixie know that I figured out her lame plan by asking the others for help.

“Em… Pinkie? Don’t you have something to…”

“Aha!” She exclaimed once more, pointing an accusatory hoof at a spot on the ground. I wisely shut up and looked at it too. There was nothing there.

“What are you pointing at?”

“A clue.” She replied cheerfully. I looked at the spot again. There was nothing there.

“What exactly is the clue?” I asked carefully. Maybe she noticed something that I overlooked.

“Well the ground, duh! It’s a clue! It says that whoever this burglar was, he must have touched the ground. It’s not like he flew all his life.”

“You know that everypony touches the ground at some point in their life, right?”

“Aha.” She nodded.

“And that everypony in Ponyville, a mostly earth pony town touches the ground, right?”

“Yeperoonie!”

“And that by your logic it could be anypony from Ponyville, as well as anypony and non-pony in all of Equestria.”

“Precisely Dr. Spike. Anypony could be the culprit. Anypony!”

“…Maybe I should lead the investigation and you be my assistant?” I suggested as nicely as I could. Not to be rude, but with Pinkie leading the case, we would wind up charging a two-headed wendigo-minotaur with trafficking illegal chocolate-flavored harmonicas or something. I was actually surprised when I found myself with the pipe in my mouth and the cap on my head and a giddy-looking Pinkie Pie staring at me with a wide smile.

“Okie dokie lokie! Now I get to be Dr. Pinkie Pie. Sweet! I always wanted to have a medical degree, just so I could place the ‘Dr.’ title before my name. Wouldn’t it sound great?! I would be all like: Guten Tag, my name ist Dr. Pinkie Pie und ish bin your Arzt.”

By that point I had no doubt that she would lose her medical degree sooner than I could send a letter to Princess Celestia. If she wouldn’t creep her patients out to death, than she would definitely have too much fun with them, and I mean that in the most non-pleasant way imaginable.

“So who are we looking for again?” I was brought back from my thoughts by Pinkie, staring me in the eyes without even blinking, so close that it was obvious that she didn’t have the slightest idea about the concept of personal space. Taking a step back and clearing my throat I answered:

“As I said, I don’t know exactly.” At this I raised my claw, indicating that I wasn’t finished. To my great surprise, Pinkie didn’t try to interrupt me, so I continued. “All I do know is that whoever it is, he or she has white feathers and can produce lots of light. He or she was here, in this alley, but before I was able to apprehend the culprit, he/she blinded me with this bright light, than deafened me with some kind of strange music-like thing and then teleported you here.” At the mention of her being teleported, Pinkie looked a bit confused again, but quickly shook it off and on her face was plastered a thoughtful expression. I didn’t know if I should run for my life or not at seeing this. Finally, after a moment of silence Pinkie decided to say something.

“There’s no white pegasus pony living in Ponyville right now, besides maybe Snowflake, but he's in Cloudsdale visiting his family. I mean I know everypony in town, so that leaves only somepony from out of town.” That… was actually useful information. Pinkie really did know everypony in Ponyville, she greeted each and every single one personally. That only proved that my theory about this being some sort of Trixie’s partner was more likely. The question who it was remained however.

“Do you know any white pegasus from out of Ponyville?” I asked Pinkie. She nodded almost instantaneously.

“Do I ever! Let’s see now: there’s Fleethoof and Starwing, both royal guards from Canterlot…” I actually think I know those two as well. “…Cloudbringer, a Manehattan businesspony the Cakes had dealings with, something about imported flour from Eagleland…” That’s a dead end; why would a businesspony stoop down to petty thievery? ”…Windchaser, she’s from Cloudsdale, Dashie’s direct superior in the weather teams…” Another  dead lead. ”…and Seemore, also from Cloudsdale, tough I don’t exactly know what he’s doing around there. Oh, and there’s also Surprise, tough she rarely drops by. You know, with all her responsibilities she doesn’t have the time to visit that much.”

“Em… Surprise?”

“Yep!”

“As in ‘She, Who Parties’ Surprise?”

“Aha.”

“‘The Grinning Goddess’, ‘Guardian of the Dead’ Surprise?”

“The same.”

“…Isn’t she depicted as a skeletal pony?” In reality I wanted to ask something completely different, but I decided, that I was not going to question Pinkie. I liked my sanity intact thank you very much.

“Oh, that!? Well, she only looks like that when she’s at work, you know: claiming souls of the dead, giving them a fair trial before she sends them to their respective heavens, that sort of boring stuff. If she’s not working like that she looks sort of like a white pegasus version of myself, even her mane is the same, tough it’s almost golden in color. Well, technically that too is her working form, she is after all also the patron of all parties and party-goers, me included. But she wouldn’t go around steeling stuff from ponies, so I think that that wasn’t her that you saw.”

“I sure hope not. I wouldn’t want to be sent to Tartarus just because I thought I’ve seen a goddess stooping down to braking into somepony’s house.” I actually didn’t believe a word I was saying, not buying Pinkies explanation. I mean what were the odds of some sort of divine creature, be it a goddess like Princess Celestia or some sort of smaller deity prancing around Ponyville in broad daylight, without announcing her presence? Close to none, that’s what they were.

Pinkie's rambling wasn’t actually that useless in the end. She did point out a serious flaw in my thinking, something I overlooked earlier. She listed a few pegasi names, that much was obvious, and I did catch a glimpse of the thing, and it definitely had feathery wings. Problem is, if that was just a pegasus, then how was this mysterious culprit able to cast a teleportation spell? Was it an allicorn? I kind of doubted that, there were only two, three known ponies in Equestria that had both wings and a horn, and all three of them lived in the palace back in Canterlot. And again, I couldn’t exactly picture say Princess Celestia going around town all stealthy-like like this.

I absentmindedly puffed on the pipe Pinkie has given me, producing a number of bubbles. One of them almost flown right into my eye, and I was forced to look away. In the end, I think I should be thankful for that, because if not for that bubble I would have missed a really important clue.

“Hey, what’s this?” I asked out loud, looking at the ground. My voice brought Pinkie’s attention back to me, and she followed my eyes, looking at the same thing that I was looking at.

It was a hoofprint. Well, it would be one if it actually looked anything like a print left by a pony. It was large, not extremely so, but larger than the average size of a pony’s hoof. In fact, I think it was around two times larger than any sort of tracks any equine I ever saw could leave, the Princess included. It had an elongated shape, slightly narrowed on one side and wider on the other, and if my eyes weren’t fooling me, the wider side was ended with some sort of claw, a singular one at that if the spiked point was anything to go by. All in all, it was the strangest hoofprint I have ever saw in my life. The thing that left it must have been equally bizarre looking…

“Pinkie.” I said, sudden realization downing on me. The pink mare looked at me, a rare serious expression on her face. “I think that our culprit might not be a pony at all.”

“Agreed.” She nodded enthusiastically, even if her face was still serious-looking. “I never saw tracks like these before.” And she was right again. I almost overlooked it at start, but a little ways away from the first ‘hoofprint’ was a second one, almost identical, only mirrored in respect to the first one. “Hm… I wonder…”

“Yes, what is it Pinkie?”

“Do you think that this thing likes chocolate cakes, or should I prepare a different flavor?”

“Wha…?” I stared. Did she just ask me what I though she asked me?

“Well, if I’m going to prepare a Welcome to Ponyville Party for this somepony that is not a pony at all, than I would at least like to know if it has some sort of preferences. I mean can you imagine if I served chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and this newcomer likes strawberry flavored icing on a nut-flavored cake? That could lead to a serious party disaster!”

“…You want to trow this ‘thing’ a welcome party although it wanted to break in somepony’s house?” I asked carefully. I definitely didn’t know what was going on anymore. Still, Pinkie seemed to be in the best of moods and didn’t seemed bothered by what I just pointed out, even if just moments ago she was volunteering to help me catch this guy.

“Of course I do. I mean I’m already halfway through the preparations for one Welcome to Ponyville Party, so why not make it a Double Welcome to Ponyville Party? It would double the fun! Ooh… I almost forgot, I need to prepare Sugarcube Corner for the party! Can’t chat right now Spike, see ya later!” And with that she disappeared in a pink blur, leaving a trail of confetti in her wake. I just stood there, dumbfounded, unable to comprehend what just happened.

“Pinkie Pie, you are so random.” I muttered to myself and puffed on the pipe again. She must have forgotten all about it and the cap in her hurry. No matter, I’ll just give it back to her on the next occasion. Right now I had bigger problems at hoof (really, I think Equestrian vocabulary should have equivalents for words for non-pony speakers; it gets annoying after some time).

I looked again at the double set of ‘hoofprints’, trying to figure out what they could belong to. There were only two I noticed after a quick inspection, so that must've meant that whatever it was, it walked on two legs, or only possessed two legs in general. Not many creatures that prefer that sort of locomotion in Equestria. I walked like that, but only because I was still small enough to pull that off, in time I would revert to a quadruped gait. There were also minotaurs, they walked on two hooves, but then again, those were not regular hoofprints. I also vaguely remembered Twilight talking about some sort of weird dog-like creatures that could walk both on two and four legs, but I wasn’t quite sure if they would leave tracks like the ones I found.

This was beginning to look more mysterious be the minute. Was Trixie having some sort of deal with a strange, unknown creature? Or was it actually a work of chance, and this thing appeared here just incidentally at the same time as the mare? And what even was this thing? Was it dangerous? Could it use magic? Was Ponyville in serious danger from it? I couldn’t find the answers to any of those questions, but fortunately, I may know somepony who could shed some light on this mystery.

Fluttershy, a pegasus pony I already mentioned some time ago was a one of a kind deal in Ponyville, if not Equestria in general. She was extremely shy, easy to startle and generally avoided large crowds, but she had a talent unmatched by any other pony. She knew almost everything about almost any type of animal to have ever walked the earth, flown in the skies or swam in the seas and rivers. The best animal caretaker in probably the whole known world, she must have had some sort of idea of what could leave those strange tracks. I needed to talk to her, stat.

First things first, I needed to determine where Fluttershy actually was. I remembered seeing her in the crowd of ponies standing in front of Trixie’s cart, not too far from Twilight and the others. Then again, Pinkie was there too for a few moments, and considering what she told me not too long ago, she must've at some point skipped the crowd and went home. And considering that I was going to look for a mare that usually avoided large gatherings, not to mention anything even remotely resembling a public performance it was safe to assume, that she went home by the time Trixie announced her challenge. So, with a destination set in my mind, I began the trek towards the shy mare's cottage.
> Act One Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ponyville, 23 of September, 1000 SR, Afternoon


I found Fluttershy in her cottage, just as I suspected. She was a little bit startled by my visit, since it was basically the first time I went there alone, without Twilight accompanying me. However, as I was one of the small group of ponies (dragons) she was comfortable with, even more so than the others (which in itself was both a blessing and an insult –she was more open with me, but she also sometimes treated me as if I was one of the critters she usually took care of), and she quite quickly invited me inside. As the good hostess as she is, she offered a cup of tea and something to eat, but as the matter at hoo(you know what buck it, I’m going to use claw from now on) was a rather urgent one I politely declined and went straight to the point.

I mentioned, that I found a series (more like a pair but that’s beside the point) of weird tracks that I had problems identifying, and that I wondered if she could try and discern what kind of animal could leave them. I quickly drew a sketch of them on a piece of paper she provided me, trying to include as many details I could think of. Once I was finished, I presented her the drawing and patiently waited for her conclusion. What I received… well, let’s just say I didn’t expect that kind of answer.

“I’m terribly sorry Spike, but I’ve never seen tracks like these before.” She said in her small, soft voice, as if she was afraid I would grow angry with her because of that. “Whatever left those definitely isn’t something that lives in these parts.”

“Aw man! That’s a bummer.” I muttered dejectedly. This of course prompted another volley of apologies from the yellow pegasus. “It’s alright, don’t worry about it. At least I know that it isn’t anything common around here. But… is there anything else you could tell me about it by just looking at the tracks? Every little bit could help.”

“Well, I can try.” She said almost in a whisper and again looked at my sketch. After a few moments she looked at me again, a slightly perplexed expression on her face. “You said, that there were only two of those tracks, yes?” I nodded my head in answer. “So the creature is a biped… not many of those around, it’s not exactly the favored shape for animals to take, aside from birds. Hm… Judging by the size of the print (I provided a comparative scale in the form of my own footprint size beside the sketch) I can wager, that the creature that left those is at least eighteen hoofs tall, if not more.”

“Whoa… That’s a really tall guy!” I exclaimed surprised. A typical pony is about six-seven hoofs tall, Princess Celestia herself is about fourteen, but eighteen? That’s tall! Fluttershy also noticed that, because she grew a bit more nervous and stuttered a bit from there on out.

“D-do you remember h-how d-deep were those tracks?” I nodded in response and answered, that they were about an inch deep. Fluttershy looked for a short moment to be deep in thought, muttering silently to herself some sort of numbers, and finally opted for a small ‘eeep’ and a really shocked expression appeared on her face.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, um… I… I-I think I know h-how heavy the c-creature was.” She answered and visibly gulped. I nodded, indicating that I was listening to her. She took a few deep breaths and continued: “If m-my math is correct, then the c-creature weighs about s-six hundred p-pounds.”

Now I knew why she looked so shocked. Not only was the creature I was searching for huge, it was also really heavy. I mean I doubt the Princess weighs that much, even considering she’s larger than the average pony. And, as Fluttershy quite quickly noticed, the type of tracks the creature left indicated that it had some sort of claws on its legs, making it probably some sort of carnivore.

A giant, two-legged, winged and capable of using magic carnivore was running around Ponyville.

What was I doing here again? Oh yeah.

I thanked Fluttershy profusely for her help and excused myself. I left her cottage, trying to look like if everything was in absolute order, nothing bothering me at all. I kept this up until I was certain that I was out of both site and earshot of the butter-coated mare, after which I did the only sensible thing.

“Aaaaaaaaa!!!” I ran, flailing my short arms in blind abandon, screaming my lungs out. I know, not the most glorious of my moments, but that was I to do? I just found out that something potentially murderous was in the town I lived in, that it probably could break into any house with ease and kill/eat its inhabitants in a manner of seconds. This was code red if I ever saw one.

I ran for a good moment, feeling my legs getting more and more sore with each passing step, my throat burning from all the screaming. After a few moments I reached the Golden Oaks Library, the place where Twilight and I lived, and as soon as I could I barged inside, slamming the door shut behind me and as quickly as possible locking every single lock in it (two in total, and if the creature could teleport it would be an effort in vain, but it’s the thought that counts). Finally, I let myself lean on the door, sliding to the floor and breathing hard, borderline hyperventilating.

“Spike?” I heard Twilight ask. I looked up and met her surprised gaze. She was standing in front of her desktop, a thick book resting on top of it, as if she was just reading trough it. “What happened? And why are you wearing a Sherlock Hooves cap?”

“Twi… huh… there’s a… huh… really big… puff… problem… huh…” I managed to wheeze out, still trying to catch my breath. Twilight obviously noticed my problems with breathing, because she quite quickly provided me with a paper bag, which I accepted right away.

“Now, now; you need to calm down Spike.” She said soothingly, although her face was still one of mild confusion. I don’t blame her really, if I was in her place I would probably react the same.

“There’s no time!” I answered forcefully between gasps. “There’s an emergency! A really big one!” That took her by surprise. She cocked her head to one side and looked at me questioningly.

“What are you talking about? What could possibly happen in the span of…” here she looked at a nearby clock “…ten minutes?”

“Big, giant, magic-using, pony-eating… wait, what?” I trailed off, only after a moment realizing what she said. “What do you mean ‘in the span of ten minutes’?”

“Well, you left the library not ten minutes ago, after our little ‘discussion’.” She answered, and I quickly noticed that her mood soured at the mention of that. I was about to ask what she meant by that, when she continued, as if she figured me out or something. “Oh, I get it… You want me to show Trixie up by tricking me into believing that something’s happening in Ponyville. Well, I already told you: I’m not going to do that. I don’t want to look like I’m bragging like her. And that’s my final word!”

I stared at Twilight, genuinely confused. What was she talking about? I was out the whole day, and I wasn’t with her for almost the whole time. How could I have a conversation with her ten minutes ago if ten minutes ago I was at Fluttershy’s place? How was that even possible? How…

“Oh horseapples.”

“Spike! Language!” Twilight scolded me, tough I didn’t pay her much attention. I figured out what happened, and I was scared out of my mind by my own conclusion.

I looked at the lavender mare that was glaring at me for my choice of words and gulped. Either she was actually clueless to what I just discovered, or she knew precisely what was going on and was trying to lower my guard, so she may do with me what she pleases. I hoped, for both my and Twilight’s sake, that it was the former.

“What if I told you that ten minutes ago I was with Fluttershy in her cottage?” I asked carefully, looking for any signs of deception on her face. She made a genuinely surprised face, that is for all I know.

“What do you mean? You were here, with me. We were arguing about Trixie and the way she humiliated Rainbow, AJ and Rarity and why I wasn’t going to retaliate with my magic.”

“Wait, she humiliated Rarity and the others? How?” It was my turn to look surprised. My surprise however only made the perplexed expression on Twilight’s face grow even more perplexed.

“What do you mean how?! You were there, you saw everything! It was you who told Rarity that Trixie turned her mane green for crying out loud! Stop playing this stupid game already!”

“Rarity’s mane’s green?” I couldn’t help but ask. I wondered for a brief second how she would look with green hair, but I was brought out of my revere by Twilight’s frustrated groan. Once I looked at her again, I was beginning to wonder if getting eaten by this mysterious two-legged monster wasn’t the better option here, that’s how angry Twi looked.

“Listen Spike, you were with me the whole time. You were bugging me to do something about Trixie. I had to zip your mouth shut, literally! So stop lying already!”

“I’m not lying!” I snapped finally. I must've looked at least as frustrated as her, and judging by the way Twi took a step back it must have been surprising to her. “I saw something before we went back in front of Trixie’s stage and went to check it out! I thought I saw something strange, like if somepony tried to break into somepony else’s house. I thought that it was some kind of scheme that the showmare cooked up with some kind of her associate, but it turned out more complicated. I found only a pair of weird tracks, so I went to Fluttershy’s to ask if she didn’t know any creature that could leave them. She didn’t know what it was, but she informed me that it probably was an eighteen hoof tall flesh-eating monster, and that whatever it was, I know it certainly can use magic. It teleported Pinkie Pie before my very eyes!”

“Spike, that’s the most ridiculous story I have ever heard.” Twilight gotten over her initial shock and looked at me in such a way that it was clear she wanted to say that she was disappointed in me. “Not only are you lying to me for no apparent reason, not to mention you’re trying to get me to do something I don’t want to do, but you’re trying to got our friends involved in this! I am really disappointed in you Spike.”

“But I’m not lying!” I protested. “Ask Fluttershy, ask Pinkie Pie! They'll both confirm my words!”

“No Spike, I won’t.” She replied evenly, turning her back to me and pointedly looking at the pages of her book. “It’s obvious you’re lying. Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were with us in the crowd the whole time. I had to stop you from making me compete with Trixie the whole time. And you even thought up an imaginary creature… I don’t get it. Why are you lying so much? Are you so desperate to get rid of Trixie as to try and trick me to do so?”

I didn’t know what to say. I was so angry at Twilight that I was surprised that I didn’t burst into flames then and there. I was at a loss. Why didn’t she believe me? I was telling her the honest to goodness truth, but she kept believing that I was lying to her. She couldn’t trust me this one time. The one time I had really important news, something that could possibly save lives if she decided to help me, and she acts like I’m a no-good liar?

“You know what?” I asked, my voice trembling from rage, trying to hold back the angry yell I would unleash otherwise. “You don’t have to believe me. You hear me? You can disbelieve all that I say, I don’t care. But hear this: I am not going to let somepony die just because you choose to ignore me and not lift a damned hoof to help me! And if I die, be prepared to never sleep again, because so help me Celestia, I will come back as a ghost and haunt you for the rest of your life!”

“There are no such things as ghosts Spike.” She retorted with an even voice, just like if my declaration didn’t make even the slightest impression on her.

This was the last straw. I was not going to stay there any longer, not if Twilight was going to act like she did. I turned around, facing the door, I unlocked it and stepped outside, shooting my lifelong companion one last, angry glare. She had her back still turned to me. Angry with her beyond belief I let out a groan of frustration and slammed the door behind me as hard as I could.

“And stop slamming the doors! It’s getting annoying!” Twilight’s voice reached me from the other side of the wooden door. I was seriously tempted to open the door again, just to slam it shut once more, just to annoy her, but I didn’t. I was too angry to think straight.

Why, out of all the times to disbelieve me she choose to do it now? I mean yeah, I do sometimes lie, like everypony. Usually those are small things however –I shift the blame for say staining a book with juice or something like that, but not when it comes to important things like somepony’s life! I just wouldn’t lie about something like that! And to think that Twilight believed that I was capable of something like that, it… it hurt so bad. I knew her all my life, she was the one to actually hatch me from my egg, she was like family to me, she was my family… Why didn’t she believe me?

It was all the creature’s fault. It must have either placed an evil enchantment on Twilight and changed her memories or something, or it created some kind of illusion of me, Pinkie, and Fluttershy that stayed with her the whole time and confused her into believing that we were there. It could do magic, it teleported Pinkie, so why not manipulate somepony’s thoughts or create phantoms? Yes, it must've been something like that, and I shouldn’t be so angry with Twi for not believing me. Not that it made it hurt less, it was still not fair, but it wasn’t entirely her fault.

Twilight’s refusal to help me made the whole situation all the more complicated. I was hoping that she could use some of her awesome magic and banish the monster or whatever it is, or at least capture it for long enough that I could send a letter to the Princess and ask for help, be it her personally or by sending the Royal Guard. Now however I would have to improvise. I couldn’t just send a letter informing the Princess about our predicament, to do that and for the request to be taken seriously I would have to have some solid evidence and Twi’s approval. In other words: military help was a big no-no. Announcing that some sort of monster was stalking Ponyville’s streets would be also counterproductive, not to mention nopony would believe that. And even if they did believe me, it would throw the townsponies into a state of panic, and that would be probably even worse. My only hope was to ask the others for help.

It was easier said than done.

Figuring that the monster was probably really strong, given its size and all, I tried to convince the most athletic of my and Twilight’s little group of friends first: AJ and Rainbow Dash. Well… let’s just say that it didn’t go that well. Apparently Trixie humiliated both of them enough to make them a little bit… unsettled. Applejack was nowhere to be found; Big Mac, her brother, a large red-coated earth pony stallion didn’t have the slightest idea where she was. All he did say was that she trotted angrily trough the apple orchard some time ago, muttering to herself under her breath, and after that she just up an’ disappeared. RD… well, I hadn’t that much of a problem finding her. She was in her cloud-house. Only problem is, she refused to talk to anypony. Even when I said that it was an emergency and that her awesomeness would greatly help us (I figured, that it was a good idea to stroke her ego a bit) she flat-out refused, claiming that she wasn’t going to show her face as long as Trixie was in town.

Having those two out of the question I decided, that if not by force, we should try and at least limit the creatures magical abilities. Unfortunately, Twilight wouldn’t be of any help, refusing to even acknowledge the threat, so my only shot was to try my luck with Rarity. I actually wasn’t sure if it was that good of an idea. I mean yeah, she is perfect in almost every single way, but I knew for a fact that compared to Twilight, her magical abilities were decent at best. Still, I knew that the only way to prevent somepony (or something) from using magic was to block that ability using magic of your own, and that meant a unicorn was required. So I went to her home to try and convince her to help me. Sadly, I wasn’t even able to get inside the house. The door was locked, and for a good moment nopony was answering it once I started to knock on it. After a few uneventful moments the door was finally opened, but not by the unicorn I was expecting.

It was Sweetie Belle, Rarity’s filly sister who answered the door. She was still getting used to me, me being a dragon and all, but she was friendly enough, if not a bit distraught at the moment. She told me pretty quickly that Rarity didn’t want any guests at the moment and that she was busy trying to get her mane back in check. I tried reasoning with her, telling her that I had really important business with her sister and all, but she was adamant in her decision. Finally she said that Rarity took the color change really hard, and that she was having a mental breakdown of sorts at the moment (she used the term “really upset”, but I know how Rarity can act at times). As if on cue I heard a loud “Of all the things that could happen, this is The! Worst! Possible! Thing!” I figured out that not only was Rarity out of commission, but she also didn’t particularly like the color green, not on her head at least. A shame really.

My options were running short. Out of four mares I could ask for help, one thought that I was lying, the second one was nowhere to be found, the third was refusing to show in public and the fourth was having a mental breakdown. This left me with only two, desperate one would say measures: Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy.

Sugarcube Corner, the local bakery and the place the pink party pony was working and living was the closest of the two. I entered the confectionery trough the front door, earning a small dingle from the bell over the door, and was quickly greeted by a rather tired blue earth pony mare, Mrs. Cake, one of the owners of the shop. I quickly explained that I wasn’t buying today and asked if Pinkie was in. She noticeably deflated once she heard that, but she pointed me to the back room of the shop, which doubled as a place for organizing parties. Before she let me in however she asked if I could try and talk some reason into Pinkie, who as it turned out was in hyper mode, putting together a party of epic proportions, or so she told me. Prepared for the worst, I opened the door.

Pinkie Pie was a blur, literally. The way she moved around the room, hanging streamers, inflating balloons and all around preparing decorations was truly a site to behold. I quite quickly noticed that a fair number of the decorations was either blue or white, borderline silvery, so I quickly deduced, that she was actually going to prepare a Welcome to Ponyville party for Trixie. A bit strange if I were to be honest, but she didn’t see how she acted towards our friends, so I guess she was still convinced it was a great idea. Then again, I didn’t see that either and I only knew what little Twilight told me, so I wasn’t one to talk. Either way, I was starting to get the idea why Mrs. Cake has asked me to talk some reason into her. Sadly, I forgot all about it once I saw one of the banners Pinkie prepared.

It was nothing special, really. It was your typical banner, a white one at that, with colorful letters spelling out a simple ‘Welcome to Ponyville…’ exclamation. What took me by surprise however were the names written on it. One name, written in blue was obviously Trixie. Pinkie apparently dropped the ‘Great and Powerful’ bit to save the space, and with good reason. The second name, if you could call it that, was definitely a mouthful that only Pinkie Pie could come up with. It spelled in a multitude of colors: “…and The-Two-Legged-Thingy-That’s-Too-Shy-To-Show-Up-In-Public-And-Scared-Spike-Into-Thinking-It’s-A-Burglar!”.

She was actually trying to throw a welcoming party for the thing! At first, when she told me that when we found its tracks I was half expecting her to be just joking about that. Now however, looking at the banner and the way the pink mare was preparing the room for a party I had no doubts in mind that she was insane enough to pull that off. I mean who in their right mind invites a carnivore to a party with only herbivores as guests? Well, there was this one time with Gilda, Rainbow's friend, or rather ex-friend, who was a griffin, but everypony knows that griffins are omnivorous and can live off mostly pony food. Heck, I was an omnivore, a multi-omnivore even, me being able to digest practically anything, including gemstones (which are for dragons as both candy and normal food for ponies). But a straight up carnivore? I mean Fluttershy said it was most likely a flesh-eater, and she was an expert in that regard, so I had no doubt in mind that what Pinkie was planning was going to end in a disaster.

I really, really tried to talk Pinkie Pie out of this, but she wouldn’t listen to reason. I warned her, told her that it would probably not end well, that she was planning on inviting a possibly murderous creature that could create the biggest massacre in known Equestrian history, but all she did was laugh and tell me to ‘stop being silly’ and not to worry. She also said something about Solars not being mean and it being a ‘great honor to be able to greet a celestial being’ or something. The point is, all I managed to do was return her cap and pipe and confirm my belief of Pinkie being a bit too random for her own good. My only hope at this point was Fluttershy.

By the time I arrived at her cottage the sun has already set, making place for Princess Luna’s moon and stars. If I wasn’t in such a hurry I would probably notice how beautiful the night sky looked, especially the stars forming the Big Dipper seemed to shine unusually brightly. As I said however, I was in a hurry and didn’t have the time nor the head to look at the stars. I needed to see Fluttershy, she was my and possibly Ponyville’s only hope.

I rapped on her door as hard as I could, urgency clear in every knock. I was hoping that she would answer quickly and would agree to help me, despite the possibility of running into a probably deadly beast. I mean she was the best there is when it comes to interacting with animals, I hear that she even was able to tame a furious manticore, surely something like the beast in Ponyville wouldn’t be that much different for her, right?

The door to Fluttershy’s cottage opened, but it was not the butter-yellow mare who did that. It was her white pet bunny, Angel if I’m not mistaken, a peculiar rodent with an attitude to boot. He shot me a clearly annoyed look, tapping his foot on the wooden floor in wait as if he expected me to say something. I momentarily felt stupid for considering something like this, but I saw Fluttershy do things like that the whole time, so I decided to give it a try. I lowered myself to be about Angel’s eye level and asked:

“Hey Angel, is Fluttershy home? I kind of need to speak to her, it’s really important.” I really felt dumb doing that, but that the hay?

Angel was still tapping his foot and glaring at me in an annoyed manner, but he gave me an answer nonetheless. He shook his head no, and pointed somewhere behind my back with one of his paws. I looked in the direction he was pointing at and quickly guessed what he had meant.

“She’s in Ponyville? Oh man! I must've missed her on my way here!” I mentally gave myself a nice strong kick while I actually facehoofed (faceclawed actually sounds stupid now that I think of this). Angel was still looking at me with that annoyed gleam in his eyes, but he smirked once I did what I did.

“Well, thanks anyway Angel. Good-“ I was cut off by the door slamming in front of my face. I clearly annoyed the little fellow more than usually, and considering he usually gets quickly annoyed even with Fluttershy… well, let’s just say I wasn’t that much concerned about that.

It was just my rotten luck. Why couldn’t Fluttershy stay in her cottage this one time when I really needed to find her there? Why did she have to go to town at such a late hour? This just didn’t add up. It was like if fate decided to pull a fast one on me and make everything an uphill battle for me today. I just hoped I would be able to find her in time, otherwise something horrible could happen. Pinkie was probably about to start her party and knowing her, she probably was able to find the monster-thingy by now and give it an invitation. Man, why is everything so messed up?!

Suddenly I heard a sound that made me stop in my tracks. It sounded awfully like somepony’s terrified scream. I looked around, searching for the origin of that scream, and I quickly discovered the source of it. It was Snips and Snails, the infamous duo from earlier today, running and screaming their heads off, just like if they were chased by a hungry manticore or something.

“Hey guys, where are you going?” I asked surprised as they passed me by in full gallop. I should've sensed that something was up then and there, but I didn’t for whatever reason.

“Uh… Can’t talk now!” Yelled Snips, not slowing down in the slightest.

“We got a major problem!” Added Snails. It was probably the fastest he ever talked in his whole life.

“Yeah… Ursa Major to be exact!” Supplemented Snips again before the two were too far for me to understand what they were talking about. I looked after them confused, having no idea what they were talking about, until I heard it too.

It was something I have never heard before. It sounded like a roar, a roar that could only come from a being of tremendous size. The sheer volume of it was enough to shake the very earth I was standing on, not to mention make my blood run cold. Prepared for the worst, I turned around to face the source of the animalistic scream.

I’m sure my eyes must have looked like they were gonna pop out of my head from the sheer terror I felt right then. Before me, not twenty hoofs away stood a being as large as a mountain. It’s black nose wrinkled in anger while the creature growled maliciously, showing off its sharp teeth the size of full grown ponies. Its deep, bluish fur was dotted with a multitude of small, glowing sparks, giving off the impression of the night sky in a physical body. The most prominent features were however the large, white, eight-pronged star adoring its forehead and two large, sickly yellow eyes with red irises, glaring at me with the intent to kill.

For a split second I was petrified with fear. It hit me like a ton of bricks –this was an Ursa Major. Snips and Snails somehow found a friggin Ursa Major! Not only that, the two idiots (there was no denying that at this point) got it furious somehow and led it out of the Everfree Forest, straight onto the path leading to Ponyville! All thought of the creature that I thought I saw in town escaped my mind once I realized what was standing in front of me, and to make matters worse, the constellation embodied was reaching its massive paw with over six hoof long claws for me, intent on crushing me.

I did the only sensible thing that came to mind: I ran as quickly as possible, trying to get away from the raging beast. The large paw missed me only by a couple of inches, I felt the wind it created upon its descent and how much the ground trembled beneath the mighty stomp. The Ursa roared once it realized that I managed to dodge its blow, its stinking breath reaching me despite me running away from the beast, and began chasing after me and the two unicorn colts that were the initial reason of its ire.

The Ursa chased after us, its massive bulk enough to uproot trees in its wake. Snips, Snails and I were trying our best to keep the distance between us and the massive stellar bear ever increasing, or at the very least as large as it was, but it was an uphill battle. The sheer size of the thing was enough to keep up with the tree of us without even breaking into a run, and the only reason why it didn’t in fact catch up to us earlier than before reaching Ponyville was probably due to it being still a little bit… drowsy? Did Snips and Snails wake it up from its nap or something?

The two young unicorns were calling for Trixie, as if she was able to do something about the beast. They probably believed that she was actually able to vanquish the creature like she claimed. I on the other claw knew that the only one able to do something about the creature was Twilight. I only hoped that I would be able to convince her that I’m not lying before something terrible happens.

The two colts and I parted ways once we reached Ponyville; they headed for Trixie’s cart and I went straight for the library. I was almost there when the Ursa managed to make its way to mane street. I also heard a high pitched, clearly feminine scream. Against my better judgment I took a look in that direction. All I managed to see was the beast crushing the boastful unicorn’s cart and a blue-and-silvery blur running in my direction, away from the raging constellation. So much in terms of greatness and power.

I finally reached the library and I unceremoniously tackled the door open, the high speed I was going at compensating for my small size. Once inside I looked frantically for Twilight, only stopping once my eyes fell on her surprised form. It looked like if she was still reading when I came back and only just looked away from her book when I came inside. Her expression was quickly morphing from one of mild surprise to slight annoyance.

“As if slamming the doors shut wasn’t enough, now you’re going to open them up that way as well?” Yep, she was definitely still upset about what I said. It didn’t matter however, we had bigger problems.

“Twilight! You gotta come, quick!”

“This again? Listen Spike, I am not going to upstage Trixie and that’s my final word. And stop making up lies, please…”

“No, you don’t understand! There’s a Ursa Major rampaging in Ponyville, and…”

“Stop that Spike, please.” Either I was hearing things or I detected a bit of desperation and actual pleading in Twi’s voice at that point. Still, I was again getting frustrated by her refusing to listen to me, so I did the first thing that came to my mind.

I run up to Twilight, grabbed her head with my claws, lowered it to my eye level by force and looked with as much conviction as I possibly could muster at the moment straight into her eyes.

“Ursa Major in Ponyville! It’s not a lie! Do something before somepony gets hurt!” Twilight looked more than spooked by the way I said those words, but I really needed her to understand the gravity of the situation at hoof. Fortunately, that exact moment the Ursa decided to roar again, serving to emphasize what I was saying.

“Ursa in Ponyville. Right.” She said it like if she was in a slight daze and after I let go of her head she went in a brisk canter towards the still open door. Satisfied with my success I went after her.

What we saw once we exited the library was something that chilled the two of us to the bone. The Ursa, big as a house, stood in front of a cornered Trixie, who was accompanied by Snips and Snails. While I would be the first to admit that I didn’t exactly like the silver-maned unicorn mare, I definitely did not want to see her (or the two colts who were the reason that the beast was even here) ripped to shreds by a furious constellation. That definitely was a fate that I did not wish on anypony.

To Trixie’s defense, she did at least try to deal with the Ursa, even though she could probably run away, as well as the fact she knew her chances of success were slim to none. Still, a rope trick and a minor weather manipulation spell weren’t enough to stop a rampaging beast of that size. Irritate it yes, but not stop it. Snails and his companion weren’t exactly that helpful either. They both though that all this was a game, that their lives probably weren’t on the line here, and that Trixie was just goofing around instead of actually dealing with the thing. I mean I know Snails was slow on the uptake, and that Snips usually had ridiculous ideas, but how dumb can you get?

Trixie’s antics did have an ulterior motive to them however. In the end, the creature, aside from being incredibly enraged by her ‘attacks’ was also distracted from the mare herself, as well as from the two colts. Twilight and I watched in disbelief as the tree unicorns ran between the Ursa’s legs and under its belly, avoiding its massive jaws and sharp claws. A cunning and daring escape route to be sure. Unfortunately, it served to further fuel the beasts anger.

The Ursa let out a massive roar, waking all the ponies who decided to go to bed early. Lights were being lit up in the windows and curious equines stepped out of the relative safety of their homes, searching for the source of the unknown sound. It was probably the dumbest thing they could do in a situation like this. Once the ponies noticed what was the cause of all this commotion, they quickly went into panic, running for their lives, the further from the Ursa the better. Streets, now filled to the brim with terrified ponies were a real nightmare to traverse, and the fact that the rampaging constellation began tearing houses apart with its mighty claws and teeth only added to the difficulty.

At some point of time I managed to plant myself on Twilight’s back, figuring that it was the fastest way to travel with her. My short, reptile legs weren’t exactly built for speed you know. Either way Twi managed to somehow navigate her way between the fleeing ponies and the debris the Ursa was tossing around, and the two of us managed to get ourselves to Snips, Snails and Trixie. Twilight skidded to a halt and I quickly dismounted her, not wanting it to seem like I was using her or something.

“What’s going on?!” Asked Twilight. Well, obvious questions are obvious.

“We brought an Ursa to town!” Exclaimed Snips proudly. I suspected as much, the Ursa just randomly chasing those two would be too big of a coincidence. It was however a real shocker to Twilight, who looked like if she was just informed, that they burned down the Starswirl the Bearded wing of the royal Canterlot library.

“You what!?!” Well, my sentiments exactly.

“Don’t worry, the Great and Powerful Trixie will vanquish it!” Answered Snails with conviction. It really seemed that the two of them were in their ‘hero worship’ mode and just shifted to high gear. And their hopes were about to be crushed by their own hero.

“I can’t.” Trixie admitted, looking at the ground. That little confession was enough to bring the two colts from sky-five back to reality.

“What?!?” They both asked in unison, eyes widening in horror.

“I can’t! I never have. No one can vanquish an Ursa Major, I just made the whole story up to make me look better.”

“Made it up?!?” Aaand finally they had a reality check. Hearing that from the mouth of their own ‘hero’ was enough to make them both realize how totally screwed we were at the moment. By the way, I was genuinely surprised that Trixie actually admitted to her lie. Then again, if I was in a situation I thought I would not live trough I guess I too would be confessing things like that.

It didn’t take long for the Ursa to catch up to us. The great beast emerged from behind one of the houses, rearing up in its hind legs and towering above us all, its great bulk obscuring Luna’s moon as it glared at us. It felt almost surreal to be in a position like this, being just moments before a great, terrible beast decides to descent on you with the force of an erupting volcano. It didn’t help any that the stellar bear let out a mighty roar at us, making most other ponies run for their lives but making the five of us freeze up in horror.

At some point, I’m not entirely sure when, our friends arrived to probably try and help us somehow. Rainbow Dash apparently decided that the lives and wellbeing of her friends meant more than her wounded pride, Applejack stopped sulking in her apple orchard and Rarity managed to get her hair under control. Even Fluttershy showed up, and Pinkie Pie, a rare serious expression on her face, was standing not too far away from us. Sadly, none of them seemed to be able to help us. Even Fluttershy’s vast knowledge of animals would be useless when confronted with a being made out of a fragment of the night sky itself. If anypony was able to do something about the Ursa, our best bet was for it to be Twilight.

Twilight herself seemed terrified at the prospect of dealing with the Ursa. Her teeth were audibly clattering and her whole body trembled at the site of the great beast. I was getting pretty terrified too; if Twi was nervous like that, it could lead to serious problems. She had a tendency to mess up spells while under too much pressure, and this situation could be counted as stressful without any doubt. Still, she was the only one that could help us right now, and I hoped to Celestia she would be able to pull it off.

I nudged Twilight gently, reminding her, that she was supposed to try and deal with the monstrous beast. At first she seemed a bit dazed, fear still gripping her hard, but after but a few seconds she gathered all her courage. With a loud and still nervous gulp she trotted in front of the Ursa, a steely look in her eyes showing more confidence than she probably actually had. The constellation in physical form looked at her as if surprised that somepony was brave or stupid enough to approach it, and it began growling even louder, thick strands of slobber trickling from its teeth.

I was scared out of my wits at this point. I just realized that I practically sent Twilight to her doom. There was no possibility that even she, the most powerful unicorn I knew was strong enough to do something about an Ursa Major. Still I watched in silent fascination at what was about to unfold, unable to tear my eyes from the spectacle that was most probably going to end bloody. And that’s when I saw it again.

Something shone in one of the alleys connected to mane street. I may have been focused primarily on Twilight and the gigantic bear before us, but I was still able to notice that, and it made me worry even more. The mysterious creature was lurking around, probably waiting only for a moment of carelessness on our part and it would probably lunge at us given the chance. It didn’t attack just now only because it was waiting for the Ursa to soften us up no doubt. Yet I couldn’t do anything about that, I was only a baby dragon, and the living constellation was a more urgent problem at the moment. I only hoped we would be able to do something about the creature before it was too late.

My attention went back to Twilight. She scrunched her face in concentration, summoning as much magical power as she possibly could. In only a few second a soft wind began blowing, moving the leaves and branches of the trees as well as bending and breaking off pods of bulrush. What’s surprising was that the wind itself, in conjunction with the broken off corn dog grass pods was able to produce a soft, soothing tune. What’s even more surprising was the fact that the melody was actually able to calm down somewhat the raging beast. If I recall it correctly, Twi practiced today something similar, but on a smaller scale. Eh… I can’t seem to remember what the spell was called, only that it was the sixteenth one that day.

I noticed that Twi was getting tired really fast, her horn shining with a double… no, triple aurora, a feat I never before saw. It must've meant, that she was using more magical power at that moment than ever before. She had however trouble keeping it in control, if the fact that she was literally swaying on her hooves and covered in sweat was any indicator. Still, she knew exactly what would happen if she failed, so she pushed herself to her limits, trying to ensure that nopony would get hurt.

A loud grinding sound came from the direction of the town’s water tower. I whipped around, looking for it, and once I noticed it I also saw Twi’s lavender aura surrounding it. In a feat of incredible control over her telekinesis magic she managed to lift it from its resting place, screw the top half of it off and pour its content in a place where it wouldn’t make any damage. With that accomplished she moved the water tower towards one of the local cowsheds. What happened then… well, it might sound strange, and I didn’t exactly see the feat itself because of obvious reasons, but she managed to milk the cows and fill most of the tower with it. It definitely was a new one, that’s for sure.

A pained grunt brought my attention back to Twilight. She was getting weaker and weaker with each passing second, the multiple spells she had to maintain at once taking their toll on her. The vibrant glow of her horn, the many layers of magical power surrounding it and forming a semi-transparent halo were dimming, fading into nothing, her strength doing the same, mirroring her magic. The girls and I noticed that, and in spite of us being stunned by the power Twi showed up until now we all gathered around her, offering at least our moral support, knowing that we would be useless in any other way. Still, it seemed that Twilight’s magic was running low and she would cease the flow of it sooner rather than later.

“Come on Twilight, you can do it!” I whispered, trying to reassure her and not to disturb her concentration in the same time. Rarity and the others did the same, offering as much support as they could. And it even seemed to work!

Twi’s magical aura strengthened significantly, the faded glow replaced by a bright, almost blindingly bright shine. She must've tapped to her reserves I reasoned, remembering what she once told me about unicorn magic. Twilight herself seemed surprised by this turn of events as well, her eyes opening suddenly in shock. It seemed like if she didn’t know what was happening… I should have been more cautious at that, but the vision of being consumed by the Ursa was too frightening to let me think straight.

Twilight renewed her efforts, her magic augmented making the spells she already cast work even better than before. The once rampaging Ursa seemed to be slowly drifting to sleep, lulled by the soft notes of the song the bulrush and wind were playing. It wobbled a bit, shifting from side to side, and finally it half-closed its yellow and red eyes, falling on its right side. Seeing this Twi concentrated a bit of her newfound power on the beast itself, catching it in her magical aura and breaking its fall, lifting the whole creature in the air as if it weighed but a few pounds, not multiple tons. It was a good thing that she caught the Ursa too; if she didn’t do that, the embodiment of a constellation would surely crush Trixie, who stood there in stunned silence, watching wide eyed the display of real magic performed by Twilight.

What happened next was all sorts of weird. I was wondering for a moment there why did Twilight need the water tower filled with milk. I mean that was so random, that I would probably attribute something like that to Pinkie Pie, not my lifelong companion. As it turned out, it was all part of a plan Twi developed in her head.

The milk-filled water tower served as a gigantic milk bottle, a milk bottle that was soon in the Ursa’s grip. The gigantic stellar bear, which at this point was almost completely asleep acted like an overgrown cub, gripping at its “bottle” and drinking it’s still lukewarm content with a satisfied expression in its muzzle. It was so engrossed in its drink and so comfortable in Twilight’s magical grip, that it let itself be flown over half the town, over the small portion of the Everfree Forest and straight into a great cavern which was as I was guessing its home without even noticing.

It worked. It actually worked! Twilight did it, she stopped the Ursa Major from destroying Ponyville! And she did that before the beast was even able to seriously hurt anypony! I knew she was great with magic, but this was something truly unbelievable. She managed to stop a friggin constellation! There was nothing she couldn’t do. There was… why is her horn still glowing?

Twi’s horn, even though she managed to put the Ursa down in its layer was still glowing with a bright, magical aura. It was as if she was still concentrating on something, though what she was focusing on was not clear. What gotten to me, and the rest of the girls too, was that once Twilight opened her eyes, they were filled with dread and confusion. It was definitely clear now that whatever was happening right now, she didn’t have any control over it. And the last time something like that ever happened was the day I was hatched, and from the stories I've heard, it wasn’t very nice.

She took a step back, looking at her horn with both fear and confusion, and she scrunched her face in concentration, trying to regain control over her magical powers. It was an effort in vain unfortunately, for the glow of her horn only intensified, coating it in yet another layer of mystic powers. This one however differed from the three previous ones; it was wild, uncontrolled, looking like a waggling, constantly warping and rippling something, I’m not even sure how to describe it better. It was also way brighter than her normal magic, going from a soft purplish-lavender hue to a more flaming pink, a pink that over time brightened even more, paling before our very eyes and warping into a dazzling white. A white that I recognized.

“Twilight?” Came the rather spooked voice of Applejack. She took a tentative step in Twi’s direction, her eyes betraying the fear she was feeling at the moment. “Are ya alright sugarcube?”

“Don’t… come… any… closer…” Twilight managed to gasp out. Her voice sounded like if she was trying with all her might to regain control over her magic. “Don’t… want… anypony… hurt…”

“Are you nuts?! We’re not gonna leave you like that, no way!” Proclaimed Rainbow Dash, flying closer Twi. At that precise moment her magical aura became almost white, and little arks of “electricity”, or rather pure magical energy, began flying out of the tip of her horn, keeping everypony at a distance.

“Can’t… control… magic… overload…” Twi scrunched her face even more, adopting an almost pained expression as she tried to keep the power at bay. “Something’s… interfering… with… my… magic…”

“Darling, what do you mean?” This time it was Rarity that took a step in her direction, despite the electric-like arcs of magic striking the ground furiously. “What ever could interfere with your magic?”

This time Twilight didn’t respond, letting out an actual pained grunt. Her horn, now an ardent point of white in the black of night seemed to pulsate in a threatening manner, as if ready to explode at any given moment, picking up the pace with each passing second. Most ponies that weren’t that close to Twi began backing up from her, fearing that she might actually do something like that. I however, as well as the girls wasn’t about to abandon her in a situation like this. She needed us, her friends, even if we couldn’t help her in any way aside from keeping on believing in her.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, extreme panic gleaming in them. She looked at us all, her lavender pools filled with dread and pleading.

“Run!” Was all she managed to shout to us, before her horn glowed a bright, blinding white, showering everything within a thirty hoofs radius in white and consuming her in a ball of pure light.

“Twilight!!!” I screamed and against my own self-preservation instinct I ran in the direction I last saw her. Not only I did that, the girls followed soon after, even Fluttershy seemed to forget all about her fear and rushed to help Twi. We weren’t going to let anything happen to her, not if we had anything to say in that matter.

We neared the orb of white light, forgetting all about our own safety, trying to reach to Twilight. We needed to help her, and nothing could stop us from doing this. Not an Ursa Major, not the fear of the unknown and definitely not the white-feathered creature I saw just before all this happened. We could almost touch it now, all we needed to do was reach out.

And then, the world went black.
> Act One Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Location unknown, Date unknown, (presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), After midnight


I stirred, waking up from my slumber though not opening my eyes. It was definitely too early for me to be up and about. The sun was still beneath the horizon, if the lack of sunshine trying to pierce my eyelids was anything to go by, and I definitely didn’t hear anypony moving about, so that must've meant that Twi was still asleep. If she was still in bed, so could I. With that decision in mind I turned to my side, grasping at my blanket and trying to cover my head with it.

My claw landed on something quite different from the fabric of my covers. With no small surprise I discovered that I grasped at something that could only be described as grass mixed with a multitude of conifer needles. But that didn’t make any sense, I was supposedly in our shared bedroom in Ponyville. I mean yeah, we were living in a tree and all, but it was a deciduous tree, not a conifer, and there definitely wasn’t any grass just growing on the floor. Hm… Come to think of it, my basket did seem to be incredibly uncomfortable right now for some reason.

My eyes shot open and I bolted right into a sitting position. Something was clearly not right, this wasn’t my basket and this wasn’t our bedroom in Ponyville. I looked around frantically, trying to make out anything in the darkness. That proved to be harder than I thought it would be. Normally I could see quite well in the darkness, at least better than earth ponies and unicorns (pegasi were another thing entirely, but that’s beside the point). Now however I had problems to see anything further away from me than a few hoofs. That should’ve made me think.

I wasn’t home. That thought struck me as first once I managed to get my eyes at least a bit used to the dark and take a look around. Gone was the familiar wooden floor, ceiling and the walls of my and Twilight’s tree-house. Gone was my basket and Twi’s bed. Gone was her nightstand and her bookshelves. All that surrounded me was grass, dirt, and large pine trees or some other kind of conifer, it was rather difficult pinpointing the species in the dark. I was in the middle of a weird, foreign forest, laying not so long ago on my back as if taking a nap and I didn’t have this slightest idea how I’ve even got here in the first place.

I racked my memories in search of any information about a pine forest near Ponyville. This search came out with a blank however; for all I knew, there were no forests of that type anywhere near where I lived. The only two memorable woods: Everfree Forest and White Tail Woods were for all I knew deciduous forests, mixed at most. All I could see however were pines, maybe some firs, no oaks or maples in sight. But that would mean that I wasn’t anywhere near Ponyville anymore.

For a few moments I wondered how exactly I ended up here, wherever here is. Did Twilight and I move somewhere and I just forgot? Nah, that couldn’t be it. Twi loved it in Ponyville and she wouldn’t abandon her friends just like that. Besides, that didn’t explain why I was in the middle of nowhere. A camping trip was also out of the question –I already knew that this kind of forest was nowhere near walking distance from Ponyville. So where was I?

I looked around once more, trying to pierce the darkness with my eyes. All I could see were shadowy shapes of trees, looming around me like still giants, unmoving, save for their branches that I could barely see. Trees and foliage I was sitting on, grass mixed with dead needles and broken off branches, all that looked quite menacing in the dark of the night, as if I ended up in a scene from one of those horror novels Twilight forebode me from reading (not that I listened to her of course… couldn’t sleep for days after that). Beginning to get spooked I decided that it would be a good idea to at least have some sort of light. Fortunately, I could do that with relative ease.

I took a deep breath and aimed my head at the air above me. Yes, I wanted to use my dragon breath to lighten up my surroundings, even if for a second or two. I needed to find something I could make a campfire out of, and in this darkness I could barely make out what was directly in front of me. So, as I already stated, I took a deep breath, aimed at the air above me and let out my emerald dragon fire.

Nothing came out.

“Huh?” Was all I was able to say to that. I looked confused, not getting why it didn’t work. Figuring that it must have been something in my throat I cleared it loudly and tried again. To my growing confusion, I was still unable to produce even the smallest of flames. I tried one more thing that came into my mind: I needed to belch. Yeah, disgusting, I know, but it worked all the time. So I swallowed as much air as I could and tried to produce a burp worthy of my fire.

Still nothing.

“Okay, what gives?!” I muttered angrily. This made no sense, I always breathed fire while belching. Always. Me not doing it was, well, nigh impossible. I couldn’t come up with any sort of explanation as to why it didn’t work. Maybe it was just a misfire, maybe it was a onetime deal. So I tried again. And again. And again.

After about ten tries I finally gave up. For some unexplained reason I couldn’t breathe fire anymore, I couldn’t do something, that was like my signature, something that distinguished me from others, made me unique (at least amongst ponies). But why? Why did this happen? Why couldn’t I do something that was second nature to me?

The sound of wind brought me out of my angry musings. Normally I wouldn’t pay that much attention to something as mundane as that, but I was in a situation that was far from normal. For starters, it reminded me that the bigger issue right now was the fact that I was in a completely foreign place, not why I couldn’t breathe fire. Then there was the fact that the wind made the branches of the surrounding trees creek ominously, sending a chill down my spine. And lastly –it made me realize something that I overlooked in my distressed state.

I was clothed.

Now normally as the Equestrian standards go I didn’t ware any clothes. I mean I didn’t need to, right? I was a dragon, and as such I could keep myself warm, so no need to wear anything. True, on occasions, especially when it was something big and important I did wear some formal attire, mostly because the customs at such gatherings required some form of clothing, but that wasn’t something I did every day. Now however for some odd reason I was apparently dressed in… something.

As I looked down at my clothes I quickly noticed, that it definitely wasn’t anything formal. For all I knew, the clothes I was wearing were made for everyday use. It was stitched and generally made in such a way that it looked like if I could work say at a farm in it and after a day’s work it would still be usable, if not dirty of course. Crafted from what appeared to be cloth, it was simple and lacked any significant ornaments or any other types of decoration. From what I was able to tell, the shirt I wore was some kind of light color (couldn’t pinpoint the exact color in the darkness), while my legs and waist was covered in… pants I believe they were called? It felt odd having something like that on me, especially considering it was the first time in my life that I actually wearing pants. Well… there was this one time Rarity dressed me in a rather ridiculously looking outfit during the whole mess with the thickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, but that doesn’t count, right?

My mind occupied by the fact I was clothed, I almost overlooked something that was ultimately an even greater shock than me wearing pants. In the darkness of the night I could barely make out my own features, the clothing I was wearing being the exception if only for their colors making them stand out from my surroundings. Still, I was able to notice that the dark pants I wore were significantly longer than my legs should be. Initially I thought that they were just too long and the excess of material just lied on the forest floor, my legs ending someway in the first one third of the trouser’s legs. After a few moments of looking at them however I noticed that this wasn’t the case. They were clearly not lying on the ground. In fact, they looked to be filled with what must have been my legs. But how?

Confused by what I saw I tried to move my legs and, as expected, my lower limbs complied without a moment of hesitation. Problem is, they did that in a way that clearly confirmed my suspicions. My legs grew. They were tree times longer than I remembered them to be. Not only that, my legs seemed to become more slender as opposed to my normally chubby ones. What was even more surprising was the fact that I managed to take a look at my feet for the first time.

I must have blanched at what I saw, I clearly felt the exodus of blood from my face. I was looking at my feet, my feet that definitely didn’t belong to me. My normally purple scales were replaced by what seemed to be white skin covered with something I could only describe as some kind of dark fur. What was even more surprising was that my feet, normally ended with three claws blunted down from all my walking, were replaced by not three but five small, clawless fingers. Blinking in surprise and fear, I tried to move them about, try to discern if those were actual fingers or just a figment of my messed up imagination. To my growing consternation, I could move those fingers with no problem.

I swallowed nervously and took a deep breath, trying to calm myself. Okay, so I apparently had some weird looking legs that were way longer than they were just a few hours ago. I could live with that I think. Still, how did that happen? Was I knocked out by some sort of Twi’s experimental spell that changed my legs? I kind of doubted that, she wouldn’t use me as a test subject, right? If so than why did I have suddenly such weird legs? Ugh… this was definitely starting to get weirder by the second.

Trying to figure out what exactly happened to me I began rubbing my chin with one of my claws. That is I would have done just that if not for the fact that I didn’t have any claws to begin with. Instead of sharp and hardened claws meeting equally hard and resilient scales of my chin there was a meeting of soft skin on equally soft skin. I froze the moment I felt that, and after several minutes of staring wide eyed into the darkness I looked at what happened with my claws.

I was greeted by a rather disturbing image. In place of my normally purple, four-fingered claw there was something else entirely. It was as my feet: white, equipped with five fingers lacking claws and clearly not covered with anything at least partially resembling hard scales. As with my legs I tried to move my fingers, and again I got a positive reaction from the five new ones I apparently had. More even, it appeared that I was able to  move them as good as I could move my claws prior to the change; even the additional finger seemed to work properly. It was definitely weird however, I mean I suddenly woken up with an additional digit and for no apparent reason I could move it as well as I could move any other of my fingers.

With my new ‘claws’ summed up I moved to my face. I dreaded what I would discover there to be honest. It could be any number of things: from a melted visage to a weird caricature of a pony’s face. I could even have tentacles growing from my cheeks for all I knew. And the worst part of all this was that I needed to figure it all out without a mirror, using only my ‘claws’.  I needed to feel my face in order to have at least a rough idea of how I looked. So, with trembling ‘claws’ I reached up to my face and began the survey of my own face.

The first thing I noticed was the distinct lack of a snout. This already took me by surprise to be honest –what kind of creature does not have a muzzle? It must've meant that my new face was surprisingly flat. But what with the nose and mouth? Well, the mouth was in the place it should be, although it certainly must've looked weird on a plane flat face. As for the nose: it was located a bit over my mouth, protruding from my face a bit, and it had its nostrils on its bottom, probably partially hidden from view. I also discerned that my new eyes were surprisingly small in comparison to my old ones, and that I finally had eyebrows worth mentioning. The fact that they were made out of soft hair was a minor inconvenience. Speaking of which, my face appeared also to be covered with skin and not scales, though it wasn’t that surprising in the end, especially considering the rest of my body apparently also was covered with it. Finally, I reached for my head, half expecting it to be bald or covered with a soft, short coat, maybe a short mane.

Well, to be honest, I think I was at least partially correct in guessing what was on my head. I apparently now had a sort of mane in place of my green scales, tough it wasn’t as short as I guess it was going to be. My new mane apparently was about half a hoof long, maybe a bit longer, and it seemed that it somehow reflected the way my spines normally formed on my head –it wasn’t the same spiky style of my spines, but close enough. The survey of my head also prompted two more discoveries: I apparently now had external ears (on the sides of my head, kind of like in the places my internal ears used to be; they were also slightly pointed, and I couldn’t move them like ponies could) as well as longer arms (if the fact that I could touch my elbows over my head was anything to go by). All in all, whatever I changed into, it must have looked really strange if not downright bizarre. Oh, I almost forgot: I apparently didn’t have a tail anymore. To be honest, I’m surprised I didn’t freak out more once I discovered that, but I guess that I was kind of prepared for that thanks to my previous discoveries.

Once done with the assessment of my new physical appearance I once more began staring into the darkness of the forest, trying to piece together what happened. I wake up in a wood I’ve never been to before, only to discover that I apparently wasn’t a dragon anymore; that I was changed into some kind of creature that I’ve never seen nor heard about before. I lost my thick scales and claws, not to mention my dragon breath, and all that was replaced by soft skin, longer limbs, clothes of some kind and additional fingers. A rather poor trade off in my opinion. But how I’ve even gotten here? What happened?

I racked my brain in search for an answer, and slowly I began to piece together what happened before I apparently fell asleep and landed here. There was something big, strange and luminous with wings in Ponyville that I noticed. The thing appeared to be able to use magic and after talking to Fluttershy we discerned that it was probably a carnivore. I tried to talk Twilight into helping me take care of it so that nopony got hurt, but she didn’t believe me. I tried to gather the girls, but either I couldn’t find them or they were in no shape to help me. Then there was something about a large bear… a really large bear, and something with stars and constellations… the Big Dipper… ah yes, an Ursa Major. Yes, it was rampaging in Ponyville and I finally made Twi do something about it. She cast some serious magic on it, can’t remember the details right now, but she managed to calm it down and transport out of Ponyville. And then something happened… something with her magic… there was lots of light… Twi looked scared out of her mind… we ran in to help her and…

I shot to my feet, my eyes wide. I remembered what happened; something with Twilight’s magic gone horribly wrong, she probably lost control of it and it must've been what transported me here and changed me into whatever I was now. Or maybe it wasn’t her fault? Maybe it was that glowing thing that decided to make short work of us and cast a spell on us that fed of Twi’s power, transporting us here? But if so, then where are the others? Maybe they’re somewhere near and I just haven’t noticed them? Or maybe they were teleported somewhere else entirely? For my sake, I hoped that it was the former. In either case however, I needed to find them, and fast.

I was about to start walking in a randomly picked direction when suddenly I heard something that made me freeze up momentarily. It was the sound of somepony or something walking on the forest floor, somewhere near me. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact location from where the sound was coming from, but what I could gather was that whatever it was, it was getting closer and closer.

Instinctively I took a step back. I was mildly surprised that I didn’t have much problems with doing that –without my tail I should have had problems with keeping my balance, but apparently this was not the case. I was however too preoccupied to concern myself with idle observations like that, there was something out there, trying to get to me, and I was more than certain that whatever it was, it could be potentially dangerous.

Looking around frantically in search of the creeping thing all I could see was shadows of the trees mixed with the darkness of the night. I barely managed to see the tree trunks, looming around and creaking ominously in the slight wind, yet I was sure that I wasn’t alone anymore. I felt it in my gut –there was something here, waiting for me to lower my guard and then pounce me. I wasn’t going to give it the satisfaction of giving up without a fight. Even if I didn’t have my scales, claws and fire, I still could do one thing that I excelled at: run away. I know, not the bravest thing to do, but when you’re less than four hoofs tall it’s the best course of action in most cases. Besides, with my newfound long legs I could probably run faster than ever before, that is if I could keep my balance. I hoped that it worked alright with forward movement as it did with backward.

I tensed after hearing yet another rustling sound, this one even closer. This time I was even able to pinpoint from where the noise was coming from. The thing was behind me, creeping in on me from the only direction that I had problems with keeping an eye on easily. I shiver ran down my spine. It was close enough that if it pounced on me, I wouldn’t be able to do anything about that. Swallowing a lump down my throat I shakily began to turn around, slowly as to not startle my stalker into attacking me, and against my better judgment I asked in a hoarse whisper:

“Is… Is somepony there?” ‘Great going you idiot.’ I scolded myself. ‘Now the thing knows you know it’s there.’ Yep, that was definitely a really stupid thing to do. Still, the thing didn’t attack me outright, so maybe –just maybe –it wasn’t hostile. At least I hoped so when I turned around completely.

I was met by two large blue eyes staring at me from less than three inches.

“AAAA…”

“AAAA…”

“…AAAA…”

“…AAAA…”

“…AAAA…”

“…AAAAHAHAHA…”

“…AAAA… huh?”

I managed to control my screaming once I noticed that not only the would-be attacker didn’t actually attack me, but was now lying on the ground, trashing around in fits of boisterous laughter. I stared at the creature that almost gave me a heart attack in confusion, watching as it was trying to catch its breath between fits of giggles and loud, mirth-filled snorts.

I don’t know why, but the creature seemed to look somewhat familiar. From what I could tell in the darkness, it had a built similar to my own (right now, not the original dragon-me): two legs, two arms ending with five clawless fingers each, and the general built like my own, accompanied by similar clothing. It also had a rather round-looking if not strangely large head with a flat face, a slightly protruding nose like my own, two large eyes, now squinted in laughter, a seriously too large mouth and most prominent at the moment –a puffy pink mane looking like if it was made out of cotton candy. Wait a moment…

“Pinkie Pie?” I asked uncertainly, looking dumbfounded on the creature on the ground. Once I said that, she (the laugh was definitely feminine, and now that I think of it, it did sound like Pinkie’s voice) looked at me with those large, blue eyes, and she blinked a few times in surprise. Only now did I notice the extremely long, I would even go as far as to say grotesquely long pink eyebrows.

“How do you know my name, weird, skinny, two-legged thingy?” She asked as she climbed up to her own two feet. If this really was Pinkie Pie, than how was she able to stand on two legs? No, scratch that. She’s Pinkie Pie, that’s why. Either way, this confirmed my earlier suspicions.

“It’s me Pinkie, Spike.” I answered. She walked a bit towards me, looking at me intently, only too snort in laughter and pet me on my head like if I was a dog.

“Oh, silly two-legged thingy. You’re not Spike. Spike’s a dragon, and you’re just a two-legged thingy, and besides –you’re too large to be Spike. You look a bit like him though, maybe you’re cosplaying? If so, than Nightmare Night is in two months silly, you dressed up way to early. And it’s a rather weak costume if you ask me, the guys from BronyCon have way better Spike costumes. Maybe you should ask one of them for advice? Or maybe I could talk to Rarity, she’s good with sowing up things, I’m sure she would be able to make you a great Spike costume.” …did she always talk so fast? And the hay is a BronyCon? I shook my head, trying to concentrate. At least now I was one hundred percent sure that this was really Pinkie Pie. She must've been transformed like me, tough why she too is a biped is beyond me.

“No Pinkie, it’s me, Spike. I’m really Spike, I’m just inside this strange body and…” I was interrupted by a long and dramatic gasp. Moments later I was laying on my back with a Pinkie pinning me to the ground, leaning over me and yelling frantically at my belly.

“Hang on in there Spike! I’m going to get you out of there, don’t worry!” To be honest, that alone got me to worry for my life. The way Pinkie looked at my belly and the way she was yelling, she must've believed that I was actually inside this body, physically like. There’s no telling what she would do to ‘get me out’.

I really need to watch what I say around Pinkie.

I tried to somehow get her off of me, trashing around and squirming, but her hold was a bit too much for me to break. Pinkie was frantically looking around, probably searching for something that would help her get me out. I just hoped she didn’t decide to go for slicing open my belly. That would definitely suck.

Fortunately for me, the normally pink mare decided to do something more bizarre and less lethal, at least theoretically. Not finding anything sharp enough to attempt to cut me open, she positioned herself on me in another way: she sat on my chest, making it hard for me to breath, and looked me in the eyes, an aggressive frown on her usually cheerful if not changed face.

“You two-legged meany pants! Let Spike go right this instant or I swear I’m gonna drag him out of there trough your mouth!” For emphasis she poked my throat rather hard, making me momentarily choke. After a brief moment of spluttering and wheezing I managed to take a breath deep enough to answer her:

“No, you don’t get it. I’m Spike, I just…”

“Whaddya mean ‘no’? Oh, you asked for it…” And with that she tried to actually grabbed me by my face, force open my mouth and tried to actually stick her whole arm down my gullet. Key word being tried.

I managed to prevent her from doing that by grabbing her with my ‘claws’ and flipped her to the side, knocking her off me in the process. Now having the possibility to catch my breath I scurried to my feet and looked at her form, comically sprawled on the ground, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements.

Pinkie from what I managed to guess in the dark appeared to be a bit confused by what just happened, but she was regaining her bearings quite quickly. She shook the shock off of her and she herself moved to her feet, keeping those unnervingly large blue eyes locked at me, a frustrated and quite angry glare sent my way. It was obvious that she was planning on attacking me again and finally ‘freeing me’ from my own stomach. I definitely needed to persuade her otherwise, less she turns me inside out.

“Listen Pinkie, just calm down and let me explain everything, okay?” I asked as nicely as I could, gesturing calmingly with my ‘claws’. It seemed to work, if only a little, because she didn’t bolt right at me the instant I said that. Encouraged by that little success I began explaining to her all that happened, trying to avoid any and all types of wording that could have double meanings or be understood literally, making for new misunderstandings. And I believe that I actually did pretty good in the end.

Pinkie stood the whole time in that ready stance, prepared to tackle me to the ground in a moment’s notice. Only her face, which appeared to be as expressive as her own pony one reflected what she actually heard from me. At first she looked like she wasn’t buying my explanations, but once I confirmed that I actually knew things that Spike should know (third person talk much), she began to look more and more calm, if not confused. And she still was in that ready stance, just so we’re clear on this. Once I got to the part with Twilight using her magic to subdue that Ursa and something happening to her which prompted us to try and help her she seemed to fully believe me, but still –she was ready to jump me at any second. Then I mentioned waking up in this forest and being changed into what I was at the moment, clearly stating that I wasn’t literally inside this body but just changed into this thing. Pinkie looked a bit sheepish at that at least, finally figuring out that she was going to do things to me that she definitely shouldn’t do, and summed up her behavior with a customary ‘oops, my bad’. Yet even after that she still was glued to the same spot, not moving a muscle, save for her face that is. It was starting to get creepy.

I was about to get to the part where she appeared in the exact moment I decided to look for the others when she finally moved. She changed her ready stance into a more thoughtful pose (still scary as hay, even if she looked distinctively different in her new body) and while scratching her chin she asked:

“So does that mean that I’m not a pony anymore?”

I paused at that. Did she really not notice that she was looking way differently than normally, not to mention that she was walking on two legs the whole time? I assumed that something like that would at least throw a pony for a loop, or in Pinkie’s case make her pause for a small bit and actually notice that something was different. She normally walked on four legs, suddenly be able to pull off a bipedal gait was surely something that wouldn’t go unnoticed. Or maybe I was just overthinking things? This was Pinkie Pie after all.

“No Pinkie, you’re not a pony anymore, at least you don’t look like one.” I finally answered. This prompted the normally pink mare to look at me with those unnervingly big blue eyes, blink a few times in bemusement and then touch her own face with what normally would be her hooves and check for herself.

Apparently she actually didn’t notice until I pointed it out.

“Ooo, neat.” She grinned, tough it looked like her head was about to split in half with that huge new mouth of hers. “But to be honest, I kinda saw this commin’. It’s like we’re in some sort of fan fiction and the writer didn’t know how to fit us in the plot with us being ponies so he changed us into this wired two-legged thingies so that we do fit in, but that’s lazy writing in my opinion, I mean duh –we’re ponies, and a sudden change into an entirely different species is like completely impossible, not to mention it’s so cliché and unoriginal, but I still like it, because usually I can do things more precisely with fingers than with hooves *gasp-for-air* not to mention I can now throw us a ‘First Time Changing Into Another Species Party’ party, and there’s going to be cake and punch and games and super-duper-exciting new music and we’re going to make new friends and go on adventures and collect loot and gain XP and level up and maybe I’ll finally find that +5 vorpal longsword I always wanted and if the server will let us we could even have a PvP battle and maybe Twilight will go all berserk screaming her name before an important raid and maybe she’ll even get Scootaloo.”

“…why did I have to run into her first?”

“You said something Spike?”

“Nothing! Just… wondering where the rest might've landed.” I lied quickly. Seriously, trying to keep up with Pinkie’s train of thought was like trying to keep up with Rainbow Dash in a hurry –not possible. Well, at least I managed to get one sensible answer out of all that: Pinkie indeed talked more quickly than before we landed here. Maybe whatever she changed into was prone to speaking in such a manner?

I was about to ponder the possibility of there being a creature that could be more confusing than Pinkie Pie when the mare in question once again invaded my personal space. She appeared out of nowhere in front of me, her eyes almost bulging out of their sockets to meet mine, and she generally looked like if she wanted to say something she considered important. But did she really need get in my face to do that?

“What if the girls changed into some kind of freaky creatures and we won’t be able to figure out if that’s them or not?” She asked suddenly frantic, panic clearly heard in her voice. “What if they’re like bug-ponies with multiple eyes? Or arachnoponies living in deep, dark forests? Or…”

“Calm down Pinkie, I’m sure they didn’t turn into nothing so outlandish… well, more outlandish that what we turned into at least.” I said to her while grabbing her shoulders and shaking her a bit, trying to snap her out of that train of thought. To be quite honest however, I wasn’t so sure about what I just said myself. I mean Pinkie and I changed into whoever-knows-what, but we apparently still looked a bit like our former selves, at least when it came to our manes/spines and eyes, but what stood in the way of say Twilight changing into some kind of… I don’t know… annoying, sparkling vampony or something like that? Still, I needed to keep Pinkie as calm as possible, less she has a mental breakdown, so I gave her the most reassuring look I could muster (at least I think it was reassuring; with this new face I couldn’t be quite sure), trying to calm her down. It appeared to even work because she took a deep breath and appeared to be counting down from ten.

“Are you sure about that?” She asked pleadingly. I nodded in response.

“I’m positive.”

“But are you 100% sure?” She pressed on.

“Yes, I’m sure about that.”

“But are you super-duper-incredibly-absolutely-100%-positive-super sure?”

“…Yes?” My brain, it hurts!

“Okie-dokie-lokie!” She beamed at that, and moments later she was bouncing around me, tough now with only two legs she looked more like skipping. Then suddenly she stopped mid-skip, looking at me expectantly.

“So what do we do now?” She asked after a moment of staring at me.

“I dunno… Maybe we should try and look for Twilight and the rest, see if they’re okay?” I suggested, gesturing in the direction of the dark forest. I almost forgot how dark it was, having my attention constantly on the bright, pink-maned individual in front of me, and now reminded about the shadowy place I just suggested we should traverse I began having second thoughts.

“Good thinking Spike, we probably should look for them.” I was brought back to reality by Pinkie’s voice, as cheerful as ever. I looked in her direction and noticed, that she was skipping  away from me and deeper into the forest in a randomly chosen direction.

“Pinkie, wait up!” I shouted after her when she was beginning to disappear behind one of the trees. Moments later she peeked at me from behind its trunk, a cheerful smile plastered on her face.

“Come on slowpoke, we need to find Dashie and the others!” She shouted like if I was at least on the other side of the forest. I think every last predator in the woods heard her, not that they didn’t hear our previous terrified/amused shrieks. Not that it mattered to her, Pinkie was as obvious to the dangers the forest might have presented as she was obvious to the rules of physics. So, with a sigh and a growing dread in my heart I followed after her into the dark of night.

I only hope that the others are okay.
> Act One Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown forest, Date unknown, (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Hours after midnight


Many things could be said about Pinkie Pie: that she was energetic, random, excitable, random, easy to amuse, random, fun to be around… did I mention she was random? Well, that day I discovered another of her many talents, and this time it appeared to be the ability to traverse foreign woods unhindered by using leaps, skips and jumps.

At first I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Here was Pinkie Pie, changed into this bipedal thing with a way to wide mouth for it to be normal, hopping and skipping merrily trough the thick underbrush of the forest, humming and giggling to herself without a care in the world. If it wasn’t for the fact that I actually knew Pinkie to an extent, I would probably be questioning her (or my) sanity at this point. I mean we were in an unfamiliar forest in the middle of the night, surrounded by Celestia knows what monstrosities, in bodies not our own, and she was practically singing to herself, ignoring the undergrowth that should at least slow her down considerably? However as I said before, I knew her to an extent and the only thing that was boggling my mind was the last bit. Well, that and how she was able to see where she was going; the night was so dark that I could barely see my own outstretched ‘claws’.

I really miss my dragon eyes.

So here we are, traveling through this thick pine forest, keeping our eyes peeled in search for our friends and in the same time trying not to get lost. To assure just that I even considered marking the trunks of the trees we were passing by with my claws, but then I remembered I didn’t have those anymore. The best I could do in this situation was to follow Pinkie’s lead and hope for the best. We continued on our journey for quite a while before something finally happened.

Amongst the quiet rustling of grass under our feet and the low moaning of trees I was able to pick up a faint sound. It wasn’t more than a soft creak of wood, barely audible amongst the gentle noises the forest was making yet still possible to pick up. I stopped the moment I've heard it, looking around in search for the source of that sound, trying to figure out whether the thing that made this noise was friendly or not. Pinkie Pie however was none the wiser and she continued along the nonexistent path she took, still skipping and humming.

“Pinkie!” I whispered loudly, trying to gain her attention. Fortunately, that was enough to make her stop and look at me. I noticed a slightly surprised look on her face once she noticed I was so far away from her, but she quickly covered that up with a cheerful smile and she began hopping in my direction. Once she was close enough for us to have a relatively comfortable whispered conversation I said to her: “Try to keep quiet for a moment, it’s very important.”

“Okay.” She answered in a whisper of her own. I was mildly surprised that she actually followed through with my request; something in my voice must have tipped her off that I wasn’t joking. “What’s going on?”

“Dunno, I thought I heard something. Listen.” I told her, and she complied in a quite exaggerated manner. She cocked her head to the side slightly like a dog confronted with something unexpected, and I actually think I saw her ears twitch slightly. What was important however was the fact that once the weird sound repeated itself (I was actually quite surprised by that but as well), Pinkie did hear it, if her eyes widening was anything to go by. “You hear that?”

“Yeah.” She muttered in response. “It sounded like it was coming from above.” At that she looked upwards. Following her gaze I looked at a rather large pine tree, it’s top branches high enough to be clouded in darkness, making it impossible for me to see what was up there.

“You see anything up there?” I asked, squinting my eyes in hopes of seeing better. In response Pinkie shook her head enthusiastically.

“Nope, can’t see a thing.” She grinned and I had to force myself not to groan out loud. Leave it to Pinkie Pie to turn a serious situation into a comedy. “Maybe we should ask if anypony’s there?” She suggested. Momentarily I shook my head no.

“No way! We can’t be sure if whatever’s up there isn’t hostile. For all we know it might be a cockatrice or something like that.”

“Or it might be one of our friends stuck up there.” She countered, leaving me with my mouth agape. It was the first time I actually have seen Pinkie Pie apply logic to anything. I had to shake my head furiously to try and regain composure, but my mind was still overwhelmed by what I just witnessed. Nonetheless I answered, to the best of my abilities at least.

“I… suppose you may be right.” I didn’t believe that I actually said that. “Okay, just… keep an eye out and if it isn’t any of our friends let’s just go away, okay?”

“Okie-dokie-lokie!”

I had a bad feeling about this.

Pinkie Pie looked up again and keeping her eyes fixed on the top parts of the tree she took a few steps back. Initially I was confused by what she was doing, but then I figured, that she wanted to be seen from all the way up there, and some of the lower branches could've easily concealed her from view. I wasn’t exactly ecstatic about that, she was basically giving out her position, but if it really was one of the girls then it could help immensely. Finally, after taking a few more steps back and inhaling a large mouthful of air she cupped her mouth and shouted:

“Hello! Is anypony up there!?” …she really wants the whole forest to know where we are, doesn’t she?

At first we didn’t get any response. The air was filled with the soft sounds of the wind and trees and noting suggested we were going to get any answer. I was slowly beginning to sweat. What if what we heard was really a predator and now it was preparing to leap on Pinkie Pie and do horrible things to her, not to mention me? I was about to suggest that we get a move on and leave this cursed place when we finally got a response.

“Pinkie Pie? Is that you? I can’t see you, where are you?” The voice was definitely a familiar one. A bit tomboyish, it could only belong to one pony.

“I’m down here Dashie!” Pinkie replied, waving her arms wildly, trying to get Rainbow to see her. “Can you see me now?!”

“No, I can’t, branches are in the way.” Rainbow responded. “Listen, can you help me? I’m kind of stuck up here and I can’t get down.” Okay, that was new. Why would Rainbow Dash have problems with getting down from a tree? Couldn’t she just fly down? Unless she too had changed and her new form didn’t have any means of flying. That would kind of suck for her I imagine.

“Don't worry Dashie, I’ll be up there in a jiffy!” Pinkie shouted back reassuringly. Moments later she was speeding in the direction of the tree, running like if she wanted to tackle the poor tree to the ground rather than scale it. I was beginning to wonder if I should do something to at least try and stop her from getting hurt on her own request, but it was already too late: the pink mare was but a few hooves from the tree and she wouldn’t be able to stop in time.

I was expecting Pinkie to crash into the tree trunk with a loud thud, maybe comically implanting herself in the large pine. What I wasn’t prepared however, tough I should be in hindsight, was for her to once more defy the laws of physics. Once Pinkie was no more than maybe two hoofs from the trunk she raised her arms and using her own ‘claws’ she got a hold of the tree, in the mean time rising one of her hind legs and planting it in the tree like if it was a ladder she was about to begin climbing. The odd thing however was that it actually worked. The energetic mare, using her own momentum began scaling the tree like if it actually was a ladder, and in about a second or two she was a good twenty hoofs up, reaching for the lowest branches.

Once the lowest branches were in her reach, Pinkie made a grab for them, using them as makeshift rungs. The branches in question creaked a bit under her weight and shook a little, but they seemed to be able to support the extra weight. Looking satisfied with that, Pinkie began scaling the tree, supporting herself on the branches and slowly disappearing amongst the thick needles, obscured from my view. One thing was for sure however –if she kept that up, she would be with Rainbow Dash in a manner of seconds.

As I predicted, Pinkie Pie reached the stranded mare after but a few moments of climbing. I didn’t actually see where she was, but the surprised ‘what the buck are you?!’ was enough of a giveaway. It appeared that Rainbow Dash was as surprised by Pinkie’s new look as I was, tough regretfully, she didn’t scream her head of like I did the first time I saw her. Pinkie in turn did what she usually did in situations like this –she laughed, her voice echoing in the night.

“Hey Dashie, love the new look!” Pinkie exclaimed after a few moments of giggling. There was a prominent moment of silence that ended with the sound of Rainbow’s uncertain voice:

“Pinkie Pie? Is that you? What happened?” Her question was met with a thoughtful ‘hm’ from the pink mare and a cheerful ‘dunno’. I almost heard Dash facehoof at that. “Seriously, you look beyond weird, not to mention creepy with that wide mouth. What happened to you?”

Well, at least I wasn’t the only one that was finding Pinkie’s wide, toothy grin disturbing.

“Oh, you know Dashie, the usual.” Pinkie stated, as if it was the most obvious thing under Celestia’s sun. “You wake up in the middle of nowhere with a new body. Just like that time I threw a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party for the whole Doctor pony and wandered inside this funny looking blue box. Only this time, I’m not the only one changed! Isn’t that just great?!”

“Yeah, just peachy.” Dash responded sarcastically, clearly not seeing what was just so great about that. After a moment however she asked something, that she initially overlooked. “By saying that you’re not the only one changed you mean only me or…”

“Down here Dash!” I shouted, giving her a wave even though she couldn’t see me.

“Spike, that you? Are the others with you too?”

“Nah, we’re the only two… well, tree now. Ain't that right Spike?!” Pinkie responded before I could, the last bit shouting on the top of her lungs, even though we could hear each other just fine by just rising our voices a little bit. I probably wasn’t the only one annoyed by that particular mannerism of the party pony.

“Could you please stop yelling into my ear?” There you go, RD has the same sentiment as I do. “I bet Spike can hear you just fine, isn’t that right?”

“Loud and clear!”

“There you go, no reason to yell.” There was a brief moment of silence after which Dash changed the subject to a more pressing matter. “So are you going to help me unstuck myself or are we gonna stare at each other all night?”

“Aw… and here I thought we would spend the night together.” I… don’t even want to know what that was supposed to mean. And apparently neither was Rainbow, if the sudden rustling sounds were to indicate anything.

“Just… just help me out of this mess, okay?” Was that panic I heard in RD’s voice? Well, even if I was right she would most probably deny it the moment I mentioned it.

“Okie-dokie!” Was the cheerful response Pinkie gave her and what followed was the noises of moving branches, two ponies-turned-weird-creatures-I-don’t-know-the-name-of grunting and general struggling to get free.

The noises lasted for about a minute or two, a few nonsensical comments by Pinkie Pie thrown in between grunts here and there. If somepony was to wander nearby he would most probably be freaked out by some of those things, not to mention that the grunting noises might as well belong to a duo of ponies doing things way different than trying to free one of them, like hauling a heavy sofa up the stair or something… Yes, definitely hauling a sofa, up at least a flight of stairs. Well, aside from that all I was able to discern was that apparently Rainbow looked a bit different from how Pinkie looked, and apparently she wasn’t looking all that much similar to me too. I already figured out that the two of us (that is Pinkie and me) weren’t exactly the same species (both now and before all this), and that whatever creatures we were turned into, they were like the different kinds of ponies: at base similar, but in the same time different on many accounts. I actually began wondering how a pegasus would look like turned into whatever this kind of creature was called.

Suddenly I heard a rather loud snapping noise coming from up the tree. At first I ignored it, figuring that RD was being held back by whatever odd branch that just got snapped, and that Pinkie just broke it off to help her. Then I heard a rather frightened sounding ‘oh-oh’ from the cyan pegasus and some kind of commotion, followed by more rustling, a fearful yelp and more sounds of snapping branches, and then and there I knew one thing.

This was not going to end well.

I looked up just in time to notice that there was a rain of pine needles falling on my head. I momentarily added two plus two and deduced that Rainbow was falling somewhere above me, slowed down only by all the branches she must have been hitting on the way down. My initial reaction was to jump for safety less I would get crushed by the falling mare. Then I thought: ‘Wait a second. If Rainbow Dash is falling and she can’t fly, then that means that she might get hurt hitting the ground. It’s entirely possible, that her new body isn’t used to falling long distances like a pegasus body, and if that’s the case then you should at least try and help her.’ Well… actually it was more like ‘stay put and catch her you dolt’, but I like the more sophisticated sound of my own thoughts better. Besides, if Pinkie and my example was anything to go by, than RD must've been around our height as well, catching her probably wouldn’t be that much of an issue. Reassured by the thought I began running around with my outstretched claws, trying to guess where exactly would Rainbow be falling from.

A few moments later I saw from the corner of my eye a number of broken off branches falling a few hoofs from my current location. Deducing that Rainbow was falling somewhere there I began speeding in that direction, adamant on catching her before she fell. I was almost there when I managed to spot a figure plummeting rapidly to the ground and grunting in pain every now and then while hitting branches on its way. Figuring that this was Dash I gave it my best to make it in time to catch her. I was almost there, all I needed was to take a few more steps and I would be able to… wait, why is Dash suddenly so big…

Aw horseapples.

*smash*

For a moment I was completely unaware of what just happened, too dazed by the sudden impact. I felt a rather heavy burden on my chest and stomach, almost preventing me from breathing, and all I could see was darkness and bright flashes of light, just as if stars were dancing around my head. After a moment tough I was able to shake of the daze and take stock of what just happened.

“Uh… did anypony wrote down the license number of that hurricane that hit me?” A tomboyish voice resonated on top of me as the weight on my body shifted. Well, at least now I know how AJ usually feels when Rainbow Dash falls on her.

I grunted in pain and shifted a bit under RD, making her freeze up for a moment. She probably didn’t notice that she was lying on somepony until just now.

“Gerroff me!” I managed to utter, and just moments later Rainbow scrambled to her feet, letting me finally take a deep breath. I sat after a few moments, blinking rapidly and trying to get the spots in front of my eyes to stop appearing and swallowing down mouthfuls of air. Sheesh, and to think that catching, or rather breaking the fall of one cyan pegasus pony could do that to you. I definitely don’t envy Applejack.

After I finally managed to get rid of the dancing lights from my eyes I looked around in search of the rainbow maned mare. It wasn’t that difficult to be honest, she was standing not tree hoofs from me, looking either surprised or confused, I couldn’t tell. It was probably both: the shock of finding out how freaky I was looking now and confusion as to how exactly was she able to stand on only her hind legs and not fall down. To be honest however, I was probably exactly as surprised as she was, if not more, by her current appearance.

I was able to discern that this was in fact Rainbow Dash only thanks to three things: her violet eyes, now staring at me wide as dinner plates; her messy, shortish hair styled in a rainbow pattern, the normally vibrant colors only slightly duller in the darkness of the night; and thanks to her voice that I already heard and easily recognized. The rest was, again, weird looking. As in my and Pinkie’s case, Rainbow was now a bipedal creature with long arms ending with five-fingered ‘claws’. Her face twisted in a confused frown was littered with small scratches due to her fall. The general built of her changed frame was similar to my own, as well as to Pinkie’s to an extent, and she too was clad in simple yet durable looking clothes, that is apart from a few rips due to her rather large fall, but there was one thing in which she differed significantly from the two of us.

She was trice as tall as I was.

While normally that wouldn’t disturb me that much, seeing that in my normal form I was about two times shorter than Twilight and the rest, once I stumbled upon Pinkie (or rather she creeped in on my) I assumed that whatever we were turned into was approximately our current stature. Rainbow however proved that concept to be worth less than my weekly allowance. She was, as I already stated, about trice our size, while at the same time she kept mostly the same proportions of her body parts and her facial features. She didn’t however had a mouth as wide as Pinkie’s, which suggested that it was a characteristic that only the pink mare had, as well as she didn’t have pointy ears like I and Pinkie had, sporting smaller, rounder ones. All in all however, she didn’t look that much different from how the two of us looked. Oh, and she didn’t in fact have wings, so that much was explained.

We stared at one another, both of us taking in the new looks of each other and trying to come to terms with them. Only after a few moments did Rainbow snap out of it, never one to dwell too much on one thing, and decided to say something.

“Lemme guess: you’re Spike?” I rolled my eyes at that and rose to my feet. For some odd reason now I felt rather small and insignificant, especially compared to RD.

“That obvious?” I asked jokingly, brushing the stray dirt and pine needles from my clothes. My weak attempt at humor seemed to work, ‘cause I think I saw Rainbow smirk a bit. As quick as the smirk appeared however it vanished, replaced by a serious looking frown.

“Just so we’re clear on this –all this didn’t happen. I may look different, but I still have a reputation to uphold.” Typical Rainbow Dash behavior: always trying to look cool, no matter what. Just so she doesn’t pester me about that I nodded halfheartedly. At about that moment Pinkie Pie appeared on one of the lowest branches of the pine tree Dash was stuck on, crouching on it like a cat, and looked at us sheepishly.

“Sorry, my bad.” She apologized, looking genuinely sorry for what had happened. I myself wasn’t about to complain or hold a grudge, I mean I don’t even know how did Pinkie mess up to make all this happen, so I was in no position to do so. Rainbow on the other hoof had every right to get annoyed; I probably over-dramatize by saying this, but the normally cyan mare could get seriously hurt by falling in such a manner, possibly even permanently. Still, she glared at Pinkie only for a second or two, after which she sighed and muttered something to herself, something along the lines of ‘how does she do that’.

“It’s alright Pinkie, I’m okay. Nothing to worry about, I’m too awesome to get hurt by a small fall like that.”

“You fell over eighty hoofs.” I muttered so that only Rainbow could hear.

“More like a hundred.” Dash corrected, and if I’m not mistaken, I picked up a slight tone of pride in that statement. However she quickly shook her head and shot me a quick glare. “Not helping.”

I shrugged and decided to stay silent from now on.

“Phew, for a teeny-tiny moment you scared me there Dashie.” Pinkie replied, wiping imaginary sweat from her brow.

“Yeah, well, if you’ll ever have to do something like that again Pinkie, try not to break off the branch a pony is hanging on, will ya?” Rainbow said, and thanks to that small bit information I knew what went wrong up there. Leave it to Pinkie Pie to literally saw of the branch she (or Dash for that matter) is sitting on.

“Okie-dokie-lo…” Pinkie started up her usual reply with a happy smile, but she faltered at some point, looking from her branch with a rather surprised expression. The surprise quickly morphed into a rather nervous look, which I and Rainbow picked up momentarily as something being definitely not right, and her voice turned to a more shaky one. “Um… guys? I-I think you should take a look behind…”

“Why, what’s behind… us?” Rainbow asked turning around, trailing off once she actually looked at where Pinkie was telling us to look. I turned around as well, only to be met by something that I definitely didn’t want to ever look at again.

It was a wild boar. While normally that wouldn’t scare my all that much, especially considering Equestrian boars were rather tame animals, like most of our wildlife, this one didn’t look all that friendly. The wild hog was glaring at me and Rainbow with his small, shining eyes, and it snorted angrily, burying its hooves in the ground as if preparing to charge us. What was even more prominent however was its tusks. Equestrian wild boars had dulled tusks and generally smooth fur, this one however looked like if it was a mass of bristles as scratchy as sandpaper, adorned with two razor-sharp tusks on both sides of its snout. Add to that the size of the thing (it was about my height in its shoulders) and you have a truly terrifying picture I was just staring at.

The hog snorted again, grunting afterwards in a threatening manner, and I admit, I was scared senseless by that. It sounded like a mix between a pig’s snort and a low rumbling roar, and if I was to guess, it was the sound of a pig-like monstrosity preparing to shred me to pieces with its sharp tusks. It shouldn’t be then that much of a surprise that I all but ran in the direction of the tree, trying to climb it up and join Pinkie in the relative safety of the branches.

I don’t even know how or when did it happen, but in less than a few seconds I was already on the same branch as Pinkie Pie, clutching at it like at a life line. I guess that Pinkie must've helped me up seeing me running from the wild pig or something. She probably would do that again and helped Rainbow Dash get to safety, but the pegasus stubbornly stood her ground, glaring back at the boar.

“What, you wanna peace of me, chump?!” Rainbow taunted the animal taking a fighting stance, probably thinking that animals in this place understood the spoken language as well as the ones back home. Something however told me that this wasn’t the case with the local fauna, especially remembering the feral look the hog was giving us.

As I suspected, the boar was unaffected by Dash’s taunting attempt, yet it let out a loud grunt before it charged her nonetheless, probably planning this either way. It run straight at her, trying to gore her with its tusks by jerking its head upwards once she was in reach. The slash would probably leave a nasty gash on Rainbow’s leg, but fortunately the pegasus mare saw that coming and avoided the attack by jumping to the side.

“Dashie, what are you doing!? Leave the pig alone and get up here!” I heard Pinkie yell at Rainbow, trying to get her to get out of harm’s way. Unfortunately, Dash’s cockiness got the best of her.

“Come on Pinkie, it’s just a large, hairy pig, I’m not about to run from something like that!” She shouted back while preparing to kick the tusked monster for what it’s worth.

The boar turned around to face her, it’s features twisted in rage, and it seemed like it was going to try and gore her again. Dash was however quicker and managed to kick the gray animal square in its snout. The wild pig recoiled a bit at the touch, however it was clear that it didn’t find it all that harmful and it only served to anger the creature more. The wild hog let out a loud and angry squeal and tried to gore Rainbow again.

The furious pig jerked its ugly head in RD’s direction, trying to slash at her legs with its sharp tusks, but the brave pony was too nimble for the animal to hit. Once she noticed what the creature was planning she took a step back, making it fling its head aimlessly in the air, goring at nothing. Rainbow looked extremely smug about that, a confident grin plastered on her face, yet that same grin escaped her features once she felt her balance faltering. In the heat of the moment and canceled by the shadows of the night, Dash didn’t notice the number of broken off branches lying in her way. Suffice to say, it didn’t end well for her.

I watched from my perch on the tree with my mouth agape as Rainbow lost her balance and ended up on her back. This was definitely not good. Now she probably didn’t have any way to effectively defend herself, save maybe for bucking, or rather kicking at the incoming boar. In other words, she needed our help, my and Pinkie’s. I shot a quick glance at the pink maned mare, meeting her own large, blue eyes looking at me with a fiery resolve, and we nodded at each other. We knew what we had to do.

I looked quickly around in search of anything that could be used as a weapon, but all I could find was more branches and some pine cones. Not much, considering what we were about to be facing. Making a split-second decision I reached out for a few of the cones and picked them, after which I began hurling them at the back of the wild boar, trying to turn its attention from Rainbow. Pinkie seemed to think in the same way as I did –she had an armful of pine cones of her own and was lobbing them at the angry pig while shouting:

“Hey you, big, mean and ugly! Leave Dashie alone!” Pinkie’s shouts went along those lines as the two of us assaulted the furious animal. Unfortunately, the boar was more interested with RD at the moment than with the rain of pine cones hitting its back time and again. The bristly pig closed the distance between itself and Rainbow and it was rather obvious by the way it lowered its head as to what it was going to do, even for the prone mare in question.

Dash wasn’t going to go down without a fight it seemed. Once the attacking pig was close enough, she tried to kick it with all her might in the snout again. This time however, the effects of her attack were way more devastating than last time. One of her feet connected with the boar’s snout quite soundly, and a resounding crunching sound could be heard right before a pain-filled squeal courtesy of the wild pig. The hit itself apparently was so powerful that it shattered bones or at the very least broken the creature’s snout, making it recoil in both surprise and pain. It wasn’t however enough to drive the beast off. Instead, the anger of the boar was doubled now thanks to the pain Rainbow dealt it, and it was almost painfully clear now that it wasn’t going to go easy on the her.

With a furious half-roar the boar leaped at Dash, taking advantage of her prone state, and once again tried to gore her, this time however more mindful of its injured snout. Its sharp tusks made quick work of the clothes she was wearing and tore right trough the fabric, reaching her flesh. A pain filled scream escaped Rainbow’s lips as the animal trust one of its tusks into her side, and even more pained shrieks once the wild hog began trashing its head and tearing her flesh, trying to get its tusk loose. This was definitely not going too end well.

Pinkie and I stared in silent horror at what was happening, both of us wanting to somehow help Rainbow get out of this mess. We needed to do something, anything to help save her. If not, the wild pig would shred her to pieces in its enraged state. And that’s when the whole mess got a lot more complicated.

Pinkie and I were shaking on our branch, trying to calm ourselves down enough to do something most would consider as insanely stupid –we planned on jumping on the boar and try and subdue it somehow, or at the very least give Rainbow Dash enough time to get on her feet and try and find a safe place on a tree or somewhere else out of the animals reach. However, once the two of us stood on said branch, we both heard a loud cracking sound. We looked behind us fearfully and noticed that the offshoot we were standing on was beginning to give way, breaking at its base. We were able to only utter a quick ‘oh-oh’ before the branch completely broke off.

Pinkie Pie somehow managed to leap off the branch quickly enough to avoid falling with it and simultaneously grab at another one, climbing it in a manner of seconds. I however weren’t so lucky. Once the branch broken off I lost my footing and I thought I was going to fall down with it. I was about to begin shrieking like a schoolfilly, expecting to hit the hard ground with a loud thud or even worse –land on the boar completely unprepared and get shredded by the feral animal. Instead however I felt something pulling at the shirt I was wearing and stop me from falling further. I was confused as to what exactly happened, but I quickly realized that I must've been hung by the scruff of my shirt on a offshoot higher up. And in the end, the branch breaking off was more of a boon than Pinkie’s and my assault could ever hope to be.

The piece of broken off wood fell directly at the two combatants trashing on the ground. Rainbow, who was busy with the wild boar slashing at her side was still pinned down to the ground by the animal, but in that moment it was actually more of a good thing than bad. The bulk of the angry wild pig was enough to shield her from the piece of wood that came their way, and as the branch slammed at the back of the boar it bounced off its head, leaving the prismatic-maned mare relatively unscathed while at the same time making the animal once more recoil in surprise at the sudden pain.

The tusk of the wild hog retracted from Rainbow’s side, leaving a gaping, bloody wound, yet at the same time it was enough for the downed mare to try and retaliate against the crazed animal. Figuring out that the pig was too far from her legs to try and kick at it again she made use of her arms and ‘claws’. She tightened one her ‘claws’ into a fist and punched at the already wounded snout of the crazed pig, and then elbowed it for good measure. The shock of something contacting with its wounded snout made the boar let out a pained squeal and once again focus on his victim, and considering what it already did to Dash I doubted that she would be able to keep on fighting much longer.

The wild hog neared the side of the downed mare once more, lowering its head menacingly, bearing its sharp and bloodied tusks in preparation for dealing another hefty blow. I can’t really be sure, but from the place I was hanging from I believe I saw a panicked, fearful even gleam in Rainbow’s eyes, and to be frank, I didn’t blame her for that. She probably knew as well as I knew and Pinkie , who was shouting her head off and preparing to jump on the pig to try and stop it knew, that the next slash of the tusks could very well be the last in her life. Bracing herself for the inevitable pain Dash closed her eyes and bit her lips, waiting.

The hog’s tusks were inches from Rainbow’s flesh. It just needed to jerk its ugly head to pierce her skin and deal the fatal blow. I couldn’t watch, I couldn’t just hang there and witness with my own eyes how one of the bravest mares I knew was being skewered by a feral animal. I…

“Waaaiiiit!!!” …did not expect somepony to shout something like that.

I looked around in search for the source of the voice, as did everypony else. I believe that even the boar was taken by surprise by that scream, as it backed a bit from Rainbow and raised its head, its beady eyes scanning the surroundings closely. Only after a few moments did I realize that the voice we heard was eerily familiar, although it normally didn’t escalate to such volume.

A small ways away from the three of us one of the bushes shook a bit and a rather tall looking figure emerged from behind it. It was at the verge of my field of vision, the shadows obscuring the finer features of its face and blanching the colors into a scale of grays and blackness. All that I could say at the moment was that the figure was again one of the bipedal creatures Pinkie, Dash, and I were changed into and that it was around Rainbow's size, if not a little bit taller. I could also make out that the newly arrived figure had long, flowing hair (or mane; not sure what form is correct), and that in contrast to myself and the two mares I was with it didn’t exactly wear pants, instead opting for a one-piece simple dress, obscuring most of the legs of the newcomer.

All eyes were focused on the stranger, even the small, beady ones that belonged to the bloodthirsty boar. The newcomer in turn walked swiftly towards the wild pig and its would-be victim, possessing a sort of grace I have never seen before combined with a strongly enraged gait of a mother about to scold her children. With each passing step the features of the newly arrived individual were becoming more and more noticeable: ears poking out of the newcomer’s hair, their ends pointed; large, shining, elegant blue eyes staring at the pig and the downed mare in anger and disappointment; finally the color of her hair was evident once he stepped into a spot of moonlight –a familiar, light pink. There was no doubt about who it was now.

It was Fluttershy.

“What do you think you are doing?! Do you have any idea what you just did?!” I take it back. It was not Fluttershy. It was a really, really angry Fluttershy. The way she glared at the wild hog was enough to make it back up fearfully, staring in her expressive eyes, and I was kind of glad I was hanging on this tree rather than being down there, facing the famous Stare. I almost pitied the hog now… almost being the key word.

“You just attacked an innocent creature that was just on its way through the forest, that’s what you did! It didn’t do anything to you, it just happened to be wandering through your territory, and you attacked it for no apparent reason like a big bully! I have half the mind to go find your mother and tell her what kind of antisocial delinquent she helped rise. Not to mention that the creature you attacked is my friend, and nobody, I repeat! Nobody hurts my friends! You got that?”

The mighty boar, the tusked, bristly mass of muscles and rage was now cowering in front of an angry Fluttershy, reduced to a shaky ball of rough fur. It was truly a site to behold. I knew that the butter-yellow pegasus mare was good with animals, I even heard stories from some of the residents of Ponyville that she could face a full grown bear and survive, but witnessing something like that live was infinitely more awesome then I would ever imagine. The usually quiet and horribly shy mare now stood in front of the animal, her ‘claws’ on her hips and a disapproving scowl on her face, looking so intimidating that I think even Princess Celestia herself would think twice before trying to go against her.

The wild hog looked like it wanted to sink into the ground when it opened its ugly, bloodied snout. It grunted and squealed something that could probably be called as a wild pig’s way of speech, for the first time showing some of the more natural from the Equestrian point of view behavior as it probably was trying to come up with an explanation to why it did what it did. Fluttershy however only crossed her arms on her chest and looked even more disapprovingly at the animal. Finally the mare had enough and interrupted the hog, still looking angrily at it:

“What you did speaks for itself, and none of your excuses will change what happened here. You did horrible, horrible things to one of my friends, and quite frankly, I have a hard time even thinking about forgiving you.” She intensified her glare a bit more, and the pig let out a horrified yelp, but stood rooted to its spot. Fluttershy’s glare however vanished after a few moments, replaced by a soft, considerate smile as she kneeled before the terrified animal and touched its head with one of her ‘claws’ gently, stroking its bristles affectionately. “Now, now, I may be a bit harsh, but you were really mean, you know? Now, I want you to promise me, that you will never try to hurt anypony again for no reason. I know that you aren’t exactly on the top of the food chain, so I’m not preventing you from fighting for your life and the like, just don’t try and start up a new fight, okay? Oh, and try not to use your snout too excessively for the next few days, okay? It does seem to be bruised quite a fair bit, it may hurt for a while, but it should be alright on its own. Now run along, and don’t let me catch you on beating up innocent animals for no reason, ‘kay?”

The wild boar squealed in response and took off into the night, disappearing in a manner of seconds in the shadows. Of course, a retreating creature was too tempting for Rainbow Dash too just leave it alone, so it wasn’t a great surprise to hear her boastful voice as she yelled at it:

“Yeah, that’ll teach ya to mess with us! And if you try that again I’m so going to trash your hide, you overgrown… pig…” She trailed off once she noticed Fluttershy looking at her not that much differently than she was looking moments ago at the hog. RD’s ‘claws’ found their way to her injured side and began pressing her wound, as the cyan mare twisted her face into an expression somewhere between panic and sheepishness.

“Uh… *gulp*… I’m hurt so go easy on me, please?”

> Act One Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown forest, Date unknown, (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Hours after midnight


We were extremely lucky to have Fluttershy stumble on us when she did. The shy pegasus, usually so overlooked, proved to be a boon to the three of us, in more ways than one might I add. For starters, and I can’t stress that enough, she was able not only to drive off the boar that was ravaging RD’s side, but to reduce the wild hog into a terrified piglet in less than half a minute. I mean what could possibly be more awesome than that? There was however something more important than her just being able to talk off wildlife from attacking one of us.

She was the only one with any sort of medical experience in our small group.

Now I know for a fact that ponies have different anatomy than most animals, and considering Fluttershy was working for the most part with animals only, many would have their doubts about letting her dress their wounds. However, she possessed a natural talent of sorts when it came to medicine, and her extensive experience with injured creatures could come extremely handy in many cases. She was good enough to even improvise with creatures she didn’t exactly know that well, if at all, and have good results. And considering that Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and I were changed into beings that we never even seen before was enough for Fluttershy to improvise in that manner with Rainbow's injuries.

As I already pointed out, the boar we encountered looked and behaved differently from their counterparts back home, and that also included sharper tusks. As the hog attacked Dash and managed to get to her side, the sharpened point of its overgrown teeth made quick work of her skin, leaving a nasty wound in its wake. From what I could tell (and that’s not much considering I don’t exactly know too much about puncture or slashing wound, not to mention I feel lightheaded just by looking at blood), the gash was deep, and I’m actually surprised that Rainbow wasn’t wailing in agony the whole time. Then again, once the excitement of battle subsided, she did in fact began writhing in pain as the fact she was hurt got to her. And that’s where Fluttershy got to work.

I didn’t see the whole thing, as in that particular moment Pinkie decided to help me down from the tree I was hanging right now (thankfully she didn’t brake of the branch I was dangling from like she did with RD). However what I wasn’t able to see I made up with what I heard. Apparently seizing the opportunity, Fluttershy began chewing Rainbow Dash out for the way she was handling the situation with the boar, mentioning that the fight with the creature could be avoided if she went up a tree like us and that provoking it to attack was a really stupid idea and so on and so forth. All I can say is that she sounded like a rather angry mother scolding her filly. That doesn’t mean however that she didn’t do her fair share of work with dressing the wound of her fellow pegasus.

I could barely see in the dark now, yet Fluttershy, as well as Pinkie Pie, were apparently able to see quite well in these conditions. Then again, Fluttershy was a pegasus originally, and pegasi have supreme eyesight when it comes to conditions of dim light. This trait apparently was also true to her new form, and so once I noticed the shy mare picking up a strange plant that I completely overlooked from apparently nowhere I wasn’t that much surprised.

Now, I’m no expert on natural remedies and the like, so I had to believe that whatever Fluttershy was doing she knew was safe, but seeing her plucking the leafs of the plant and then shoving them inside her mouth, chewing them and grimacing at what I guess must have been the bitter taste of it, only to spit them out in the form of a green and moist paste and apply that goo to Dash’s wound –it didn’t exactly look that sanitary. Then again what do I know, maybe that was a natural antiseptic or something. I was about to comment on that when Fluttershy did something that most mares wouldn’t even consider doing in all their lives.

She grabbed one of the long sleeves of the dress she was wearing and ripped it off.

I was initially confused as to why she did something like that. Spending some time around Rarity (unfortunately not as much as I would like) I learned that most mares value their dresses more than their weight in gold. To see Fluttershy tear off a good piece of it on her own accord would surely render Rarity speechless to ‘such profanity against the fine art of tailoring’, that or make her forget about her ladylike behavior and fly into a berserker rage. However not long after the shy mare did what she did I learned what was her reasoning behind that.

The torn off sleeve served Fluttershy as a impromptu bandage. She used it to dress Rainbow’s wound, the long slice of material able to wrap around her waist and leaving strands long enough to easily tie into a firm knot. Once done with that, Fluttershy finally gave the cyan mare the green light, but not without looking at her sternly, giving her a rather clear message: ‘next time you provoke an animal into attacking you, you’re on your own’.

Now, with Rainbow’s wound dressed as well as Pinkie and me safely on the ground we were able to continue our search for the rest of our friends. That is we would be if I didn’t decide to insist on taking something to defend ourselves with. I mean we ran into a boar with a really foul mood rather easily, what was there to say that we wouldn’t bump into something bigger, angrier and not as easily susceptible to Fluttershy’s Stare. The rest agreed with me, although we needed to coax Fluttershy to do the same once she reverted back into her old, shy self, and with but a few minutes of work we managed to rig up four of the broken off branches into makeshift weapons. Well, clubs really, but that kind of makes us sound like savages or something.

Equipped with our new improvised weapons we began once again traversing the thick forest. The night was still in its full swing, blanketing the world in darkness and shadows, but as I said, Pinkie Pie and apparently Fluttershy were able to see in those conditions rather well. Problem is, the darkness was enough to make the latter of the two mares scared senseless, shaking like if she was made of jelly and lag behind us. It came as no surprise then that we didn’t exactly sped up our search that much, and considering Dash’s injury and the fact it forced her to walk more gingerly as to not aggravate her wounds more made the trek even slower. However, the prime concern was with the butter-yellow mare that was nearing a heart attack, RD could handle herself on her own, and her pride even now prevented her from asking or accepting any help.

Normally in a situations like this I wouldn’t be that keen on letting Pinkie Pie take the lead, fearing her randomness would lead us into even more trouble, but the situation was far from normal. Pinkie being able to see in the darkness better than me was the prime example of my reasoning. And I felt I could trust RD to keep an eye on her while I tried to somehow calm Fluttershy down. Yes, I know, I’m not exactly what one would call psychotherapist material, nor am I a natural smooth-talker, but I did know that if I would able to at least distract Fluttershy from her surroundings she wouldn’t be so terrified. So with a firm resolve to help the shy mare I walked to her.

Breaking trough to her wasn’t exactly a walk in a park. Fluttershy, as terrified of the dark as she was, had a really hard time to take her mind off of it. I had to repeat my attempts several times before she gathered the courage to answer me, and even then it was but a muffled whisper I was barely able to make out amongst the rustling sounds our group was making. Straining my newly acquired ears I was only then able to understand what she was saying. Fortunately over time she was getting more and more into her story, and I do believe that my prompting her to continue and constant claims that I was really interested in what she had to say had much to do with it.

I initially asked her what she remembered before she ended up in this strange forest. The answer I received was exactly what I expected to hear –the attack of the Ursa on Ponyville, Twilight using some really powerful spells to deal with it and finally a bright flash of light before blacking out. Having that confirmed I began inquiring about where she landed and was it anywhere near the place she found us. Apparently it wasn’t exactly so. While she did land in the same forest as us, which was obvious, Fluttershy also stated that once she woken up in a foreign place her initial reaction was to flee as fast as she could. That led to her discovering her new body, and that in turn served only to fuel her panic even more. Only after running for what appeared to be hours (probably minutes) had she collapsed and tried to hide somewhere, all the while trying to figure out what actually happened. And that’s when she heard Pinkie's yelling.

Apparently it was the pink party pony’s voice, her shrill hollering that she used to first communicate with Dash and then me was what coaxed the shy mare to leave her safe heaven (actually only a fallen pine tree that she used for cover) and seek us out. And here I thought that Pinkie’s antics were but a nuisance. Back to the matter at claw however, once Fluttershy left her safe place she found us relatively easily, all she had to do was follow the noise we were making. Once she found us however she didn’t approach us right away. We are after all looking differently than usual, and considering her rather withdrawn nature she was probably scared of us and needed time to build up her confidence and come and meet us. And that’s when the hog decided to stir things up a bit.

It was relatively easy to guess that Fluttershy witnessed the whole ordeal with the wild boar. It also explained why she was so cross with Rainbow Dash the moment she let the hog on its way. As she seen the whole incident, she perfectly knew that the whole thing could be avoided and that it was as much the pig’s as RD’s fault that this fight even took place. In short, she wasn’t very happy about her friend’s behavior, and it could be seen by the way she acted towards her while tending to her wounds.

By the time Fluttershy ended her side of the story she was behaving much more confident than moments before. She gotten so much into her own tale that she more or less forgotten about the darkness that was surrounding us, as well as the fact that we were generally lost. It was good to hear her more confident however, and it proved to be a rather large boost to our group’s morale. All in all, Fluttershy’s confidence, as small amount as it was, was enough to lift the spirits of even the most fatalistic of ponies.

While we were walking silently through the forest I was beginning to piece together some facts. First off: our current appearance. I already figured out that whatever we were changed into was most probably the local equivalent of ponies. Pinkie, Rainbow, and I were all different from one another in one way or another, the key difference being our heights, but we looked mostly the same. True, I wasn’t a pony to begin with, but that only served to support my theory –I was different from both mares I mentioned. I was slowly beginning to piece together what the equivalents to earth ponies and pegasi must have looked like by studying both mares’ appearances, but then Fluttershy had to come along.

She looked different from Rainbow Dash, that much was certain. At first I assumed that the local analogue to pegasus ponies had as follows: small, round ears; about ten to twelve hoofs height; relatively round heads and rather small eyes, at least in comparison with Pinkie’s enormous blue orbs. Fluttershy however had longer ears ending with sharp tips; she was at least a hoof taller than Rainbow Dash (a fact that both mares were surprised at, considering they were about the same height back home); she had a bit sharper features when it came to her face and had larger, more expressive eyes and as I gathered from observing her move she was both more graceful and her frame was more slender than the rainbow maned mare’s. Again, the differences weren’t something groundbreaking, but it was as clear as day that Fluttershy and RD weren’t exactly the same species anymore. And that could mean only one thing –my theory about us turning into analogue creatures depending on our base species wasn’t worth one bit. Maybe whatever changed us worked at random?

The second thing I figured out was that whatever transported us here decided it would be a good idea to split us up and place us at random spots in this forest. It was both reassuring and scary at the same time to be honest. The thought that we were in the same forest was the reassuring bit. And the scary part? Nopony knew exactly how large the forest was. For all I knew, it could be as large as the jungles of Zebrafica.

I was so caught up with those thoughts that I almost overlooked our group stopping. Only thanks to me walking into Pinkie Pie, who apparently saw something between the trees and stopped to take a better look did I notice that something was going on. Picking myself from the ground and apologizing profusely to Pinkie for knocking her down I ask why did we stopped. To my surprise it was Fluttershy who answered my question.

“Um… Spike? I-I believe that this is… um… the thing that you’re asking about.” While she was saying that she pointed with one of her ‘claws’ in the direction I noticed Pinkie staring before. Taking the hint I looked that way, squinting my eyes in search of whatever we were looking at.

At first I didn’t see anything. All that I could make out in the darkness were the shadowy shapes of trees and the minuscule movement of the odd bushes and shrubs. After a moment however I was able to notice something peculiar: a soft, orange-yellow sheen, like the glow of a fire. But what could it be? It was too small for a forest fire, of that I was certain. So was it a bonfire? Was there somepony out there camping?

I looked at the girls, asking them silently what should we do. I wasn’t one for making decisions after all, it was usually Twilight that called the shots and I was just doing what she asked me to. Finally, after a moment of silent musing Rainbow decided to speak up:

“Well, what’re we waiting for? We should check it out.” She said confidently, taking a step in the direction of the light. Moments later however she cringed and clutched at her side, hissing in pain.

“Easy there Dashie, don’t get to hasty.” Said Pinkie, appearing at the side of her friend and acting as a makeshift crutch for her. Dash in turn began muttering something, I could only make out ‘stupid pig’ and ‘all its fault’.

“For the record, I don’t think going there is a good idea.” Added Fluttershy, her voice once again barely above a whisper. “What if it’s something… scary?”

“No offense Fluttershy, but you find your own shadow scary.” Rainbow retorted, completely forgetting that not half an hour earlier the shy pegasus valiantly stood her ground against a raging boar and talked it down. “Besides, that could be Twi or AJ for all we know. Now come on, the sooner we get there the sooner we’ll be able to get out of this forest.”

“Okay, if you say so…” Muttered Fluttershy, once again giving up without a fight. I was beginning to wonder if there was some kind of switch to turn off meek Fluttershy and turn on awesome, fear-inducing Fluttershy, that’s how differently she could act at times.

“Hey, I've got an idea!” Pinkie proclaimed suddenly, bouncing in one spot and sticking out her ‘claw’ in the air, like if she was in school and trying to get the teacher’s attention.

“Yes Pinkie?” Dash asked, looking at the party pony warily.

“Why don’t I go there first, all sneaky and stealthy, and see if whatever is out there is friendly or not. It would be so much fun, acting all super agent Pinkie Pie and all…”

“You know what Pinkie? That’s actually not a bad idea.” I had to make a double take on that one. Did Rainbow Dash just agree to send Pinkie Pie, the most energetic pony on the face of the planet to do a stealth-based mission? That couldn’t end well. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t voice my concerns before the pink hurricane of energy proclaimed her victory.

“Alright!” Yep, definitely a bad idea. And once I shot a look at RD I noticed, that she too was having second thoughts. Unfortunately, Pinkie was already on her way, jumping from tree trunk to tree trunk for cover in a highly exaggerated fashion, all the while humming some sort of tune.

I looked at Rainbow again with my eyebrow raised.

“You know that this isn’t going to end well, do you?”

“Yeah, I… kinda noticed that right about now.” RD answered, after which she facehoofed (faceclawed?) and muttered: “Why did I agree to this again?”

Sadly, there was nothing we could do; Pinkie was too far away now and to find her and bring her back somepony would need to go there and do that personally. Having that possibility crossed out for us, all we could do was wait and hope for the best.

Minutes dragged on mercilessly while we waited in total silence. Try as we might, we couldn’t see nor hear Pinkie Pie, which was both a great relief and a frightening fact to us. We couldn’t tell if she was found out by whoever was there or if she was still undetected, but we knew one thing –we apparently underestimated the pink party animal. Who would've thought that she could actually be quiet this long.

“Ugh… what’s taking her so long?!” Rainbow groaned impatiently, beginning to pace. “What, is she preparing a surprise party for them or something?!”

“Knowing Pinkie Pie, that could be an option.” I answered and was rewarded with an annoyed look from the rainbow maned mare. “What? You asked.”

“This is ridiculous!” She finally proclaimed, looking pointedly in the direction the party pony went. “I’m going in… ugh…!” She wasn’t even able to take a simple step before her injured side reminded her about her condition. Dash stumbled a bit, but was able to maintain her balance.

“Not in that condition you aren’t.” It was again firm Fluttershy, giving Rainbow a pointed look which made her actually take a step back. “I already told you, you’re in no condition to be running around. You might hurt yourself if you keep overexerting yourself like that.”

“Yes, I know that, I remember what you told me mom.” Was the snarky reply of the future Wonderbolt. I kinda felt that she was getting more and more frustrated by something, probably it had something to do with Pinkie’s long silence, but to work it off on innocent Fluttershy? That was uncalled for. I was about to step in and try to calm Rainbow down before she said something that would really hurt Fluttershy’s feelings when we all heard something.

“*overdramatic-gasp* Rarity!?! Is that yo… Ouch, What’s the big id…” We heard screaming that could belong only to one pink pony, interrupted by a loud slamming sound and an equally loud thud. The three of us exchanged worried glances, figuring out that whatever happened  wasn’t good, and we silently agreed that we needed to help our friend, even if it meant going straight into an ambush. There was however one thing that kinda stood out to me.

Pinkie yelled something about Rarity.

There was no time to analyze that bit of information. We needed to get there ASAP and pondering about something as trivial as that would bring as nowhere. So we ran, or at least hobbled hastily in the direction from which Pinkie’s voice came in Dash’s case, and hoped to get there before something terrible happened. Even Fluttershy seemed to be more concerned about Pinkie than possibly getting involved in something she normally avoided.

We were nearing the orange-yellow glow of the fire as quickly as we could, all the while keeping our eyes peeled for any signs of danger. The way there wasn’t the easiest; it was dotted with thick shrubs and dense foliage hindering our every move, and to make matters worse we weren’t able to keep quiet, making enough noise to easily alarm whoever was out there to our presence. That didn’t matter however, we needed to get to Pinkie and save her from whatever attacked her.

After a long and tiring sprint trough the thickets we finally managed to reach the orange glow, our makeshift weapons in our grasps, ready for the inevitable fight. After breaching the last of the bushes on our way we emerged on a small clearing, surrounded by the thick woods from every side, on the center of which burned a small campfire. Not far away from the fire two halves of a split log were lying, forming a sitting area of sorts in front of the campfire, as well as a conveniently placed tree stump not too far away. That wasn’t however important right now, the more pressing matter was what happened to Pinkie Pie and where were the ones that attacked her.

It didn’t take us long to locate the assailants. One of them was standing not twenty hoofs from us, an improvised club in the form of a broken off tree branch in its grip, leaning over the lying form with a storm of pink hair on its head. That one definitely was the reason why Pinkie lay unconscious on the ground. A few hoofs from her stood the second aggressor, this one lacking any weapon and looking more confused than anything. There was however something surprisingly familiar about those two…

I wasn’t allowed to think about that too long before the situation got more complicated, as usual. Rainbow Dash, as impulsive as ever, even with an injured side decided that the best course of action was to tackle the enemy first, ask questions later. It came as no surprise to me that she all but launched herself at the one with the club in hand, forgetting about her own weapon in the process and attempted to pin her to the ground. Key word being attempted; her side once again got the better of her and after taking a few quick steps she doubled over in pain, stumbling on her feet and barely managing not to step on the downed Pinkie. However she was able to force the one standing above the party pony to take a few steps back by slamming into her head first.

The one half-tackled by Rainbow looked to be confused; she didn’t even try to break free from her improvised grapple, nor was she making any use of the branch she was still holding. She looked down on the once pegasus that was just now trying to knock her over while at the same time trying to ignore the pain in her side, a startled expression on her face, and it was clear that she didn’t know what to do. I for myself was about to go and try to help RD bring her to the ground, but then I took a better look at the creature Dash was trying to knock over.

The first thing I noticed was that it looked to belong to the same species as Dash did. Same round ears, similar built… But then I began noticing more of the fine features that discerned her from RD. She had a long, blond mane tied at the end with a simple red ribbon, forming a ‘ponytail’. She also had a face dotted with freckles and a pair of green eyes, now wide in confusion and surprise. But the thing that was most prominent was one of the articles of her clothing: a simple, brown Stetson hat resting on top of her head.

“Applejack?”

My quiet mutter went unnoticed by Rainbow Dash, who still was unaware of who exactly was she trying to bring down and was still valiantly trying to trip. AJ however, or at least I think it was her finally snapped out of her daze and began to actively resist RD’s attempts. She tossed the branch she was holding to the ground and using both her ‘claws’ she grabbed the cyan mare by the shoulders and tried to get her to let go. It wasn’t that hard for the farmpony to do just that, not with Rainbow in the condition she was in, and after a few moments she broke free of her hold. Dash however wasn’t going to let that stop her. She quickly renew her efforts to bring AJ down, yet she didn’t get far with that. Expecting something like this to happen she still held on to RD’s shoulders and prevented her from getting anywhere near her. Rainbow of course didn’t just give up and she started trashing, trying to kick at Applejack’s legs end even to bit on to her arms.

“Gosh darn it RD, quit trashin’ an’ look at me girl!” AJ, finally having enough of Rainbow’s antics shook her by her shoulders, trying to force her to look at her. Her voice however was enough to calm Dash down. She stopped struggling, a surprised expression appearing on her face, and she looked with wide eyes at who she was fighting with just moments ago, her face slowly shifting into a confused frown.

“Applejack, that you? What the hay’s going on!?”

“Ah could ask ya the same question. What in tarnation were ya thinking, attackin’ me like that?! Don’t ya have eyes, didn’t ya see who ya were tryin’ ta wrestle?!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that you look different! And you were standing over Pinkie with a branch, like you were gonna brain her to death or something, what was I to think… wait a moment.” Dash’s eyes suddenly lit up in realization. “It was you who smacked Pinkie on the head, wasn’t it? Why the hay did you do that for?!”

“Eh…” AJ looked sheepish at that, shooting a glance at the unconscious form of Pinkie lying on the ground, now tended to by Fluttershy. “Well she up an’ startled me, Ah reacted on reflex an’ all! It’s not like Ah knew it was her! ‘Sides, Ah an’ miss Prissy Princes over yonder had a bit of a tussle with the local wildlife.” She added the last bit pointing her thumb at her companion that I quickly identified as Rarity.

I have to admit, I zoned out a bit, staring at Rarity and taking in her new looks. She appeared to be changed into whatever Fluttershy was transformed, her stature, pointy ears and slender frame were testament enough. Yet she still was most definitely recognizable, even in this form. Her elegant, purple mane flowed from her head as usual, giving her an almost angelic look and beautifully accenting her deep, blue eyes, her eyelashes only adding to her beauty. Even now, changed into a foreign creature she still possessed an inalienable air of beauty over her, tough the lack of a unicorn horn was rather hard to get used to.

After a few minutes of ogling Rarity I noticed the gown she was wearing, and it appeared that it reflected her skills as a fashionista well if you ask me. It wasn’t maybe as extravagant as her usual creations, but it was no less elegant, at least in my opinion. Like with Fluttershy’s dress, it was a one-piece creation with long sleeves. It was as white as Rarity’s coat and was decorated here and there with what appeared to be strands of silvery thread forming intricate designs. However, it had one major flaw.

The dress was stained in multiple places with what appeared to be grass, dirt, pine needles and a sickly yellow goo I couldn’t identify. I was genuinely surprised that Rarity was still wearing something as horribly soiled as that gown –she usually didn’t want to have anything to do with anything even partially as dirty as this, yet she still wore this one. More even, I noticed a few patches of material that must have been cleaned by her own ‘claw’, sporting less dirt than the other parts of the dress. Either Rarity really liked the way this gown looked, or there was something more at play here.

Once I finally forced my gaze away from the fashion-loving unicorn I noticed that I missed out on a rather hefty dose of conversation. Apparently RD and AJ finally cooled down enough to quit picking fights with one another and focus on Pinkie Pie. The mare in question was still unconscious, a large bump on her forehead, and was still tended to by Fluttershy. I think Pinkie would be alright, especially considering that she began muttering something in a dazed manner. I think I was able to make out the words ‘…you’re a toymaker’s creation trapped inside a crystal ball…’ or something along those lines. I also was able to pick up on the way Rarity was looking at Applejack –it was an annoyed, borderline disdainful look. I’m guessing that spending so much time with a mare that was so starkly different from her left Rarity with a clawful of reasons as to why Applejack was ‘unladylike’ and why to avoid spending too much time with her. Eh… this was going to get interesting pretty quickly, and in a definitely unpleasant way.

“Um… I think we should… um… give Pinkie some time to recover. I can’t do anything more to help her. Sorry.” Muttered Fluttershy in her normal, caring yet subdued voice, looking at Rainbow and AJ apologetically.

“That’s alright sugarcube, Ah’m the one responsible for her condition anyways. Ya don’ have ta apologize for anythin’, ya did yer best.” Applejack responded reassuringly, giving the shy mare a friendly pat on the shoulder.

“You do realize that if you just let me handle the situation we could have avoided all this?” For the first time I heard Rarity’s voice, as beautiful as ever, yet laced with some bitterness and superiority towards the farmpony. Applejack rolled her eyes not that subtly at that.

“An’ here we go again.” She muttered, after which she faced Rarity with a glare. “For yer information, Ah kinda was in a tight spot back then an’ Ah couldn’ jus’ take mah sweet time an’ check if whoever was commin’ was friendly or not. Ah needed ta make a decision on the fly.”

“Yes, and we all see how well that ended up now, don’t we.” Rarity added, looking at Pinkie, who’s leg began shaking in her sleep-like state, pity evident in her eyes. “Poor darling got her head almost bashed in by your barbaric behavior.”

“Ah already said, it was an accident! How could Ah know that this ‘ere was Pinkie?!”

“Oh I don’t know, maybe if you were paying more attention to details you would have noticed that Pinkie, before you so brutally assaulted her, mentioned my name?” Okay, this was getting ridiculous. If somepony wasn’t going to step in, this would become a match of verbal ping-pong, only degrading over time into petty insults if AJ’s angered expression was anything to go by.

I looked expectantly at Rainbow Dash. The cyan mare however wasn’t about to go and try to break them up it seemed, opting for silently watching the verbal fight unfold. Okay, so she wasn’t the best of choices. Fluttershy I could count out altogether, she was to meek to try and interrupt the two arguing mares. Sigh… why couldn’t we have run in into Twilight again? She was way better at this than me…

I stepped between the two girls who were now glaring daggers at one another, rising my ‘claws’ in a soothing manner. “Okay, settle down. We’re all confused by what’s happening here and we make mistakes because of this, no need to argue between ourselves because of it.”

“Listen ‘ere lil’ Princess, Ah was tryin’ ta keep yer keister safe, ‘cause ya sure ain’t the type that knows how ta handle yerself in the wild! But what do Ah get in return? Nothin’ but whinin’, that’s what!” I’m beginning to suspect that they weren’t listening to me.

“Oh, I am most definitely not whining! I am merely pointing out thing’s that you with your lack of appreciation for details overlook. If you took your time to think things through, Pinkie wouldn’t be lying unconscious with a great lump on her forehead!” Yep, they most definitely haven’t listened to me.

“Well ‘scuse me for not takin’ mah sweet time an’ lettin’ a potentially dangerous thing rip yer face off!”

“It was Pinkie Pie, the worst she would do to me would be hug me a bit too tightly.”

“But what if it wasn’t Pinkie Pie, ya ever taught of that?”

“But it was Pinkie Pie!”

“Ah’m talkin’ hypothetical like!”

“Would you two just shut up!?” I finally snapped, having enough of this ridiculous argument. That at least got their attention, because both Applejack and Rarity looked at me with surprise clear on their faces. “This is pointless! This argument has no sense! So yeah, Applejack knocked out Pinkie Pie, thinking it was something that wanted to attack the two of you. It was an accident. Accidents do happen, and no amount of arguing is going to make it right! And to be quite frank, I think we have bigger issues than discussing Applejacks fault or the lack thereof. So just take a deep breath, count down from ten, take a seat and calm the buck down!”

I’m beginning to think I overdid it, but I was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. At least my little outburst seemed to work. Applejack and Rarity did shut up, the latter of the two however not before letting out a undignified huff at my choice of words. I might have just lowered my chances with her now that I think about it. Good going brain, you really outdid yourself this time.
> Act One Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown forest, Date unknown, (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Hours after midnight


We were sitting around the campfire, most of us trying to figure out what to do next. About an hour past since my outburst and the six of us collectively decided that we should wait until Pinkie Pie came to herself and for Rainbow Dash to rest up and let her injured side take a break from all the straining activity.

The atmosphere around the fire was depressing for the most part. Without Pinkie Pie to cheer us up with her endless bounds of enthusiasm the gravity of the situation we found ourselves in was beginning to get to us. Add to that the quarrel between Rarity and Applejack, as well as the fact that the fashionista was pointedly ignoring her, looking in the opposite direction of the farmpony all the time and you have a rather good idea how tense the mood was. And Rainbow's grumbling wasn’t helping.

Most of the time we spent in silence, either staring into the fire or keeping an eye out on the forest surrounding us. If there were any conversations, they were rather strained. Rarity was too busy with her attempts to get at least a part of the grime from her dress off (although she did almost flip out once she took a better look at what Fluttershy was wearing, especially its current state), AJ patrolled the clearing, Rainbow was sulking and Fluttershy was Fluttershy. Still, I was able to get at least a part of Rarity’s and Applejack’s story.

Contrary to our previous examples, Applejack and Rarity appeared relatively close to one another. So close in fact that once one of them tried to stand up, the other one cried out in surprise, ordering the other to back away (it was rather obvious who shouted and who stood). Fortunately they quickly came to the conclusion who was who and after spending some time pondering their new appearances and what should they do Applejack decided that there was no reason for them to linger and that they should try and find us. Back then Rarity was actually thankful for the fact she had awoken near somepony as well versed in survival as AJ, but that changed quickly after but a few moments.

Rarity never was a mare interested in camping, or any wilderness-oriented activities period. It wasn’t that big a surprise then that after a mere few minutes of threading trough the woods she began complaining. If anything, Applejack was surprised she lasted as long as she did. Somewhat prepared for this, she was able to mostly tune the unicorn out and concentrate on finding her way through the woods, and for the most part it worked. For the most part.

All seemed well for about an hour, tough finding a way out of the forest came out as a failure. Rarity was still complaining, Applejack was still trying to make heads or tails of the forest and generally the duo was beginning to get a little bit annoyed with one another. I mean come on, how long can a mare listen to another mare’s constant complaining, or how would you feel if you were ignored for over an hour? That probably brought a lapse in concentration in AJ’s case, ‘cause she failed to see something that Rarity later on described as ‘completely obvious’, which by the way earned an annoyed glare from the farmpony.

They were just passing a small mound of dead pine branches, a harmless enough thing to pass by to be sure. Yet once Applejack moved past it, she apparently failed to notice the thing shift in a definitely conspicuous manner. Moments later something burst out of the pile of branches and launched itself at the blond mare.

There was a bit of confusion, the story getting blurry as both mares recounted the events differently, but from what we gathered they were attacked by a tick. Yes, I know how it sounds, but it was no ordinary tick to say the least. It was apparently the size of a full grown dog and unusually aggressive, lunging at them and trying desperately to sink its mandibles in them and drink their blood. The sheer size of the arachnid was enough to make the two mares consider fleeing, and taking into account we were talking about Rarity here, that’s exactly what she did.

Now, I’m no expert on tick behavior, all I do know is that they are parasitic beings that drink blood, kind of like vampires, and that they usually ‘attack’ by waiting for a creature to come by them, planting themselves on their bodies and biting into their flesh to drink their lifeblood. This one however acted differently. Apparently the moment its initial attack on AJ failed, the farmpony jumping out of its way at the last possible moment and preparing to defend herself, it decided to target Rarity instead. Why it did that and decided to chase after her instead of confronting the less ‘lively’ prey I don’t have the slightest clue, but the thing is it did just that. It all but forgotten about AJ and concentrated on chasing after the fleeing fashionista.

The next part of the story wasn’t that interesting. It consisted mainly of Rarity running blindly trough the forest, pursued by a gigantic tick, and Applejack trying to follow them to the best of her abilities. Of course seeing as AJ lacked the superior eyesight that Rarity’s new form possessed it wasn’t that easy for her to keep track of them, but fortunately she managed, and in the meantime she was able to make herself an improvised weapon to deal with the arachnid. Of course I was talking about a branch-turned makeshift club. Really, I was beginning to feel proud that I had the exact same idea as somepony as well versed in outdoor escapades as Applejack.

Back to the story, Rarity, after a good few minutes of fleeing blindly trough the forest thickets found her way to the same clearing we were in at the moment. She tried to keep on going and not let the tick get to her, but her legs were giving up on her, not used to such abuse, and she tripped in the most undesirable moment. While she was trying to get to her feet, the tick had finally caught up to her. Losing no time the arachnid flung itself at her, grabbing on to her with its multiple legs and pinning her to the ground. It also tried to bite onto her, but Rarity either by a streak of unfathomable luck or sheer self-defense instinct was able to avoid being successfully deprived of her lifeblood long enough for AJ to catch up to her.

Once Applejack saw what was going on she wasting no time and began assaulting the tick to the best of her abilities. Long story short, she was able to get the beast off of Rarity and managed to seriously wound it, possibly even kill it. Of course at that point Fluttershy looked a bit morbid, any mention of a creature of any kind being killed making her cringe, but she was otherwise okay. That also explained the yellowish goo that stained Rarity’s dress –it was probably the tick’s ichor.

Normally the story would end here with Rarity thanking Applejack for saving her life and all that, but this wasn’t the case. Instead, Rarity blamed AJ for bringing this ‘abomination’ on her, even though it clearly wasn’t her fault (the vile thing was waiting in an ambush and was probably hunting either way). More even, she began lashing out on her failed attempts on leading her out of this ‘horrid forest’ or finding their friends, and over time she was beginning to point out more and more things that she counted as Applejack’s flaws, less and less concerning the events of the last few hours and concentrating on things seemingly unrelated. AJ wasn’t one to back down from a fight, so she began to counter-criticize Rarity, pointing out her uselessness in a situation like this and stating that if it wasn’t for her efforts she would probably be tick-food by now. And that lasted for a good chunk of an hour. The two apparently came to a cease-fire minutes before Pinkie burst in and startled AJ.

All those things that I’ve learned from listening to this story, all Rarity and Applejack said –it was beginning to confuse me more and more. Not the story itself mind you, I understood it fairly easily, but the implications it brought with it just boggled my mind. Up until now, whatever transported us to this forest was sure to place us at random. In this case however it went the opposite rout, dumping both mares practically side by side. Then the kinds of creatures the two of them were transformed, they made little sense. I mean yeah, AJ was basically the same thing now that RD was, so that might've meant that whatever creature they now were was used to physical work, as both of them were quite athletic. But Rarity and Fluttershy? What did they have in common? Maybe it was because of the fact both of them were extremely graceful? Or maybe their good looks? Because that’s the extent of similarities that I can think of right now.

I quickly came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be able to figure this out on my own. I wasn’t as smart as Twilight, and the extent of my knowledge was what I was thought by her or remembered from the times I helped her in her research… Wait a moment, what did Twi usually say about research? ‘The best results are achieved by running a problem by a larger group of ponies to acquire more data and take into account multiple points of view’, or in laymare's terms –the more of us working on it the better! I needed to talk about it with the others, maybe if we brainstormed we would be able to figure something out!

I looked at the girls and cleared my throat, gaining their attention. “Hey girls, I’ve been thinking: does any of you have any idea why we ended up here?” Okay, that was a bit blunt coming from me, and random. Guess somepony needed to fill up in Pinkie’s ‘absence’.

“Call me mad but I think it was magic.” Rainbow replied sarcastically, crossing her arms on her chest. “Seriously Spike, you were there, I was there, even Fluttershy was there. We all know what happened.”

“Well the thing is it’s not as simple as you might think.” I replied, and upon seeing a raised eyebrow from her I continued. “What’s the last thing you remember before ending up here?”

“Well, Twilight was casting some serious magic on that bear creature and something went funky with her spell.” The cyan mare said, looking confused at my question.

“Define ‘funky’.” I ordered.

“Well, her aura-thingy got bigger and brighter…”

“Brighter as in…”

“Spike, you knew full well how it looked, you’ve been there, remember?” I think I was beginning to annoy Dash. Still, I wanted to hear that answer, as obvious as it was, from her lips, so that there was no mistake. So I stared at her impassively. After a few moments she gave in. “Alright already! Sheesh… It was blindingly bright. Ya happy now?”

“Yes, quite.” I nodded at her and looked at the others. “You girls seen the same blinding flash of light before we ended up here too I suppose?”

Fluttershy only nodded in response, AJ and Rarity following suit moments later. I nodded to myself and looked at Rarity. “As a unicorn, what do you know about magical overload?”

Rarity looked mildly surprised, probably at me knowing about something like that, but answered nonetheless: “I cannot speak out of my own experience in the matter as I never overexerted myself in that sort of way, but I do know that magical overload usually ends up making a unicorn’s spell that he or she is actually casting misfire.”

“Does this misfire consists of spells working in a undesirable way or…?”

“From what I believe it either fails entirely, not working, or overcharges the spell, leaving control to the unicorn in question. Practically the only negative repercussion of that kind of overcharge is magical exhaustion the unicorn feels for some time after the spell ends, depending on the reserves the individual possesses.”

“So magical overload can’t… I don’t know… spontaneously change a simple levitation spell into an overpowered teleportation spell?” I pressed on, and as a response Rarity shook her head no.

“No, it simply does not work in that way.”

“Hold up there a minute. Ah always thought that unicorn magic can get mighty uncontrollable if overloaded.” Applejack interjected, scratching her head in confusion.

“Yeah, ain’t that like what usually gets unicorns in all sorts of trouble?” RD backed up AJ’s argument. In response Rarity only shook her head.

“I wouldn’t expect anything different from the two of you. Most non-unicorns believe that, but I can assure you that it’s a blatant misconception, common among earth ponies and pegasi.” Rarity adopted a superior pose while saying that, which was beginning to get on the nerves of both mares she addressed. Fortunately, she quickly noticed the less then amused stares and reverted to a more neutral one.

“Rarity does have a point.” I spoke up, a feeble attempt to get on her good side. “Magical overload doesn’t work like you two described it. Inexperience and poorly executed experiments on the other hoof, that’s where the real ‘fun’ is.”

All four mares stared at me like if I sprouted a second head, mouths agape. To be honest I expected a reaction like that – I mean a non-unicorn knowing things like that? Definitely not that common. Either way even if I expected this sort of response it didn’t mean that I didn’t get creeped out by the stares.

“What!?” I asked defensively, shifting away from the stares. “I lived under one roof with a unicorn whose special talent is literally magic for fourteen years now, it’s not like I’ve been blindfolded all that time!” Good thing Twilight wasn’t anywhere near, she would've surely disappeared my mouth for that slip up. Nonetheless, the girls seemed satisfied with my answer, at least that’s what I’ve got from studying Rarity’s expression.

“Is what he says' true?” Rainbow asked, still looking at me suspiciously.

“And how do you believe I should know that Rainbow Dash?” Replied Rarity undignified, realizing the question was directed at her. “Contrary to popular belief I do not go around poking in on other ponies private lives.”

“Rarity, Ah do believe that RD was askin’ ‘bout the inexperience part.” Applejack interjected, to which Rarity had the dignity to blush, embarrassed of her own improper conclusions.

“Ah, yes… um… yes, it is more than possible for young and inexperienced unicorns to… well… have rather poor control over their powers. And experimenting without supervision from an adult or more experienced unicorn is generally frowned upon. To be honest, I do believe that some of the more colorful stories about magical overloads originated from those kinds of unsupervised experiments.”

“In other words once Sweetie Belle starts learning magic keep clear of her, gotcha.” Rainbow nodded to herself. Rarity looked like she wanted to argue upon hearing that, but thought better of it.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity proceeded to enter a heated discussion about young fillies and colts and which of the three types of ponies had the hardest times in their late childhoods and early teens. RD was just finishing a rather vivid story about the dangers of living in Cloudsdale, especially when it came to pegasi who had still problems with actually flying, a story that was making Fluttershy cringe every few seconds, when I decided to steer the conversation back on track.

“Listen, as entertaining as your story is Rainbow, shouldn’t we be concentrating on something more, I don’t know, pressing, like what the hay actually happened to us?” I butted in once the cyan mare made a remark about young colts going *splat!* upon reaching the ground. She looked a bit annoyed at me for interrupting her, but that quickly gave way once she realized I was right. Fluttershy sent a thankful look my way for finally stopping RD.

“Ah dunno what more there is ta talk ‘bout.” Applejack interjected, looking confused. “Ah mean Ah don’t really see a reason why we’re talkin’ ‘bout unicorn magic and whatnot, ‘sides the obvious Ah mean.” She added, gesturing to her body and the surrounding forest.

“We’re getting there Applejack, don’t worry.” I assured. “And by the way: thanks for mentioning our other thing, I almost forgot about that. Now: have any of you noticed something weird with us after we landed here?” I didn’t need to wait too long for Rainbow Dash to answer that.

“Well duh… Whatever we are, we’re not ponies anymore.” Pointing out the obvious, just as I suspected.

“Well yes, that is quite noticeable.” Added Rarity, looking over herself and comparing herself to the others. “I cannot say if I’m comfortable with the way I look right now or not. This creature just looks so… alien. And don’t get me started on the absolutely horrendous stains on my dress, they’re simply dreadful.”

“No offense but Ah still recon that gettin’ all soiled up is better than havin’ yer blood sucked out.” AJ butted in. Rarity glared at her, but remained calm otherwise, thank the stars. I really didn’t want another argument at my claws.

“Yes, well, you all have a good point with that; we do look different, but I wasn’t talking about that, not directly anyway.” This got their attention. Rainbow looked like she wanted to ask what could possibly be more important than us changing shapes into weird, as of yet unnamed creatures, and the rest looked like they wanted to do the same. “What I was referring to was the fact that from the moment we changed none of us had any problems moving around. Don’t you guys find that strange?”

“No, not really.” Answered Rarity, not understanding what I was getting at. “Why should we have problems with moving? It’s not like we were paralyzed or anything as horrible as that.”

“Um… actually, I think that Spike has a point.” Came the soft voice of Fluttershy, barely audible above the crackling of flame. I looked at her with gratitude, happy that at least one of the mares understood what I was getting at. Dash and the others however looked more confused than anything else, and as their eyes fell on the shy mare she let out a small ‘eeep’ and withdrawn, thinking that she somehow insulted the others.

“Darling, whatever do you mean by that?” It was Rarity that spoke up the first, still looking confused. “We can move about just fine, there is nothing wrong with our coordination. Not a single problem whatsoever.”

“Yes, and that’s exactly what I’m referring to.” I stepped up before Rarity had a chance to continue. Seriously, Fluttershy was looking more and more hounded with each passing minute, her anxiousness getting the better of her even tough Rarity was as tactful as ever. “Listen: I can understand why I didn’t find adapting to this body all that hard, and I can kind of understand why Pinkie didn’t have any problems too, seeing that she’s Pinkie Pie. But you guys? It’s just… I don’t know… weird seeing you walk around on two legs and use your ‘claws’ like pros.”

I think that I finally gotten to them. Judging by the expression on Rarity’s and Rainbow’s faces it actually downed on them that they were unknowingly doing something that nopony before them experienced. Both of them looked at their ‘claws’ more carefully, like if they’ve seen them for the first time, and began flexing their fingers and tightening them into fists like if they were testing their abilities. Applejack however… well, she was a different story entirely.

AJ didn’t at first react to what I said, just as if she wasn’t listening to me. To be quite honest, she did scan the tree line in search for any dangers in that moment, so it could be just that. However after a few more minutes and looking oddly at RD and Rarity studying at their ‘claws’ she finally gave a reaction. A rather confused expression appeared on her freckled face and she gazed at Rarity, looking at her as if she was going to ask her something. And soon enough:

“Why are y’all actin’ so surprised? Ah thought that this is normal stuff when ya change all magical like.” That made Rarity pause for a bit and look at AJ with genuine surprise.

“I cannot believe that I am going so say this, but you could be right Applejack.” AJ looked like she wasn’t sure if she should treat that as an insult or not, so she decided to not say anything at all. “I admit, transfiguration magic just isn’t my cup of tea, so my knowledge on the subject is limited. However I do think that your explanation is possible Applejack –I’ve heard stories of unicorns utilizing these types of spells on living creatures and that in turn their ‘test subjects’ retained most of their motor functions.”

“Uh… can somepony translate that into Equestrian?” It was Rainbow’s turn to look confused. Applejack too looked like she wasn’t exactly sure what Rarity just said, tough she seemingly understood the gist of it. Still, I didn’t have any other choice than act as a translator… again.

“Rarity basically said that she heard of unicorns turning creatures into other creatures and that they could move around just fine.” Seriously, and here I thought that I would need to do something like this only with Twilight’s explanations.

Both mares adopted more understanding expressions once I broke it up to them in simpler terms. Rarity in turn looked quite proud of herself –having an opportunity to shine like that, even if it wasn’t related to her dressmaking skills was still enough to stroke her ego a bit. That, and normally when it came to magic it was Twilight that was the first to explain things, so an occasion for the second unicorn of the small group of friends to explain something magic-related was a real rarity.

After a couple of moments Rainbow Dash decided to sum up our findings. “Okay, so we know that whatever happened to us was definitely the work of unicorn magic.” She began. “In other words it was probably the work of Twilight… not intentionally of course!” She added hastily once she spotted our (mine, Rarity’s, AJ’s, and even Fluttershy’s) combined glares. “ I mean we all saw that she had like real problems with her magic once she banished that giant bear thingy.”

“Ursa Major.” I supplemented. Rainbow shot me a pointed look, but I ignored it for the most part.

“Yeah, well, whatever it was, the big bear definitely made Twi overexert herself and she lost control of her magic or something. Then it hit us, changed us into whatever we are now and transported us Celestia knows how far from Ponyville.”

“Not ta burst yer bubble RD but hasn’t Rarity said sumthing ‘bout magical overloads not changin' the way the spell works?” Applejack interjected, pointing out something quite important here. Rainbow however seemed to be prepared for that particular question.

“Yes, Rarity did say that, but she also said that unicorns casting magic that they have no experience in can mess things up reall bad.”

“And you think that Twilight used magic she wasn’t familiar with to stop the Ursa?” I asked, rising an eyebrow. “Seriously Dash, who do you think Twilight is, an amateur like that Trixie pony? She knew what she was doing, and she knew the spells she was casting, even if they were cast on a scale she never used before.”

“Not to mention that your theory does not count in the fact that whatever magic worked on us provided us with some clothing, in my case even some quite marvelous design if I do say so myself.” Rarity butted in, taking pride in the dress she was currently wearing. That is until she remembered it was basically stained with giant tick blood at which point she returned to scrubbing at the material in a vain attempt to clean it up. She had brought up a valid point tough.

For the most part I ignored the fact we were now wearing clothes of any sorts. Apart from the first few moments after I noticed I was changed I didn’t think much about that small detail. I mean it felt like if it was completely normal to have a shirt and pants on. Problem is, it wasn’t normal. I was a dragon, the girls were ponies, and to quote someone wiser than me: ‘we normally don’t wear clothes’.

Rarity in her small explanation mentioned animals being capable of moving unhindered once changed into other creatures. She hadn’t however said anything about any change in their behavior. If we were changed in a similar manner, then shouldn’t we still feel the slight awkwardness of wearing clothes. Or did the change affect also that? And if so then why were we so comfortable  with wearing anything anyway? Did the creatures we were now normally wore clothes? And if so then why?

It appeared that I wasn’t the only one who found this strange. Quite surprisingly, the only pony that wore anything on a regular basis, Applejack, came to the exact same conclusion. She looked first at herself and at the clothes she was wearing (a simple shirt and a pair of pants, all in I think shades of brown or dark orange), then shot a glance at the rest of us, and frowned, scratching her forehead.

“Eh… Listen y'all, Ah suppose y’all noticed it by now, but ain’t it a lil’ bit weird that we actually have clothes in the first place? Ah mean Ah hardly even noticed it an all the scuffle with that gosh-awful tick an’ after that Ah didn’ had the head ta think ‘bout it.”

Rarity looked like she wanted to comment on that, but she bit her tongue before she said anything. Instead it was Rainbow that answered the farmpony’s question.

“Yeah, that does seem quite weird.” It was like if she first noticed she was wearing something, looking herself over with mild interest. “You’d think that something as obvious like this wouldn’t escape our notice. And it’s kind of weird now that I think about it. I mean what gives? Why do we need clothes?”

“Um… I think I might know why…” Fluttershy spoke up shyly. We all looked at her, and this time the girls did at least try to look more soothingly as to not make the timid mare more nervous then she was already and gestured for her to continue. “You see… whatever we are right now… the creatures we turned into… well, I think they actually need clothes to survive.”

We exchanged surprised looks. It was clear that none of us thought about that. Finally Rarity spoke up, asking the question we all had at the moment on our minds:

“Why do you think that these creatures need clothes to survive dear?”

“Um… I actually took some time to look over… myself…” At the mention of that she blushed profusely. After a second however she fought the blush down and continued. “The poor things don’t have any sort of coat or fur besides the hair on their heads. They must get really cold without it, so…”

“So they wear clothes to keep warm.” Rarity finished for her, a look of astonishment on her elegant face. “I must admit, aside from some winter creations it did not occur to me that somepony, or some creature for that matter, would need clothes to actually fend off the cold, not in a temperate climate.”

“It does make sense though.” Rainbow added her own two bits. “Take for example the Wonderbolts. They wear their aviator suits not only because they look awesome in them, but also to protect them from cold while performing. You wouldn’t believe how frosty in can get when you’re spiral diving at a high altitude or doing anything else that high for that matter.”

“Um… may I continue please?” Fluttershy spoke up a little, tough most of us could barely hear her. Nonetheless we all went quite and nodded for her to continue. “I only wanted to say that if the rest of you are any similar to me… I mean to me in this body, like you Rarity… then the clothes probably serve also another… em… function?” She seemed uncertain, but if it was of what she was about to say or how to actually approach the matter we couldn’t tell. After some minutes of Fluttershy fumbling with her words Rainbow was beginning to get fed up.

“Oh for the love of… Listen Fluttershy, you know us for how long? Ten, twelve, fourteen years now? You know perfectly well that we don’t bite and that you can say anything to us and we won’t get upset. So spit it out already!”

“Okay, if you really want to know, then I’ll tell you.” I was genuinely surprised that Rainbow’s rather harsh approach actually gave positive results. Heh, who knew. Either way, Fluttershy took a deep breath, looked at us seriously, and began: “The creatures don’t have fur almost anywhere on their bodies. And that includes the more… private… areas…” Okay, so she did trail off at the end, and she did blush like mad after she said that, but to her defense –so did the others.

Out of the three mares Rarity took that information the hardest. Where RD and AJ only blushed, albeit strong enough to put the glow of the campfire to shame, the fashionista looked like if she just witnessed her boutique burn down to the ground. Mouth agape in an unladylike fashion and eyes as wide as dinner plates, she stared in disbelief at Fluttershy, trying to comprehend what she just heard from her. Sputtering, trying to form the right words, she rose to her feet and began pacing in a vain attempt to calm down.

“You mean to tell me, that we changed into creatures so crude, that they are indecent by nature?! That they… that we are so… I don’t even have the right words to describe how horrid this all is!” It was official now –Rarity was freaking out. Who knew that an information like that would have such an effect on her.

I for myself didn’t exactly see what all the fuss was about. Then again I was a dragon, a reptilian creature, so I didn’t have to worry about being decent –nature provided me with a method far better than those of mammals. However… Come to think of it, now I too was a mammal, weren’t I? Did that mean that…?

Oh boy…

The implications of my position threw me for a loop for awhile, but even after I managed to fight off the blush forming on my own cheeks and clear my thoughts, Rarity was still at it. It seemed that she wouldn’t be stopping her critique of whatever we changed into anytime soon. And to be perfectly honest, it was beginning to get on everypony’s nerves.

“Ya suppose she’s goin’ ta can it anytime soon? Ah think Ah’m gonna go nuts if Ah hafta listen to this any longer.”

“I hear ya sister, tough I wouldn’t count on her shutting up anytime soon. From what I've heard Rarity can go on and on and on…”

“Oh hay no! Ah ain’t gonna listen to this any longer!” With that said Applejack rose to her feet and stomped her way towards Rarity. Once in reach she grabbed the purple maned mare by the shoulders and shook her rather hard. “Snap out of it girl!”

The combination of some rather hard shaking and a loud shout directed straight at her face was enough to make Rarity stop her rant for a moment. She looked genuinely confused as to what had just happened and looked at AJ in a dazed manner for a few seconds. Moments later she stepped back from the farmpony and glared at her, huffing.

“Applejack, darling, don’t you know that yelling at somepony’s face is considered rude in most societies?” Oh boy, here we go again. “Surely even in your… rustic community something like that is considered impolite.”

“Impolite or not, Ah just ‘bout had enough of yer complaining ‘bout what we are now.” Well what do you know, AJ didn’t take Rarity’s bait. “Okay, so dem creatures we’re now ain’t furry enough ta cover up dem important bits, we get it. But it ain’t sumthing worth the time ya spent on whinin’ ‘bout it. ‘Sides, we have clothes an’ apparently they too have clothes, so it ain’t like they’re all goin’ ‘bout naked. An’ Ah’m sure they have a… uh, what’s it called again… a nudity taboo or sumthing in place, so ya need not fret, ya hear?”

For a moment there Rarity looked like if she wasn’t sure what to say; she probably expected Applejack to say something different, but the farmpony surprised her with a well thought answer. Struggling to find something worth criticizing in AJ’s words (I still don’t get it why the two just can’t seem to get along), the fashionista had to eventually admit defeat. Hanging her head in shame she spoke in a small voice:

“I guess you are right Applejack, I may have overreacted just a bit there. It’s just that the thought of being indecent in any manner makes my blood run cold.”

“Don’t ya worry ‘bout that sugarcube, Ah ain’t exactly comfortable with all this as well, but Ah jus’ don’t go on ‘bout it fer hours at a time.” AJ replied, patting Rarity on the arm reassuringly. Contrary to the unicorn, she didn’t appear to want to continue the fight from what I could tell, and it showed, even if she couldn’t resist a slight, playful jab at her flipping out like that. Did that make her a better pony? Possibly, but I wasn’t one to judge. Besides, what matters is how Rarity actually reacted to that.

The mare of my dreams seemed to perk up, knowing that she wasn’t alone in this mess and that others felt like she did. She also seemed to warm up a bit towards Applejack at that moment, sending her a thankful smile and a nod before she stepped back and began straightening her dress in a way that clearly told me that she was doing that only to calm herself down (pros of spending time around a fashionista I guess). Not long after that she resumed her position on the halved log, AJ following suit not long after.

“What?” Applejack asked once she noticed the look RD was giving her –a mischievous smirk accompanied by an arched eyebrow.

“Nudity taboo? Really? I didn’t think you knew such a thing existed Applejack.” Her smirk morphed into a grin as she noticed the frown on AJ’s face.

“Ya callin’ me stupid or sumthing?” She asked accusingly, glaring at Rainbow. “All have ya know, that workin’ on a farm doesn’t automatically mean that somepony’s slow on the uptake. ‘Sides, Ah read a couple o’ books in mah time an’ Ah picked up sum terms from ‘em.”

“So what, you’re an egghead now?” RD was close to bursting out laughing by this point. This however brought Rarity into the fray, who decided that the least she could do was defend Applejack from such accusations. Besides, if reading a book or two automatically makes you an egghead, then not only Applejack, but all of us (with the noticeable exception of a certain cyan mare) were eggheads.

“Applejack is by no stretch of the word an ‘egghead’ (no offense) as you oh so eloquently put it Rainbow Dash. There is no harm in reading a good book from time to time. Why I myself do enjoy some good literature, especially on Sunday mornings and with a cup of hot chocolate at my side.”

“Yeah, an’ what do ya think Ah have to do in winter on the farm? Not that much work ta do with all dem snow an’ all.”

Rainbow just rolled her eyes and choose to ignore the two mares. My guess –it would take a miracle to make her read something longer than a Wonderbolt Academy Acceptance Letter. Still it was nice to see AJ and Rarity actually agreeing on something for a change and working together. It at least proved that the two of them could set aside their differences.

Seeing that the discussion was once again going off course I decided to remedy that as soon as possible. “Maybe we should sum up what we discovered so far? Ya know, before you guys go completely off topic here?” I was rewarded with some annoyed looks from the mares, but they nonetheless listened to me and placed their discussion on the back burner for now.

“Very well then, let us gather up what we have established so far.” Rarity began, and in a manner that could only be made by a creature with digits she began counting off on her fingers. “We have been transported into this dreadful, tick-infested forest and transformed into two-legged creatures that not only cannot keep warm without wearing clothes, but need them to even be decent. Whatever had changed us, it must have worked with intent, as I already stated, that a simple magical overload on Twilight’s part would not do all those things.”

“So ya think that it was somepony else that sent us here an’ all that?” Asked Applejack, tilting her hat a bit in thought. “Ah recon ya have a point there sugarcube. Why else would Twi be castin’ spells like them ones that are on us? She seemed ta have the Ursa in control.”

“Wait a moment.” Rainbow spoke up, looking between the two mares like if she wasn’t sure what was going on. “What do you mean with ‘somepony else sent us here’? We all saw what happened! Twilight’s magic went all wacko and did all this, you guys saw the flash of light from her horn, haven’t you?” She was rewarded with a discrete roll of the eyes from Rarity and a silent chuckle from Applejack, which only served to annoy the pegasus more. “What!?”

“Nothin’ RD, ya just proved somethin’, ‘tis all.”

“Yeah, and what’s that?”

“That you, my dear, have a habit of not listening to what other ponies say, too engrossed with your own stories.” Supplemented Rarity, and once she saw the angered yet confused expression on RD’s face she continued. “If you were paying attention to what I was saying once we were discussing young unicorns and their magical education you would remember that I mentioned how ‘mentoring’ works.”

“Isn’t that when an older and more experienced unicorn uses his own magic to manipulate his student’s magical power?” I asked, having a vague idea of what Rarity was talking about.

“Precisely Spike. A unicorn ‘mentor’ can, if given the possibility, use the power of his ‘student’ to power his own magic, in the same time teaching his ward how to cast the spell in question. It is a rather old praxis, but it serves the purpose of teaching young colts and fillies the basics of spells such as the simple levitation and light spell.” I had a feeling that Rarity was going through this lecture more for Rainbow’s sake than for mine, especially considering I knew all those things already thanks to Twi. The lectured mare in question in turn quickly caught up and noticed what Rarity was going at earlier.

“So you think that somepony ‘mentored’ Twilight’s magic into changing and sending us here? That’s kinda weird if you ask me.  Why would anypony want to do something like that?”

“Dunno, revenge maybe, or envy?” AJ proposed some sample motives. “Twi is one heck of a powerful unicorn, bein’ the Element o’ Magic an’ all. Ah would bet mah hat that some ponies are jealous of her skills an’ such.”

“Yeah, but that still leaves the ‘who?’ question.” Rainbow pressed on. “I mean I don’t think there's a unicorn in Ponyville who would want to do something like that…” Suddenly she trailed off, her eyes first widening in realization, then squinting into angry slits as a cold yet furious frown appeared on her face. After a moment she muttered, gritting her teeth in rage: “Trixie… I bet that no good showoff had something to do with this! Twilight showed her who’s boss and she did that mentoring trick to get revenge, that cheap excuse of a pony!”

“Ya seriously think that this whole ‘High an’ Mighty’ Trixie or whatever she’s called would be able ta mess Twi up so bad?” Applejack looked at her friend with an arched eyebrow. Rainbow responded with a stiff, angry nod, muttering obscenities directed at the ‘Great and Powerful’ showmare.

“Well I do believe that in theory it could be possible for this brutish excuse of a unicorn to actually do something like that, but that is only in theory.” Rarity added, making the rest look at her expectantly. “If memory serves me right, Trixie wasn’t able to stand her ground against that dreadful Ursa, yet Twilight managed to subdue the beast and transport it away from Ponyville. That would imply that Twilight possesses significantly more raw power than Trixie, which in turn would make any attempts by her to use the mentor technique to ‘mess Twilight up’ almost impossible. After all –mentoring works best if the mentor is more powerful and experienced than the student.”

“Yeah, but that’s the only lead we got right now.” Rainbow argued. “I mean come on! You guys know how big of an ego that showoff has…”

“Bigger than yer’s, an’ that’s an accomplishment.” AJ muttered so that Dash couldn’t hear her.

“…I bet she’s behind all this. Besides, I don’t know anypony that would even think about harming Twilight like that, not to mention us.”

“Yes, you don’t know any pony that would do that.” I decided that this was as good as any moment to reveal what I knew. “But what if it wasn’t a pony at all?”

“What do you mean Spike?” Rainbow asked, looking at me suspiciously. Rarity and Applejack also looked at me, tough their eyes were significantly less accusatory then the violet orbs of the pegasus. “You know something, don’t you?”

“Well, kind of… I think.” I muttered, a bit unnerved by her stare. Still, I had to share what I knew, and no amount of glares courtesy of Rainbow Dash was going to prevent me from that.

I took a deep breath and launched into a recap of what I’ve discovered not a day ago. Starting from the moment Twilight and I left the crowd of ponies before Trixie’s stage to discuss something (didn’t mention what, and it wasn’t that important in the end) I told them about the strange light that I saw between some houses and of my decision to investigate. I told them about the odd glow that moments later transported Pinkie Pie in front of me, just a few second before I was about to confront it, dodging me and confusing both me and the pink mare. I also recounted the small investigation the two of us had, us finding a set of weird hoofprints and then going to Fluttershy for her opinion about said prints, seeing as they were definitely not equine in nature.

It didn’t come to me as that great of a surprise when the girls looked oddly at me once I said that. I mean for all they knew I was with them when they were being humiliated by Trixie. Not to mention that they believed that Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were there as well. Thankfully, ‘Shy was there to back my words up, even if it was nothing more than a subdued whisper and a slight nod. With her support I was able to convince the rest that I actually wasn’t with them and that what I was telling them was the truth. It didn’t mean that they understood how it was possible that I was apparently in two places at once, but to be completely honest I didn’t have the slightest clue how that was possible myself.

Getting back on track I summarized what Fluttershy was able to establish from a sketch of the hoofprints I provided her with: that it was a biped, that it was large and heavy, and that it probably was a carnivore. Oh, and the apparent fact that it could use magic. This of course got the girls interest. Questions about why I didn’t tell anypony about that began to be flung at me, so I ended up telling them about how I went straight for Twilight and informed her about what I discovered.

They were surprised when I told them that Twi didn’t believe me. Well, surprised isn’t exactly a strong enough word. Shocked would be more appropriate. Of course I omitted the fact that I basically began arguing with her about the creature, and that she probably declined to help me sorely out of momentary spite, but I figured it wouldn’t mean that much in the end. And to be honest, I didn’t feel that good talking about Twilight in a way that implied she was unhelpful just because. So, to clear out any doubts I told them that apparently she was followed by a doppelganger of me that bugged her to no end and that she just thought what I was saying was only a scheme of mine. Come to think of it, I do think that’s exactly why she didn’t want to believe me in the first place.

It was all downhill from that pint onward. I informed them that after the fiasco with Twilight I’ve decided to look for them and try to convince them to help me do something about this possibly dangerous creature. The girls looked surprised at that, well, aside from Rainbow Dash who looked more sheepish than anything else. Seeing that they didn’t understand what I’ve meant I told them in a few sentences that I began looking for them around town, but either I couldn’t find them or they were in no condition to help me (at the mention of that Rarity and RD both blushed from embarrassment, tough I didn’t point them out in particular –I’m many things, but suicidal is not one of them). And so, from one thing to another I finally told them about Snips and Snails finding and ‘bringing’ the Ursa to Ponyville and concluded my story with a simple ‘you guys know the rest’.

Silence befell our small group, only the sounds of cracking fire and the occasional breeze filling the air. The girls most probably were trying to come to terms with what I just told them, trying to figure out why an unknown, apparently magical creature decided to mess us up so much. I for myself had the odd suspicion that whatever had sent us here was trying to get rid of the biggest threat it could face. I mean come on, the girls were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony for peat’s sake, they were like Princes Celestia’s secret weapons or something. It was clear as day why something malevolent would target them. And I just ended up with them because I knew too much. Then again, why didn’t it just kill us and be done with it? Ugh… we really need to find Twilight, only she would be able to make sense of this.

After a few more moments the silence was broken by one of the girls. Not surprisingly, it was Rainbow who decided to add her two bits.

“I still think that this whole Trixie is behind all this.” She muttered darkly, glaring at nopony in particular and crossing her arms. “This weird magic-wielding winged thingy must work for her I bet.”

“Ah dunno RD, that would be a mighty big coincidence if ya ask me.” AJ shook her head, tipping her hat a bit in thought. “An’ why in the name of all things apple related would this critter work for somepony like Trixie anyway? Ah get the impression that it would be the other way ‘round.”

“Yeah, but doesn’t it strike you as odd that the moment she shows up in town this thingy begins roaming Ponyville’s streets and making duplicates of Flutters, Pinkie, and Spike?” Rainbow countered. “For all we know this thing could be some kind of magical thingamajig she made that’s under her control and has most of her true evil powers.”

“Darling, I do believe that those comics that you read have rotten your mind entirely.” Rarity added, rolling her eyes not so discretely. “There are no such things as magical constructs, if that is what you were aiming at with that colorful description you presented us with.”

“Um… guys?” I faintly heard Fluttershy speak up. “I think that… em… Pinkie Pie is…”

“Oh yeah? Then I would like ta hear your theory Rarity.” Apparently nopony else noticed Fluttershy’s attempt, as Rainbow Dash decided to pick a verbal fight with Rarity. “Well, let’s hear it. What, you don’t have one? Then my theory is as good an explanation as anything.”

“Not the point Rainbow. All I’ve said is that magical constructs do not exist. Trixie couldn’t create something that’s impossible to accomplish.”

“Um… Excuse me but… could you calm down for a bit… if you’re okay with it that is.” Fluttershy wasn’t giving up apparently as she tried to gain the other’s attention once more. “I… I think that… um… Pinkie Pie is going to…”

“Then this thing is under some kind of her spell or something. I’m telling ya, she ordered that thing to do this to us so she can make duplicates of us and create her ultimate fan-club or something like that.”

“Girls… really… this is probably something important…” Poor Fluttershy, still ignored by the others.

“Why that is the most ridiculous idea I have ever heard. If you would as much as think back to the Ursa attack you would notice that this whole ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie wasn’t able to even affect that dreadful beast. How could she then possibly mind control some sort of alien creature we don’t know the first thing about? Not to mention that creating a ‘fan-club’ is probably the stupidest reason to do anything I have heard in my entire life.”

“Um… please, could you listen to me? I-I think…”

“And what’s wrong with that, huh? A fan-club is a reason as good as any other. Besides, you’ve seen how big of an ego that mare has, it would be perfectly fitting for her to do something like that. I’m telling ya, this is all Trixie’s doing. She’s trying to get rid of us as to inflate that ego of hers to the size of a…”

“Gigantic donut!” An extremely loud, gleeful shout interrupted Rainbow, startling all of us, especially the cyan mare, though she would probably deny it. We began frantically searching for the source of the noise, but as it were, it wasn’t that hard to pinpoint from where it came.

Pinkie Pie, still in her weird, large-eyed two-legged form finally awoke, or at least it seemed that way. The pink party pony sat bolt upright in the place she was lying not a few moments before, arms outstretched like if she was about to grab something. Her expression was one of glee, just as if she ended in candyland or something, tough it was marred by the big lump courtesy of Applejack. Her blue eyes were darting from one place to the other as if she was frantically searching for something but couldn’t find it. Finally, after a few seconds of searching she noticed us, looking at as in confusion, just like if she didn’t knew who we were. That however didn’t last long –she remembered that we apparently looked like that now, so she adopted a happy if not a bit loony grin.

“Hey guys, didja see a large, hulking donut with sprinkles and stuff roll by? Seriously, it was here just a moment ago…”

We exchanged confused glances at that, letting Pinkie Pie take another look around, probably still looking for the ‘runaway donut’. It was good having her back, don’t get me wrong, but diving straight into her randomness so quickly was confusing at the very least.

After a few moments Rarity decided it would be for the best if we calmed Pinkie down before she did something too random. Clearing her throat she turned to the party animal: “Pinkie, darling, I’m afraid you won’t be finding that… ‘donut’… anytime soon. I’m afraid it was just a dream.”

Pinkie looked just like if somepony told her she was forbidden from throwing parties for the next month –such a heartbroken expression should be labeled a weapon of mass destruction. With watery eyes and a barely contained tremble in her voice she asked the obvious:

“It was just a dream?”

“Ah’m afraid so sugarcube.” Applejack nodded, taking her hat off and looking hesitantly at Pinkie, probably preparing to apologize to her. The mare in question however didn’t seem to notice, still focused on the apparent lack of giant donuts.

“No giant donuts with extra sprinkles rolling around?” We collectively shook our heads at that. We were preparing for the worst –knowing Pinkie, she could go into hysteria or burst out into tears. In the worst case scenario she would do both those things in the same time. However nothing, not even our familiarity with the pink earth pony could prepare us for what was to come.

“That’s good, for a moment there I was beginning to think I was going loco in the coco.”

…What?

“I mean donuts don’t just roll around in the middle of a forest now, do they? Especially big ones. That’s just silly.”

Seriously: what?

“Cupcakes on legs on the other hoof are quite possible. They usually sit in their molds all quiet, but once you look the other way for just a minute they all mysteriously disappear. That’s some sneaky cupcakes alright, all ninja style. Still, a shame –I was really looking forward to eating that jam-filled goodness.”

…You know what? I’m not even going to bother questioning that. I already feel like my brain cells are committing mass suicide. One look at the faces of the girls was enough for me to figure out that they too were feeling that way.

For a moment it seemed that Pinkie Pie was preparing to launch into another of her crazy rambling sessions. That quickly changed however once the haze of unconsciousness lifted and her pain receptors began working properly again. She stopped mid-sentence, moaned a great big ‘ouch’ and began rubbing gingerly at her forehead in the place where the lump was. This of course made Applejack feel all the more guilty, and she finally took her hat off, looking apologetically at the pink maned mare.

“Why do I feel like I had too good of a time last night?” Pinkie hissed, but once her ‘claws’ reached the bump her eyes widened in surprise and –at least I think it was –excitement. “Uh, uh! Am I growing a horn now? Am I turning into a unicorn? *ouch* Or is it were-unicorn? Is it even possible? I know I read somewhere this story where I grew a horn, but I’m not quite sure now. *ugh* Does it mean I’ll have cool unicorn magic now?”

“Eh… Pinkie? That ain’t a horn yer feelin’ there.” Applejack tried to calm down the excited if not hurting party animal. It was hard enough apologizing to her when she was only moaning in pain, trying to do that when between moans while she rambles excitedly about having a horn is something else entirely.

“It isn’t?” …Aaand again with the heartbroken expression. I had to avert my gaze, I just couldn’t take it.

“Nope, Ah’m afraid not.” I have to give credit to AJ here; she withstood the look Pinkie was giving her like a pro. Then again, she already felt guilty, so it didn’t make that big of a difference to her. Pinkie however wasn’t going to let go that easily.

“Are you sure it’s not a horn?” She asked hopefully, pointing at her lump with her ‘claws’ and hissing in pain once she touched it.

“Ah’m sure sugarcube, that ain’t no horn yer feelin’ there. In fact, Ah wanted ta apologize for that.”

“So it’s not a horn because of you?”

“Jus’… jus’ listen ta me, alright?” And there you have it –Applejack had had enough of Pinkie’s constant silly theories. She looked the pink mare straight in the eye and reminded her what happened before she blacked out, all the time saying that she was sorry, that it was an accident, and that if she knew it was her she wouldn’t lift a hoof against her. Pinkie’s reaction however was, well, something none of us expected to be honest, as usual. Instead of looking angry, sad, hurt or anything along those lines she adopted a thoughtful expression, scratching her chin and frowning a bit.

“So I’ll won’t be having a horn anytime soon.” She muttered, and we all had to force ourselves not to facehoof (faceclaw). “That’s another disappointment. Ah well, it’s not like I’m not used to things like that. And it does explain why I feel so dizzy right now, not to mention the ringing in my ears.”

“Oh my, Pinkie. You may have a concussion.” Not surprisingly an information like that was enough to warrant Fluttershy’s attention.  And in turn, ‘Shy’s proclamation was enough to further fuel Applejack’s shame. The look Rarity was giving her wasn’t helping at all.

“Ah’m really, really sorry for that.” Was all the farmpony could muster, hanging her head in guilt and shame, staring at the ground with an apologetic expression. Fortunately, Pinkie Pie did finally see in what kind of distress AJ was, and as a pony that could not help but to ‘turn a frown upside down’ as she put it once she began cheering her up.

“Hey, it’s no biggie, and I’m not mad at you.” She said, smiling at Applejack reassuringly. “You did what you thought was best at the moment. I just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Besides, it’s only a concussion. All I have to do is… em… Fluttershy, I never had a concussion before, my Pinkie Endurance™ always prevented me from having one. What does a pony have to do to get rid of it?”

Fluttershy looked a bit startled at being addressed, but nonetheless answered: “Um… you’ll have to lie down for a few days. If everything’s alright by that time you should be okay.”

“Aw… That’s gonna be super boring! But hey!” Pinkie added hastily once she noticed that AJ looked a bit worse after hearing her proclaim that. “It’s all going to be fine! And I’ll use the time to prepare a plan for a “First Time Getting Rid Of A Concussion” party!” That lifted Applejack’s spirit, making her smile just a tiny bit and finally stop ruffling the edge of her hat.

Unfortunately, lil’ miss Sunshine a.k.a. Rainbow Dash just had to ruin the mood with her two bits: “Not to burst your bubble or anything, but if you haven’t noticed –we’re in the middle of a friggin forest infested by crazy boars and gigantic ticks! Just how do you think Pinkie will be able to lie down for a few days in a place like this?!”

“We could always just try and get out.” I suggested.

“Oh yeah? And how do you propose we do that, huh?! I don’t have my wings, remember? I can’t just fly over the forest and find the closest way out for you guys.” Rainbow was suddenly at my face, glaring at me. I’m really starting to get the impression that the lack of wings is getting to her. Just a thought. “Not to mention that apparently AJ is no good in navigating in a forest bigger than her orchard.”

“Now wait a darn moment RD, what’s that supposed ta mean?!” Great, more infighting. Rainbow just had to run her big mouth now, didn’t she.

“What I mean is that you, apparently couldn’t find your wait out of here for more than an hour. Face it, you’re lost.”

“Ah don’t remember y’all findin’ a way out o’ here as well. And yer experience with woods is flyin’ over ‘em, not goin’ trough ‘em.”

“Hey, I’m a pegasus, remember? I don’t need to walk through a forest when I can just fly over it.”

“But yer not a pegasus now. Ya can’t just fly away, and as far as Ah know, Ah’m the only one with any know-how prepared ta live in the wild.”

“Yeah, and a load of good that did.” Rainbow replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes, and began counting out on her fingers. “Let’s see now: you got lost in a forest, you run into a giant tick that wanted to drink Rarity dry and you mistook Pinkie Pie for a wild animal that wanted to maul you two. Survival expert extraordinaire.”

“Hey! That was mean Dashie! AJ’s doing her best and all you do is complain.” Pinkie to the rescue. I was wondering when she was going to intervene. She would continue to defend the farmpony for sure, but at that moment her bump decided to remind her of its existence and the pink pony could only hiss in pain, supported by Fluttershy.

For a moment there Rainbow Dash looked like if she wanted to continue arguing, disregarding what Pinkie so clearly pointed out. She never did however, sudden realization hitting her like a ton of bricks. She looked at the fuming, red-faced Applejack, who was preparing to retort to yet another jab from the cyan mare, and she had the decency to hang her head low in shame.

“S-sorry AJ, I… I don’t know what gotten into me.” She mumbled an apology, an act that took Applejack (and the rest of us for that matter) by surprise. We stared at the multicolor-maned mare and listened to her, our jaws hanging loose from shock. “I know you’re doing what you can to help, it’s just… it’s just that… Ugh, why does it have to be so hard?! I’m confused, I’m not used to be bound down to the earth! My place is in the clouds for crying out loud! But now… now I don’t even know what I am. I’m the best flier in Equestria, but now I don’t have any wings. It’s like… It’s like I’m stripped of a really important part of me, the thing that made me, well… me. I know Fluttershy’s not making a problem out of it, but she rarely flies as it is. But I? I always fly, I was born to fly. My cutie mark has to do with flying! But… but now I don’t even have that anymore. Am I even me now?”

That… was surprisingly deep for Rainbow Dash. It seemed like she undergone an existential crisis right before our very eyes and we didn’t notice. And to top it all, I was beginning to feel like a jerk for thinking about her lack of wings in such a lighthearted manner. She hid it well until just now, but I guess something like losing wings is something truly traumatic for any pegasus, and that went double for RD. She couldn’t just keep it all in, she needed to create an outlet for her frustration. Thinking back on it, she probably acted like a jerk as a way to relieve some of that frustration and not out of spite or anything. This argument, her apparent and blatant disregard of the most prominent part of her very nature –loyalty… It was all a way for her to cope with the loss. And her confession jut now proved it. It was the first time I ever heard Rainbow Dash, the headstrong, always confident pegasus sound and look so dejected, so… depressed. Vulnerable even, tough the last she would probably deny. And one look at the girls confirmed it –they too were at a loss of words, seeing her like that for the first time. It was only after a moment of silently mulling about the whole situation that I decided to say something, anything, just to… just to stop feeling like a jerk and try and help her.

“I… think I get where you’re coming from.” I started not too loudly, tough it was still perfectly audible in the silence that befell us. My words brought a doubtful look on RD’s face, but I didn’t care. “It’s like you’re missing a vital part of you. To be perfectly honest I know full well what you’re talking about. I, for example, can’t breathe fire anymore. Can you believe that: a dragon that can’t do something as simple as breathe fire. But that doesn’t mean I’m not me anymore. I know, it’s different, but I feel that in some way it’s actually the same… uh, at least I think it is. Do I make sense?” I asked, looking at the rest for help. Seriously, I’m no therapist material. Fortunately, Rarity came to my aid.

“What I think Spike wanted to say is that we all lost something in coming here darling, and that we all know to some extent what you are going trough right now.” She said soothingly, tough she looked a bit uncomfortable talking about that. Apparently up until now she didn’t think much about her own lack of horn, and what follows that –magic. “We’re in bodies that are far from perfect, not to mention horrendously indecent… Em… What I’m saying is that we know, we understand, and we’re not going to judge you for your lack of wings. I, for example, lack magic in this form, and that most definitely is something that I will come to miss with time. I may not be as dependent on it as some ponies, but the simple fact I will be forced to work with my hands from now on makes my skin crawl. I just hope that whatever happened to us is not permanent and that sooner rather than later we will get back into our real bodies. But as for you Rainbow Dash –don’t worry. We’ll get through this and you will get your wings back. You’ll just have to wait for it, like the rest of us. And try not to dwell on it too much, alright? A frown most definitely doesn’t suit you.” She ended, offering her a soft, encouraging smile. Taking her example the rest of us offered her our own supportive looks as well, silently telling her, that if she ever needed us, we were there for her. Strange… I never thought that we would be in a situation like this. If somepony were to tell me two days ago that none other than Rainbow Dash would need our collective support to go through some hard time she was in, I would send him in the direction of the nearest psychiatrist.

Dash seemed to lighten up a bit after that. It was clear that it wasn’t enough and that the lack of wings still weight heavily on her, but at least for the time being she was going to be okay. She was about to say something, knowing her: raspy thanks and then try to force us to promise not to tell anypony about what happened here, but something happened before that. Something that most definitely spelled trouble.

As Rainbow was opening her mouth to say something a pained, frightened squeal pierced the night air. It brought all of us to attention, the sound being so loud and sudden that Fluttershy had no other choice than to ‘eeep’ as normally in situations like this and back up as quickly as she could. The worst part of that pained noise was that it sounded suspiciously familiar, enough so to make Dash pale a bit.

“Him again?” She squeaked, half-frustrated half-panicked. “Aw come on! Give me a break!”

Yep, it was the unmistakable sound of a wild hog.

The squeals of the wild pig did not subside, instead growing louder with each passing second. That momentarily put as on high alert. Whoever would be at least decent if it came down to a fight (Rainbow Dash and Applejack to be precise, tough the cyan mare still was worse for were thanks to the last hog) stood in front of our small group, either clutching broken-off branches in their ‘claws’ or clenching their fists. I too decided to help out in any way I could. For once I wanted to pull my own weight… not to mention impress Rarity, but that’s beside the point. The rest, namely Fluttershy, Rarity and the indisposed Pinkie Pie huddled behind us. And so, prepared for the worst we waited.

The sounds of the wild hog were getting louder and louder, its squeals growing more ferocious by the second. The sound of its hoofs hitting against the forest floor and the rustling of bushes it must've run through was getting louder as well, a clear indicator that the creature was getting closer. We prepared for the worst.

The hog burst from out of one of the shrubs surrounding the clearing. It charged blindly ahead, probably not even noticing that it stumbled upon us. It squealed and roared angrily, making a mad dash in our direction, just as if it wanted to charge us and trample us into submission. There was something odd with it however, and even in my panicking state I was able to notice what was amiss.

There was something long and clearly wooden sticking out of its back.

I didn’t have much time to look at it as the wild pig was running at us with alarming speed. It lowered its head, readying its tusks to gore the first opposing creature it met, and that just happened to be me. I gulped down my fear, sweating bullets, and I hefted my impromptu weapon, ready to defend myself.

A soft, almost inaudible swishing sound could be heard moments before the animal was able to get to me. Not a second later the boar let out another pain-filled sequel, yet this one sounded differently, more… pathetic. I don’t even know when I closed my eyes, but once I heard that sound I instinctively opened them and looked at the wild hog. What I saw was something I was not expecting.

The wild animal, the mass of muscle and fur that moments ago was charging at us now lied on the ground, kicking at the air in a vain attempt to get up. It squealed even louder and looked so panicked that I could almost feel its fear. Its small, bloodshot eyes looked at us, almost as if pleading for help, almost as if it knew was happening to it and didn’t want to end up like that. But I wasn’t looking at its eyes, no. I was looking at its back.

Where once was only one piece of wood sticking out, now there were two.

I quickly put two and two together and reasoned that the pieces of wood I was seeing were in fact arrows. Ammunition for a rare in Equestria weapon, a bow to be exact, it seemed that two such arrows, each tipped with white, almost shining in the faint glow of the fire plumes were just shot into the back of the charging animal. But that could mean only one thing: there was somepony or something out there with a bow, and it just took down a boar all on its own.

It seemed we were finally going to meet the locals, for better, or for worse.
> Act One Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unknown forest, Date unknown, (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Before dawn


After the charging boar landed on the ground, its back pierced by arrows we all tensed. Something just rendered a wild hog, a creature that almost completely ravaged Dash’s side incapable of fighting. We couldn’t be sure if it was friendly or not, so we went with the safer option and assumed it was unfriendly. Standing protectively in front of Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie we tried to look as menacing as possible, tough with Rainbow Dash clutching at her injured side from time to time and me –a shrimp compared to the others, it wasn’t that easy to pull off.

We stared in the direction the arrow came from, looking intently for any sign of movement. It would probably be futile now that I think about it –if whatever was out there wanted to harm us, it could just shoot another arrow and take us down one at a time from afar. The situation was tense, and more than once I saw both AJ and RD exchanging worried glances, probably figuring out the same thing I already had. Still, none of us wanted to give up that easily, not if it meant exposing our friends to whatever was out there.

For a moment everything was silent, only the cracking noises of the fire and the slowly dying out sequels of the boar piercing the calm night air. I could hear my own heartbeat thundering in my ears with a loud cacophony of rhythmic ba-bumps, racing a mile a minute like if it was about to burst straight out of my chest. The tension was getting unbearable, and I was –and I’m not ashamed to admit it –scared out of my wits. I just wanted something to happen, anything to break the silence, anything to lessen the tension. And sure enough I didn’t have to wait much longer.

At first I almost didn’t hear it, the sound was so light. However, Rainbow shifted her stance suddenly, looking in a slightly different direction, and as I too looked that way and straining my ears I could perceive something as well. It was a rustling sound, like if something was stalking towards us on nimble feet, barely making any sound at all. It must've moved with the grace of a hunting cat, and considering our position right now, we probably were the mice. The sound was getting progressively louder yet still barely audible, an unmistakable sign that it was coming this way. Preparing for the worst, we clutched our makeshift weapons tighter and hoped for the best.

After a few more moments of waiting the mysterious shooter finally showed himself. Emerging from behind one of the trees, the one that struck down the boar finally reveled himself to us, nearly making us jump. We should've reacted to his arrival the moment we saw him, taking a page from Applejack’s book and attacking him before he could do anything to us. However all we did was stare at him, completely took by surprise by what we saw.

The figure was tall, definitely taller than Fluttershy or Rarity in their new bodies. If I was to make a guess, he was most probably around twelve hoofs tall if not taller. Having the general built of all of us –two legs, two arms, no tail and no fur –it was clear that it was of some sort of species that apparently was the local equivalent of ponies. It did look differently from anything we saw up until now however, clearly yet another species that we haven’t met until just now. Long and nimble limbs sported compact and strong-looking muscles, each of them looking like they could stretch and tense at a moment’s notice. His shoulders were definitely broader than those of the girls, indicating they were more used to work, be that carrying or swinging things, giving of the impression that this guy was someone you didn't want to mess with. What drew the attention however was his face.

Just like the rest of us, this creature had no snout, something we already came to except. Its nose was small and its mouth was thin, and overall it most definitely gave the impression of being male. He had however a long, flowing mane the color of light, wood brown framing his face, and a pair of extremely long, sharp-tipped ears was poking from both sides of his head. What caught my (and probably everypony else’s) attention the most however were his eyes. It was something I have never seen before –large, almond shaped orbs, shining in the darkness as if they belonged to a cat. Their most prominent features were their pupils: they were large. It looked like if they took up most of his eyes, leaving only a small patch of teal irises and absolutely no place for the whites, making his eyes look downright scary, especially in conjunction with the distant, practically aloof way he was looking at us, like if we were of no consequence. A shiver ran down my spine once I crossed my own gaze with his.

The image of the newcomer was completed by his clothing. The figure was clad in some sort of dark brown jacket-like thing, glinting in the light of the fire with a multitude of small metal studs. After closer inspection I discerned that it was in fact leather and probably steel. He also wore pants of the same color, lacking however the brads, and a pair of similar leather boots. He also had a strange cloak on his back, strange in the sense that I couldn’t for the love of me tell what color it was exactly. It seemed to be shifting between shades of gray, grayish green and brownish, sometimes seemingly khaki, other times granite gray. The effect was rather intriguing as it made the weird garment seem to blend in with its surroundings. To make the picture complete the guy was holding a bow in his ‘claw’, tough what kind of bow it was I have no idea (only bows I’ve ever seen were in Twilight’s books), a quiver with white-plumed arrows sticking from his back and some kind of short sword at his side, resting in a sheath attached to a belt. All in all, he looked like someone you don’t want to make angry, less you had a death wish.

As we stood there, transfixed at the site of the newcomer, the local seemed to regard us with those dark, shiny eyes of his. His expression didn’t change one bit as he looked at us, taking in the features of the girls one by one as if trying to memorize them. It was creepy to say the least, and I think I even saw Rainbow Dash squirm a bit under his gaze, uncomfortable at being scrutinized like that. Once his eyes fell on me however his look shifted to one of mild surprise. One of his eyebrows arched, he looked at me with interest, as if I was something he didn’t expect to see. That there made me tense even more.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour of staring at one another but what must've been no more than a few seconds the newcomer averted his gaze, looking not at us, but at the still kicking but weak boar on the ground. His face shifted into one of concentration as he confidently walked towards the hog (and us). Alarmed by this move AJ hefted her branch and Rainbow tensed up, readying themselves for a fight, even tough with someone as armed as him they would probably have no chances at winning.

“Hold it right there pardner!” Applejack warned, sounding more confident than she really was. The newcomer ignored her, still coming our way. “Ah said that’s close enough!” Still –no reaction. It seemed like either he didn’t understand her or choose to ignore her. Whichever was true, it was sure to bring us trouble.

“You heard what she said! Back off creep before… ugh…” Dash was about to step in, but unfortunately her injured side had to remind her of itself at the worst of times. Still, the local seemed not to hear her, looking at the boar that was beginning to trash about with renewed vigor with interest. Did he really find the hog more important than Applejack’s warnings?

Once the guy took a few more steps, closing the distance between us and him, AJ seemed to finally get to her senses and she swiftly lifted the branch she was holding in the air, readying herself to bring it down on the intruder. She most probably would do just that if not for the fact that the native finally stopped. Staring at him, AJ slowly lowered the branch, taking his sudden pause as a sign that he finally understood what she meant. The look of utter bewilderment on her face once the guy kneeled down practically right in front of her was however something that I found, despite the dire situation we were in, extremely funny. It took the farmpony a moment to register that the guy was in fact crouching not before her, but in front of the lying boar.

I shifted my gaze from Applejack’s confused expression back to the newcomer. Crouching in front of the wild hog, the guy put down his bow and he seemed to be doing something to the animal. It looked like… it looked like he had put his ‘claw’ on the side of the boar’s head and began petting it compassionately, whispering something soothingly to it, too quietly for me to understand. It even seemed to work, because the wild animal was beginning to kick less and less, just as if it was becoming calmer by the second. But that didn’t make any sense, didn’t the guy just shoot the boar? I mean the arrows sticking in its back look the same as the ones in his quiver, so why was he now trying to calm the animal down if he was the one to shot it? Well, we were about to find out.

As we observed the newcomer take care of the struck down boar, one of his ‘claws’ still on the side of the creature’s head, a slight movement of his other ‘claw’ drew our attention. Looking at it we noticed that he was slowly inching for the short sword strapped to his side. We obviously took it as a sign of aggression and once again shifted into more fighting-ready stances, but as we did that we apparently startled the hog and it began once again squealing in fright. The guy shot us an annoyed look as he resumed his efforts on the animal, calming it down in a manner of seconds. Of course, as the boar became quiet once more he reached for his weapon, this time keeping his eyes on us so that we don’t do anything stupid. Wisely we decided to observe him back but not to make any hostile moves of our own, at least until we figure out what he was doing.

What he did, well… let me put it like this: it wasn’t pretty.

It became apparent what the native was trying to do when he drew his sword. With the sharp, steel weapon in ‘claw’ he positioned it over the body of the hog, just far enough not to touch the animal with the cold metal yet still close enough for it to be out of its sight. With rapidly widening eyes we observed as the creature before us was preparing to basically stab the now defenseless boar, a site that we all were about to witness for the first time in our lives. With our breaths caught somewhere in our throats we watched wordlessly as the local averted his gaze from us, sighed sadly and muttered a soft yet still audible ‘forgive me, my brother’ before he done the deed.

The sound of metal piercing flesh filled the night air, canceling out all other sounds. This morbid, gruesome noise was to forever implant in our minds, the sound of taking the life of another creature, a sound so alien to us… It took me almost a full minute before I was able to fully comprehend  what had just happened, lost in a haze of half-formed thoughts running through my head. All I could remember was the image of a steel blade sinking in the bristle-covered flesh of the boar, thrust in its body with what could only be described as ruthless efficiency: quickly and cleanly, avoiding colliding with bones and most probably reaching the poor pig’s heart. The only comforting thought in all this was that the hog must've died almost instantaneously if its silent departure was anything to go by. It literally didn’t make a sound.

After an unspecified amount of time I was finally able to avert my gaze from the morbid spectacle we just witnessed. I took a tentative look around, just as if I wasn’t sure if in doing so I wouldn’t provoke the hunter to attack me next, searching for the girls and trying to find consolation in them. What I found however was nothing what I’ve expected.

Applejack was staring wide-eyed at what had just happened, slowly moving her mouth like if she was trying to say something but couldn’t find her voice. Rainbow Dash looked positively sick to the stomach; green on her face, she covered her mouth with her ‘claw’, just as if making sure she wouldn’t throw up. The back row looked even worse for wear. Rarity, like Rainbow, looked like she wanted to go to the side and empty the contents of her stomach. Pinkie Pie… well, she stared, a completely blank expression on her face, as if she couldn’t comprehend what had just happened, like if something in her snapped, and she sat there unmoving, like a statue. It was unnerving, seeing her like that. But for all the reaction of the girls up until now, Fluttershy’s was the worst if not the most expected.

She cried. The shy, meek pegasus, the embodiment of both grace and kindness was reduced to hot tears by what she was in a way forced to witness. Salty streaks ran down her cheeks and quiet sobs rocked her body, her eyes fixed on the lifeless body of the boar, filled with sadness and fear. She just watched a potential animal friend die before her very eyes and she couldn’t do a thing about it, not with the one responsible for its death kneeling just in front of it. It was truly a heartbreaking image, enough so for at least me, AJ, RD and Rarity to snap out of our own trances and take action.

Rarity kneeled down beside Fluttershy, who at some point collapsed to the ground, and hugged her, running calming circles with her ‘claws’ on her back and whispering silent words of comfort in her ear. In the meantime the three of us in the ‘front row’ so to speak turned to the newcomer with anger burning in our eyes. Nopony and no creature made Fluttershy cry and got away with it. The guy didn’t seem to pay us any mind however, busy wiping the blood off of his blade with a piece of cloth and (what made us pause for a bit) bowing slightly to the dead hog as if in thanks.

“I am truly sorry that you had to witness this, young ones.” Again, as we were about to make our move on this guy he decided to trow a log at our feet and for the first time engage us in conversation. He still looked at the boar’s carcass when he spoke, but it was clear he was referring to us. His voice was, well, different; it sounded like it belonged to someone old and experienced, filled with melancholy, but also like if it belonged to a young stallion with its energy. “Erastil knows I do not enjoy this, but sometimes one has to grit his teeth and do what needs to be done.”

We exchanged confused looks after hearing that. What did this guy mean? Was he referring to the boar he just killed? Did he just apologize for the fact we witnessed him killing it? And who the hay is Erastil? So many questions and so little answers.

Taking advantage of our confusion the newcomer stood from his crouched position and finally sheathed his sword, now free of blood. Once again he stood before us, towering over us (me especially) and looking at us with those dark and tale shiny eyes, seemingly aloof as if we were of no consequence yet with a measure of compassion. It probably was his way of showing us that he truly was sorry for what we had to witness, but it definitely wasn’t working. Not to mention that I was feeling a strange vibe coming from the guy, like if something was telling me that this wasn’t exactly what we thought it was, not that we knew anything about him to begin with.

There was a moment of awkward silence between us and the native. Neither side seemed to know what to say in a situation we found ourselves in. Finally it was Rainbow Dash who broke the silence in a manner truly befitting her.

“Okay, listen bub. First of all: who the hay are you? Second: why the buck did you do that?! And third: you better have a damn good explanation why you just had to go and make ‘Shy cry or I swear I will buck you so hard you won’t be able to walk straight for a month!”

Starting off with an insult and ending with a threat. Rainbow Dash diplomacy at its finest. I would point out how stupid and dangerous it was, especially considering the way the guy looked, but to be frank –after seeing Fluttershy cry even the biggest pacifist would be ready to tear a manticore to shreds, and this guy was the reason she cried. Fortunately, he seemed not to pay attention to any of the negativity in RD’s sentences, tough he did raise an eyebrow here and there at the mention of ‘hay’ and ‘buck’.

“Fair enough. However you look at it, I am guilty of taking the life of a living creatures before a group of fine young damsels such as yourselves, as well as their halfling companion.” He cracked a weak, mirthless smile. I was about to comment on the fact he practically ignored my presence when I realized that by saying ‘halfling’ he was referring to me. Was that what I was? Was the creature I was turned into a ‘halfling’? I didn’t have the time to ponder about that because the local continued his thought.

“My name is Einael, Einael Solaris. I am but a humble traveler, and as of right now: a reluctant hunter.  That should explain why I did what I did, for is it not what a hunter does –killing creatures so that he and his companions may benefit from their gifts? As I have said before, I did not enjoy what I just did, but it had to be done, and for having to take a life before your eyes you have my humblest apologies.”

Okay, the guy was wordy, I’ll give him that. He spoke in a rather odd way, I would say artificial, as if he spoke in a language he wasn’t used speaking. It was apparent that not only I found his way of speech peculiar, as both AJ and RD were exchanging rather confused looks. Only Rarity seemed not to notice anything out of the ordinary, though she herself had a tendency to speak in a highly exaggerated manner, not to mention she was busy with Fluttershy, so that wasn’t that big of a surprise. However that didn’t matter, the important part was that the guy actually did answer Rainbow’s ‘questions’ to an extent. But why did I have a feeling that something wasn’t right here?

“Ya still didn’t explain why ya had ta do that in the first place.” This time it was Applejack who responded to the newly named Einael (by the way, that was one odd name). She looked at him warily, as if she too was feeling that this guy was not being completely honest with us.

“I do not know how to explain that, young one.” He replied, inclining his head as he spoke. “Do you know not what it means to be a hunter? Do you know not what it means to hunt?”

AJ frowned and pulled her hat a bit over her forehead, glaring at the guy. She grumbled something vaguely resembling a ‘with all mah experience with timberwolves Ah know darn well what ‘huntin’ means’, but otherwise she didn’t say anything. Taking that as a sign to continue Einael proceeded to elaborate.

“To hunt is to provide for your brethren what is necessary to them, cater to their needs. That can and oftentimes will be met by different methods, not involving hurting other living creatures, but there are times when one does not have the freedom of choice and needs to take drastic measures. To hunt is to do such a thing, to take drastic measures to ensure ones survival and to provide to others in their time of need. It is to take everything that has a use and is currently needed, but not more than necessary, and make sure that used in the end it gets. It is also to honor your prey, for it too had a life, and in death it serves to further your own existence. That is what it means to hunt.”

“…so you hunt to survive?” I summed his lengthy explanation with half a sentence, looking at him oddly. He was definitely a strange one.

“Aye, that is sadly correct.” He nodded in response.

“Then why didn’t you say so in the first place?!” Rainbow snapped at him. “You could just say: ‘I did that to survive’ and not bother with this philosophical mumbo-jumbo.” The guy looked at her, and his eyes for the first time from the moment he arrived here seemed to hold mirth in them.

“Alas, I fear that my eagerness to teach the younger generations once again overtook my better judgment. Sincerest apologies, my dear.”

For a moment there Rainbow looked like she didn’t know exactly how to respond to that. I don’t blame her either, the guy had a way with words that made even a simple ‘sorry’ sound like an elaborate essay. That and it probably was her first time being addressed to as ‘dear’ by someone else than Rarity. She quite quickly shook the confusion out of her system however and once again glared at Einael.

“You know what? I don’t give a flying feather about your apology.” There was a loud ‘language RD’ from Applejack after that, but she ignored it. “And you know why? It’s not me you should be apologizing to. If anything, you should be apologizing to her!” And with that said she stepped aside, revealing Fluttershy, still in Rarity’s comforting embrace and still sniffing loudly.

Einael, once Rainbow Dash stepped aside, focused his eyes on the two embraced mares. In response Fluttershy fidgeted away, hiding behind both Rarity and a curtain of her pink hair, hoping that he would ignore her. In the meantime Rarity glared at the native, giving him a look so disapproving that if it was directed at me, I would most probably keel over and die that very instant. Somewhere in this picture there was of course Pinkie Pie, but one glance at her was enough confirmation for me –while everypony was concentrated on Fluttershy, they completely overlooked the fact that Pinkie was basically broken. In other terms –she still sat as still as a statue.

The self-proclaimed reluctant hunter, after getting the not-so-subtle hint from RD decided to make amends. Stepping over the lifeless body of the boar he closed the distance between himself and Fluttershy (and Rarity) in a few long steps. Once that was accomplished he lowered himself to the ground, sitting in front of the two mares cross-legged, and waited. Of course this didn’t go well with Fluttershy, as her innate shyness combined with her fear of this guy and her still fresh, painful memories of whet must have been in her eyes a murder took over her actions. If not for the fact that she still was in Rarity’s embrace she would have tried to flee no doubt. Is it was however, she was cowering under his gaze, trying to put as many barriers between herself and him as possible, be it distance, her hair or Rarity herself. The fact that he only sat there, not saying a word and just looking at her with those alien eyes of his didn’t help.

For the better part of the next minute Einael just sat there, looking at Fluttershy with those weird eyes of his. Under closer inspection however I was able to notice that he was more or less looking not at her as a whole, but rather at her ears. Taking a glance at them and then back at him I noticed his face was slowly adopting a truly melancholic expression, like if her ears served as a reminder of something quite sad to him. Hm… come to think of it, Fluttershy’s ears were quite similar to his own, if not a fair bit shorter. Was it only a coincidence, or was Fluttershy in a body of something related in some way to Einael’s species?

After a minute more the hunter finally decided to speak. What he spoke however… well, it was many kinds of strange. For starters, it was not Equestrian. Come to think of it, I shouldn’t be that surprised by that and actually be more confused when he spoke our language in the first place, but that’s just hindsight. The language he spoke was more similar in sound to his name –a strange dialect that would most probably be a nightmare to pronounce. The second thing was that Fluttershy apparently understood it, if her reacting to it was anything to go by. Sadly, I didn’t understand a word he said, and judging by Applejack’s confused expression neither did she. The rest however, with the noticeable exception of the still unresponsive Pinkie Pie seemed to have no problem getting what he meant.

This whole situation brought to light yet more questions to the already large pile of them. How did Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash of all ponies know a completely foreign language? I mean I doubt that anypony in Equestria spoke in this language, so how were they able to understand and most probably use it? Was it somehow connected to the powers that transformed us into what we were now? And if so than why did it work only on a few of us, leaving me and AJ in the dark? If only Twilight was with us…

Seeing that I couldn’t do anything to help with the Fluttershy crisis I decided to shift my attention to Pinkie Pie. She was after all still shell-shocked by what she saw, if her sitting completely still for more than five minutes at a time was anything to go by. Besides, Applejack seemed to have the same idea and she already was on her way to Pinkie, so at least I wouldn’t be alone while trying to snap the pink mare out of whatever she was in. Still: the way she was staring at that dead boar, like if she expected it to stand up and run along –pure, concentrated creepiness at its finest.

The two of us tried valiantly to restore Pinkie to her normal, cheerfully random self, but alas –we had no such luck. She acted as if she didn’t hear or see us and just sat there, staring unblinkingly with those blue eyes of hers at that boar, like if she was somehow morbidly fascinated by it. We tried everything we could think of: waving our ‘claws’ in front of her face, snapping our fingers inches from her ears (I was actually surprised AJ got a hang of it that quickly), shaking her shoulders violently, telling her there was an ‘all you can eat cupcake-eating contest’ nearby, you name it. I even proposed that we should find some water and dump it on her head or something, but considering none of us knew where to find any water or in what to transport it for that matter we quickly abandoned that idea.

Running out of options we were faced with a rather uncomfortable thought –it could very well end up with us having to resort to shock therapy and whack her on the head to get any sort of response out of her. And considering Fluttershy said she most probably had a concussion than yeah… not good at all. Unfortunately, there seemed to be no other method aside from maybe leaving her alone to recover on her own, and as that could very well take from ten minutes to ten days we really didn’t have much choice.

Applejack forced a broken off branch in my ‘claws’.

“Ya better do this Spike.” She said uneasily, shifting like if the thought of hitting Pinkie Pie was physically uncomfortable to her. “Ah… Ah jus’ can’t do it mahself. Ah would probably screw up big time an’ do more harm than good. ‘Sides, yer not as strong as Ah am, yer less likely ta seriously hurt her.”

“What?! No way!” I immediately protested, pushing the branch back to her. “I’m not gonna do something like that, forget it! And you think you’re going to screw up? Well, so am I! There’s not a week that I don’t screw up something, and the last time I did that was about a week ago. You do the math.”

“Well Ah ain’t gunna try an’ be subtle with this, ‘cause ya know full well Ah don’t do subtle.” She replied, trying to force the branch back to me.

“And I’m not risking hurting her more than she already is!” Was my response. By now it looked more like a game of hot potato than anything else, and it seemed that it could very well last for quite some time if nothing were happen. Fortunately, something did happen, and in the nick of time too.

“You mean you're going to eat it?!” A sudden shrill cry interrupted our little argument, forcing the both of us to look in the direction it came from. The simple fact it was spoken (more or less) in Equestrian was enough to warrant our attention.

After but a moment we found the source of the cry. It actually wasn’t that big of a surprise when it became clear that it was Rarity that shouted. She looked truly disgusted, her face acquiring a greenish tint to it, and she looked at this whole Einael character like if he just declared he was going to do something truly repulsive. Judging by what she shouted out –it probably had to do with the boar and his eating habits. Not to sound rude but that took her long enough –you would think that once she acquired actual canine teeth she would at least begin questioning the diet of the creature she changed into. I mean seriously –she had fang-like teeth now, it was obvious that whatever she (or rather we; I know for a fact that everypony in our group had canines now) was now was at best an omnivore. And thankfully it seemed that I wasn’t the only one that figured that out.

“Now, now Rarity, you don’t have to shout. It’s perfectly natural and I suspected as much after mister Einael told us about how his friends depended on him finding something to eat.” It seemed that Fluttershy finally calmed down and actually stopped being so afraid of the local. I wonder what the guy told her that made her treat him like the rest of her acquaintances, us included. That was definitely record time right there.

From where I was looking from I was able to notice Rarity giving Fluttershy an incredulous look. “Darling, you can’t be serious. You call something as barbaric as eating other creatures natural? It’s… It’s like if you suddenly decided to eat your own animal friends, how would you feel about that?”

“Hey, now that’s a low blow Rarity!” Rainbow butted in, noticing the unease appearing on her pegasus friend’s face. “Of course Fluttershy wouldn’t eat her own critters, that’s just wrong!”

“Well I do suppose that my example was a bit drastic, but the point still stands –if eating other creatures is in any way natural, than would you be willing to do that?”

“If I may be so bold as to add my own thoughts on the matter.” Einael decided to step in, sounding as formal as ever. “As long as one’s body is capable of properly digesting food from a specific source I do believe that eating that kind of meal is perfectly natural for the individual. However, creatures blessed by intelligence normally have also free will, and it is their conscience that should dictate their diet. I do believe it is safe to assume that you are of the firm believers of the superiority of the vegetarian cuisine, miss Rarity?”

Strange… I may not have understood the conversation before it reverted back to Equestrian, nor did I pay that much attention to it for the last few minutes, but I think I would've noticed when somepony mentioned our names to this guy. As it is however, I can’t seem to remember if that actually happened. Ah well… just my musings, ‘tis all. What truly matters is Rarity’s answer to the hunter’s question.

“Yes, I… we are vegetarians.” Her reply was curt, accompanied by a quick, sharp nod. Einael seemed not to mind her surprisingly gruff (for her at least) behavior and smiled that mirthless, melancholic smile of his.

“That is a very noble choice of diet –a choice indicating that you value all life, be it self-conscious or not. I respect it with all my heart. I however am not a vegetarian myself, and amongst other things I do eat meat,  seeing it both as a delicious meal and as a very good source of energy. All I ask you is not to judge me by my diet, as I do not judge you for yours.”

I think I saw Rarity blush from embarrassment at that. She seemed flustered now, Einael’s words, as true as they come, having a rather strong effect on her. Forgetting that the world didn’t end on ponies wasn’t something that a citizen of Equestria should do, especially considering many farms back home keep pigs and sell them for export to the griffon country of Eagleland for obvious purposes. Not that Rarity would know much about that, though with some of her orders coming from the land of griffins she should at least know the basics. But I digress, and the purple maned fashionista finally found her voice it seemed.

“Well, if you put it that way then I suppose I can look beyond that. It doesn’t mean that I like it though.” She added hastily, as to not leave any doubt about that she thought about this whole thing. The hunter seemed to be satisfied with her reply, and he was about to get up from his position on the ground when something completely unforeseen by all of us happened.

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name, mister?” What the… Did Pinkie just snap out of it on her own? One look in the place where she was just seconds ago seemed to confirm that for me and Applejack –she truly was up and about. And it seemed that she initiated operation ‘greet new guy and make friends with him’, if the torrent of words directed at him was any indicator.

“…do you like cake? I love cake, especially chocolate cake, but I do like other flavors too, like strawberry or vanilla, just like the three classic ice-cream flavors. Speaking of ice-cream, what’s your favorite? Oh, oh… Lemme guess, I love guessing games…” I might not exactly like the guy, but I still felt sorry for him. He had no idea what he had just gotten himself into. Hm… come to think of it, wasn’t Pinkie supposed to have…

“Ugh… I don’t feel so good… How do you stop this crazy merry-go-round?… Raritycatchme!”

“Wha… Pinkie! Are you alright darling?” Yep, a concussion. As Pinkie collapsed into Rarity’s outstretched arms it was clear that she didn’t just miraculously heal like usual. It seemed that her unexplainable Pinkie Powers had diminished once she ended up in this place, and that was a frightening thought to be sure.

Einael’s face was one of bewilderment and slight concern. “What did just… How did… Is there something wrong with the little one?” He finally managed to ask. It was Rainbow Dash that answered him, tough she had to stifle an amused snort to do that.

“I wouldn’t worry about that. Pinkie Pie’s just being her usual self, more or less.”

“Um… Rainbow? I believe mister Einael was referring to Pinkie suddenly collapsing.” Fluttershy meekly butted in, eying Rarity’s attempts at helping the pink mare with worry. The cyan mare adopted a ‘oh yeah, you’re probably right’ kind of look as her meek friend turned to the hunter, her eyes never leaving her injured friend. “You see mister Einael, Pinkie Pie had a teeny tiny accident and hit her head. That’s where the bump on her forehead comes from.”  At this AJ shifted with guilt. “Now I can’t be sure, but it appears that she has a concussion, and she probably shouldn’t be up and about.”

“Oh… but that’s boooring!” Whined Pinkie Pie from her place in Rarity’s lap, only to cringe a bit as the throbbing in her head worsened.

“But you really should rest up and let the concussion pass… if that’s okay I mean…” In typical Fluttershy fashion she trailed off by the end, tough she did approach the pink mare and began assisting Rarity in taking care of their injured friend. In the meantime our uninvited guest seemed to be deep in thought about something. Furrowing his brows, he looked at Pinkie Pie and her two temporary ‘nurses’, and then he shot a glance at the rest of us, like if he was trying to figure something out. Finally, after a moment of silence he spoke:

“The state of some of your companions is worrisome to say the least, miss Fluttershy.” He started, glancing once again at Rainbow Dash (who glared back at him, feeling his statement was a jab at her) and strangely accenting the mare’s name, like if it sounded weird to him. “With one of them injured in the side and one indisposed due to a concussion I would have to say that you all are in a very uncomfortable situation, especially if it means spending any prolonged periods of time in the wild, even in a forest as small and tame as Tickwood.”

“Small and tame?! Are you kidding me?! You call this crazy forest that we were running around for the last few hours, almost getting ourselves killed small and tame?!” By this point Rainbow Dash was close to exploding. She glared at the hunter with the intensity of a thousand suns, looking wilder and wilder with each passing sentence. I didn’t blame her either –some of us nearly died here and this guy just called this place tame of all things? If this is tame than I don’t want to see what’s considered as wild around here, that’s for sure.

Einael only lifted an eyebrow in response.

“Tickwood is about one and a half mile long, and in its widest part it is less than five hundred yards wide.” Was his answer. Those numbers however were enough to make both RD and AJ completely flabbergasted.

“Ya mean ta tell us that we were lost in sumthing as small as that?!” Applejack blurred out as the first, only seconds later joined by a loud ‘what?!’ from Rainbow. The hunter nodded sagely in response.

“I do realize that it may sound rather insulting, hearing that someone has gotten lost in such a small forest, but do not sell yourself short, miss Applejack.” Again –how did this guy know AJ’s name, and why did he say it like if he was saying something funny? “Trying to navigate in an unfamiliar place, especially in the dead of night is like trying to find your way through a maze while wearing a blindfold. Only the most experienced should try something like that, and even then mistakes are almost unavoidable.”

“Uh… thanks, Ah guess.” AJ replied awkwardly, not entirely sure if she should be reassured by his words or not. The native however didn’t give her time to ponder that as he continued his prior line of thought.

“Now as I said, the condition of your friends is worrisome, and in normal circumstances I would gladly extend an invitation for your group to come with me and spend the night in the relative safeness of the camp I and my companions have set up.”

“Normally… so you’re not inviting us?” I asked the obvious question. In response the guy nodded, an apologetic smile playing on his lips.

“Alas, I fear that getting to our camp would be more problematic than it would be worth it in the end. We would need to cross the Turandarok River and traverse a part of the Devil’s Platter’s numerous ravines to get there, and I fear that it would be too hard a journey to partake in with injured companions. The walk down there would take at the very least an hour and a half, and by then it would already be light. Not to mention that with your choice of cuisine you would end up being hungry, for we only have this boar to spare.” Of course at the mention of eating the hog Rarity once more looked like she was going to gag, but she managed to control herself enough not to do that. I for my part was more interested in the names the guy was giving us; the forest being called Tickwood I could understand, it being infested with those giant arachnids and whatnot, but Turandarok River? That name didn’t make any sense to me. Was there someone (hearing the guy speak I gathered that they use the more general pronoun instead of the racial one) named Turandarok that discovered this river or something, cause that’s the second most popular practice while naming places back home. And Devil’s Platter… why did it sound suspiciously like Ghastly Gorge to me?

“So what do ya suggest we do then?” Asked Applejack, eying the hunter warily once more. It was clear his refusal to help didn’t go well with her. In response Einael looked at her with those black and tale eyes of his and inclined his head a bit, as if bowing slightly.

“I may not have invited you to come with me, but I can still help. You see, there is this small, quiet town nearby by the name of Sandpoint. It is a helpful community, filled with good men and women, and there is more than one healer there that will no doubt help you get back to full health. It is also close by, and the road there is easier than trying to traverse the wilds, so I would be more than glad to give you proper directions to get there.”

We exchanged glances at that, trying to figure out what to do. Einael was offering to show us the way to a local town, and we all agreed that it was a good idea to go check it out and at least try to get some medical help for Pinkie and RD. Problem is –we didn’t know if we should do that. I for one didn’t trust this guy for some reason, he just seemed too odd for my liking. Secondly, and it became apparent to the rest quite quickly too –we still didn’t know the whereabouts of Twilight. For all we knew she could be somewhere in this forest and need our help, and with us going to this Sandpoint place we would be all but abandoning her. Taking all that into account AJ decided to act as our spokesmare:

“We thank ya kindly for the offer, but we still need ta find somepo… someone in this here forest. Ya see, we got separated an’ we haven’t seen hide nor hair of our friend since. We jus’ can’t let her wander ‘round all by herself, she can get into some kinda trouble an’ could need our help.”

“Yeah, exactly! We can’t just leave Twilight here, some kind of crazy tick-thing or something could attack her or something like that! We need to go and find her!” Added Rainbow enthusiastically, only to again clutch at her side in pain.

After hearing that Einael frowned for a moment, and we couldn’t be sure if he was insulted by our refusal or did he do that in thought. We waited for him to say something, and sure enough after a moment he looked at us inquisitively.

“I sadly do not recall anyone by the name of ‘Twilight’, but I did run into someone earlier this night.” That instantly got our attention. We all looked at him with expectation, probably unnerving him a little bit if him stepping back was anything to go by. “A young lady, an elf like me, fairly attractive. If I recall correctly, she had purple eyes and straight hair with two streaks in different colors running through them. Seemed quite nice if not a fair bit lost, and quite nervous of me, tough that changed once we exchanged a few words. Sadly I did not think to ask what was her name, so I cannot be sure if it was the companion you were referring to.”

Wow, that… that was just fantastic! The guy still seemed suspicious to me, but there was no denying it –he just gave us a quite detailed description that fit with how Twilight looked and acted quite well. He also mentioned that she was now of his kind, so we would know what to look for, not to mention that we had another name to call the local species. That wasn’t however that important right now –we needed to squeeze as much information out of this guy about Twi’s whereabouts as possible.

“When did you see her?! How far away from here was she?! Where did she go?!” I asked (more like shouted out) my questions in rapid succession. Einael looked at me with surprise in his eyes, not expecting such an outburst from me, and gestured for me to calm down.

“Easy there, little one. There is no need to get so excited.” He said, and waited until I calmed down. That took the better part of the next minute.

“So it is safe to assume that this ‘Twilight’ person is the one I just described to you?” He asked, and in response got six rapidly nodding heads. “I see. Then you should be happy to know that she seemed to be in good health. And as for your questions, master Spike…” again with names he shouldn’t know, but I was too interested with getting my answers to take much notice of it “…it was about three hours ago that I had ran into her. It was a fair bit west of here, almost at the feet of the Ravenroost Hills. And as with you, I offered her directions towards Sandpoint, and she accepted. I believe it is safe to assume that she already is there, most probably waiting for you as we speak.”

That seemed plausible to say the truth. If Twilight thought that we listened to her orders and didn’t come near her when she was having those problems with her magic, she could just as well believe that she was the only one transported here. Then it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise that she didn’t look for us. Either that or this guy was lying to us big time, but with his accurate description of Twi and Applejack not calling his bluff it was the less likely of options.

We looked at each other yet again, coming to a silent agreement. We were going to go with Einael’s word, for better or for worse. We didn’t in fact have any choice in the matter to be honest –with Pinkie and RD out of commission and even if Twi was in fact still somewhere in this forest, we needed to get to some kind of civilization, and fast. So, nodding at one another in silent agreement, we looked at our hopeful guide.

“Those are most wonderful news, my good sir.” Rarity started, adopting the role of our spokesmare. “It’s really a relief that Twilight ran into you and that you were able to point her in the direction of safety. With that being said however, we believe that you were about to share the directions towards this whole ‘Sandpoint’ place with us, hm?”

“Naturally.” He nodded curtly and launched into a detailed explanation how to get from the clearing we were in to the town he had mentioned. Long story short: we were to march up north until we came to the forest edge, than take a left turn and go along a road that he called the ‘Lost Coast Road’ and pass a range of ragged, broken hills called the ‘Ravenroost’. According to his words, Sandpoint was just over two miles away, but with a well-kept road to use and no rivers to cross the trip shouldn’t take longer than an hour, and that’s after taking into account Pinkie’s and Rainbow’s conditions. All in all it seemed that this wouldn’t be that strenuous a trip after all.

“Seems simple enough.” Muttered AJ, memorizing the directions the guy gave us. “An’ ya say that sun’s ‘bout ta come out in an hour or so?”

“Indeed, it should be dawning by the time you get to Sandpoint, that is if you decide to depart within the next few minutes.” Einael replied, nodding absentmindedly. It seemed like if he was deep in thought about something, and only after a moment did he continue, his voice sounding like if he was adding something as an afterthought. “Normally I do not believe in charity, opting to as the proverb goes ‘teach how to fish rather than give a fish myself’, but considering your position I believe that a concession from the norm is in place.”

“Hold up. Whaddya mean ‘charity’? We don’t need no charity!” Rainbow as always protested the moment she heard something even remotely implying her weakness. I swear, her pride’s going to someday make her participate in something so stupid and dangerous that Pinkie Pie’s random pastry experiments would look tame and logical in comparison. Fortunately, this wasn’t that day, and we had Applejack to keep the rainbow maned mare in check.

That didn’t mean that she was 100% okay with accepting charity herself.

“Rainbow maybe ain’t the most well-behaved ma… woman Ah know, but Ah hafta agree with her: whaddya mean by ‘charity’?” Just as I said, she wasn’t thrilled. Comes with living on a farm and having to work for every single bit I wager. Our interlocutor shifted uneasily under her gaze.

“My apologies, I did not mean to insult anybody with my words.” He began quickly explain himself. “What I meant by ‘charity’ is a form of material help. I wanted to present you with some items that would most probably come in handy on your way to Sandpoint.”

“Hm… that does sound kinda like charity to me.” I muttered to myself, earning a half-hearted glare from the hunter. Even so a chill ran down my spine –those alien eyes of his were downright terrifying.

“Once again my apologies. I may have used it extensively for the better part of my life, but even so I sometimes use misplaced words or direct translations while speaking the common tongue. I am so much more comfortable with elven.” Okay, so we learned another thing –Equestrian was apparently considered as the ‘Common Language’ here, or our language was similar enough to pass for it here. Come to think of it, Equestrian was probably the common tongue back home as well; maybe I don’t know any foreign ponies myself, but I’m pretty sure all of them speak the same language. Heck, I think even the griffins use Equestrian as their own.

Einael’s words seemed to somewhat calm the two most hot-headed mares in our group, as both of them ceased glaring daggers at him. Taking the less intense looks he was getting as a prompting to continue, our guest kneeled on the ground and unfastened something from his belt. At first I didn’t pay it that much attention, not to mention it was partially hidden under his cloak, but now it became obvious that Einael had something like a miniature saddlebag attacked to his pants’ belt (or maybe it would be more accurate to call it a pouch, or a hip-pouch to be exact?). Once his pouch was on the ground in front of him he began rummaging through it.

It took our guest less than a few seconds to locate what he was searching for. He pulled out of his hip-pouch three two hoof long iron rods with golden tips on their ends, and carefully placed them on the ground. Once that was done he reached with one of his ‘claws’ (seriously, there must be a better way to call those appendages, I just know it) to the inside of one of his boots and pulled out of it something that looked kind of like a knife in a leather holster. Why did he carry something like that in his boot I have no idea, but the point is –he added it to the pile of golden-tipped rods.

We looked at the items our guest had given us with mostly blank looks. As much as we could  guess what was the use of the knife he gave us, we had no idea what to do with those metal rods. Fortunately, seeing our confused expressions our benefactor launched into an explanation.

“As you may well know, the darkest part of the night is not midnight, nor is it any time directly before or after that. In fact, the night is at its darkest just before dawn. Seeing as you will most probably be traveling through the forest exactly at that time, I decided to give you these three sunrods. Once struck hard enough, the golden tips of these peculiar alchemical products glow with light bright enough to illuminate everything within thirty feet and shed additional yet dimmer light even further. These are really useful tools, the alchemical process producing the light not needing any air to take place and being water-resistant makes sunrods work even when completely submerged. Additionally, the process is slow enough that the glow persists for about six hours, a time long enough for you to get to the safety of Sandpoint’s walls with absolutely no problems, even if you decided to dawdle here for much longer. Tough I guess that then you would not be in need of these anymore.” He added with a half-smile. I was however too engrossed with what I heard. This guy… sounded almost like a salesmare (or rather stallion) advertising his product. That is I admit, those ‘sunrods’ sounded quite interesting, but the way the hunter spoke was hilarious. Kinda makes me wonder what did he normally do for a living.

Our private sales-stallion continued his explanations, moving to the second, more obvious item. “I assume that this does not need to be explained. I see that you lack any serious weapons to defend yourselves with…” He eyed the broken off branches we were using as impromptu weapons with mild amusement “…so I decided that I might as well part with one of my own. It is not much, I know, but this dagger is definitely better than what you already have in your possession, and even if you will not have the need to use it, which I do hope you will not have to resort to, you can always sell it in Sandpoint for some coin. Judging by the lack of moneybags on you I gather that you are in dire need of it, and in these times everything has its costs.”

That did seem right, and as we weren’t prepared for something like this to happen none of us had any bits with them. Accepting his ‘gifts’ AJ was the first to take the laid out items and upholster the dagger to inspect it.

Now I’m no expert in this kind of stuff, the only knifes I know are butter knifes and the odd butchers knife (don’t ask), so my surprise was adequate to my ignorance. The handle of the dagger seemed to be wrapped with a rather dull looking cloth, tough I suspect it was placed there to protect Einael’s foot from getting in contact with it. The blade however, that was a completely different story.

The dagger’s blade was a one sided steel affair, making it resemble a knife. However it was also curved in a way that prevented it from being confused with normal tableware. The blade was quite long, reaching almost two hoofs in length alone, as well as rather thin, making it seem like a weapon ideal for stabbing. Come to think of it, it was so long that I had a hard time understanding how Einael even managed to fit it inside his own boot. But I digress. Back to the blade –in the dim light the slowly dying out fire was providing the metal of the dagger seemed to gleam with a multitude of small, intricate carvings, like if the blade itself was decorated with fine artwork, forming an almost unseen pattern along its length. I may not be an expert, but this piece of metal most probably would fetch a really nice price, tough why would somepony someone decorate something like a weapon, an implement of war, was beyond me.

I wasn’t the only one admiring the craftsmanship of the dagger. Applejack, who of course was the one to collect it in the first place was looking at it with interest, tough she didn’t look particularly impressed by it. The carvings on the blade seemed not to be too interesting to her, tough I suspect she was looking at it more in the way of usefulness. Rainbow however, once she got closer to the farmpony was looking at it with the expression that said only one thing: ‘that is sooo awesome!’. The most interesting reaction we got from Rarity, who managed to shift Pinkie Pie from herself onto Fluttershy and took a look. At first she looked at it with close to no interest at all, probably seeing the dagger as yet another barbaric tool. That all changed once she noticed the decorative pattern on the blade. She stared at the piece of metal like if she was transfixed by it, and only after AJ sheathed it did she snap out of it, her eyes still lingering on the concealed weapon. It seemed that she got interested by it, her eye for details and beauty picking up something that corresponded to her interests.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she actually volunteered to carry it now.

During the time we looked at the presented weapon our benefactor seemed to slowly gather his other belongings and prepare to depart. His hip-pouch was  already fastened to his belt and he collected the discarded bow from the ground, slinging it over his back and partially under his cloak. Apparently he had something like a holster for his weapon there. About the time Applejack finally concluded her inspection of the received dagger he was looking at the boar on the ground in a manner that clearly spoke that he was trying to figure out how to best transport it.

“We thank ya kindly for the gifts, but Ah’m afraid we can’t accept ‘em.” I looked again at Applejack as she spoke that with shock. Was she returning the things Einael gave us? Looking at her, the glint in her eyes spoke volumes about what was going on in her head, and the fact she laid the items back on the ground only reinforced that image. She did in fact want to give it back, and the way she was looking at the hunter was quite clear –she didn’t trust him, nor did she trust the stuff he gave us. That little detail however was completely overlooked by Rarity and RD, who both looked at her with shocked expressions.

“Wait a moment darling, what do you mean we can’t accept the gifts?” Asked Rarity, clearly confused by her decision. AJ’s response was quick and to the point.

“Ah’m not comfortable with acceptin’ stuff from strangers, even if they seem like the honest sort. Learned that from Granny Smith, an’ Apple Family Tradition’s something Ah try ta uphold.”

“Yes, well, tradition is a good thing and all but think of the situation we’re in darling.” Rarity tried to reason with her, however her eyes were shifting in the direction of the dagger clearly indicated what she was thinking herself. “We’re in this dreadful forest with who-knows-what kind of monstrosities stalking it, alone, in the dark, and with no money on our names. We just cannot afford to refuse something like this.”

“Yeah, Rarity’s right AJ! As much as my awesome abilities should be enough for me to handle things without help, the rest of the girls need some kind of extra protection. Besides, it’s not as if we’re about to trample your tradition or anything, we’re just going to take stuff that’s really useful in the situation we’re in right now.” Added Rainbow Dash, as confident as ever. AJ seemed to not share those sentiments however.

“We can manage on our own, Ah know we can.” She said, shaking her head. “We don’t need no help from the outside, no offense.”

“None taken.” Replied the hunter, however it was clear that he was at least a bit disappointed by what AJ just said. Rainbow and Rarity however weren’t going to give up that easily.

“Like you said AJ, we can do it on our own. But it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, right?” Okay, that was different. From when did Rainbow think like that? After those words however she lowered her voice so that our guest couldn’t hear her. “Besides, it’s dark as hay and we kinda need those sunrods to see where we’re going. And that dagger thing is just too cool to pass up.” Phew, for a moment there I was afraid that Rainbow’s brain just short-circuited or something, but no –everything seemed alright.

“Rainbow’s right you know.” Added Rarity. “We need to get Pinkie Pie to a doctor or some other kind of physician, we can’t be sure if that concussion that may I remind is your fault to begin with is dangerous to her or not, and those sunrods would be quite useful to get through this wretched forest faster. And do you think I will go around in public being seen with something as crude as one of those wooden clubs?” Now that was just plain mean of Rarity, even I’ll admit that. Using Applejacks feeling of guilt against her was most definitely a low blow, I’m surprised that somepony as fair as our resident fashionista would stoop down to such a level. It was very effective though, as proven by AJ guilt-ridden face.

“Ah… Ah guess y’all right.” She muttered downcast, after which she looked dejectedly at Einael. “Ah’m sorry that Ah change mah mind so often, it’s just…”

“There is no need to explain yourself young Applejack, I am not as petty as to take that as an insult.” He interrupted her, gesturing soothingly. “All I wanted was to assist your group, ‘tis all. You did strike me as honest and genuinely good folk, so I am more than happy to help in whatever way I can.”

“So we still can take the stuff you gave us, right?” Asked Rainbow Dash, looking with interest at both the dagger and the sunrods. In response the hunter nodded.

“Yes, by all means, it belongs to you now.” You didn’t need to say that twice. As quickly as possible Rarity dove for the intricately decorated dagger, winning in a contest of speed with none other than Rainbow Dash herself. The slightly surprised, not to mention annoyed cyan pegasus grumbled something about unfair advantages and stupid injured sides and picked up the three gold-tipped iron rods.

I watched the exchanged with mild amusement, yet still I kept Einael in my sight, just in case. It might have seemed odd, but for some reason I still felt that this guy was fishy in some way, and AJ’s suspicious glances along with her earlier refusal to accept those items only reinforced that feeling. From what I could see however he did seem to act normally, or at least I think it was normal, considering I didn’t know this guy. Not sparing the girls a second glance as RD and Rarity argued as to who should be on ‘dagger duty’ as the multicolored mare put it, he finally seemed to figure out how to go about transporting his prey.

I finally averted my gaze from the two bickering mares and concentrated my full attention on what the hunter was doing. Einael, who as I already stated seemed to have figured out how to go about the boar took a few steps towards the hog. Then, as if it was the most normal thing in the world, which it could actually be for all I knew he reached with both his ‘claws’ for the already limp legs of the animal and grabbed them, two hooves in each ‘claw’. Then, with a slight grunt he lifted the animal and hefted it above his head, letting it drop onto his shoulders with an audible thud. Seeing all that happen… well, now I knew for certain: if this guy could lift over 300 pounds and was able to walk with it on his back, especially while being a bipedal creature, than I really, really didn’t want to get on his bad side. This guy was a beast.

“I will be taking my leave now.” He said, gaining the attention of the girls as he readjusted the weight on his shoulders. They looked at him, some of them in shock at his display of raw strength, and he nodded slightly in their direction. “I wish you the best of luck on your journey to Sandpoint. Maybe someday we will meet again.”

He turned around and was about to go his way when I decided to do something completely unplanned.

“Wait a moment, I have one last question!” I shouted after him. To my relief he did stop and he half-turned to me, looking over one of the legs of his prey with a raised eyebrow. “If Sandpoint’s so close, than why didn’t you and your friends go there and resupply? I mean it’s way easier than hunting, right?” He looked at me with those eyes of his, his face not betraying any of his thoughts. Only after a full minute did he respond, his voice sounding like if he was trying to hide something from us.

“Let me phrase it like this: during our last stay there one of my companions got into a little misunderstanding with the local authorities. Nothing serious mind you, it just seems that he has too… ‘sticky hands’… for his own good. Long story short, we were allowed to leave town under the promise of never returning back there. A shame really; Sandpoint is a peaceful and quite beautiful place, and not being able to go there really saddens me.”

“So you’re thieves?” I asked quite bluntly, prompting a series of gasps from the girls, especially Rarity, not to mention Pinkie’s overly loud one. In hindsight I think I was really pushing it, but fortunately for me, Einael didn’t seem that angered by my accusation…

“I have not stolen anything in the entirety of my two hundred years of life!” Okay, so he did get a bit annoyed at that, but fortunately for me, he seemed to calm down after taking a few deep breath and grunting some while once again readjusting the boar on his shoulders. “Please, do not call me a criminal for the actions of one of my less law-abiding associates. Now, if there is no more stupid questions and groundless accusations pointed at me, I will take my leave. Farewell.” And with that rather cold goodbye he all but stormed in the direction from which he came from, leaving us alone again, standing in the weakening glow of the slowly dying out campfire.

“Well… that went well.” I muttered, letting out a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Just as I said –the guy could be (and was) terrifying. The girls however didn’t seem to share my point of view, at least most of them didn’t.

“Spike, that was uncalled for!” Scolded Rarity outraged, looking at me disapprovingly. I admit, I flinched once I received that look. “You can’t just go around and accuse ponies… people of thievery, especially if they are helping us!”

“Yeah, that was like totally uncool.” Added Rainbow. Even Fluttershy seemed to look at me with disappointment. I definitely didn’t want to something like this happen to me again, all those looks of disappointment and outrage, especially the one coming from the one mare I cared for the most (aside from maybe Twilight), it was something horrible. Still, even if they were angry with me now didn’t mean that I was going to just change my opinion of this Einael character –I did not trust him. He just rubbed me the wrong way.

After a bit more scolding from Rarity and RD the two seemed to calm down. By that time we already began preparing to move out and try to follow the hunter’s direction to this whole Sandpoint place. We gathered our belongings and on AJ’s request we gathered the branch-clubs and ‘armed’ ourselves with them. One dagger was most definitely not enough to fend off any sort of attack, and she knew that full well and was adamant on us taking this little extra weight with us, just to be on the safe side. Rarity of course complained about that, but as she was the one that was ‘decided’ to carry the only real weapon her arguments had little sway on things.

After about five minutes we were mostly ready. It was decided that Pinkie Pie, whose injury prevented her from walking straight for prolonged periods of time was to be carried to town either by Fluttershy or AJ, as Rainbow was injured herself and she shouldn’t be overexerting herself any more than absolutely necessary. As the pink mare was in her smaller, bipedal form much lighter than normally, the shy pegasus had enough strength to be able to carry her, at least for some time. She even volunteered to do just that, taking most of us by surprise with her decision, and she already was holding onto the most random of ponies, cradling her in her arms like an overgrown child. There really wasn’t anything more to do, so we were just about to set out.

“Y’all go ahead, Ah’m just gonna put out these here fire an’ Ah’ll be with ya right quick.” Applejack suddenly said, taking a step in the fire’s direction. “We don’ wanna start a forest fire now, do we? Could get in a pile of trouble if it spreads.”

We looked at the campfire as it was slowly dying out on its own. Something told me that AJ said that only to be alone for a minute or two, and she just chose the most probable explanation as to why she was going to lag behind for some time. If I was to guess, it had something to do with our recent guest. The girls seemed to think along the same lines as me, I even think I saw Rainbow giving the farmpony an inquisitive look.

“I’ll help you with that.” I decided to say, shifting the ever more suspicious looks from Applejack onto me. “It’ll be quicker if someone helps you.”

“Yeah, um… thank ya kindly Spike.” She answered uneasily, not entirely sure what were my intentions. The girls however didn’t seem to notice that, and having their attention split between me and AJ,  they didn’t notice a thing. After a moment of silence Applejack turned to the rest and urged them on. “Ya'll go on ahead, we’ll be with ya in a bit.”

“Okay… if you say so.” Said Rainbow suspiciously, but nonetheless turned around from the two of us and along with the rest she began marching in the direction both AJ and Einael earlier assured was north. On her way she placed one of the sunrods on a nearby log, most probably for us, and struck the second one’s golden tip against the trunk, prompting it to glow with a bright, clear light. She looked at it for a moment, quite surprised that it actually worked and said something along the lines of  ‘well whaddya know, the guy was right’. Moments later she remembered what she was supposed to do and began her trek through the forest, leaving me alone with Applejack.

AJ seemed to be uneasy with me around and tried to mask that by doing what she told she was going to do to the girls. She probably thought that I genuinely offered my help with putting out the fire. Grabbing a long and sturdy branch she began to spread out the firewood, turning one flame to put out into many smaller. I took an example out of her book and found such a branch myself and accompanied her, even though I knew it was meant to make our work take longer. After a moment of silent work I spoke up.

“You don’t trust that whole Einael character.” It was a statement, not a question. Applejack momentarily froze up, and only after a moment did she turn around to face me, slowly.

“Wha… What gave ya that idea Spike?” She asked, trying to play dumb. Unfortunately for her, she represented the virtue of honesty, and that meant that she couldn’t tell a lie to save her life.

“It’s quite obvious you know: the way you were looking at him, all suspicious-like; using Apple Family Tradition as an excuse not to take the stuff he offered us… It’s all obvious.” I said with a shrug. AJ seemed mortified at hearing that, so I quickly added. “Don’t worry, I don’t exactly trust him either. Guy seemed fishy to me from the start for some reason.” That seemed to put her at ease, as she let out a sigh of relief and resumed her work.

“That’s a relief. Ah was afraid that Ah was the only one ta be suspicious of him.” As she said that she looked at me and smiled a little. “Ah’m surprised that it’s you that figured that out, Ah would expect RD ta be the more suspicious one.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” I answered, not entirely sure how to respond to that. After a moment however I shook my head and forced my brain back on track. “So… you picked up any lies off of him? Cause, you know, I only had this sinking suspicion that he wasn’t completely honest with us, I’m not that good at reading ponies… people… whatever they’re called.” AJ seemed to get what I was going on about and she furrowed her brows a bit in concentration, trying to recall whatever she picked up.

After a moment of silent concentration she finally looked up again. “It’s mighty complicated ta say the truth. The big parts, like where this Sandpoint place is or that he seen Twi seemed legit. It’s the small, unimportant parts he didn’t tell the whole truth. He probably ain’t called Einael at all, nor is he only a traveler an’ hunter. To be honest with ya, your question if he’s a thief caught him so off guard that he probably slipped up too much. Ah wouldn’t be surprised if he an’ his friends are a band of thievin’ varmints.”

“That would explain why he was so keen on getting rid of that dagger.” I nodded in agreement. “It's probably stolen or something.”

“Exactly! Didn’t want ta have anythin’ in common with somethin’ that was stolen from somepony.” Suddenly she stopped, once again furrowing her brow, and looked at me questioningly. “Did Ah hear that right when he said he’s more than two hundred years old?”

The question took me by surprise. I looked at the mare before me racking my brain in search for an answer, and only after a couple of seconds did it click for me. Nodding slowly, I agreed with her words. “Yeah, I think he did say something along those lines. You suppose that was a lie too?” I was even more surprised when she shook her head in response.

“Ah don’ think so. He seemed mighty upset ‘bout what ya said an’ didn’t think what he was tryin’ ta say through. Ah actually think he was honest back there. Would explain why he was refferin’ to us as ‘young ones’ most of the time an’ his faraway looks.”

“Yeah, I guess…” I nodded slowly in response, trying to make sense of what I’ve just learned. “Still –two hundred years? Wouldn’t say that only by looking at him, seemed younger than that. But what the heck, for all we know the locals might live longer lives than we back home, or they count years differently. Because I seriously doubt he’s the local equivalent of an alicorn.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right there pardner. Dem elf or whatever he called himself didn’ seemed ta be all that special ta me. ‘Sides, can ya imagine Twi’s reaction if she heard that she all but changed into somethin’ like the kind of pony as that the Princess herself is?” She added, holding back laughter. I form myself almost burst out laughing at that as well.

“Seriously, if Twilight ever turns into an alicorn I’m quitting gems.” I said between snorts. After a moment however I regained my composure and added as an afterthought. “Well, maybe not gems entirely, but rubies. Knowing Twilight, she has the best chances of making that actually happen, second maybe only to Pinkie Pie.” We sniggered at that a bit as well, but aside from that we calmed down enough to continue with our work. By now the firewood was spread out enough for us to be able to easily cover it up with dirt, which we proceeded to do. In the meantime Applejack turned to me with a question of her own.

“So… didja find anythin’ more suspicious ‘bout the whole ‘Einael’ guy?”

“Yeah, well there is the Fluttershy incident.” I muttered, and seeing her nodding at me to continue I did just that. “I mean don’t you find it strange that in less than five minutes he was able to break through ‘Shy’s shell and become all chummy with her? Well, as chummy as he gets I mean, that guy showed no enthusiasm whatsoever. I’m telling ya, it was like some kind of magic, but that can’t possibly be true.”

“Ah hear ya.” AJ nodded at that, tossing a bit of dirt on a particularly hard to extinguish flame. “Ah can’t say Ah understood that gibberish he was spewing, but whatever it was, Ah doubt it could make Fluttershy open up ta him in such a short time. She just ain’t that trusting of strangers. That doesn’t add up.”

“You know, that’s actually another thing I wanted to point out.” I said, making her stop what she was doing and look at me with interest. “How the hay did he know that Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow would understand what he was saying? Come to think of it, how did they know that language in the first place? I didn’t hear them ever speak in it before, and they all seemed to understand what he was saying to them, and if I remember it right they even responded to him in kind a few times. That’s just all kinds of strange right there, even in comparison to us changing into whatever we're right now.”

AJ silently nodded in agreement but didn’t say anything. It seemed that she was to engrossed with her work to actually respond to my words, but one glance was enough to tell me that she was in fact deep in thought. I decided that I too should begin to sum up whet we figured out up to now, especially considering we were nearing the end of our cover work, having only a few small flames to put out.

So: we met a local, that from the start was both lying to us and telling us the truth. He seemed to be genuine when it came to matters that should be important to us, but at the same time made almost completely sure that we didn’t know anything about him in return. He told us that he saw Twilight and pointed us in the direction she went, or rather he sent her in, and he even supplied us with things that would be useful in our trek there. However at the same time he seemed to be all to welcoming to actually part with that dagger, and considering his slip up from before we parted ways it might as well have been stolen. As if that wasn’t enough he somehow knows that some of us knew this strange language that I could only assume was his native tongue, and somehow he was able to make Fluttershy, who was terrified half to death by him just moments earlier to lighten up to him to such an extent that she treated him as one of her friends. Also it appeared that he was possibly older than all of us combined, and yet he was as strong as an ox and didn’t seem to be bothered at all by old age. In other words –we knew absolutely nothing about this guy, nothing that mattered or made sense that is, and he apparently had sway over a large portion of us. Ugh… why do I feel this is not going to end well?

On the bright side, at least after that slip up after I asked him why he didn’t go to Sandpoint himself I learned what those appendages we now had were called. Hands. Hm… that’s odd. Why did an image of a mint green unicorn mare with golden eyes just flashed in my mind? Eh, no matter, I’m sure that’s not important anyway.

Applejack tossed the last handful of dirt on the flames, extinguishing them. That was the unmistakable sign that our time was up and that we should get going and catch up to the rest of the girls. With a wary sigh AJ turned around in the direction the girls went and said, probably more to herself than to me:

“Ah just hope all this ain’t gonna bite us in the keister in the end.” She seemed worried about the whole situation, as I was.

“You think we should tell the others?” I asked hopefully. She quickly shook her head no.

“Nah, that won’t work. The girls seemed ta take a shine to dem ‘Einael’ fellar an’ Ah’m afraid  that nothin’ we say will change that. All we can do is hope for the best and try ta limit the damage if it comes.” And with that she approached the log on which Rainbow Dash left the second sunrod and hit it against the trunk, igniting it and showering the clearing in its bright light. Taking a deep, calming breath she stepped towards the edge of the glade, thus beginning our trek towards the unknown town of Sandpoint.
> Act Two Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Act Two: Festival and Fire



Lost Coast Road, Date Unknown (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Dawn


Applejack and I caught up to Dash and the others quite quickly, despite their head start. Rainbow, who of course took the lead once she saw the chance wasn’t in her prime condition, so catching up to her wasn’t an issue. Also their group left a trail behind easily visible for AJ, so finding them wasn’t a problem at all. The way the farmpony put it: ‘y’all left behind a trail so darn visible, that a timberwolf  with acorns for eyes could easily followed y’all’. That little friendly jab of course prompted an immediate response from Rainbow, who not so subtly implied some rather embarrassing things concerning my and AJ’s sudden urge to stay behind and ‘put out some flames’. Suffice to say we both were blushing up a storm by the time she finished with us.

The trek through Tickwood turned out to be quite easy now that we had an idea where to go. While last time we were stumbling in the dark in hopes of finding either a way out of this crazy forest or finding one of our friends, now we had a clear goal in site and a source of light to boot. As much as it pains me to admit it, the sunrods our suspicious acquaintance had provided us with proved to be an exceptional boon in our endeavor. Their bright glow not only was a great light source, illuminating the path ahead of us, but it also must've kept most of the potentially dangerous wildlife away from us. The only creatures willing to approach the two luminous rods were moths, and they were more than welcome company, putting Fluttershy at ease and distracting Pinkie Pie from doing anything too random and hurting herself more than absolutely necessary. All in all it seemed that we were finally getting somewhere, both literally and figuratively.

As per the word of our deceptive benefactor, getting out from the forest wasn’t that hard after we knew where to go. The distance however… I’m beginning to suspect that either ‘Einael’ lowered the numbers he gave us, or that local yards and miles were not the same around these parts as back home. From what I remember him saying, the way to the forest edge should not be longer than three hundred yards from where we started. We passed at least double the amount before the trees even began to thin out. Still, we didn't complain –we were getting out of this crazy forest after all, and we all were thankful to finally do that, Rarity probably the most.

The moment we exited the forest we were greeted by almost complete darkness. The two activated sunrods we were carrying weren’t enough to illuminate anything beyond their maximum limit of forty equestrian yards (I think I’m going to start to differentiate those from the local, in case they really are any different). True to the hunter’s word, the night was at its darkest just before dawn, and we just happened to leave the woods at that precise time. Still, something as trivial as that wasn’t going to make us stop, so the girls and I got a move on and continued our trek to what hopefully was going to be safety and Twilight.

First order of business was locating the so called ‘Lost Coast Road’. As I already mentioned, it was utterly dark at this hour, and none of us, not even the keen eyes of Pinkie Pie were able to locate it from the small hill the forest was located on. Figuring out that the road must've been somewhere further ahead we began our descent, eyes open for any trace of what could have been called a highway. That however didn’t deter me from taking at least a glance of the night sky.

Now I’m in no way an expert on stars and constellations, the extent of my knowledge ending on a few larger constellations and the general assertion that the night sky is a pretty thing to watch. Still, even I could tell that something was clearly not right with what I was seeing. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t find any of the familiar star alignments from back home. That made me ask myself: how is something like this even possible? There were only two possible answers to that and both were quite frightening to say the least. Either we were on the opposite side of the planet, where from what I remember Twi reading the night sky was rumored to look quite differently, or we were someplace else entirely.

Could I be watching Celestia’s sun right now and not know it?

My pondering on the possibility of us ending up somehow on a completely alien planet was cut short by a triumphant ‘aha!’ courtesy of Rainbow Dash. One quick look on the place she was pointing at was enough answer –she found the road. Dimly illuminated by the glow of the sunrod she was holding, the pathway wasn’t anything extremely out of the ordinary. Just your typical dirt road, the likes of which there are hundreds back in Equestria. Practically the only visible difference was that it was significantly wider than those back home, but that could be just to accommodate proportionally bigger wagons. The locals were after all bigger than ponies. Hm… There is one thing I didn’t think about though. If the locals have wagons, than did they pull them themselves, or did they have a different way to drive them?

We didn’t dawdle in one spot for too long. Taking our guide’s words to heart our small group took a left turn once we reached the road and followed it to what must've been the west. During about that time Fluttershy finally became winded after carrying Pinkie Pie and passed her to Applejack, who quite quickly figured out how to make carrying the pink mare easier for herself. Long story short, Pinkie ended up clutching at AJ’s back, her hind legs, or rather only legs right now in the farmpony’s grip. I’m not entirely sure why, but my brain supplied me with a term for it: ‘piggyback ride’, tough what did it have in common with pigs I don’t have the slightest clue.

The trip towards what we hoped was Sandpoint was not an exciting one to be sure, which considering the situation we were in was really fortunate. The Lost Coast Road gave the impression of being a rather well-kept highway; the dirt was well-trodden upon, indicating it was often used, and the lack of ruts indicated that either whatever wagons went this way were light, or that the road itself didn’t get too muddy and/or was repaired frequently. Thanks to that we could for the most part enjoy our journey and take in the sites, even if we weren’t able to see all that much in the dark. We could dimly make out the shapes of some steep, broken hills, most probably the Ravenroost if I’m not mistaken looming to our left, and I believe we passed an abandoned-looking shack at some point, but those really were the highlights of the trip. Oh, and maybe the fact that at some point we could pick up the faint sound of the sea coming from our right. The road had to be called the ‘Lost Coast Road’ for a reason. All in all however, it was a rather peaceful trip, quite enjoyable even.

After about half an hour of walking the night sky began to brighten up a bit, a clear indicator that the sun was just beginning to rise. The horizon behind us began to light up and the stars that just moments ago dotted the night sky were slowly flickering out, outshone by the growing twilight glow. Funny… I live with a mare that is practically named after this yet I never took the time to actually observe sunrise, always asleep at this wee hour of the morning. Guess I was missing out on quite the spectacle for all those years.

With the sun slowly rising the sunrods we were carrying were becoming more and more unnecessary. With each passing minute their light was becoming dimmer in comparison to the ambient light the closest star was providing. By the time the sun dawned on the horizon, they were practically useless to us, barely even lighting up anything in a ten hoof radius around them. After a bit of consideration and unable to figure out if it was even possible to turn those rods off we decided that we might as well discard them and be on our way without them. The sun provided enough illumination as it was.

With the coming of the dawn it was as if the world opened up to us. As we were walking we were able to take in the sights more clearly, and let me tell you –they were incredible. Don’t get me wrong, Equestria was a beautiful place with its rolling hills, rounded mountaintops and lush green fields, but this was something quite different and to take a page from Twilight’s book –fascinating. Hills weren’t just rolling slopes, as some of them were ragged and ruptured, looking more like the badlands than anything, Still, they were covered with fresh green fields of grass, here and there spotted with patches of multicolored flowers and from time to time by a lone tree, making them look quite alive. And the sea to our right… something unbelievable. I admit, I was only once at the seaside, Horseshoe Bay to be exact, but even so what I could see from the road was something breathtaking. If this whole Sandpoint place was a coastal town than our deceptive benefactor was quite right –it must be a beautiful place.

As the night gave way to the sun we were slowly nearing our destination. The road we were traveling on was gently veering to the left, passing by the ragged Ravenroost hills and leading us ever further west. Once we passed most of the small range we noticed the first signs of civilization, that is beside the road we were traveling on. Some three or four equestrian miles away from us there was a plume of dark gray smoke reaching into the sky, slowly dissipating as it was gaining altitude. Our first reaction on seeing that was to think it was some kind of faraway forest fire, but it seemed too concentrated for that, so we concluded it must've been some kind of industrial smoke. And as we knew only of one town in the immediate vicinity we quickly figured out it must've been Sandpoint. So, having our destination in our sights we continued our trek with renewed vigor.

The rest of our walk towards Sandpoint proved to be uneventful. Aside from the sun scaling the celestial sphere and dispelling the night shadows nothing noteworthy happened, and it was becoming clear that some of us, mainly Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were getting bored. The pink mare amused herself with asking a volley of questions to her unfortunate listener –Applejack. I actually recall something about kumquats and cherry changas, but I can’t be sure about that, trying to tune her out. Rainbow for her part looked like she was about to start pulling her hair out of boredom, and only the constant waves of pain from her injured side were keeping her from running off ahead of us. Fluttershy and Rarity seemed not to mind, though I think Rarity was moments away from beginning to complain about the distance we had to walk. To be completely honest, I was with her on this one. The distance was definitely larger than three miles already, and we had yet to even see the town, let alone enter it. That just proved it for me –the locals used different, larger units of distance.

I was seriously beginning to wonder if we were getting any closer to this Sandpoint. I mean the cloud of smoke seemed to be getting bigger and closer with each step we took, but we’d yet to see the town itself. As if that wasn’t enough, the road began to climb up a slope of some kind and a tick grove began forming to our left. It almost seemed like if the nature itself wanted to hinder our advance for some reason. Yet the plume of smoke was getting bigger and ticker by the minute, so we must've been getting closer.

Finally, after climbing the slope I’ve mentioned before and following the road as it unexpectedly made a turn to the left we saw it. Down below us, as the slope we were climbing for the last few minutes began to gently fall we could see our destination.

Behind a rather short stone wall lay a small town, not that different from Ponyville back home. A multitude of simple wooden houses stood huddled together, dirt streets running between them forming the town’s communication arteries. Here and there a gray plume of smoke was coming from chimneys, and the one larger, darker cloud reached out from what could only be described as some sort of foundry. A larger stone structure stood close to the town’s walls, clearly recently built as it gave off the impression of being new and fresh. Yet the most captivating site of the town was a large, tall and clearly toppled tower standing at the town’s far end, just over a cliff, overlooking the blue-green see. In its prime it must've been really, really tall, for even from this far away it was clear that the ruin was taller than Twilight’s old tower back in Canterlot. Was it a ruined lighthouse of some sort? That remained to be answered.

The girls and I gawked at the site before us for quite some time, taken by surprise by the town’s appearance. It seemed to be a quiet, cozy little settlement, yet the obviously ruined tower and the newly built stone structure gave the impression that this town had more to it. I mean stone was used quite scarcely in Equestria; apart from castles and the occasional fort most buildings were made out of wood with bricks and concrete being the less popular but still seen from time to time building materials. From what we could see from our perch on top of the hill we were also able to notice that the streets were quite busy even at this early hour, the locals sprucing up their hometown and obviously preparing for something.

The silence that befell us was interrupted by Rarity, who was the first to snap out of the dazed state we all found ourselves in:

“Well I do have to admit: I wasn’t expecting anything like this.” She said, gesturing at the town below. “Einael’s explanations led me to believe it would be a more… rustic community.”

“An’ what’s that supposed ta mean?” AJ asked suspiciously, looking at the unicorn. “What’s wrong with rustic?”

“I didn’t say anything was wrong with it Applejack, I just said I pictured it that way. You can’t argue with it: the walls, the stone building of that size, even that old, repulsive-looking ruin gives the impression this is no farming community.”

“Yeah, but the ruined tower isn’t that bad.” Rainbow decided to butt in. “If anything, it looks awesome, way cooler than any ruin back home.”

“Even ‘ye old Royal Castle’ in Everfree?” Asked Pinkie from her perch on AJ’s back, bouncing excitedly at the prospect of going down there.

“Well… maybe with the exception of that place, but it’s still pretty sweet.”

“Um… I guess the town looks… nice enough.” Added Fluttershy in her small voice.

“So then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” I proclaimed and started walking down the slope towards the walls, the girls following me moments later.

The road led us straight to the gate in the stone walls. It wasn’t anything fancy –a simple double door wooden gate that stood open at the moment. Not too far from it stood a guy in what appeared to be some kind of armor: a shirt apparently made out of a multitude of interwoven metal rings and some pants made out of leather, and with a short mantle the color of burnt orange draped around his shoulders. It was quite obvious he was a guard of some sort. He seemed to be fast asleep, barely standing upright as he was leaning on a short spear and snoring softly, letting a bit of drool fall from his open mouth and onto his short, blackish beard, clearly pointing out his gender as male. We ignored him for the most part, and we were about to pass through the gates when we noticed we were lacking somepony.

Rarity managed to slip from us as she saw something that picked her interest. After we took a look around in search of her we noticed, that she stood not far away from us in front of a small signpost in front of the gatehouse. Walking up to her and checking what exactly got her that interested we noticed what was on the sign we initially overlooked. There, on a wooden plank were words written with black paint, forming a short message:


Welcome to Sandpoint!


Please stop to see yourself as we see you!


Below it there was a small mirror attached.

“Hm… I can’t say I’m exactly comfortable with the way I look, but I suppose I can manage.” We heard Rarity say to herself as she was examining her reflection critically. “I could’ve ended up looking far worse. Still, it most definitely is an odd feeling, not having a coat. And I definitely need a bath after that horrid forest, not to mention a change of clothes. I do hope there is a spa around here.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Muttered Rainbow rolling her eyes. Still, curiosity took over and she too decided to check how she looked in the mirror, almost forcibly pushing Rarity aside to check. After a moment of looking at her own reflection she dragged a hand trough her hair and smirked. “At least the hair and eye color is right. Wouldn’t be much of a Rainbow Dash without the rainbow part now, would I?”

It seemed that once the girls discovered the mirror all of them wanted to actually check how they were looking for themselves. Those that didn’t look in it until now quickly formed a line, and all of them had something to say about their new looks. Most of them however were quite similar in undertone: it’s strange looking like that, but we’ll manage. They probably hoped that it was only temporary and that once we reunite with Twilight she’ll be able to change us back. In all honesty, I hope she would be able to do just that; even if I had spiky green hair and green eyes, I still missed my spines, scales, slits for pupils and most importantly my tail and fire.

During the little commotion the girls were acting loud enough to wake the guard up. With a startle he gasped and looked around, just as if he didn’t know where he was, but after a moment he must have remembered and calmed down. Once his black eyes fell on us he looked at us oddly and approached us, still holding his spear, but in a non-threatening manner.

“Who’re ye?” He asked, sounding a bit annoyed. He had a strange accent, like if he was from Edinspur. Seizing the opportunity Rarity decided to be our spokesmare.

“Greetings my good sir. Let me introduce myself: I’m Miss Rarity, and I and my friends would like to enter your fine town, if that’s not a problem.” She tried to sound as polite as possible and ignore what the guy was wearing, probably making an effort not to comment on how horrid she found his uniform to be looking. In response however the guard looked at us with a raised eyebrow and commented:

“Well, ye look like shite.” …Okay, I was not expecting that. This guy most definitely doesn’t mince words. It also had a quite comical effect on Rarity; that flabbergasted expression was simply too much. To be quite honest, most of the girls reacted similarly, but thankfully to a lesser extent. The first to recover was Applejack, and she glared at the man from beneath her stetson.

“What’d ya call us?” She asked through gritted teeth.

“That ye look like shite.” He repeated impassively, like if her glare didn’t have the slightest affect on him. “What’d ye do las’ night, wrestle a boar or sumthin’? Seriously, ye look like ye spent the night in a forest, an’ tha dirtiest shitehole in it ta boot.”

“Yeah, let’s… let’s go with that.” Rainbow answered, also shaking off the shock at being addressed like that and now actually sniggering at the guy’s direct way of speech. Rarity was still flabbergasted.

“So… what ‘bout letting us in now?” AJ inquired, figuring that the guard wasn’t actually insulting us but bluntly summing up our appearances. The guard grimaced at that.

“Ye bloody travelers ain’t gonna give a man a bre-eak.” He yawned at the end, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He turned around, his metallic shirt jingling softly as he went to the guardhouse, and shot a look at us. “Well, what are ye waitin’ fer, an invitation? Ye gotsta sign in before I can let ya go.”

We exchanged a few confused glances, but in the end we all decided to roll with it. As strange as signing in to be let inside town sounded, we figured that these creatures might have different customs than we had back home. Maybe it was customary to sign in? Well, whatever, we were too close to Sandpoint to let a grumpy guard deter us.

And Rarity still was flabbergasted.

“Right, ye gotsta give me yer names so I can sign ‘em in tha daily traffic list.” He explained, pulling out a leather-bound tome and a crude looking pencil and flipping through the pages. “Bloody annoyin’ if ye ask me. ‘Specially if sum loon of an elf decides ta come an’ visit in tha middle o’ the night. So: names?”

Without further ado we gave the man our names. At least most of us did, Rarity still seemed unable to speak. Of course Pinkie Pie had to make a game out of this and from her place on Applejack’s back she began spelling her full name… backwards. The guard looked at her oddly and then shot a look at us, as if asking what was her problem. We quickly supplied him with her real, short name. However, by the time we all gave him our names he finally snapped the book close and looked at us in such a way, that made it clear he was not amused in the slightest.

“Seriously, I only asked ye to give me yer names, an’ what do I get? A load o’ hogwash, that’s what.” He muttered darkly and pointed an accusing finger at us. “Ye think this is funny? Well, do ye? ‘Cause I can tell ye right now that I’m not amused in tha slightest. What kind o’ bloody name is ‘Rainbow Dash’? Yer givin’ a statement or sumthin’? An’ ‘Fluttershy’? I’ve heard a load o’ strange elven names lass, but ain’t one of ‘em as bizarre as that one. An’ ‘Spike’? What are ye, a dog or a halflin’?”

The rant took us completely by surprise. The guard seemed to be actually working up a temper, and for reasons unknown he decided to comment on our names out of all things. From what he was saying it seemed that they sounded alien and bizarre to him for some reason. But if that’s the case than why didn’t this whole ‘Einael’ or whatever his real name was say something about it. Clearly he must have known…

Must have known…

Know…

That motherbucker…

“Tha only halfway normal names I get from a pink gnome, a purple haired half-elf an’ a hat wearin’ Ulfen lass.” The guard continued his rant undeterred, still looking at us like if we had played a cruel joke on him, focusing most of his ire on AJ for some reason. “An’ even so, yer tryin’ ta tell me that yer name is Apple Jack? I don’ know how drunk ye folks must have been ta name a lass with a lad’s name. Or are ye jus’ tryin’ ta make me angry, ‘cause if so than ye done a bloody good job.”

The guy officially overdid it. The jab at her parents made AJ go absolutely livid, and she was looking like she didn’t want anything more than to buck this guard all the way to the next century.

“Ya better take back what ya said ‘bout mah folks or Ah swear Ah’m gunna make ya wish ya were never born.” She said in such a manner that it sent shivers down my spine. AJ sounded so intimidating while saying that, that even the guard just couldn’t ignore it and looked at her slightly frightened, backing up from her involuntarily. He quickly composed himself however and glared back at her.

“Yer treathenin’ me, lass?” He asked through clenched teeth, trying to sound as intimidating as Applejack. Unfortunately, the slight shiver in his voice betrayed him –he was weary of AJ. Nonetheless, he tried his luck. “Do ye know who yer dealin’ with? If ye do so much as try an’ lift a hand against me I’m gunna make sure ye won’t be able ta take even a step in town, ye hear?” Okay, that was a legitimate threat. Still: why did this guy just suddenly decided to start a verbal fight with us, Applejack in particular? Were our names really such an issue? Or was this guard just acting like a total jerk for no good reason? Whatever the case, the guard didn’t seem to be backing out anytime soon, and that could prove a problem.

It could, but it didn’t.

“Hey, Ernie! Sorry I’m late, I’ve ran into old man Belor and he insisted I… am I interrupting something?” Came a younger sounding male voice from behind the gate. One glance there was enough for us to notice a younger looking, clean shaven man in a similar outfit to the guard we were arguing with. A second guard I reasoned, probably here to change his older colleague. From the way the older of the two cringed, he wasn’t exactly fond of the youth.

“How many time do I hafta repeat myself: it’s Ernestal Caletti for ye, ye dolt.” The newly dubbed ‘Ernie’ spoke with clear annoyance, turning around to the newcomer. “Ye call me ‘Ernie’ one more time an’ I swear to Gorum I’m gunna smack ye silly.”

“Yeah, whatever man.” He waved him off, walking up to him and shooting us a quick look. “Let me guess: girl problems?” The elder of the two sputtered for a moment and glared at the youngster.

“Ye cheeky bastard. Why I ought ta…”

“I know, I know, ‘you ought to tear me a new one’. You say that at least ten times a week.” The younger interrupted him with a bored expression, rolling his eyes. After that he looked at his elder and with arms crossed on his chest he said: “Look: it’s clear that you have a problem with those galls, so I’m willing to take that problem off your hands. I’m here to change you, and I’m willing to take over from here, even though if Belor knew about this he would most probably shift me to latrine-duty for a year. So, what do you say?”

I’m not entirely sure if I, or we for that matter should feel insulted by that or not. We weren’t the problem, it was that prejudiced gate guard that was the problem! The girls however didn’t say anything, only watching the whole exchange, some of them in wonder, other silently fuming at the older of the two, and Fluttershy cowering behind the rest, trying to look as small as possible. It was after all a possible way to get rid of Grumpy McGrumpson as Pinkie Pie would no doubt call him.

The original gate guard considered his proposition for a bit and finally shrugged. “Bah, the Hell with it. Ye want ta wrangle with these lasses than be my guest. I need a stiff drink an’ a warm bed anyway.” And with that he started marching off into town, leaving the spear in the waiting hands of the youngster. The new guard sighed at the behavior of his older colleague, running his free hand through his short, black hair, and then turned to us, smiling apologetically.

“Sorry for Ernie, he tends to be a bit grumpy after night shifts. I trust he didn’t gave you girl’s too much trouble?” He said in a friendly manner. He already seemed to be of the more likable sort.

“Well… if you count out he insulted how we look, made fun of our names and threatened not to let us in town than no, he was most definitely a cool guy.” Rainbow decided to answer his question, using sarcasm as her weapon of choice. Hearing that the new guy shook his head in annoyance.

“Seriously Ernie, you never cease to amaze me.” He muttered, after which he added loudly: “I’m really sorry for that, he tends to speak his mind, and is easy to anger. By the way –nice hairdo, really catches the eye.”

“Em… yeah, thanks.” RD replied a bit abashed, not used to somepony or someone for that matter complimenting her hair out of all things. Come to think of it, was this guy flirting with her, or was he just polite? In either case, that’s like all kinds of weird right there.

Boy am I grateful RD can’t read minds.

“Okay, so I’m guessing you were getting ‘booked in’ when Ernie snapped.” The guard continued as if nothing happened. He reached out for the same book the former guard was supposed to write our names in and opened it on the last page with anything written on it. “Okay now, let’s see… ‘Spike’, ‘Fluttershy’, ‘Rarity’, ‘Apple Jack’, ‘Pinkie Pie’ and ‘Rainbow Dash’? I’m beginning to get why Ernie reacted the way he did.”

“An’ what’s that supposed ta mean?” Asked AJ, who managed too cool off from her earlier ‘outburst’. That last remark however could possibly spark her anger once again.

“Well, aside from ‘Apple Jack’ those sound more like nicknames to me. By the way, who’s Jack?”

“Ah am.” He looked at AJ with a surprised expression.

“No offense, but I was actually expecting the little guy to say that.” He gestured at me. “Jack’s a guy's name,  unless it’s a diminutive for something. Or does it mean something in Skald?”

“An’ how do ya suppose Ah should know?” Applejack asked defensively. This conversation was becoming more and more problematic by the minute, and if somepony doesn’t do something real quick than we may be in a lot more trouble than it’s worth it.

“’Jack’ is actually an old and scarcely used way of saying ‘strong’ or ‘healthy’.” …Pinkie Pie. Do I even have to say more?

While the girls, especially Applejack herself looked at the pink party pony in astonishment, the guard seemed to adopt a more thoughtful expression. After a moment of pondering Pinkie’s words however, as the surprise of my friends wore off he nodded slowly, as if coming to some kind of conclusion.

“Yeah, that does seem to be about right. I never was a linguistics specialist or anything like that, but I think I heard someone use that term in that context. I think it was old man Quink who said that.” It looked like if he was talking more to himself than to us, or rather thinking aloud. For a moment there we even thought that he forgot about us, so we had to force a response out of him, just to be sure.

“Ah, sugarcube? Aren’t ya forgettin’ ‘bout sumthin’?”

“Wha… oh, yeah! Sorry about that, got a bit sidetracked there. Sooo… If you’re Jack, and you are obviously ‘Rainbow’…” He accented the word, clearly not taking it all that seriously and more in terms of a nickname, just like he suggested earlier. After that he began pointing us out and asking if he was getting our names right, which for the most part he did. It wasn’t that big of a surprise in the end really, the girls either looked like their names suggested or acted the part in Fluttershy’s case. 

After he checked every name from that logbook or whatever that book was meant to accomplish the guard shut it, mentioning someone named Belor and that it was going to be a load of laughs seeing his reaction to the names. After that he looked at us with a friendly smile on his face and said:

“Now, having that out of the way, let me be the first to welcome all of you to the fine town of Sandpoint, the Light of the Lost Coast. You all came just in time for the celebration of this year’s Swallowtail Festival, and as it’s also the day our new cathedral is being consecrated I can assure you that you’re in for a real treat.” He said all that in a welcoming manner, so full of energy and enthusiasm that he resembled a Pinkie Pie on a slow day, and that’s hyper for any normal pony. It was almost impossible not to smile back at him. However, something quite important came to my mind, and I decided to act upon my hunch.

“Listen, um… didn’t quite catch your name.” I began a bit clumsily. The guard looked at me from his impressive stature and after a moment facehoofed (no idea how they call it around here, ‘facehanded’?).

“I completely forgot. Here I am, asking about your names and I didn’t even introduce myself. My name is Titus, Titus Murciani.” I nodded as he bowed slightly, making a mental note that local names indeed seemed to differ greatly from those back home.

“Yes, well, Titus? I was wondering if it was possible for you to check something for us in that log you keep around here.” The guard looked at me with surprise, but nodded nonetheless.

“Yes, it’s no problem at all.” He said slowly. “Are you supposed to meet with someone in Sandpoint?”

“Why yes, yes we are.” Answered Rarity for the first time taking a more active role in the conversation and swiftly noticing what my angle was. It’s actually surprising how saying that she looked ‘like shite’ affected her if she only just came to. “You see, we were separated from our dear friend, and we believe that she went this way. If you could be a dear, could you check if she came through this gate?” She asked, fluttering her eyelashes to maximize the effect of her request. I think I actually saw the guy blush when he noticed that… I suddenly felt a strong wave of dislike towards this guy.

“O-of course ma’am.” He stuttered slightly and began frantically leafing through the log, shooting glances at the fashionista and blushing from time to time. Only after a moment did he realize he didn’t exactly knew what he was looking for. “Em… what’s the name of your friend?”

“Twilight, Twilight Sparkle.” I answered, gaining his attention, and what’s more important –averting it from Rarity. Titus seemed once again to be surprised by the name we provided him with, but shrugged it off. “I really shouldn’t be that surprised with your names by now. Still –an odd name to be sure. What race is your companion?”

“Elf… I think.” Was my reply, though the last part I added under my breath. We couldn’t be sure if the ‘Einael’ wasn’t just pulling our legs when he said she was of his kind, or if his kind really was called ‘elves’. It seemed however that it indeed was a valid answer, as the man nodded as if he finally understood something.

“Should’ve known. That’s a directly translated name, isn’t it? I know some elves tend to do that when talking with non-elves. Probably has something to do with that tongue-twisting language of theirs and their dislike of others butchering the pronunciation… ah, here she is!” He exclaimed quite loudly, pointing at a name in the logbook. “Twilight Sparkle. She came here a few hours ago, probably with another elf at the same time, though where she is right now I don’t have the slightest clue. I would try in the inns in town. The closest one, The White Deer is just on the other side of the gate. Three stories tall, first floor made out of stone, two life-size wooden deer standing over the entrance, you can’t possibly miss it. Alternatively she might be in the Rusty Dragon, that’s downtown, I’m sure someone can point you there better than me. But before you go anywhere, I would advise talking to Father Zantus to see about those wounds. They seem rather uncomfortable, and I’m sure Pops won’t take a copper out of you for the help, at least not today.”

We exchanged surprised glances at that. Why was this guy directing us to some kind of priest? Didn’t they have doctors or something? Or did he think that Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s conditions were so bad that the only thing left to do was wait for the inevitable? Whichever was true, both possibilities sounded rather frightening.

“Um… why do you think we should… em… go to this Father Zantus… if you don’t mind me asking?” Surprisingly it was Fluttershy who decided to inquire about that. In her typical shy fashion she asked almost too softly for the guy to hear her, but apparently he was gifted with quite keen senses, as he heard her without any problems.

“Well, Pops’ the best healer around. He’ll be able to get you up and running in no time. Plus, he’ll do that for free, at least today he will. It’s a big day for him, and he’ll do whatever he can to make it the most memorable and perfect day of his ministry.” He said that half-jokingly, but it was clear that he had his trust in whatever medical skills this ‘Father Zantus’ possessed. Well, might as well try. And at least we knew that Twilight was here, so that was something.

Guard Titus didn’t stop us for much longer, he only pointed out there to find the priest he was talking about and wished us a nice stay. All in all the guy seemed okay to me, tough he could go without drooling over Rarity. That’s my job… wait, what?

Once we passed the town’s gate we found ourselves practically face to face with the building that must've been the White Deer Inn. It fit the description that the gate guard provided us perfectly with the two wooden deer carvings standing over the main entrance and the stone-built first floor. However as we decided to take Titus’ advice we stayed clear of that place for now and headed towards the chapel and see this Father Zantus first. As it was most easily the biggest structure in town, maybe with the exception of that ruined tower, finding it wasn’t that big of a problem. All we had to do is follow the road and keep our eyes out for the trio of domes crowning the place of cult.

“That could've went better.” Rainbow Dash commented once we were out of Titus’ earshot. The girls looked at her, some nodding in agreement, others not so much.

“Oh, it wasn’t that bad Dashie. Titus seemed to be a nice guy.” Pinkie was the first to respond. Rainbow shook her head at that.

“Yeah, he seemed pretty cool, but that other guy, what’s his face… Ernie. Well, he was a total flankhole, and of the biggest verity.”

“Rainbow Dash, please, spare us your creative invectives.” Rarity reprimanded the cyan mare. “Some of us have standards and do not wish to hear such distasteful insults.”

“Hey, you can’t say you didn’t think that of him Rare, admit it.” RD replied with a sly grin plastered on her face. Rarity shot her an annoyed look.

“Oh, please, I would never stoop down to such petty insults.” She defended, but that only served to widen Rainbow’s grin.

“Even after he told that you look like…”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence!” And suddenly RD had a Rarity straight at her face, looking with an almost crazed glint in her blue eyes, just as if she was ready to lose it at any moment. Rainbow took a step back, just to be on the safe side as the fashionista began breathing heavily and clenching her hands into fists angrily. “That ruffian had the audacity to insult the way I look in the most horrid way he could come up with. I admit, in this soiled dress and after spending a full night in the midst of… ugh… nature… I don’t expect to look that fabulously, but to compare me to something like that?! Why I should hunt him down and tell him what I think of the way he looked, that shaggy excuse of a stallion…”

“Easy there sugarcube, don’t ya work up a temper on us.” Applejack tried to calm her down, however she looked like if she didn’t want anything more than to join her in her search. “We don’t want no problems with the authorities.”

“Well, I don’t expect you to understand what it means to be insulted that way to me Applejack, but how can you be so calm when that thug insulted your parents?” Rarity asked incredulously, unwittingly bringing what mood AJ managed to salvage down. With a dark look to her eyes she replied in a monotone voice:

“Ah try not ta think of it.” The way she looked combined with her voice, devoid of any emotion was enough to calm the fashionista down and actually make her look ashamed.

“Sorry, I should’ve known better than to bring that up.” She said apologetically. Applejack shook her head gloomily at that.

“Don’t mention it.” Was all she said as she let go of Rarity. She looked really down right now, enough so that Pinkie was able to sense her falling mood and try to work against it. From her position on the back of the farmpony she tightened her grip on her and embraced her in a warm, if not awkwardly positioned hug. Still, it was enough to lighten AJ’s mood a bit, as she smiled softly and turned her head so she could look at her passenger. “Thanks, Ah needed that Pinkie.”

“No problem-o, I always have a free ‘cheer-me-up’ hug for all my friends.” Pinkie replied with a smile of her own, not a wacky grin but a genuine smile. That look however quickly morphed into one of excitement once we reached town square. “Oh, oh, lookie there! Their already setting up the festival! This is going to be so much fun!”

And right she was; some of the early risers already set off to work at preparing what must have been a long awaited festival. Multicolored tents were being erected around the square and some of the locals (as in both Sandpoint-locals and this-place-in-general-locals) were setting up stalls with merchandise, probably wanting to sell their wares during the festivities. There were also long tables being set along the edges of the place, probably food stands and such, and I think I even saw a few games being set up, most noticeably what must have been a sack race. All in all, it really did look like it was going to be fun.

The square itself was placed directly in front the cathedral, with a few wide, easy to scale stone stair leading the way towards the entrance. The place of cult itself looked quite impressive as well; from the place we were standing we could see it was built in an interesting mix of romanequine (or whatever’s the local name) and gothic architecture, crafted out of light gray stone. The front of the cathedral was decorated with stained glass windows, especially with two really big ones. The one to the left depicted a young, almost completely naked blue and green female rising out from crashing waves, trying to touch the outstretched hand of an old, gray man, hanging upside down from a storm cloud. The other presented yet another female, this time clothed in what could only be described as a loose gown, holding a violet rose in her hand and with multiple-colored strands running along her chestnut-brown hair. It looked quite impressive, but it also left me confused as to what exactly did those stained glasses present.

Figuring that our best bet in finding this Father Zantus fellow was to check inside the cathedral we did just that. After climbing the few steps in front of the temple we opened the large, wooden doors sealing the entrance shut. Entering slowly, we looked around, taking in the inside of the cathedral with interest while searching for the priest. I really must say this, but the inside of the church was even more impressive than the outside: the stained glass windows were coloring the inside of the place with a multitude of soft colors, and many of the decorations themselves were a sight for sore eyes. Nothing too flashy and nothing that would needlessly distract any followers from whatever were the local religious rites. I also noticed two separate altars, each of them with different religious symbols on them, just like if they were dedicated to two separate deities. Come to think of it, it’s actually strange being inside a cathedral; back in Equestria organized religion wasn’t something that popular, not while having an immortal sun goddess-like as your ruler.

“Hello! Is anypo…anybody in here?!” Not finding anyone in the immediate area Rainbow Dash decided to speed up things a bit. Her voice echoed loudly through the cathedral, amplified by the local architecture. The echo didn’t even had the time to pass when we heard an answer coming from what must have been the opposite side of the church.

“Give me a moment, I’ll be right with you!” The voice, however deformed by the echo, was clearly male. Satisfied with  the answer the girls and I waited for who we assumed was Father Zantus. After but a few moments the unmistakable sound of footsteps reached us, and from behind a bend came forth a figure in a strange looking garb.

The man approaching us wore what looked like a folded robe the colors of blue and red, dotted by artistic representations of the sun dyed an appropriate yellow color. The robe itself wasn’t anything eye-catching and it looked quite modest, yet it was enough to pick Rarity’s interest and most probably give her some ideas for new outfits of her own. The nice looking attire however wasn’t able to mask the fact that our host had problems walking. He seemed to be favoring his left leg, leaning on it most of the time, and his gait was lurching sinisterly. His face however was smiling at us brightly from behind a sun-bleached goatee.

“Sorry you had to wait.” He started off with an apology, again leaning on his left leg. “Still getting used to how big this place is. Now: what can I help you with?”

Well, he seemed nice enough, though that gait of his was off-putting. Are we really going to leave RD and Pinkie Pie in the care of someone like this?

“Em… we were told that ya can help us with sum of our injuries?” Started Applejack uncertainly. Her words however brought a bemused expression on the man’s face, and he looked at us with surprise.

“Who, me?” He asked, which of course brought only more confusion. “Who told you that? I’m no good with healing, not my pair of shoes.”

“Wait a minute, aren’t you Father Zantus?” I asked suspiciously, feeling that something was not right here. And my suspicions were correct, as the guy looked at me with downing comprehension.

“Oh, no, no, no, I’m not Abstalar, no.  I’m Naffer Vosk, ancillary priest of Sarenrae and the local gravedigger. Abstalar is responsible for health issues of our community. He’s keeping our guests company right now and is preparing for his big day.” He explained, referring to who I’m assuming is Father Zantus by his first name. Seeing how the locals had names so different from the ones back home I was led to suspect that ‘Father’ was more of a title than an actual name. But I digress –the newly dubbed Naffer took a look at us, focusing mostly on Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, and nodded to himself, figuring something. “Best I take you to him though, that bump doesn’t look too well, as well as your side miss. Follow me.” And he turned around, mentioning us as he lurched deeper into the cathedral. Shrugging we did as we were told to.

Our priestly guide with a sinister gait led us towards what I was assuming was the northernmost part of the cathedral. We passed by numerous seats placed here for the convenience of the followers and by an inner atrium, connected to the rest of the church via a multitude of doors and clear windows and which housed a circle of standing stones of some kind, looking like an ancient place of cult. After a few moments of slowly following the obviously disabled priest we got to the northern wall of the church, and following his lead we passed through one of two doors placed on it, leading to if I’m not mistaken the living quarters.

Stone made way for wood here, and the moment we stepped down a few short steps from the elevated cathedral level we all felt more at home. Being in a wooden structure was all the more comforting for us than walking inside a stone one, at least it was for the girls. I didn’t have any issues with it, though that might have something to do with my dragon instincts. Oh well, the point is once we entered the living quarters the girls seemed to loosen up and were slowly beginning to chat amongst themselves, mostly wondering if this whole Father Zantus was really going to help them and what to do after we’re done here.

Naffer led us through a number of hallways, checking inside some rooms from time to time in search of his superior. In the meantime I was looking around, remembering something our guide said earlier. He mentioned that Father Zantus was keeping company to some guests, but didn’t elaborate on it. It might've seemed silly of me, but for some reason I felt that it could be Twilight he was talking about. It would make things easier on us, that’s for sure. So, the first opportunity I’ve got I slipped away from our little group and began looking around on my own.

I started my search from the hallways Naffer passed by not looking in them. Figuring that Twi might have been still in a room lent to her in one of those halls I started to crack open all the doors I could and taking sneak peeks inside them. All I managed to find however was a kitchen, a study, and two bedrooms, all empty except for one cat lying beside a furnace lazily. It was becoming frustrating pretty quickly.

Dejected with my failures I decided to look for the girls and rejoin them before they notice my absence. Problem is, I didn’t know where they went. I knew I forgot about something! Just my luck…

I wandered the wooden halls aimlessly, wondering exactly how large this place really was. Already I got the impression that this place was at least as large as the cathedral. I was becoming more and more convinced I’ve got lost, and with that the first signs of panic began setting in. Looking around frantically in search of any sign that would lead me towards the girls I noticed a door hanging slightly ajar, and without thinking much I rushed towards it and opened it up, entering without looking.

When my eyes finally caught up with my feet I realized I was standing in the entrance to a dining room. A large, oaken table stood in the center of this room, surrounded by matching wooden chairs. The air in this room was filled with the aroma of freshly made breakfast, most probably scrambled eggs with onions if my nose wasn’t deceiving to me. Most noticeably however there were two figures sitting at the far ends of the table, though once my eyes fell on one of them I instantly forgot all about the other. Long, pointy ears; straight, dark purple hair with two streaks of different colors; eyes almost completely dominated by dark pupils yet still possessing noticeably purple irises. There was no mistaking it.

“Spike… Is that you? What are you doing here, how did you get here?”

I found her!
> Act Two Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, Date Unknown (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Morning


I stood, transfixed in my spot, having difficulties coming to terms with what I just realized I saw. I mean I was half expecting to find Twilight in this presbytery-like place, but to actually run into her? I’ve got the shock of my life, and a positive one at that.

I looked at her, taking in her new, changed features. As I already stated, she looked like a female version of that whole ‘Einael’ guy mixed with her own features, starting from her typical mane color and style and ending on her eyes, which right now looked like if they were stuck in a constant state of realization. Her face, now mirroring her shock at seeing me was to be expected –snoutless and devoid of a coat, just as the rest of her body. Like the rest of us she apparently landed in this world clad in some clothes, in her case a simple set of baggy-looking linen pants and a loose-fitting blouse in a color resembling her normal coat color. It was easy to notice the stains that littered her garments, clear indicators she had experiences similar to our own in the forest. Rarity’s probably going to have a fit once she sees her in this.

Twilight, still looking at me with surprise rose to her feet, only now making me realize how tall she was. If I considered Fluttershy and Rarity in their new forms to be tall, than Twi here was on a whole new level. It was painfully obvious that in terms of height she was at least a head taller than RD or AJ, which to be honest could lead to some hilarious reactions from those two. Myself, I was probably barely reaching her hips now, helping me understand just how small I was despite my own change. Still, the simple act of standing up was enough for me to snap out of my reverie and take the only appropriate action in a situation like this.

“Twilight!!!” I shouted on the top of my lungs, bounding in her direction and jump-tackling her in an overenthusiastic hug, forcing her back on her chair. Yep, definitely the best course of action. Still, I’m surprised I reacted the way I did; I didn’t think I was that worried about her. Probably had something to do with the whole ‘Einael didn’t tell us the whole truth’ issue, or the fact that the last time we talked I said some things that I wasn’t very proud of. That didn’t discourage me from hugging the living daylight out of Twi, which became quite apparent after a few moments.

“Spike… can’t… breath…” She breathed out with difficulty. Sheepishly I loosened my hold on her midsection, the highest point I could reach. Once I did that she began gulping down mouthfuls of air, making me even more sheepish.

“Try a bit… weaker next time…” She panted out, still out of breath but significantly better. She also looked at me, still a fair bit surprised at me sudden appearance but also smiling encouragingly. I couldn’t help but answer in kind with a smile of my own.

“Twi, you won’t believe what I went through to find you!” I said excitedly, slipping off of her lap on which I inadvertently landed on. “Seriously, I’m surprised I’m still alive after all that happened. Crazed boars, gigantic ticks and weird forests are definitely not something I want to see again anytime soon…” I was beginning to ramble, but once I took a better look at Twilight’s face I stopped momentarily.

Twi wasn’t looking too good. She had bags under her almond-shaped eyes and generally looked like she just raised from the grave. At first I was wondering if it was possible that she was still sleepy; from what I could tell by sniffing around, there was no coffee nor green tea nearby, and knowing her, she needed that to function properly this early in the morning. After a moment of looking at her however I noticed that there was more to it. She seemed… weary, like if something completely drained her and she was still in the process of recuperating. I quickly realized that it was most probably the after-effects of her magic being used to fuel the processes that transported us here. Magical exhaustion, it will take her some time to regain her strength.

“You look beat.” I stated bluntly. Twilight responded with a crocked smile.

“That obvious?” She asked with a certain tiredness to her voice. It wasn’t as if she was completely exhausted, but tapping to her reserves did take a lot out of her. Still, she seemed adamant on keeping on, despite her weariness; a brave facade, but I knew her well enough to see right through it. “I’m fine, don’t worry. I only need to take a few hours of rest and I’ll be as good as new.”

“Well, if you say so…” I said, not taking her explanations at face value. She tended to disregard her own limitations when it came to studying, and it was possible that she was going to do exactly the same thing in response to the situation we were in. I can almost envision her working herself into unconsciousness while trying to figure out what happened and how to get home.

I didn’t have the time to think much more about Twilight’s overzealous studying sessions as the mare in question gave me a look that clearly stated that she wanted to ask me something. And sure enough:

“How did you get here anyway? I don’t remember you standing close enough to me when this happened.” Here she pointed at her new body. I looked at her, feigning surprise.

“You really think I would leave you on your own in a situation like this?” I asked in a mock-hurt voice. “I wasn’t going to let something happen to you if I could help it. I couldn’t just abandon you. Family always sticks together, right?”

Twilight studied me for the longest of moments, like if she didn’t know how to respond to what I just said. True, I wasn’t one to openly proclaim my affection towards her, but she was like my sister/mother for peat’s sake! If I couldn’t do something like this than I might as well be a dragon from the darkest of legends. Besides, even the most mescaline of guys must have a soft spot, right?

Finally, after a few moments of silently mulling over my words Twilight came up with a response:

“I… thank you Spike. It’s nice to know you have my back, even if I completely disregarded your warnings. It’s just…”

“Gah, spare the details! Hearing all this mushy stuff is unbearable!” For the first time from the moment I entered the room the second occupant of it decided to speak up, rudely interrupting Twilight’s any my little moment. The voice however… it sounded familiar, dreadfully familiar. With a chill running down my spine I turned around to face the source of the voice.

At the far end of the table sat the second occupant of the room. It was clearly a female, as the voice before indicated, and she sounded quite a bit presuming. Like Twilight, she too was an elf, or at least I think the species she’s turned into was one, as her ears were long and pointy. Again I was looking at a rather flat in comparison to that of pony's face, this one with a slightly upturned nose and a pair of lips twisted in an unamused frown. She was looking at us with half-lidded almond-shaped eyes, giving off the impression she was either glaring or was bored with the whole situation. The most prominent feature of hers was however her hair, and the simple act of looking at it made my blood run cold, especially once I combined it with her voice.

Her hair was silvery, almost white, with trace amounts of pale-blue highlights.

“You…” I breathed out silently, my eyes almost popping out of my eye sockets from surprise. “What are you doing here!?”

“Isn’t it obvious, lizard-brain? Or do you need it to be spelled out for you?” The elf asked mockingly, making me grit my teeth in poorly contained anger. This can't be happening, this isn't happening! Out of all of us who were involved with the Ursa crisis why did she had to end up here? “The Great and Powerful Trixie ended up here in this poor mockery of a body only because somepony couldn’t control her own magic. It’s not like the Great and Powerful Trixie had any choice in the matter, no, because a certain somepony decided for her. And now, stripped of the very thing that made Trixie Great and Powerful, she is stuck here, like a common earth pony!”

“Ugh… we’ve been through this already Trixie –I’m sorry that you had to be caught in the blast, and I’m sorry that whatever happened to you and me stripped the both of us of our magic.” Twilight sounded rather bored by all this; she clearly had to put up with Trixie for some time now. The showpony in response gave off an undignified ‘hmph!’ and busied herself with the content of her plate. She did however shoot Twilight angry glares from time to time, a sure sign that she wasn’t finished yet. All this however made me even more confused than I was already. How did Trixie end up here? Why were they together in this place? So many question and so little answers. Hopefully Twi will have at least a few of them.

“How did she end up here?” I asked Twi none too quietly, not caring if Trixie heard me or not. What little respect I had for her for trying to stand up to that Ursa evaporated the moment she began insulting me.

“I’m guessing the same way you did Spike.” Was Twilight's response. “I’m still not entirely sure how all this happened in the first place, but during that little episode with the Ursa Minor…”

“Ursa Minor? I thought that thing was a Ursa Major.”

“Believe me, it was a Ursa Minor, a baby. A Ursa Major… yeah, that wouldn’t end well.” That gave me the chills. If that gigantic beast was only a baby, than the real deal must've been enormous. Who even came up with the idea of creating such a thing?!

“Either way, during that ‘little’ crisis something weird happened to my magic. I’m not quite sure what it was, but at first it seemed to bolster my power. Only after a minute or two I realized what was happening, and by that time it was too late to do anything.”

“Somepony or something forcefully ‘mentored’ you, am I right?” I asked, expecting the answer. Twilight seemed surprised I already knew about that, and was about to ask where did I hear about this but I beat her to the punch. “Seriously, I’ve lived all my life with you, I like to think that I learned some things about unicorns along the way. Besides, it wasn’t that hard to figure out.” Twi still looked at me a bit taken aback by my knowledge, and I think I saw Trixie glance at me with an arched eyebrow at some point, but in the end none of the two mares said anything about it, and my lifelong companion continued her story.

“Well, since you already know that part I’ll skip ahead; I’ve woken up in the middle of some kind of pine forest looking like I look now. At that time I thought that I was the only one to get sent here, so I decided to search for some kind of way out. Fortunately I ran into somepony, or rather someone who was able to point me in the direction of this town… Sandpoint I believe it’s called?” I nodded in confirmation, at the same time noting off that ‘Einael’ really did meet with Twilight and pointed her here. “Having a set destination and equipped with a glowing metal rod of some kind I went in the direction he gave me. At some point I ran into Trixie, and although at first I thought she was just another local, it quickly became apparent whit whom I had the ‘pleasure’.”

“You’re hardly even worth Trixie’s company, Sparkle.” The mare in question butted in arrogantly. I sent her a glare, which was answered by a mocking, almost challenging look of her own, including a raised eyebrow and all. This was going to get pretty annoying fast, I can feel it.

“Yes, well, the point is once I realized it’s Trixie I decided that it would be better for the two of us to band up, at least until we get to some kind of civilization.” Twi continued. “Besides, it was the least I could do; even if my magic was controlled by an outside force, it’s still my fault she ended up here, so I should help out any way I can.”

Normally I would buy Twilight’s explanation: she was the type of pony to help out in any way she could. I could however see that something was amiss here –it seemed that she was trying to hide something, or at least she wasn’t comfortable with talking about it in the presence of that fraud. I could almost tell that there was more to it than meets the eye. And she must've realized that I knew, because she sighed quietly and beckoned me to walk up to her a bit more. Complying with her non-verbal request I did just tha and allowed her to lean over me so she could whisper into my newly acquired ears.

“I’m not sure how the magic that changed and teleported us works. It might require us to recreate the exact circumstances it was cast in to counter it. And that means Trixie needs to be present.” My eyes widened at that and I looked at Twi in horror. If I understood that correctly, than…

“You mean we’ll need to put up with her for who knows how long?” I hissed, terrified at the prospect. Twi nodded in response, making me cringe. “And you don’t have even the slightest idea how to counter that spell?” I asked, hoping against hope that the answer I would get wouldn’t be too bad. Yeah, wishful thinking.

“I’m not even sure I can counter it. I’m not a unicorn anymore, remember? I can’t do magic in this body.”

Well, there was only one thing left to do in this situation.

“Aw horseapples.”

“Language Spike!”

“Don’t you ‘language Spike’ me! This is a perfectly legitimate time to cuss!” I snapped in response to her reprimand, making Twi back up in shock. “Sorry, it’s just… I was hoping that you’d be able to come up with a way to get us back. I should’ve known that without a horn you wouldn’t be able to do magic. After all, we’re in bodies of some strange, non-magical creatures…”

“Humans.” Twilight interrupted. I looked at her questioningly, not entirely following what she was talking about. “The creatures we’ve turned into are called humans… at least most of them are. Apparently they are more diverse than our records back in Equestria suggested.”

“Wait a moment, what are you talking about?” I questioned, surprised at her knowledge. I mean she was a real brainiac and all, but I didn’t suspect her to know something like the name of a completely alien species. Twi in response smiled, her weariness all but disappearing, replaced by a strange gleam in her eyes.

“Humans –mythical creatures mentioned in the oldest of pony legends. Two-legged beings with no fur aside from a flock of hair on their heads, they lack magic of any kind but compensate for that with high intelligence and a knack for creating tools. Said to balance on the fine line between good and evil, capable of both, though generalized as neutral leaning towards evil because of their omnivorous nature. In many aspects they were believed to be similar to ponies.”

Okay… that was weird. Normally Twilight isn’t one to readily believe something as vague as a legend or myth, with the notable exception of the Nightmare Moon myth for obvious reasons. Seeing her talking like that, all but giddy at the mere thought of ‘humans’ was something so out of character that I was beginning to be seriously concerned about her mental health. Even our unwanted companion, Trixie, was beginning to look at Twilight a bit disturbed by her sudden elation. I decided that it would be wise to calm her down a bit and try to direct her attention at something else.

“Where’d you learn all that?” What the heck?! I wanted to change the subject, not ask something according to it! Come on brain, work with me here!

Twilight answered still with that gleam in her eyes: “First topics discussed in my history classes mentioned the oldest of beliefs of ponykind from the pre-Starswirl era, long before the princesses surfaced and a good chunk of time before the Windigos forced the tribes to search for a new home. One of the oldest records in Equestrian history was even a collection of stories and fables, one of which mentioned a human walking amongst ponies. It was dated as far back as -3000 SR, making the legend at least four thousand years old.”

“Wait, wait, wait…” I stopped her before she was able to continue much further. A thought just struck me with the force of a brick wall. “You mean to tell me that we may have ended up in Equestria as far back as in the times when humans roamed the land? Like… like more than five thousand years back?!”

“Don’t be stupid lizard brain, there’s no known magic that allows for ponies to travel in time.” That was the moment Trixie decided to use as her opening into the conversation. Of course she couldn’t help but insult somepony, and of course I ended up as the but-end of the insult.

“Nopony asked for your opinion.” I hissed at her, annoyed. She ignored me, just as if she didn’t hear me at all, and looked at Twilight, trying to hide her interest with a mask of indifference. I was about to call her on her measly attempts of looking disinterested when Twi decided to step in:

“Actually, I have to agree with Trixie on this one.” If one would listen closely enough, he or she might've heard my neck snapping, that’s how fast I turned to look at Twilight. Almost giving myself a whiplash I stared at Twi with what must've been the dumbest expression I have ever mustered, unable to comprehend what I’ve just heard. Finally taking pity on me, Twilight decided to elaborate: “Time travel is scientifically impossible, so it’s obvious that we couldn’t be sent somewhere in time. Besides, I never heard about magic being able to manipulate the very essence of time, so that line of thought is a dead end. What happened to us must have been something completely different.”

I nodded slowly at her explanation, still having a hard time believing she actually agreed with somepony like Trixie. Or should I say I had a hard time grasping the concept of the showpony actually being right about something? The way she acted led me to believe that she was nothing more than a braggart with no true knowledge or skill. Now however it appeared that she actually did know something.

While I tried to come to terms with what I’ve just learned the source of my confusion was still looking at Twilight, trying to maintain her mask of indifference. That mask cracked however after a few moments, making way for a more surprised expression to adorn her face. Finally, after a moment or two of internal struggle Trixie decided to say something, going to great lengths to seem as indifferent as possible:

“Not that it particularly interests Trixie, but how come some commoner like you, Sparkle, knows of such obscure legends as the one about the Human Hero?” She asked that with a bit of suspicions present in her voice. I for one was surprised by her question, not remembering Twilight mentioning anything other about that legend apart from there being a human involved in it. Trixie however stated that ‘title’ as if it was the name of the legend. Had she once again shown more of her actual knowledge? Either way, Twi seemed as surprised as I was, but for different reasons as it became apparent moments later.

“What do you mean Trixie? I thought that this was pretty common knowledge.” She answered, cocking her head to the side and rising an eyebrow. Her answer brought a snort of amusement from the showpony as well as a pitying smile.

“One of the most obscure legends of ponykind and you mistake it for common knowledge, this is just rich.” She chuckled to herself, obviously making fun of Twilight. “Let Trixie guess: you think that the history of Hellfire Corona and her red sun also is ‘common knowledge’. Or better yet: that the story of the rise and fall of King Sombra and the banishment of the Crystal Empire is known even to foals in kindergarten.”

I looked at Twilight at a complete loss. The names Trixie was dishing out were completely new to me, and considering I’ve spent a great deal of time in Twi’s company and learned a fair bit about Equestria’s history en passant, this was quite unexpected. I was even more confused when I saw Twilight’s expression mirror my own; it was clear that she didn’t know what the silver-maned mare was talking about any more than I did. Just what was going on here?!

“Em… What are you talking about?” Twilight finally decided to ask, only to receive a disbelieving shake of the head from Trixie. “I’ve never even heard about those things that you just mentioned. Have you made them up or something?” That quickly brought a scowl on Trixie’s face.

“Trixie will have you know, Twilight Sparkle, that those are actual legends of old, not some make-believe stories.” The con mare drawled through gritted teeth, glaring daggers at my lifelong companion. “The youngest of those legends dates back about a century before Nightmare Moon’s banishment. And if you had any semblance of talent like the Great and Powerful Trixie has, you would know that in Trixie’s line of work one needs to know not only breathtaking magic, but also captivating legends to weave enthralling stories to recite to the delight of crowds. So don’t you dare state that those legends are but figments of Trixie’s imagination!”

“Alright already! Don’t get so excited, I was just asking. Sheesh…” Twilight tried to calm Trixie down, figuring out that arguing with her would bring her nowhere. I for my part was still inclined not to believe a word the blue-coated mare said, knowing full well of her tendency to aggrandize her stories. Then again, if those legends she was talking about were truly as old as she claimed them to be than they would hardly have anything to do with her personally. And that meant that they weren’t centered around her, which in turn meant that she wouldn’t be boosting her own ego while telling them, which meant… That I was going to get a migraine if I kept thinking along those lines for too long. This just didn’t make any sense.

While my thoughts were revolving around the topic of ‘why would Trixie be telling stories like that’, Twilight was still trying to calm the seething mare down. To her great surprise she even managed to do just that, the showpony aking a couple of deep breaths and averting her eyes from Twi after a few minutes, now only just muttering angrily. Happy with her accomplishment Twilight was about to continue her own story when Trixie decided to continue her original thought:

“The legend of the Human Hero is one of the most obscure legends of pony history. Hardly anypony beside scholars specializing in ancient history or as well versed as the Great and Powerful Trixie knows about it.” She said it actually quite calmly, as if her temper didn’t rise just a few moments ago, and that air of superiority was once again in place, though I think it was hardly gone in the first place. “It does not help that there are at least three different versions of the legend in circulation, not to mention some really odd interpretations of it. The only consistent parts are the appearance of a being called a human, and its involvement in the defeat of an evil creature known by the name of Tirek of the Dark Rainbow. To see somepony else know about this legend is… how to put it… mildly surprising.” She finished, shifting her gaze at Twilight and cocking an eyebrow questioningly. “Care to explain how you of all ponies came to know about this?”

“I could ask you the same question.” I decided to but in, dropping my attempts at making sense of Trixie’s earlier words and challenging her to show her own hoof… hand… whatever. “How come you know about that if it’s such a super secret that nopony knows about, huh?”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is just that much better than the average pony, it’s as simple as that.” She stated proudly, rising her chin conceitedly and annoying me to no end. I was about to retort, not to kindly mind you, but Twilight beat me to the punch.

“I already said –I’ve learned it in my history classes back in school.” Twi answered Trixie’s question truthfully, failing to mention what school it was in her attempt at being modest. That however couldn’t last very long, as the silver-maned mare shot her a piercing look and said in a doubt-filled voice:

“You learned that in your history classes? Trixie finds that hard to believe. What normal school teaches about something as obscure as the legend of the Human Hero?”

“Who said it was a normal school?” I challenged, stepping away from Twilight as to get out of her range. I definitely didn’t want her to stop me this time, not like when we first met the braggart.

Trixie looked at me, an amused glint in her eye. “Oh, so you mean to tell Trixie that Sparkle attended a special kind of school?” It took me a moment to realize that the way I said it pointed that Twi was special in a completely different way than I’ve meant. I admit, I blushed embarrassedly at that, but I didn’t let that deter me from saying what I wanted to.

“What I mean is that Twilight here graduated Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.” I said whit as much conviction I could muster, glaring at the con mare. From the corner of my eye I could see Twilight looking flustered, clearly not amused that I did what I did. Mental note: in this form it’s easier to notice when Twilight blushes; might come in handy while gauging her reactions. However, I was more interested in what would be Trixie’s reaction to those news.

If I was expecting some sort of comical reaction from Trixie than I was sorely disappointed. Instead of an incredulous look, an exclamation of surprise or some sort of other extreme reaction to the news all the con mare did was arch an eyebrow and look at both me and Twilight, just like if she was completely disinterested by what I’ve just said. It almost seemed like if she was half expecting this. Either she figured it out earlier, or she was a better actress than I gave her credit for.

“This… does explain quite a lot actually.” Trixie stated slowly, as if she was carefully choosing her words. “That particular institution does a good job with the theoretical part of education. Still, Trixie finds it quite overrated, putting too little emphasis on the practical use of knowledge. So don’t get too full of yourself, Sparkle. Academics are not everything.”

I stood there, staring at the mare with a blank expression. Did she just criticize the best school for unicorns in Equestria? That was most definitely the strangest thing I have ever witnessed –a unicorn, stating that the P.C.S.f.G.U. was overrated? Either she didn’t know what she was talking about and was trying to mask it with her arrogance or she tried to enroll and didn’t pass the graduation exam and now was bitter enough about it to discredit the facility. Yeah, that must be it, there just couldn’t be any other explanation to something like that.

After a few moments of bewilderment I finally snapped out of my daze. This whole conversation was becoming more and more bizarre by the minute, and we didn’t even have Pinkie Pie with us to lead us to new, random topics. Somepony needed to finally put a stop to this madness and direct the discussion towards more pressing matters.

…I can’t believe I’m actually the voice of reason here.

Redirecting the conversation towards more important issues was easier than I initially thought. I was actually expecting Trixie to try arguing with me out of spite or something, the way her arrogance and complete lack of respect to anypony (or anydragon in my case) leading me to believe she would do just that. As it was however, she just shrugged once I proposed we change the subject and looked around the room we were in with a complete lack of interest. She probably didn’t even care what Twilight and I were about to discuss.

Speaking of Twilight, she was actually the harder of the two to coax into changing the subject. The moment I proposed we talk about something else she shot me a glare, and when I asked her, confused by her behavior what was the matter, she almost ripped my head off then and there. Twi was less than thrilled that I mentioned the education she underwent, repeating herself time and time again that she didn’t want to boast and that she asked me not to tell anypony about it, which in her mind I just did. Technically she was right: I did boast in her stead, but only because she wouldn’t defend herself from the accusations of that infuriating mare we were stuck with. And it wasn’t as if there were others around, so it wasn’t so much a boast as setting the con mare straight. It didn’t work in the end, I admit, but that’s beside the point. Fortunately, once Twi finally got all that out of her system she calmed down enough to actually change the topic, which I welcomed with a sigh of relief.

“So… what’s the plan?” I asked, referring to our current situation, us being changed and stranded that is. Twilight quite quickly caught up to what I was talking about and furrowed her brows slightly, thinking.

“I’m not sure what we can do from our end.” She finally admitted, sounding a bit beat. Her exhaustion from overusing her magic seemed to return to her, making her once again look like if she haven’t slept in a while. “At first I was hoping that you would help out and send word to you know who once I disappeared. Sadly, with you here, that’s out of the question.”

I nodded in affirmation. If there was somepony who could do something about this mess, it would have to be Princess Celestia herself. Speaking of which, it appeared that Twilight was trying to hide some of the more important bits about herself from Trixie. Again. Seriously, doesn’t Twilight know the difference between normal, natural pride and simple boasting? Besides, if she was trying to sound unsuspicious she was doing a terrible job at it. Our unwanted companion quickly noticed Twi was trying to hide something, and although she still tried to look as indifferent as ever, it was clear that she was paying us more attention than before.

I was brought out of my reverie by Twilight’s voice, my companion saying something that I didn’t quite catch. Scratching the back of my head embarrassed, I looked at her. “Could you repeat that?” That of course annoyed Twi –she hated when I wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying. Rolling her eyes she repeated herself:

“I was asking if you were one hundred percent sure you can’t use your fire in this body.” She asked annoyed. In response I shook my head no.

“Sorry, already tried that, didn’t work.” I replied, wondering idly what good would it do if I could breathe fire. I’m not quite sure if my connection with Princess Celestia was good enough to traverse who knows how far we were from her right now.

Twilight sighed resigned at hearing my answer. “Well, it was worth a shot. I only hope that the girls will figure out what to do.”

“T-the girls?” I asked uncertainly, my eyes growing wider. I had a bad feeling about this.

“Yes Spike, the girls.” Twi answered flatly, not understanding why I was asking such a stupid question, at least in her opinion. However, once she saw my expression, as well as me shifting uncomfortably on my feet she began growing suspicious. “Is there something wrong?”

I gulped down my nervousness. “Um… yeah… how do I put it…” I was searching for words, trying to come up with a way to explain to her that the girls’ help was out of the question too. I didn’t have to however, as in that moment the door leading from this dining room to the hallway outside rattled a bit from a knock and seconds later it opened slightly, an unfamiliar face appearing in it.
> Act Two Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, Date Unknown (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Morning


The face that appeared from behind the wooden door was that of one the locals, probably another one of those priest guys if his apparel was anything to go by. From what I could tell he was wearing a simple set of light blue robes, decorated here and there with strange patterns I couldn’t quite discern, sown from what appeared to be a gold-like thread. He also had a silver pendant hanging from a neck-chain, looking like a stylized representation of a butterfly with fine symbols on its wings. His face was that of a middle-aged stallion, or rather man; covered with a well trimmed short beard and supporting an elegantly looking mustache, this guy had a pleasant if not slightly wrinkled face, especially around his dark eyes, forming laugh lines. His hair, as well as his beard and mustache was quite dark in color, but the first gray hairs were slowly appearing amongst them, furthering the impression that this man was slowly getting old. All in all, the man looked like a nice enough guy.

The newcomer surveyed the dining room with his eyes, stopping only once he noticed Twilight and Trixie. A pleasant smile appeared on his face and he stepped in a bit more, allowing the doors behind him to stay slightly ajar.

“Ah, you two are still here, good.” He said, his voice a warm baritone and having a small cheer to it, like if he was happy about something. “I was hoping I would catch you before you left.”

Twilight looked slightly surprised by that and looked at the man more carefully, Trixie doing the same, but with much more suspicion in her eyes. I for one was confused by what was going on and only managed to look at the man with what must've been another of my dumb expressions. Finally, the silence was broken by the sound of Twi’s voice, sounding as surprised as she looked.

“Um… what’s the matter Father Zantus? Is something wrong?” Oh, so this is this whole ‘healer’ guy we were informed about. I was beginning to wonder when I would run into him. If I stayed with the girls I would’ve seen him earlier I bet. And speaking of them…

“Everything’s just fine miss Sparkle, I only wanted to inform you that a group of what appears to be your friends stumbled upon our humble church, but it seems you already know of this.” Here he shot me a quick glance, stopping for a moment to look at my hair for some reason. His words of course brought only more confusion to Twilight, who seemed not to get what was going on.

“A group of my friends?” She asked uncertainly, eyeing me in the process. “What do you mean by that? There’s only Spike here and…” She trailed off, sudden realization painted on her face. Father Zantus however took that as a prompting to continue.

“Well, aside from the little master over here there was a group of rather… interesting young ladies in need of healing. Nothing serious mind you, it was nothing I couldn’t handle.” He added as soon as he noticed Twilight looking worried at his words. “Best I let you see each other, no reason to keep friends ap… whoa!”

By the time Father Zantus was about to finish his sentence a bright pink blur ran right past him, almost knocking the poor guy on his back and making a beeline for Twilight. I couldn’t make out the finer features of what just ran straight for Twi, but to be honest –I didn’t need to. It was painfully obvious that it was Pinkie Pie, for only she could be that energetic and that enthusiastic, not to mention neck-breaking fast. My only hope was that Twi would survive the massive hug that was coming her way.

True to my predictions, Pinkie rammed full speed into Twilight, wrapping her hooves hands around Twi in a bone-crushing hug. The sheer force with which the pink mare tackled her almost made the two of them tumble to the floor, the chair tilting dangerously, balancing on two legs. As that didn’t happen however Pinkie could indulge Twilight in the pink mare’s favorite pastime.

Rapid Rambling Extravaganza.

“…I’m so, so, so super-duper happy to see you Twilight! We were all worried there for a second when we couldn’t find you, but then this funny guy with a bow stumbled upon us and we were like ‘hold it right there’ and he was like super silent so I talked to him and he seemed to be down so I tried to make him smile but he didn’t get my jokes and I was all sad for a moment, but then I turned that frown upside down and all that. And he was super nice too, he told us where to find you and how to get here and gave us those sunrods and this awesome dagger that Rarity’s walking with and all that. So we came here, talked with those funny looking guards and went here and let ol’ Pops here fix us up and then we came here and I was like ‘Twilight!’ and gave you a funarrific hug! Are you happy to see me, huh? Are you? Are you? You were gone for like seven chapters already and… are you gonna eat that? *om-no-nom*…”

I should’ve gotten used to Pinkie’s antics by now, but still –she catches me off guard all the time with the ease whit which she changed the subjects. In less than half a minute she managed to make putty out of my mind, and judging by Twilight's expression hers two. Long story short, she left all three of us, including Trixie, completely speechless, and in one human’s case looking at the pink mare with concern.

“Is that normal…?” He asked slowly and uncertainly, eyeing Pinkie warily. Before either of us could respond, an answer came from behind his back.

“Yeah, Ah wouldn’t worry ‘bout her. That’s Pinkie for ya.” AJ’s voice came from behind the half-open door and moments later she came from behind them herself. She looked fine if you ask me, better even than when I separated from the girls to look for Twi. She might've been generally okay after our stay in Tickwood Forest, but even so she had a few scratches here and there by the time we exited the woods. Now however it seemed like if every last one of those scratches disappeared, and if my eyes weren’t deceiving me it seemed that she even had the time to wash some grime off of her face. I have a sinking suspicion that Rarity had a hoof hand in this. Either way, the fact that AJ looked like if nothing happened to her whatsoever was slightly off-putting. Come to think of it, I seemed to be unable to locate the bump on Pinkie’s head from the farmpony’s blow. But that didn’t make any sense, something like that couldn’t just disappear all of a sudden.

By the time I made my observations Applejack entered the room and made way for the rest of the girls. Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy all came in through the door, all of them in a manner according to their nature, and each of them immediately went for Twilight, one by one embraced the completely flabbergasted by this point mare in relieved hugs. I easily noticed that RD’s side seemed to also be completely okay, something that I had a hard time comprehending. Just what the hay happened when I wasn’t around? Eh… no matter, I’m sure the girls are going to tell Twilight, I’ll learn it then.

The three mares joined Pinkie Pie with Twi and seemed to be too preoccupied with our resident brainiac to notice much of anything aside from her. The only one that didn’t immediately go for her was Applejack, who appeared to be talking with Father Zantus about something. Taking one last glance at Twilight’s stunned expression I walked up to the conversing duo, intent on figuring out what was actually going on.

“…again, Ah thank ya kindly for tha help. Ah dunno what we would do if ya couldn’t patch us up.”

“Don’t mention it dear, it was my pleasure.” Father Zantus waved AJ’s thanks off modestly, smiling at her warmly. He was definitely in a good mood. “Folks usually come to me when something ails them, I’m quite used to the work, and if I can alleviate someone’s pain than all the better. Desna knows how many cracked ribs I’ve mended.” He chuckled at that slightly, obviously an inside joke as Applejack seemed nonplussed by his words.

“Still, thanks pardner. We really appreciate it.” She finally said, sticking out her hand for what I assume was a hoof hand shake. The priest accepted it graciously, nodding slightly. It might be just me, but I think I saw AJ glance at the man’s butterfly pendant, her face momentarily shifting into an expression of wariness, but she quickly managed to hide it. Hm… Wonder what that was about.

“No problem.” My musings were interrupted by the priest’s voice. He seemed to be backing out of the room for some reason. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m needed outside. I still have to make sure everything is perfect for this year’s Swallowtail Festival. You all are invited of course. Feel free to use the personage as needed, but try not to roam around unsupervised.” At that point he shot a glance at me, winking good-naturedly which made me blushed abashed, having being caught red-handed. “I’ll leave Naffer to guide you around. See you girls at the festival!” And with that cheerful goodbye he strode out of the dining room, leaving the eight of us to our own devices. Strange man that one.

AJ looked for a moment at the now closed door behind which Father Zantus disappeared and breathed what I assumed was a sigh of relief. For whatever reason it appeared she was somewhat tense in his presence. I guess it must've had something to do with the way he tended their wounds, serious ones and scratches alike. Seriously, how did that guy manage to get rid of that gaping hole in RD’s side and Pinkie’s lump that quickly? Whatever he did must have shaken up Applejack something fierce.

“Ya could’a told us ya were gonna look for Twi, Spike.” AJ said after she shook her head to clear her thoughts. She looked at me, crossing her arms in front of her chest, and gave me a slight glare. “Ya gave us quite a scare ya know, for a moment there we thought sumthin’ happened to ya.”

“In a wooden corridor in a personage?” I retorted, rising an eyebrow. Seriously, somepony was worrying over nothing.

“Hey, don’t ya go balmin’ me for that. Try listenin’ ta Pinkie Pie once she’s on a roll an’ than try ta keep calm.” Ouch, good point. I remember she once almost convinced me a pony can spontaneously turn into something that she referred to only as GAK, whatever that is. “So, Ah see ya found Twi okay.” She changed the subject, for which I was quite grateful. Ponies turning into half-liquefied globs of goo were definitely not something I wanted to think about.

“Yeah, though I doubt she’s gonna be too happy to see you guys.” I admitted, prompting AJ to look at me with surprise.

“Whaddya mean by that?”

“Well, I think she was hoping that one of you girls would send word to the Princess about what happened so she could bring her back.” I reasoned. “She kinda can’t use magic in this new body…”

“Ah wouldn’t be so sure ‘bout that.” She muttered, glancing at the door once again. I was confused as to what she was talking about, but I deemed it unimportant for now.

I was about to ask Applejack what did I miss out on when something that I actually should've foreseen earlier happened. Before I was able to utter but a single word a loud “What the hay!” rang trough the dining room, making me lose my train of thought and look at the source of it. What I saw was the multicolored form of Rainbow Dash, pointing at something with her finger, a look of complete shock and incomprehension written on her face. Looking at what she was pointing at, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

She was pointing at an unamused Trixie, who looked like she wanted nothing more than for Rainbow to put that accusing digit where Celestia’s sun doesn’t shine.

“What… How… Why…” RD was having serious problems vocalizing her thoughts, sputtering. “What in the name of Celestia is she doing here?!”

Trixie raised an eyebrow at that in that infuriating way of hers.

“First the lizard and now the feather-brain. You sure pick complete morons for your minions, Sparkle.” Warning! Rainbow Dash rage levels reaching critical mass. Emergency discharge in… 3… 2… 1…

“Aaaiiiaaaggghh!!!” Letting out an animalistic cry, Rainbow Dash lunged at Trixie, in a manner of seconds closing the distance between the two of them and tackling the showpony full force to the ground, knocking her out of her chair. It was quite clear what she had in plan for the infuriating mare: she was going to wipe that smug smirk off of her face with her fists, and if she got lucky leave a bloody pulp in her wake. I admit, I actually had half the mind to let RD do just that –payback for calling me lizard-brain and just now a moron. Sadly, I was too good a guy for my own good, and apparently the rest of the girls also weren’t about to let something like that happen.

Before Rainbow was even able to land a single blow on the showpony’s face, Applejack decided to step in, running towards her and catching her raised fist before she could strike. Undeterred by that, RD prepared her other hand, only for it to end up caught in the same way. Only now noticing she was being held back Rainbow began struggling to break free, forcing AJ to tighten her grip and force her hooves hands behind her back in what I assumed was an improvised wrestling technique. By that point Rarity and I reached the slightly dazed silver-maned magician and began pulling her out of RD’s reach. The cyan mare wasn’t too happy about that, and began kicking and bucking, trying to break free of AJ’s hold and if possibly land a few hits on Trixie. She even partially succeeded in doing so; one or two of her kicks connecting with the showpony’s side and elicited strangled cries of pain from the mare. I think I saw a satisfied smirk cross Rarity’s face upon hearing them, but that must have been just my imagination. She couldn’t be that spiteful, right?

“Lemme go! I’m gonna beat her bragging face in! You hear that, oh Fake and Powerless!? I’m gonna buck your face so hard that you won’t be able to recognize yourself in a mirror!” Rainbow was definitely furious, yelling out threats along those lines and trying to break out of Applejack’s hold to no avail. Fortunately, AJ was not only keeping her from breaking free but also trying to talk some sense into the rainbow-maned mare.

“Calm down sugarcube, ya don’t really wanna do this.”

“Oh yeah?! That good for nothing braggart is the reason why we’re stuck here in the first place! Of course I wanna do this!”

“Sugar, we already talked ‘bout this. She ain’t the reason we’re here, it was somethin’ else.”

“You can’t be sure! She’s here, so that must mean that she had something to do with this! Now let me at her!”

“Oh for Pete’s sake… If ya don’t calm down this instant ya can forget ‘bout gettin’ any cider next Cider Season.” AJ was already fed up with Rainbow’s stubborn clams of our predicament being Trixie’s fault and rolled out the big guns. Hearing her threat RD momentarily ceased trashing and looked over her arm as best as she could at the farmpony holding her.

“You wouldn’t do that.” She said uncertainly, knowing full well that AJ was not somepony that liked casting words to the wind.

“Try my.” Was the only response she got from the farmpony, a look of fierce determination in her green eyes. Rainbow could only hang her head in defeat.

“Dang it! Ugh… fine, I won’t do anything to her. Now can you please let me go?” Well, that was easier than I thought. Rainbow must really love Apple Family Cider.

Applejack reluctantly released Rainbow from her grip, but stayed close to the cyan mare, just in case. RD in turn rubbed the parts of her body the farmpony held her down by, still glaring at Trixie who was slowly recovering from the shock of it all. Dash grumbled something under her breath, most probably another set of insults slash threats directed at the showpony, but the moment AJ cleared her throat expectantly she stopped and ostentatiously huffed, turning her back to the magician. Just what the hay did Trixie do to make Rainbow hate her so much? I mean apart from insulting her and apparently humiliating her in front of most of Ponyville?

I averted my gaze from the ponies involved in the incident, looking at the far end of the table at the rest, wondering why they didn’t help once RD went berserk. Twilight still seemed to be frozen in shock at seeing the girls; I think they actually broke her. Fluttershy obviously hid behind the closest thing she could find once the commotion started –in this case it was behind Twi. As for Pinkie Pie…

“Hello!” I whipped around with a start, scared half to death by that. I don’t know when or how, but Pinkie at some point joined us, and right now was crouching beside Trixie, looking at her with great, blue, unblinking eyes and with an ear-splitting grin plastered on her face. Truth be told, it was unnerving as hay.

Trixie, who was still dazed by what happened moments ago managed only the most basic of replies. “Huh?”

“Hi, I’m Pinkie Pie! You’re Trixie, right? Or is it The Great and Powerful Trixie? That would be a silly name, long-a-riffic, like Waggleton P. Tallyicker. I saw you in Ponyville, you know, when you came to town in that super-duper-awesome cart? You were all like ‘aha’ and everypony was like ‘oh’, and I went like *insert-dramatic-gasp* and I had this funarrific idea to throw you a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ Party. But then I got teleported by a Solar and met Spike, and we were all like Sherclop Spike and Dr. Pie and tried to make head or tails of this glowing winged thingy from chapter one and I got this mega-hyper-fun idea to make a double ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, so we would have two guests of honor. And there would be games and dances and punch and cake and you like cake, don’t you? Who am I kidding, of course you like cake, who doesn’t, duh! What flavor do you like? I like strawberry cakes with chocolate icing, but then again, I like most flavors. The Cakes, not the pastries but my landlords, they own Sugarcube Corner, that’s like the best place in whole Ponyville. Did I mention I know everypony in Ponyville? I love making new friends, especially if they are interesting ponies from the wide, wide world of Equestria, and I bet the author is just trolling the viewers with how ridiculously long he made my rambling session this time…”

If Trixie didn’t snap from her daze earlier, it was clear she had by now. Pinkie’s rambling, as unfriendly as it may sound, was enough to make even a dead pony rise from the grave and run for the hills. I should know; I was subjected to it multiple times by now, and I never ever was able to keep up with her. The con mare herself wasn’t fearing much better either, as evident by the look in her eyes. She was gazing at Pinkie who was hanging over her with a mix of surprise, weariness and poorly concealed incomprehension. She was slowly inching away from her, as if afraid that she would suddenly get violent for no apparent reason. Yeah, right; as if Pinkie Pie would ever hurt a fly…

I was seriously beginning to wonder if the girls just decided to use the party pony as a sort of non-physical torture device on the magician. None of them seemed to keen on pacifying Pinkie anytime soon, and looking at Trixie it was clear that she was slowly losing it from listening to her insane monologue. Truth be told however, I wasn’t about to help her out of it either. Let’s just say this was an acceptable payback for insulting me.

Sadly, good things never last long, and it was true in this case as well. As Pinkie was still rambling on and on, bringing Trixie to the verge of a mental breakdown, Fluttershy finally gathered the courage to leave the relative safeness of Twilight’s back and take stock of what actually happened. Her blue eyes quickly fell on the form of the con mare, now crawling backwards and away from the pink menace, and her caring nature went into overdrive. In a flash she was right beside Trixie, effectively cutting off her escape route, and with a worried expression she began looking for any signs of injury on her.

“Oh my goodness, are you okay?” She asked surprisingly loudly (almost normal talking volume for normal ponies). “Did Rainbow Dash hurt you? I-I’m sure she’s sorry for that.” I think I’ve heard a faint ‘No I’m not’ from the cyan mare at that, but I can’t be sure. “D-Do you need any help? I know a thing or two about medicine, I’m sure I can help. If you don’t mind that is…”

Trixie’s eyes darted from one pony to the other, utter confusion painted on her face. She must've realized that she was being sandwiched between two mares that in her nomenclature would be called ‘Sparkle’s minions’, and that at least one of them was clearly insane. Slight paranoia after being assaulted by RD prevented her also from accepting Fluttershy’s help, expecting to be double-crossed if she accepted any help, or at least I think that was the reason behind her next actions. Speaking of which…

“Would you bucking shut up already?! Trixie is sick and tired of your nonsensical rambling, you pink bedlamite! Do you seriously believe that the Great and Powerful Trixie cares about your preferences when it comes to pastries? No, that she does not! So do Trixie a favor and shut up!” Well, at least she didn’t bottle it all up. Who knows what would have happened to her psyche if she didn’t vent her frustration like that. Besides, Pinkie Pie seemed completely obvious to the fact she was rudely ‘asked’ to be quiet and called some rather derogatory things. If anypony could take an insult to the face and be completely unfazed by it, it was Pinkie Pie.

Unless you insulted sugar-based products. Celestia forbid you do that.

Once Trixie vented her frustration on the still creepily smiling Pinkie Pie, she turned sharply to Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus squeaked in fright and took a step back once she met the showpony’s gaze.

“And you…” She started in a low voice, glaring at ‘Shy. “You can take your concerns and shove them… shove them… em…” Suddenly she trailed off, looking at the covering form of Fluttershy, who apparently wanted nothing more than to run away as quickly as possible with a weird expression on her face. I wasn’t sure what exactly happened, nor did I understand what Trixie was saying once she started muttering something under her breath, but one thing was for certain –she wasn’t going to finish her insult.

Finally, after a moment or two of just looking at the covering form of Fluttershy and muttering to herself Trixie decided to speak up. She took a deep breath, let out a sigh and fixed her eyes on the butter-yellow mare, her expression void of any emotion.

“Trixie does not require medical assistance, she is okay.” She stated calmly while rising to her feet. She was obviously lying, the way she favored one of her sides was clear that RD’s kicks reached their marks good, but for some odd reason she tried not to show that. “Now, if you would be so kind as to step away from Trixie; you are invading her personal space.”

With another squeak Fluttershy backed out of Trixie’s reach, avoiding eye contact at all costs. Still, it went better than expected –for a moment there I thought she would begin insulting poor ‘Shy as she did with Pinkie Pie. Fortunately, I (and the rest of the girls, if Rainbow’s, AJ’s and Rarity’s clenched fists and ready stances were anything to go by) was pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. Yet again Fluttershy’s undeniable charm and sheer adorableness proved to be able to tame even the wildest of beasts.

Once Trixie was back on her feet an impasse of sorts had occurred, the magician glaring daggers at Rainbow Dash as the mare in question was giving her own stink-eye to the con artist. Tension between the two of them was so high that you could almost feel it in the air. The fact the others, especially Rarity for some reason and AJ to a lesser extent were keeping their eyes on Trixie as if half-expecting her to try something funny definitely didn’t help.

Speaking of funny, Pinkie Pie as per usual thought this was some kind of game and was desperate to join in, choosing to stare at Fluttershy of all ponies as if her life depended on it. Long story short, Flutters was creeped out only after a few seconds and was trying to hide behind her pink hair, voicing a weak protest that went completely unnoticed by the hyperactive pony.

Seriously, this was getting ridiculous. If this was going to last any longer, than I swear on Celestia’s Beard I’m gonna blow a gasket. We didn’t go through all that jazz with Tickwood forest and that grumpy guard for something as stupid and childish as this!

…Boy, does it sound weird to actually think like somepony responsible.

I was silently fuming, working up my rage in an attempt to shock the girls out of this farce (worked well enough the last time) when finally something happened. The almost complete silence, broken only by Fluttershy’s soft protests and Pinkie’s silent giggles was shattered to a million pieces by the voice of none other than Twilight, who said something that only a pony with a superior intellect like hers could come up with.

“Wha?!?!?!” Just as I said –pure eloquence and elegance at its finest.

Twi’s cry was loud enough to startle the girls out of their revere, making ‘Shy almost jump out of her skin and Pinkie Pie proclaim victory in a game only she knew she was playing. All eyes fell on Twilight’s form, taking in her current state. And considering I knew her the longest of them all, I could with relative safeness assume what was her current mental state. And let me tell you –it was not good.

I was able to pick up the symptoms of a panic attack setting in. Twilight’s mane hair started to randomly stick out at odd places and her eyes were shifting rapidly from side to side; I think they even shrunk a bit, as more lavender could be seen in place of the giant pools of black. What was most noticeable was that she stood up from her chair abruptly, making it fall over to the floor with a loud smash and began pacing so quickly that even Rainbow Dash would have had a hard time keeping up with her. The fact she was beginning to speak to herself only confirmed my suspicions that Twi was going through a mental breakdown… again. Hope this time it’ll be easier than the last. I doubt a battalion of Royal Guards is somewhere nearby to stop her.

“This is bad. This is really, really, really, really bad.” Twilight was repeating over and over again, shooting us distressed, panicked even looks. “This can’t be happening, it just can’t!”

“Em… Sugarcube?” AJ was the first to speak. She looked at Twi worriedly, concern evident in her green orbs. “Y’all‘right? Everythin’ okay?”

“Nothing is okay anymore!!!” In response to her concerns Applejack got a furious Twilight to the face. Twi was hyperventilating and visibly shaking, evidence that she was going to break down completely any minute now. Just to be on the safe side I began rummaging around the room in search of anything that could work as a makeshift paper bag. “This wasn’t supposed to happen! You and Spike should've stayed back home and send word to the Princess, not follow me! You shouldn’t even be here!”

The girls exchanged worried glances, not sure how to react to Twilight’s behavior. It was the first time they’ve seen her in such a state, and as a result didn’t have the slightest clue how to approach her. I of course was more experienced in the matter, and as such I was already well underway with a plan to calm her down. Now, where do they keep sedatives around here…

“This is all just so horribly wrong.” I heard Twilight lament, getting closer to completely breaking down with each passing sentence. “I didn’t want anything like this to happen. I hoped I was the only one sent here, so that you could send word to the Princess so she may help me back. But now… now we’re stuck here for good. I can’t send word to the Princess, Spike can’t breathe fire, none of us are even in our own bodies… This is just so messed up!”

“Um… Twilight?” The quiet voice of Fluttershy brought my attention from my search. Looking at her, I spotted that she was slowly and, true to her name, shyly approaching the distraught unicorn, a concerned expression on her face. “Um… if it’s okay with you, I just wanted to say that… em… that we’re not angry at you. We know it’s not your fault and that if you could help it you wouldn’t put us in a situation like this. So…” She didn’t finish, instead wrapping Twi in a tight, warm hug.

At first I wasn’t sure how that would work out; last time, as I’ve already stated, Twilight needed to be held down against her will by a battalion of the Royal Guard, and even then it was only thanks to Princess Celestia’s personal intervention that Twi calmed down. I was half expecting her to break out of the hug and go on a destructive rampage, turning deep green in the process and losing most of her mental capabilities (I definitely read too much comics). Instead however, Twi, who at first went rigid began to slowly loosen up and after a moment or two returned the hug, if not a bit shakily. Encouraged by Fluttershy’s success, the rest of the girls soon joined in, forming a group hug around the distraught mare. The only ones not included in it was Trixie, for obvious reasons, and I.

“Does this happen often?”

“Enough that I’ve gotten used to it.” I responded not thinking. Only after a moment did I realize, that it was Trixie that asked me that, and that she was looking at the girls with what I assumed was a ‘what the hay just happened’ kind of expression. What shocked me even more was that she was actually being civil, though that might have been the effect of her being utterly confused.

The group hug lasted maybe a couple of seconds, but its effects were easily noticeable. Twilight seemed calmer than moments before, and her hair seemed to go back to normal, losing its frizzled look. Once the girls released Twi from their hold, she stood there, taking a series of deep, calming breaths and looked at our friends, smiling slightly and blushing from embarrassment.

“Sorry about that.” She said sheepishly. “I… I guess all this just took a toll on me. It’s not every day you wake up in another’s body.”

“You can say that again.” Rainbow nodded earnestly, glancing behind her on instinct. She definitely missed her wings.

“Tell me Twilight, do you happen to have some sort of idea how we could possibly get back home, or at the very least back to the way we normally look?” This time it was Rarity that decided to ask the obvious question. She did look a bit dejected at her own, two-legged form. “As much as being able to mingle with another culture and gather ideas for new dress designs is rewarding, I am not too keen on spending too much time away from our home, and I do believe that I speak on behalf all of us in this matter.” The nods she received in response were answer enough.

Rarity’s words of course prompted Twilight to sadden, once again remembering she was stripped of her biggest talent in this body. She took a hold of herself however and explained everything she knew to the best of her abilities. Most of it I tuned out, already knowing it from my previous conversation with Twi, and apparently so did Trixie, opting for glaring a hole in the back of the head of one Rainbow Dash instead. Something told me this was going to be interesting.

I was brought back to attention when Twilight moved to another topic of her explanation: her plan of escape, and why the girls’ and my presence here was such a setback.

“…So you see, with Spike here and unable to breathe fire I can’t ask the Pr… I mean I can’t ask my teacher for help.” Seriously, Twilight was making a fool of herself now. Considering she all but proclaimed she was Celestia’s protégé during her mental breakdown, Trixie most probably already knew, and this was no secret. “I thought that I could count on one of you girls to send her a letter and inform her about this situation, but as it’s perfectly clear you can’t do that while stuck here with me. And I seriously doubt the citizens of Ponyville will be much help –they may report that we mysteriously disappeared to the authorities, but I doubt anypony aside from Princess Celestia herself can really help us. You know ponies in the right places and they don’t, so we can forget about sending word there…”

Twilight trailed off, her eyes widening suspiciously, and a look of shocked realization creeping on her face. The girls exchanged surprised and in more than one case worried glances and began trying to get a response from Twi, sadly to no avail. She became completely unresponsive for some reason and that frightened look wasn’t helping any. Finally, after a good moment of prompting a response my companion seemed to snap out of whatever she was in. Problem is, her hair once again began looking frizzled, another panic attack coming to life.

“No…” She said softly, shaking her head slightly. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no…” By that point she began pacing and with each of the repeated ‘no’ she was becoming louder and louder. “This is not good, not good at all. How am I going to explain this?”

“Explain what exactly, dear?” Rarity asked hesitantly. In response, Twilight only quickened her pace.

“Oh, she’s going to be so disappointed in me! I can already tell she’s going to be furious… what if she decides to terminate them?”

“Terminate what, sugarcube?” This time it was Applejack, who stepped in the path Twilight was walking and tried to stop her. Twi faced her and with the most serious expression I’ve ever seen on her face and:

“My advanced studies Applejack, that’s what.” She said in a no nonsense voice, making me faceclaw(?) and confusing the poor farmpony.

“Huh?”

“I'm required to send a message every week pertaining my research on the Magic of Friendship.” I think I saw Trixie mouth ‘Magic of Friendship’ with a raised eyebrow, but I ignored it. “I have a strict schedule and I can’t just let it slip no matter what the situation. If I don’t send a Friendship Report in the following few days I’ll become… *gasp* tardy!”

Only thanks to the years spent in Twilight’s company was I able to hold back a snort at that statement. Tardy was definitely one of my favorite words of all time, in Twi’s voice it had that extra funny ring to it. Sadly, she only used it when it came to important, school/research-related matters, and it was one of the symptoms of her worrying too much. Unfortunately however, the girls didn’t know that, and Pinkie being her normal, cheerful self began giggling like mad once she heard that word escape Twi’s mouth.

“Oh Twilight, that was a good one!” The party pony exclaimed cheerfully once she stopped laughing. She didn’t notice the angry blush on Twi’s cheeks. “I love saying funny words like that. Do you know any more? Oh! Do you know the word kumquat? I didn’t even made it up myself, it’s a real thing!”

“Pinkie, this is no laughing matter!” Twilight snapped at her. That got the pink mare’s attention; Pinkie looked at Twi with wide eyes expectantly, waiting for her to continue. “If I don’t send my report before the deadline, Celestia will think I’m not taking my studies seriously, and if she thinks that, than she will give me a test to check if I really am studying. What if there will be a question I can’t answer somewhere in there? What if I don’t pass? What if…”

By then I had enough of Twilight’s constant worrying. For an unbelievably intelligent mare she could be so dense at times. I sighed deeply, trying to calm my nerves as much as possible (if I was angry I wouldn’t get anywhere with this), and approached the panicking unicorn turned human (or elf I suppose) and shook her as best I could with our height difference.

“Twilight, snap out of it!” I shouted at her. Twi looked confused for a moment and then looked down at me. Good, we’ve made eye contact, it'll make things easier on my side. “Listen Twilight, you’re worrying too much over this. I know, you want to explode in my face right now and say that I don’t have the slightest idea what I’m talking about, but listen to me, okay? Okay?” I repeated, shaking her a bit for emphasis. She nodded slowly, so I continued.

“I know you don’t want to disappoint Princess Celestia, I really do, but first off –we can’t send word to her from here, so Friendship Reports are stuck here as well, and secondly –this may work to our advantage.”

“It can?” It wasn’t Twilight who asked that question, but Rarity. She was looking at me with a slightly surprised expression, but managed to hide it well behind her lady-like mask. She wasn’t the only one confused by my words however.

“How can Twi not sending her reports to the Princess possibly work to our advantage? “ Rainbow asked, trying to figure my words out. I grinned in response –this was my five minutes and I was determined to make it count.

“Think about it: if we’re stuck here for a longer period of time, then we’ll miss up on more than one deadline.” At the mention of this Twilight flinched like if physically struck. “The more deadlines we miss on, the more it will concern Princess Celestia. She’ll then probably send somepony to check up on you, and once they discover that we’re missing the Princess will organize a search party, or investigate our disappearance herself. She’ll sooner or later find out that we were teleported somewhere, and if we’re lucky, she’ll bring us back.”

The girls began murmuring between themselves at this point, most of them seeing what I was going at. Sadly, Twilight didn’t look too happy at my suggestion, though she didn’t outright state that this was a bad idea. I suspect that she actually saw my point, but she didn’t like the method. Either way, her hair was becoming less frizzled, so I was happy about that –means she’s calming down again.

“I don’t know Spike.” Twilight began slowly, looking at me doubtfully. “This all depends on something I’m not exactly comfortable with. What if the Princess decides that despite being stuck somewhere outside of Equestria I should've continued my studies?”

“Simple: you continue your studies.” I responded, crossing my arms over my chest and grinning smugly. I was really proud of myself right there. Still, Twi looked unconvinced, so I needed to press the matter. “There’s no reason for you not to continue your studies. Hay, you can even write your Friendship Reports and store them until we get back. That way you’ll show the Princess that you didn’t slack off while stuck here and that you learned something about friendship. I’ll even send them in one go if you’d like.”

That seemed to appease her for the time being. Twilight shifted her gaze from me and looked outside the window, a thoughtful expression on her face. She stayed like that for almost a full minute, before she snapped out of it and looked at me again, this time fiery determination burning in her eyes.

“You’re right Spike, the Princess should understand. She ruled over Equestria for thousands of years, I’m sure she’ll understand that I just couldn’t send them sooner, especially if I send something more than just my Friendship Reports along with it.” I blinked at that and looked at Twi uncertainly.

“Em… What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about studying the culture of the creatures we’re turned into of course!” She almost jumped at that, exclaiming it with so much enthusiasm that it made Pinkie Pie shed tears of pride while saying ‘she grows up so fast’. I on the other hoof looked at her nonplussed, not exactly getting what she was so happy about. Then again, she was most happy when she had to study something really difficult, so that must have had something to do with it.

“You want to study the culture of humans?” I asked, just to be sure. I got a really enthusiastic nod from Twilight in response, which made me roll my eyes. Typical Twi right there.

“This is going to be so interesting! I’ll get to know first hoof about creatures of the oldest pony myths! Who knows, maybe even the science society of the University of Canterlot will be interested in my finds. Oh… maybe I’ll get to give a lecture about what I learn here! That would be a dream come true…”

“…It’s frightening how much like Pinkie Pie can Twilight act.” Rainbow commented to no one, her eyes fixed uncertainly on the unicorn in question. The girls minus Pinkie nodded silently in agreement.

“Twilight, dear, aren’t you forgetting about something?” Rarity tried to catch her attention, unfortunately having no success in that matter. Twi was still rambling to herself, and she even started to skip while pacing excitably around the room. I was half expecting her to begin to prance around repeating ‘yes, yes, yes…’ over and over.

“…We’ll need lots of ink, not to mention parchment. Lots and lots of parchment. Do they even have that around here? Oh, they better have. What sort of civilization would this be if they didn’t even have the basic skill of writing down their…”

“Twilight!!!” I almost jumped out of my scales skin once I heard that. Apparently seeing that Rarity had problems with gaining Twi’s attention Dash decided to help out, which of course consisted of her hollering her name on top of her lungs. It did serve its purpose at least –Twilight snapped out of her planning frenzy and looked questioningly at RD, who in turned pointed at Rarity.

“You do know that you didn’t have to do that, Rainbow Dash?” The fashionista scolded the rainbow pegasus, after which she turned to Twi and cleared her throat in a dignified manner. “Yes, now… Twilight. Didn’t you by chance forget about something so important that one would even go as far as to call it a pressing matter, hm? Something that affects all of us personally?”

Twi blinked a couple of times at the question, not sure what Rarity meant by it. Thankfully, her ridiculously fast thinking prevented her from making a fool of herself, and after a few short moments it finally clicked. She gave Rarity a look that I knew all too well –a look titled ‘are you seriously asking me that question?’

“I expected at least you to understand the situation we’re in, Rarity.” Twilight started, her tone of voice heavy on the disappointed side. “We’re not ponies anymore, we’re not unicorns anymore. Without our horns, we can’t do any magic, and I seriously doubt that there is a mundane method of returning to Equestria, not to mention to the way we looked earlier. And try as we might, we won’t be able to use magic as humans or whatever we’re actually turned into. They’re a completely magicless species.” She finished with an air of finality to it, nodding to herself.

For a moment I was confused as to why did Rarity ask that question in the first place. We already knew that none of our unicorns could use magic, so it was pointless to talk about it. Still, Rarity insisted, so it must have had some kind of reason behind it.

As I looked at our friends, searching for an answer to my questions, I noticed that the girls huddled together and seemed to discuss something amongst themselves in hushed tones. Even Pinkie Pie was taking a part of that quiet discussion, though she looked more like a vedette, glancing at Twilight at odd intervals. I looked at them quizzically, as did Twilight, and even Trixie, who for the most part tried to look as disinterested as possible was stealing glances at the group, probably trying to figure out if they were plotting something against her or something. After a good moment of that hushed conversation Twi couldn’t take it anymore.

“Can somepony please tell me what’s going on here?!” She asked, clearly annoyed that she was kept out of the loop. “Why are you acting so odd all of a sudden? What’s with the whispering?”

The girls looked at one another again, and nodded collectively. Rarity stepped forward and approached Twilight, a serious expression on her face.

“What would you say, dear, if I were to tell you that humans really aren’t as magicless beings as you make them be?” She asked what I assumed was a completely unrelated, not to mention rhetorical question. Twilight seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she stifled a small laugh and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, right. As if a creature without a horn or magic in their blood could control magic.” She laughed for a moment, though that laugh died down as time passed. Rarity’s look did not change a bit from her earlier seriousness. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“As serious as I ever was, darling.” Was Rarity’s response.

“How?”

“We’re not sure ourselves, sugarcube.” Applejack joined the conversation, a rather spooked expression on her face. Apparently the prospect of something other than a unicorn using  magic was uncomfortable for her. Truth be told, I was feeling the same way –how did that even work? “Ya see, when we were herded to dem whole Father Zantus fellar, the guy did sum kinda examination on us and took note of our injuries…”

“You look just fine to me.” Twilight interrupted, looking at the girls confusedly. Seriously, did she not notice the state of their clothing right now, or the fact the side of Rainbow's shirt was torn and bloodied? Either way, Twi looked at them, not understanding what they were talking about.

“Well yeah, now we look okay. Pops really is a hay of an awesome doctor. Strange guy that one, but he’s cool.” It was Rainbow's time to add her two bits. Twilight looked at her nonplussed however.

“What do you mean by that? What kind of injuries could he had possibly taken care of to such an extent that you look a-okay to me?” Twi with every passing moment was getting more and more confused. Seeing all this I grinned mischievously. This was too good an opportunity…

“Oh, nothing much apparently.” I started innocently, beginning to count down on my claws fingers. “Let’s see now: there were scraps, some bumps, shallow cuts, a lump the size of my fist on Pinkie’s forehead and an open wound from a boar’s tusk on Rainbow Dash’s side. Did I miss anything?”

Twilight looked at me like if I was pulling her leg, which only made this even more funny in my opinion. And speaking of comical, Pinkie Pie must've realized what I was trying to do, because she played along, tapping her chin in thought before speaking up.

“I think that’s all Spike. Though I’m still a bit sad that it wasn’t actually a growing unicorn horn. Can you imagine how much fun I would have if I could use magic?” Truth be told, I did imagine just that. Only two words could sum up what I saw in my imagination: NEVER. AGAIN.

“Okay, now I know this is a sham.” Twi stated with an air of finality. “This couldn’t happen, you would have to be hospitalized for a couple of days to be up and running again. It’s all just a stupid joke… it’s not a joke, isn't it?” She finished once she noticed the looks the rest of the girls were giving her.

“We would never joke around about something as horrible as that, Twilight. You should know better than to assume something like that.” It was Fluttershy who decided to speak up, and she did that with a surprisingly stern voice. One would go as far as to say she was scolding Twi, which in itself was absurd enough. Well, this place sure as hay brought the strangest things out of everypony, that’s for sure.

My companion seemed a bit ashamed at her own assumptions, but that was quickly erased from her face by a look of confusion. She looked thoughtful for a moment, as if analyzing what she already knew, and after a moment or two she spoke up, looking clearly lost.

“I don’t get it. How’s that possible? Even with unicorn magic, healing spells can do only so much in terms of treating injuries, and from your description I can’t even begin to see how it was possible that Father Zantus managed to patch you girls up so good in such short notice. How did he do that?”

At this point it was pretty obvious to whoever was looking at Trixie that she was more than just a little bit interested in what was currently being discussed. Leaning slightly towards the girls she stood in her place she was eagerly awaiting the response from the girls. As much as I wanted to point that out and ruin her chance to learn how to apparently do magic as a non-unicorn, I couldn’t bring myself to do that. It probably had something to do with the fact that in that particular moment she had the exact same expression on her face as Twilight –an expression of unbridled curiosity.

I was half expecting Rarity, as the only unicorn present at that particular event to begin to explain what happened when I was gone, but to my surprise it wasn’t her that began. Instead it was AJ of all ponies who started.

“As Ah said earlier, the Father fellar did examine us an’ took note of our injuries, all the while mutterin’ sumthin’ under his breath. Can’t be sure what he was babbling ‘bout though, he spoke too softly. Either way, once he was done with it, things started ta get all strange like.”

“Strange? In what way?” Twilight asked, curious.

“Well, the guy pulled that silver butterfly pendant of his for some reason.” Rainbow answered for AJ, furrowing her brows in thought. “Come to think of it, he was kinda holding it for the entire time he was examining us. Like if it was calming him or something…”

“Yeah, well, RD’s right there Twi, he did pull that bauble of his an’ raised it over his head, so that all could see it. He then said somethin’ along tha lines o’ ‘may the soft glow of Desna shine upon ye’ or somethin’ like that. Ah was beginnin’ ta think that this was some kind o’ weird  joke Ah wasn’t gettin’, but then all of a sudden the room was filled with this strange silvery glow.”

“Strange silvery glow?” Twi repeated, scratching her head in confusion. “I don’t know any spell that give off that kind of side-effect, aside from the teleportation spell, but that’s more of a flash then a glow. What happened next?”

“Well, that’s where it really started to get bizarre, darling.” It was time for Rarity to begin explaining, seeing that she had a bit more knowledge in regards of magic than the rest and could probably explain things better than them. “You see, once this glow began emanating, it became clear it was coming from that lovely pendant of his, just as if it was a horn of a unicorn and was affecting everything in the room. None of us of course felt any type of vertigo of being lifted in the air via magic, so I immediately assumed that it was some kind of magic with a more specific function, like my gem detecting spell. Then, and that’s what I was referring to as bizarre, the light from the glow seemed to move on its own accord, ‘slithering’ through the air towards us and seeping into us through our cuts and other wounds. It was a really odd sensation I must admit, not uncomfortable of course, but most definitely odd.”

“And let me guess: after the ‘light’ entered your bodies your wounds suddenly began rapidly healing.” I stated more than asked, already seeing there this story was going.

“Yes, quite. Thought I must confess, I cringed a bit seeing the process taking hold on Rainbow Dash.” Rarity admitted, shivering slightly. Curious, I glanced at the pegasus in question, and she just shrugged.

“What didja expect from Rarity? She cringes at the sight of a paper cut, let alone a full-blown hole in the side.” She answered in such a way that it was impossible not to notice the pride in her voice. She probably decided to think about her wound in the categories of ‘why I’m awesome’ now that it was gone. “Seriously guys, the way that wound just began closing in front of my eyes, fresh flesh just growing out of nowhere, it was so awesome.”

“Flesh growing from nowhere?” Twilight repeated as if uncertain if she heard that right. At the eager nod courtesy of Rainbow Dash she continued. “That’s some really weird and surprisingly powerful magic you girls described here. Most spells back home only mend small cuts, and that’s only because it hastens the natural process of regeneration in the skin. And then there’s the fact it affected all of you at once. That’s not something you see every day…” She trailed off, deep in thought. I was genuinely surprised how calm Twi was actually approaching the matter, just as if she was readily accepting the fact that something that shouldn’t be able to do magic apparently just did it. It was almost as if she was a completely different mare.

Twilight wasn’t the only one thinking deeply on the matter at hoof, as it became apparent once I turned my attention from my companion. Apparently, none other than “the Great and Powerful” mare herself was lost in thought as well, furrowing her brows and looking absentmindedly at the floor. Admittedly, I think she wasn’t thinking about the exact same thing as Twi did. I got the distinct impression she was scheming something right now, and whatever it was, it wouldn’t end well for us. Hope whatever she’s planning will end up backfiring in her…

“Prosthetic horns.” …what? Seriously, what did just happen? One moment I was more than certain that Trixie was planning something nasty for us, and now for no apparent reason she says something so random that Pinkie Pie would be proud? Did Rainbow Dash hit her on the head when I wasn’t looking or something?

Apparently I wasn’t the only one that was surprised by that random outburst. Most of the girls looked at the con mare with looks ranging from confused to hateful (at least RD’s was), and in Pinkie’s case with a ‘hey, that was my line’ kind of look. Even Twilight seemed to have heard that despite her being deep in thought and looked at her. Of course, being the center of attention was something Trixie thrived on, and in but a few seconds she adopted a more dignified pose and pointed her nose at the ceiling proudly.

“What in tarnation’ are ya talkin’ ‘bout now?”AJ was the first to ask the question on everypony’s mind. Rainbow was close to saying something of her own, most probably insult the magician, but Trixie was quicker.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie doubts that a puny mind of a farmpony could even begin to comprehend the complexity of magical theory or unicorn biology or medicine, but she supposes that there won’t be any harm in showing how well educated Trixie really is. Hopefully at least some ponies will get what Trixie is talking about.” She announced in that annoying way of hers, making AJ grit her teeth.  Before she was able to retort however, the magician began her explanation.

“As all well know, unicorn magic is siphoned through a horn on the forehead of said unicorn. It serves as a conduit for the inner magic of a pony to manifest as an outward, quasi-physical force, able to manipulate the surrounding matter on a molecular level.” She was using that kind of terminology to confuse ponies on purpose, I know it. “It also serves as a valve, controlling the exact amount of raw magical energy used, and as a processing center, reconfiguring that raw energy into useful and controllable effects referred to commonly as spells. If a unicorn horn is whole and healthy, its owner can use magic with relative ease. Of course some are much better at it, as for example the Great and Powerful Trixie, but that is only because of her own natural predispositions as well as her cutie mark. However, if a horn is in some way damaged it can create disastrous effects.

“History knows of certain instances, when a simple damaged horn and a unicorn that ignored it and tried to use magic were the causes of massive damage, and in some cases even death. Depending on the nature of the wound on the horn itself, magic channeled through them can trigger certain reactions. For example, a stallion named Green Leaf in the year 874 SE, who apparently had his horn cracked could not control his levitation spell while transporting his friends over a ravine and one of them, the mayor of Manehattan if Trixie recalls it correctly, fell  to his untimely demise. A mare by the name Sweet Symphony in the year 966 SE, having the tip of her horn chipped off attempted to cast a spell that apparently was meant to animate an orchestra-worth of instruments as part of her one-mare symphony act in the Los Pegasus Concert Hall. Instead, bolts of fire shot out of her horn in random directions, setting ablaze the Concert Hall and injuring hundreds of spectators, dozens of them lethally. Sweet Symphony herself perished during that incident, and the Concert Hall needed to be razed to the ground because of the damage it took during the fire. Instances of complete loss of a horn are rare however, and the effects of such injury aren’t as spectacular as the ones Trixie described earlier, but they are none the less frightening, at least for the interested unicorns. Complete loss of all magical abilities, and considering Earth Pony ‘magic’ is completely different from the unicorn one, ponies that suffered the removal of their horn are forever crippled.

“Now, during the last fifty or so years the doctors form the Canterlot Medical University were trying to create a working, fully functional prosthetic unicorn horn. Although they were unsuccessful in developing one, they were able to create half-prosthetic overlays on damaged horns, limiting the chance of accidental magical misfires close to null, and…”

"Oh for the love of... Could you get to the important bit already?!" She was interrupted by Rainbow's peeved yet utterly bored voice. "Nopony cares about the history lesson. Besides, I bet most of it you made up, like the thing with the Ursa." She added smugly.

For a moment I was almost certain that Trixie would respond in an utterly undignified way, but she surprised me once more. Staying calm and collected, she looked at Rainbow with a small smirk appearing on her face. "It appears that somepony has problems with processing large amounts of information at once. It really makes Trixie feel so, so sorry for you. She can't imagine how hard it must be, to live with a brain the size of a walnut."

"My brain is not the size of a walnut." RD growled out through gritted teeth, sending the mother of all glares at Trixie.

"Oh, my mistake. Trixie should have realized that she's dealing with a pea-brain." Came the venomous replay of the showpony.

"You're the only one with a pea-brain here you fraud!"

"Fraud, really creative. But one shouldn't really expect anything groundbreaking from somepony with room-temperature IQ."

This back and forth between the two would no doubt last for quite some time, or at least until RD finally lost it and decided to get physical about it again if it wasn't for Twilight. She really didn't want this to escalate any further and most definitely didn't want to spend the next few hours explaining to Father Zantus why there was an elf-shaped whole in his wall.

“Quiet you two, you’re not making this any easier.” Twi intervened calmly, or as calmly as the situation let her. Rainbow Dash wasn’t so keen on letting the matter drop and was flinging insults left and right. Trixie just glared in response at Twilight, muttering something under her breath, but what came as a total surprise to me she ceased her taunting. The satisfied grin on her face told me all I needed to know –she achieved her goal and made Rainbow Dash look like a fool.

“Rainbow Dash, calm down!” Twilight tried again, this time more forcefully. Again, RD completely ignored her, her undivided attention strictly on the smug-looking magician. “Rainbow, stop it this instance!” She tried again, to no avail.

“Maybe I can help Twilight?” Pinkie Pie suggested, appearing right beside Twi. Twilight in turn let out an exasperated huff and looked at the pink ball of energy with resignation.

“If you have any idea how to calm Rainbow down than by all means.” She stepped aside, letting Pinkie do her thing.

Pinkie stood in front of the still struggling Rainbow Dash and looked at her for a moment, furrowing her enormous eyebrows in thought and scratching her chin contemplative. Moments later she snapped her fingers (don’t know how she figured how to do that so quickly) and began to rummage with her hand in her hair of all places. After a moment or two she pulled out from it something that looked like a picture of some kind. I caught a glimpse of it and noticed a surprising amount of blue on it, as well as at least one lightning bolt.

“Hay Dashie, look what I have!” She called out with a sing-song voice, dangling the picture in front of Dash. “It’s a picture of the Wonderbolts, limited edition, and it’s signed by Spitfire too. You know you want it.”

“Wonderbolts?! Where?!” Dash was momentarily snapped out of her rage, scanning the room in search of the picture. Once she noticed it in Pinkie’s grasp she lunged at her with enough speed to get to Pinkie in about a nanosecond and tackle her. Pinkie Pie of course didn't mind that at all, and let her snatch the picture from her hands. Triumphant, Rainbow cried out a loud ‘mine!’ and rolled to the ground. Moments later we all had the chance to see one of the toughest mares in Ponyville hugging a piece of paper like if it was her own foal, all the while having a goofy grin plastered on her face. That grin however faltered once she took a better look at the picture.

“What the hay…?!” She exclaimed, almost tossing the picture away and looking at it with a mixture of shock and confusion on her face. Taking the opportunity I took a better look at what was on the piece of paper, and after a few seconds I was desperately trying to hold back a laugh.

The picture that Pinkie Pie baited Rainbow Dash was indeed showing the Wonderbolts. In fact, it was a copy of the more popular Wonderbolts posters, a ‘good’ one at that, made with the extensive use of such specialist tools like crayons and markers. As if that wasn’t enough, the signature on the picture itself was a smiling likeness of Pinkie Pie in her normal form with the words ‘you were just pranked by the Pink-E Pie’ written in capital letters underneath it.

Rainbow stared at the piece of paper with a completely stupefied look. By that point of time Pinkie began cracking up and moments later she burst into a fit of giggles. That of course snapped RD out of her stupor and she looked at the laughing mare with a hurt, almost angry expression.

“That was totally uncool.” She said coldly, handing the picture back to Pinkie.

“Ah, don’t be mad Dashie. It was all in good fun. And besides, Twilight asked me to get your attention, and I figured this would be the best way to do that… not to mention the look on your face was priceless!” Our resident party pony replied with a grin threatening to split her head in half. Rainbow in return only rolled her eyes and was about to shift her attention back to Trixie when Twilight decided to step in, both figuratively and literally.

“Rainbow Dash, can you please explain to me why did you do that?” Twi asked, her voice as stern as the look she was giving the rainbow pegasus.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” RD answered evenly, not impressed by Twilight’s attempt at being intimidating.

“I’m talking about why you suddenly decided to interrupt a pony, rudely might I add, when she was giving a lecture.”

“Hey, you can’t blame me for trying to spare us the lies of that fraud!” Rainbow replied hotly. “She was spewing nonsense and generally trying to distract us from what’s important. And didn’t you hear what she was calling me? She dared to call me an idiot for crying out loud, how was I supposed to react to that?!”

“She was right you know.” Twilight replied flatly, unthinking. Of course, it became apparent what her mistake was when Rainbow gave her a totally betrayed look.

“…You too? You think I’m an idiot?” She asked in a hurt voice. Hearing this Trixie snorted in amusement but didn’t comment. Only then did Twilight realize the double meaning behind her own earlier statement and immediately began explaining herself.

“No, no, no, I wasn’t referring to that. I don’t think you’re stupid or anything. Maybe not that well read, but definitely not stupid.” She stumbled with her explanation for a bit until she decided that this was going nowhere. “What I’ve meant was that Trixie was actually giving a fairly good lecture about possible repercussions of casting spells with damaged horns and about the research on artificial horns.”

“Wait a darn moment there sugarcube.” AJ decided to interject, confusion written on her face. “Yer tellin’ us that this ‘un wasn’t spewing a bunch of hooey right now?”

“Well, aside from the bits she used as self-promotion it was more or less what I know on the matter.” She answered simply, causing most of the girls to look stunned at the revelation.

Trixie huffed, puffing out her chest proudly and looked at RD and AJ with superiority.

“Was there ever any doubt? Not only is Trixie great and powerful, but she also possesses knowledge well beyond that of most ponies in Equestria. Your puny little minds can’t even begin to comprehend the vastness of Trixie’s knowledge…!”

“Though I doubt that her theory of those humans using some kind of artificial horns to utilize magic is correct.” Twilight added, making Trixie stop mid-sentence and look at her confusedly for a moment. That confused expression however quickly morphed into a scowl.

“Trixie fails to see how her theory has any flaws, Sparkle. She also fails to see you coming up any of your own, let alone a better one.”

“True, I don’t have a theory of my own, yet, but that doesn’t mean I’ll won’t come up with one sooner or later. Besides, if humans actually are able to create something akin to an artificial horn than they would have to be on a completely different level of development than ponykind, and if they lacked magic earlier, than why were they developing a prosthesis for a clearly magical creature? No, that theory has too many flaws in it to be taken seriously.”

“Than what Sparkle, you suppose that those humans had magic of their own? Don’t make Trixie laugh.” The con mare sneered, which went completely unnoticed by Twilight. She did however react the moment Trixie tried something else. “For somepony tutored by Princess Celestia herself you sure lack open-mindedness, Twilight Sparkle.”

“H-How do you know about that?!” Twi almost shrieked that question out, that’s how surprised she was. It was however a question so ridiculously stupid, that I had to force myself not to faceclaw. Muttering to myself I jabbed my finger Twilight’s side to gain her attention and muttered just loud enough for her to hear.

“You told her yourself, remember?”

“What!? Why would I do that?”

“You were freaking out that you’ll get expelled because you didn’t send your friendship reports on time and you kinda let it slip out… multiple times.” At that Twilight looked quite a bit embarrassed as her mouth formed a small ‘o’, flanked by her blushing cheeks.

Trixie glared at Twilight for the whole time, though a spark in her eyes was enough for me to realize that she was once again enjoying herself, this time on the expense of a fellow unicorn. After noticing Twi’s embarrassment she decided to boost her own morale a bit more.

“It beats Trixie how somepony with an obvious lack of imagination and flare could become a personal protégé of the single most powerful equine in the world. If Trixie was in your horseshoes Sparkle, she would be definitely more powerful than you are right now. As it is however, you have an unfair advantage over Trixie and that was the only thing that saved your life and took care of that Ursa.” Ugh, this again. Seriously, is she going to bring that up all the time we’re stuck here? I hope not.

“Yeah, right, whatever helps you sleep at night.” Muttered Rainbow Dash once she heard those claims, still glaring at the magician yet having at least the semblance of control over herself and not doing anything else. By that time Twilight managed to recover from her embarrassed state and loudly clearing her throat she shifted the conversation back on track.

“I admit, I don’t know how these humans are able to do any magic, or if that pendant-thing really was something similar to an artificial horn, but I still think it’s too much of a coincidence to think this really is the case. There must be something else at hoof here, I just know it.”

“Well, y’all can think ‘bout that later. Now we kinda hafta figure out what the hay we do next.” Applejack decided to interject, figuring this conversation might transform into an argument of two magicians, an argument over something she didn’t have the slightest clue about.

Twilight, though reluctantly, nodded her head in agreement. As much as she was looking forward to a discussion on magical theory, even if her interlocutor would be somepony like Trixie, there were priorities she needed to have in mind. She frowned a bit in thought, and after a moment she looked at the girls, fiery determination burning behind her lavender eyes.

“Father Zantus said something about some kind of festival taking place here. I think that we should take him up on his offer and attend it.” Wait, what? That was something clearly different, normally Twilight tried avoiding any larger social gathering, though that began changing the moment she found friends in Ponyville. But this was different, and the look in her eyes… it was so much like when she was getting started on a new assignment.

“Say what?” Was the only answer Twilight received from her friends, all the girls looking at her with confusion. AJ in particular looked like she didn’t understand what just happened. Twi in turn looked at them as if she didn’t understand why were they even asking her that question.

“Look girls: for the time being we’re stuck here, as in I can’t get us back home. Until we figure out a way out of here, or until I figure out how to actually do magic in this body we’re not going anywhere, and there’s no telling when Princess Celestia is going to find out where we ended up and when she’ll get us back home. So at least for now we should try to blend in and try to make do for the time being. It’s also best if we stay here –it’s the closest civilized place for miles or that’s what I’ve heard, and it may require from us to be in the place we landed in to get back home.”

“So what, you’re telling us that we need to stick around here and do nothing?” Rainbow Dash was not happy about that, and she made it perfectly clear. Applejack too wasn’t looking so thrilled with the prospect of ‘sitting on her hooves’.

“That’s not entirely true.” Twilight replied with conviction. “I for one am going to look for a method that will allow me to use my magic in this body. Hopefully I’ll be able to do so, and then I’ll work on getting us back home from our end. Hm… I’ll probably have to get some local books on magic to figure anything out…”

“You know Twi, that can be a problem.” I decided to interject. In her planning, Twilight overlooked a really important issue. “We don’t have any money on us, the only things we do have are our clothes, and those are more or less rags at this point.” Rarity mentioned at this point something along the lines of ‘I can still salvage some of it’, but I mostly ignored it and continued. “We also can’t just hope that this Zantus character will keep us all tucked in his own church-thingy free of charge forever.”

“That’s a good point Spike. We’ll need to find a source of income.” Twilight nodded, and I could already envision her making a mental checklist of things to do. There was however one thing that stood in the way.

“Darling, not to rain on your parade, but to gather income we would require first to invest some bits of our own.” Rarity stated exactly what I was worried about. “Opening a business has its costs, believe me. You would not believe the amount of really precious gems I had to sell before I could afford my boutique.”

“Then we’ll just have to find jobs. Shouldn’t be too difficult.” Twi tried at another angle.

“Hate ta break it to ya Twi, but earnin’ yer salary ain’t exactly a walk in a park.” Applejack was the one to respond this time, she too not having particularly good news. “We need ta find work that we can do, and Ah doubt any employer’s gunna just pay us up front. We’d need at least a week or so to get any substantial amount o’ money.”

“We could always try and sell the dagger that Einael guy gave us.” I suggested. I was still feeling an odd vibe from it, and by selling it we could get rid of it, making me sleep better, not to mention it would prove somewhat useful in the end. AJ seemed to catch up to my line of thought pretty quickly too, and she wholeheartedly backed my idea up.

“This ain’t half-bad an idea Spike! We’d get some bits out of it Ah reckon, an’ we could live off of what we earn from sellin’ it fer some time, at least until we find some sort o' paid work ‘round here. That fancy lookin’ blade is bound ta fetch a nice price.”

The girls all agreed with Applejack’s reasoning, though Rarity seemed not to be too thrilled about parting with an item of such quality work, even if it was an implement of war. Twilight of course didn’t have the slightest idea what we were all talking about, as well as Trixie, so we had to show her the weapon. All she did with it was look at it for a moment and unsheathe it to check what we were referring to as a quality looking item. Of course she knew exactly as much about weapons as we did, so she didn’t find anything we overlooked. Still, I wonder how much is it really worth…

“Okay, sounds like a plan.” Twilight nodded while sheathing the dagger back and passing it back to Rarity. “We’ll go to the festival, mingle a bit with the locals and try to sell that dagger. After that we’ll…”

“Find a dressmaker and order some clothes.” Rarity suddenly butted in. All eyes fell on her, most of them holding unasked questions in them, and the fashionista could do nothing else than blush at the sudden attention. “What? Spike was right you know, we’re basically going about in rags at this point. We need new clothes, and some change too.”

“Change?” Surprisingly enough it was Trixie who asked that, completely baffled as to what Rarity was talking about. My fair maiden frowned a bit in response and looked at the magician like she was slow.

“Yes, change. I do not fancy parading about naked in a body that lacks any fur, and I am not going to make a scandal just because I don’t have any clothes on.”

“Yes, well… we’ll just have to add that to the list I suppose.” Twilight intervened before Trixie came up with some sort of witty and completely aggravating response. “Okay, after that we’ll try to find a place to stay for now, hopefully some sort of motel or something, and look around for work. I hope they’ll need somepony with our talents around here.” She added the last part in a small voice, Rarity’s and Applejack’s concerns getting to her apparently. She still tried to look strong though, and for the most part she succeeded at it. With a plan to follow and together once again, confidence began to rise within us, for the first time from the moment we ended up here.

There was however one problem.

“And why do you think, Sparkle, that I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, will just like that go with your plan?” I should've expected it. The mare with an ego the size of Canterlot Mountain just had to make this all the more complicated. “In Trixie’s opinion, she will do a lot better without you or your minions to slow her down.”

“Then go ahead, nopony’s keeping you here!” Rainbow almost immediately retorted, torn between anger at being once again called a minion and happiness that Trixie would finally leave us alone. “Goodbye and good riddance!”

“Easy there Rainbow.” I tried to calm her down, knowing full well that this was definitely not something Twilight wanted to happen. Seeing that I was giving her an opening, Twi initiated damage control and tried to convince Trixie to stay.

One thing was for sure however –this was going to be a loooong stay.
> Act Two Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, Date Unknown (Presumably 24 September, 1000 SR), Morning


It took Twilight some time, but we were finally leaving the vicarage, all eight of us. Yes, she managed to convince Trixie to stick with us, for now at least. No, most of the girls, with Twi herself included weren’t ecstatic about that. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much choice in the matter, our current situation forcing us to grit our teeth and go with the flow. It didn’t make it easier to bear though, especially if the thing you had to bear with was an egocentric megalomaniac that constantly spoke in third person. I was already a step away from jumping off a cliff, just to get away from her.

We were currently being led by Naffer, the local ancillary priest with a limp, through the maze-like wooden corridors of the personage. The tanned priest seemed to be quite the cheerful sort, smiling good-naturedly and ignoring the rather tense atmosphere in our group. His cheerful disposition didn't go unnoticed by Pinkie Pie, and as was easy to guess she was happily chatting away with the guy, asking all sorts of questions and generally going through her routine of making yet another new friend. To his credit, the man was keeping up with her and was managing to hold a semi-intelligent conversation with the pink ball of energy.

With Pinkie Pie preoccupied with her interrogation of our guide and the girls silently staring at either Trixie (with distrust) or Twilight (with disbelief), I could easily let my mind wander. Naturally my thoughts gravitated towards what happened not fifteen minutes ago. From the moment Trixie claimed that she would be better off by herself to the final agreement and her actually joining us, the whole thing was such a mess that even I would be hard pressed to recreate it, and let me tell you, I can make a marvelous mess if I put my mind to it. Well, I suppose I should start from the beginning.

The moment Twilight initiated her plan (though I doubt she had one seeing how much she was failing at it; she’s no good at improvising, let me tell ya) Trixie knew something was up. It didn’t take a genius to notice that really. What’s important though is that with that kind of knowledge she could, and in fact did begin making the best of it. At first she pretended to listen to Twilight’s reasoning, nodding in appropriate places and generally acting like if she was truly interested in what she had to say, and once Twi finished, looking at her hopefully, a sly grin found its way on her face. The next words to escape the con mare’s lips were something that my lifelong companion did not expect.

“What are you willing to sacrifice, Twilight Sparkle, to secure the Great and Powerful Trixie’s cooperation?”

As much as I hated Trixie for even making a move like that I had to admit –she knew what she was doing. With that lone sentence she all but forced Twilight to agree to her terms. It was actually quite fortunate she didn’t know why she really was needed by Twi in the first place, or else she would have been even more demanding than she actually was.

I’ll won’t go through all the small stuff Trixie tried to force upon Twilight just because for the most part it was just that –small, insignificant stuff, not worth mentioning. There was this one ‘gem’ however when she all but demanded that Rainbow was to be kept away from her at all times to as she put it ‘not disturb her with her boorish behavior’, which coincidentally made the mare in question grit her teeth. I admit, I chuckled at RD’s reaction, and Trixie’s look spelling ‘you just proved my point’ was almost too much. The important things were however a completely different story.

Much could be said about Twilight and her many talents. She had almost encyclopedic knowledge about most subjects, she was born with exceptionally large reserves of magical power and she knew more spells than most unicorns could even fathom existed. However, her exceptionally good education came at a price, and that were her social skills. That’s not to say she was terrible at socializing; she could quite easily make friends and most of the time she knew how to act amongst ponies, but at some things she just, well, sucked. And it just so happens that at one of those things, bartering, she was all but useless. Add to that Trixie being pretty much the opposite of her and you have an idea how well Twi’s negotiations went.

The ‘highlights’ of these negotiations were two unrelated matters, the first of them being the question of Trixie’s upkeep. As it was, Trixie reasoned that this arrangement she was getting herself into was basically Twilight hiring her for her ‘incredible and unmatched abilities’ and that she was to be paid for them. Of course with the fact that none of us had any bits on our names made it all the more complicated, and in the end the showpony decided to ‘work’ in exchange for providing her with free food, shelter, healthcare and as she came to realize once Rarity mentioned it earlier –free clothing. She also wanted to have a separate pool of money, claiming that whatever she earned herself was going to stay in her possession, no contributing to the group fund. That wasn’t even the worst part. The real issue was that she managed to force Twilight to actually go with this. Twilight just let herself be played like a violin, and it was so obvious that Rarity decided to enter the fray and lend her a helping hoof in further negotiations. She might not have known why Twilight was so bent on keeping Trixie here, nor want to get involved in anything concerning her, but she wasn't going to let her friend be ruined by an overconfident stage magician.

The second big thing was the issue of magic. The discovery that humans and human-like creatures apparently could somehow work magic meant that Twilight was going to try and emulate that, trying to find a way to enable her and Rarity the possibility to once again wield their arcane powers. And Trixie wanted that knowledge too. She all but demanded that once Twi discovers a way to utilize magic she shares that knowledge with her. Truth be told, I think she didn’t even have to ask to receive this kind of help though; I may be mistaken, but I believe that Twilight would share her findings with Trixie either way. Call it unicorn solidarity or something, I don’t know.

Securing Trixie’s cooperation was a success, I'll admit that. Though if the definition of success is being stuck with somepony like her while simultaneously coming at odds with most of your friends than I would rather fail miserably thank you very much.

None of the girls had any idea why Twilight wanted Trixie around, and most of them weren't very happy about it. As much as Pinkie was ecstatic about having somepony new around, in her head having a golden opportunity to make a new friend, and Fluttershy with her quiet nature was more or less neutral towards this whole situation, the rest wasn’t that pleased about this turn of events. Especially Rainbow looked like if Twi just stabbed her in the back. Rarity and AJ too weren’t exactly fond of the idea of having Trixie around, not that I blame them or anything, but RD was just on a different level entirely. Long story short however, they didn’t know why this happened, and until Twilight would explain this to them without running the risk of being overheard by the con mare, they were going to be speculating about this and keeping their eyes on both of them. And knowing a certain cyan mare, she was going to come to all the wrong conclusions.

I was amusing myself with ideas of how ludicrous reasons for Twilight wanting Trixie around could Rainbow come up with when I was brought back to the real world by our guide. Priest Naffer, still with a smile on his tanned face was standing in front of a set of wooden doors, mentioning for us to go right through them. The exit already? Huh, didn't even notice when we got here. With a few quiet ‘goodbyes’ and one quite enthusiastic farewell hug from the pink hurricane we crossed the threshold and went off to meet what we hoped was going to become our temporary place of stay.

We found ourselves on a familiar-looking street just in front of the personage. One quick glance around was enough to determine that this was indeed the same street we walked not too long ago, the town’s gate not too far away from us, as well as the stone-wooden structure of the White Deer Inn several dozen hoofs in front of us. Deciding to go with Twilight’s earlier plan we all followed the street in the opposite direction, going for the square on which we knew the festivities were going to take place.

All signs on heaven and earth suggested that this was going to be a rather pleasant day, at least in regards of the weather. The sun was shining brightly, bathing us in its warm, soft glow. A weak, iodine-filled breeze gently caressed our cheeks, cooling us pleasantly. It was shaping up to be a really nice day all things considered, an ideal date to set up a festival of any sort. The local weather patrol really did a great job.

Wait, do humans even have weather patrol?

I didn’t have time to think about whether or not the locals could control weather as we finally approached the square enough to actually see what was going on. By the time we arrived there, most of the stands were already set up, a semicircle of tents erect around the place and flapping merely in the morning breeze, adding a bit of color to the picture. As we already noticed before, there were multiple types of games set up as well, most of them simple tests of brawn, the usual things one can find during carnivals of all sorts. The most prominent features however were not what was set up around the square, but the crowd of townsfolk gathered on it.

The first thing I’ve noticed was the sheer amount of townsfolk here. Even without counting the number would range from about seven to nine hundred minimum, almost as much as the whole population of Ponyville, and that was without counting the flock of frolicking children running around impatiently, playing games while their parents were busy listening to a speech. Speaking of which, the platform that we saw being set up earlier was occupied by four individuals, one of which we recognized as Father Zantus. The other three we didn't know, but whoever those people were, they must have been some sort of local figures of importance. One of them, as I already noticed was delivering a speech, and from the reactions of the crowd I gathered that he was doing a good job.

After getting a boost from AJ, who noticed I didn't see a thing and sat me on her shoulder I was met by the oddest looking site to date. The man who was delivering the speech was probably the weirdest looking person I have met up until now in this crazy place. The guy was wearing a vibrantly green tunic and a pair of dark-red pants, trimmed with what appeared to be golden thread. He also wore a pair of leather boots reaching to about his knees and a particularly looking hat –wide-brimmed, cocked to the side, and with a great big plume the color of deep crimson. I couldn't help but think that the man was colorblind or something, that's how ridiculous he looked. And it came as no surprise that Rarity was giving him, or rather his clothes a look of contempt. Or was it curiosity? Hay if I know, the point is she was staring at him with the weirdest look I have ever seen on her face.

Of course we came in the middle of his speech and we didn't have the slightest idea what he was talking about. What we did manage to discern was that he was apparently in the middle of recalling the whole process of rebuilding the cathedral, going into much embarrassing detail about how the more prominent citizens contributed, or rather tried to weasel their way out of contributing to the goal. Why did they have to rebuild the church in the first place I have no idea, and for the most part during his speech I was more than a little lost, not getting half of what must have been inside jokes the guy was cracking. The public seemed to like it however, so he couldn't have been bad, right?

After a few minutes the man finally wrapped up his speech, throwing in some kind of self-promotion at the end. Something about a play he was directing at a local theater titled 'The Harpy's Curse' and a star actress he managed to secure for the leading role (at least now I know why he was dressed like that; I really don't get some artists). Either way he gave way for the next orator, who happened to be Father Zantus. He stepped forward from his place between an auburn-haired woman and a dour-looking, uniform-clad man, and looked upon the crowd of townsfolk, a small, gentle smile playing on his lips. Rising his hands like if he wanted to embrace the whole crowd he began.

"My friends, fellow Sandportians, and you esteemed guests. Welcome! Welcome on this most joyous of days! It warms my heart to see you all here, happy and eager to start this year's celebrations. On this day, the first day of the month Rova, we celebrate both the annual holiday of the Swallowtail Release, as well as the consecration of our newly erected cathedral, though you already know that, don't you?" He smiled, and the occasional giggle escaped the crowd. "I will not bore you with any long speech, as I am more than certain that you all are eager to start the celebrations. Besides, you already had your fair share of long-winded speeches, isn't that right Cydrak?" Here he turned to the man who gave his speech before him, making some in the crowd laugh again. The laugher intensified when the Cydrak fellow returned the priest's look by beaming at him and winking teasingly. "Either way let me thank you all for coming, it really means a lot, both to me personally, as well as to the gods above. I wish you all the best of times here, enjoying the festivities as much as we enjoyed setting them up for you.

"And so, without further ado, I declare this year's Swallowtail Festival underway!" Father Zantus finished with a cheerful cry, prompting his audience to cheer loudly and applaud the priest. We too joined them out of courtesy, Pinkie going as far as whistling loudly above the tumult of other sounds, and soon we ended up in the middle of a dispersing crowd. We quickly regrouped and waited for the immediate area to thin out a bit.

During our wait for the crowd to disperse I observed the men and women that passed us by. Knowing Twilight, she was doing the same exact thing, her compulsive need to research everything she could shining through no doubt. I on the other hoof was doing that for a different reason. Looking at the locals I've noticed one particular thing. They looked different than us. It wasn't by much, I mean no one was walking on all fours or had a tail or anything of the sort, no. What I've meant was that most of the people here had either dark, in some cases black hair, or were blond, with the occasional redhead strolling by. Try as I might however I couldn't notice a single soul with purple, green, or pink hair, meaning that either we ended up in the most monotonous town in the world, or humans (or whatever we were) didn't come with those colors naturally. Well, just another thing to hold against that guy from the forest I suppose; he could have warned us at least.

The crowd quickly thinned out and we could finally get a move on. Rarity was furiously looking around in search of anything even remotely resembling a clothes shop. While she was at it, the rest of us tried to make sense of the various vendors that set out with their wares. Most had only small stands with various items on display while others, presumably the more successful ones had multicolored tents erected around the square and only a small fraction of their wares on display. We could easily find vendors selling baked goods (we had to forcefully pull Pinkie away from those), toys, and other miscellaneous things commonly seen during festivals. However none of them struck us as willing to buy a weapon. A sudden thought that we would have to end up bartering for clothes came to me, and the possibility that someone selling clothes was into daggers was slim to none. In other words –we were screwed.

By this time the girls seemed to come to the same conclusion. And although Pinkie seemed as oblivious as ever, everypony else began to worry. It was especially true for Rarity, who was the most disturbed by the fact we needed clothes in the first place and was the most adamant we get them. I think she even started to mumble to herself under her breath, her eyes twitching. Truth be told, she looked terrifying at that moment. Even worse, it seemed that we couldn't even find a tailor or anyone similar to begin with. And considering this whole festival thing was an event the whole town partook in even if we would find a clothing shop it most definitely wouldn't be open. Just as we were about to concede defeat however our luck finally changed.

"Found it!" Pinkie exclaimed proudly, pointing at an unusually large white and red tent with a small canopy. After closer inspection we noticed that showed on display were things like scarves, shawls, decorative belts and… uh… I don't even know what to call them, hand socks? There was however a mannequin partially poking out of the tent with a dress on it, so there was no denying it –Pinkie really did find what we were looking for. Why weren't I surprised?

"Good job Pinkie." Rarity praised the party pony and as quickly as she could approached the stand. Following suit we walked up to it too, only to realize that it seemed that no one was there. Either the vendor was extremely careless, or crime rate in these parts was extremely low.

"Hello? Is anypo… anybody here?" Rainbow called out, never one to wait. To my slight surprise not a second later came a response from the inside of the tent.

"I'll be with you in a minute!" Well, one thing was for sure –whoever owned this stand was a she.  The voice was proof enough. And, true to her word, after a few moments the owner came out to greet us.

"Good morning, what may I help… you…" I think my brain froze up in that moment. What I was seeing was most definitely not what I was expecting, and vice versa –the owner seemed to be surprised by our appearance, or rather in the appearance of Rarity.

The woman from the tent looked like a carbon copy of our resident fashionista-turned-human-thingy. Same height, same body built, same facial features… even her eyes and pointy ears were the exact same shape as in Rarity's case. It was like if she somehow multiplied, not that I minded of course. There of course were some differences that allowed to tell the two apart, such as the woman being a redhead with her hair done in a tight bun, or her vibrantly green eyes, but the two still looked so much alike that it was uncanny.

Silence fell between us, nopony able to express their surprise at what we were seeing. We looked with bewilderment at the woman who in turn stared at Rarity at a complete loss. This was so sudden and confusing and bizarre and whatever-else-fits that even Pinkie seemed momentarily stunned by it. That is she was stunned for all of fifteen seconds after which she went back to normal.

"Rarity, why didn't you tell us you have a twin sister?" Yep, back to normal.

Rarity shook her head a bit and turned to Pinkie, still watching her look-alike from the corner of her eye. "That's because I don't have a twin sister, darling."

The look-alike shook her head too after Rarity spoke, though she still looked a bit spooked by the presence of somepony somebody looking pretty much like her. Clearing her throat she decided to break the awkward silence.

"I must say, it's not every day something like this happens." She smiled a bit, her voice, about half an octave lower than Rarity's filling the air. "I apologize for my less than courteous behavior, it's just that…"

"No need to apologize darling, we too were quite shocked by this whole situation." Rarity waved off the apology, though she still looked quite confused by what was happening. Her look-alike nodded politely at that.

"Agreed. So, having this… situation sorted out let us get to business, shall we? My name is Rynshinn Povalli, owner of Vernah's Fine Clothing. How can I help you?"

Ok, that was different. Is it just me or is the name of her shop (I guess this tent is just for the festival) completely different than its owner's name? I mean it may just be me but that didn't make much sense.

Rarity, who already assumed the role of leader for the time being began explaining our situation to Rynshinn. Of course she omitted the part where we randomly appeared in Tickwood and invented a cover up story for our, as she put it, 'squalid appearance'. AJ didn't seem too fond of the idea of coloring the truth, but didn't say a word, recognizing the need for it, and it was close enough to the truth that by some stretch of imagination one could say it really did happen. In the end Rynshinn knew enough not to ask uncomfortable questions.

"Being chased by a boar and ending up lost in Tickwood in the middle of the night, I must say you had a really rough night." She surmised, looking at us with newfound respect. "I was beginning to wonder what could've left such horrid stains on you dress, Miss…"

"Rarity, my name is Rarity." Our fashionista supplied, realizing just now her faux pas. After that she introduced us all (pointedly ignoring Trixie), which of course brought an unbelieving look from the local fashion designer, followed by recognition painting on her face.

"Not wanting to give up your real names I see. I can respect that." She said, nodding to herself.

"I… err… yes, I do hope that doesn't pose any problem." Rarity quickly caught up, deciding to go with this explanation.

"Not at all. As I said, I can respect someone's will to remain anonymous. It's not the first time I have customers like that. And besides…" Here she smirked mischievously. "…if I was covered in tick ichor I too wouldn't want to give up my name."

Rarity's eyes widened at that. "How did you…"

"Not the first time I've seen that kind of stain." She cut her off. I get the distinct impression that this Rarity look-alike's hair color wasn't the only thing different from the original. "Although it's the first time I've ever seen one on a dress like yours. Normally I see hunter's cloaks with those, not fine clothing. Come to think of it, it's not often anyone travels wearing such fine attire." Rynshinn added thoughtfully, making Applejack smirk slightly.

"Ah told ya, sugarcube; useful is better than fancy any day."

"Oh hush you."

"Your friend does have a point, 'Miss Rarity'." The woman interjected, making our fashionista whip around to face her in surprise. She was still smiling mischievously. "One does not travel wearing a too fancy dress, less she runs the risk of destroying it... or attracting unwanted attention." The last part she added in a dead serious tone, making it clear that she wasn't joking. She had a look on her face like if she remembered something that she rather wouldn't, but she quickly wiped that look off her face and smiled at us again. "I feel that we've sidetracked from our original conversation too much. How about I show you all my wares. I know, it won't be a great fit without proper adjustments, but right now I don't suppose you're too picky. Tomorrow I can make adjustments where it's appropriate, and you won't have to parade about in clothes that look like rags."

Before Rarity could say anything Rynshinn was already on her way inside the tent, mentioning us to follow her. She seemed for some reason all to perky to get out of the street and back inside. Sharing confused looks we nonetheless followed her.

Upon entering the tent one thing became absolutely clear: we entered what could only be described as Rarity's dream come true. This place had everything a seamstress could dream of: weaving materials of the finest quality proudly displayed alongside colorful threads, some of them glistering in the limited light of the interior with golden and silvery light; bales upon bales of fabrics of any kind, stacked in multicolored towers reaching almost the top of the tent. But most importantly there were they: articles of clothing of kinds unseen before by pony (or dragon) eyes. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating and most of the dresses and whatnot have their equivalents in Equestria, but that's beside the point. The fact is that they looked really well made and in many cases I could see Rarity making something of similar quality.

Speaking of Rarity, the moment she entered the tent she froze in place, a wide grin plastered on her face. Her blue eyes shined with excitement, darting from one ensemble to another as she tried to take in all the different designs. Finally she decided that just looking at the dresses wouldn't be enough and rushed between them, stopping at each and examining it, testing the fabric, studying the stitches and generally doing what only a fashionista could describe as fun. I've never seen her so giddy as then, it was like looking at Pinkie Pie on a sugar rush, and that's saying something.

While Rarity was having the time of her life the others, me included, looked around the tent with various levels of interest. Applejack for example looked like if she wanted nothing more than to run out and never come back, and stayed only because she noticed a small number of clothes looking less 'frou-frou' and more like 'working duds'. Pinkie on the other hoof was going through anything that was, well, pink, no matter what it was. The rest was more or less just looking for something to wear, not all that picky with their choices, though I suspect Rainbow was looking for something she considered 'awesome', and I'm fairly sure Trixie was looking for something specific, whatever it was. As for me, I wasn't very picky myself, and just wanted to have this thing over with. I may put up with many things living with girls, but shopping for clothes is most definitely not something I was willing to subjugate myself to. I just needed something to cover my… to cover myself. Yep, just… cover myself. Though if I'm gonna look cool in it I won't be complaining.

"See anything you fancy?" Rynshinn asked from her spot near the entrance. She had her arms crossed in front of her chest and looked at us with an amused smile playing on her lips, something rarely seen on Rarity's face.

"My stars, darling! Those are simply magnificent!" Rarity quickly responded, her hooves hands still tracing a stitch on one of the dresses. "Your technique and designs are quite exceptional, not to mention the blend of styles your creations posses. The combination of a leaf stitch and a petal chain stitch for example makes for an absolutely lovely blend. Truly a work of art." She praised, something that I had until now never seen directed by her to another seamstress.

Rynshinn blushed a bit at that, but nonetheless accepted it. "You are too kind."

"Nonsense! Those really are shining examples of the fine art of dressmaking, and I'm not just being generous." Rarity insisted, smiling all the time. The shine in her eyes was all the proof I needed –what she saw here was fuel for her inspiration.

In the meantime our hostess seemed to glow from the praise she just received. She returned Rarity's smile gratefully.

"Thank you for your kind words, 'Miss Rarity'. I gather that you too are a seamstress?" Why do I suddenly have a feeling I'm going to stay here for a loooooong time?

Fortunately I wasn't the only one sensing impending boredom. Applejack really didn't want to spend the next few hours listening to the back and forth of the two fashionistas and decided to set us back on track.

"Ah hate ta interrupt, but aint we supposed ta be lookin' for clothes, not talk 'bout 'em?" As she asked that Rarity looked like she wanted to argue, or at least point out how rude it was to interrupt somepony in the middle of a conversation, but refrained from doing so. With a defeated sigh she nodded.

"I suppose you're right." Rarity agreed quietly and gave Rynshinn an apologetic look. "Sincerest apologies, but I fear we're in a hurry as it were."

"Not a problem." She replied. If Rynshinn was bothered by being cut off from a possibly entertaining conversation she didn't show it. "Just let me know what you're interested in and I'll give you a price." And suddenly I remembered that there was teeny tiny problem. I had a distinct impression that this wasn't going to end well.

Rarity seemed to pick up on my nervousness despite not looking at me. She froze a bit at the mention of the word 'price' and nervously shifted, which didn't go unnoticed by Rynshinn. She didn't say anything, probably giving us the chance to come out clean on our own, but there was no denying it –she suspected something.

We exchanged nervous glances, thinking how to best approach the issue. It was the first time any of us was placed in such a situation and there was no saying if Rynshinn would even want to barter with us, especially if we offered her something like a dagger. Seriously, couldn't that Einael guy give us something less conspicuous, like a gem or something?

Okay, scratch that. That would be even more conspicuous.

So there we were, in dire need of clothes, inside a tent full of them, and without a bit to our names. Rarity knew it was probably a lost cause, but we had to do something. So, taking a deep breath and steeling herself for what was to come she cleared her throat to gain Rynshinn's attention.

"Yes, well, there is a slight problem." She started slowly. Rynshinn turned around to face her, looking not at all surprised.

"What kind of problem are we talking about?" She cut straight to the chase. Seriously, if you think about it she was more different from Rarity than the way she looked.

"Well, you see… The thing is… Oh, how do I put it…"

"We're broke." I decided to interject as it seemed Rarity wasn't going to say it anytime soon. That however brought the attention of the others to me, and not in the way I would like. "What? It's true."

"Yes Spike, it is. However I was trying to be diplomatic about it." The lady of my dreams seemed more mortified than annoyed by what I did, but it nonetheless hurt to see her look at me like that. Great going me, I really outdone myself this time.

"Oh, umm… sorry?" Rarity only rolled her eyes and turned back to Rynshinn, who looked at us apologetically.

"A shame, really. I was looking forward to making business with you." She sighed and continued, this time her voice having a bit more edge to it. "Unfortunately I don't run charity service. If you don't have the money then I'm afraid we don't have anything to talk about."

"Wait, just a moment, please!" Rarity tried to salvage the situation. "We may not have money, but I'm sure we can come to some kind of agreement!"

"I don't sell on credit." Rynshinn deadpanned, mentioning us to the exit. "Now would you please…"

"Bartering." She stopped and looked at the one who spoke that. To our surprise it was Trixie who for the first time decided to enter the conversation.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Rynshinn regarded the showmare hesitantly.

"As Trixie's rather airheaded associate failed to inform…" here Rarity shot her a dirty look but remained silent "…we are in the possession of certain items that could interest you, and perhaps you would be willing to exchange them for a pick from your collection."

Rynshinn seemed to mull over the proposition, giving us an opportunity to question Trixie. I mean beside insulting Rarity she all but saved our flanks from being thrown out. Probably had something to do with that smug smirk on her face as we approached her.

"Ok, what gives?" Rainbow hissed a question, figuring this wasn't a conversation that should involve a third party in the form of our hostess. "Why are you helping us all of a sudden?"

"Whoever told Trixie is helping any of you?" She deflected the question with ease. Oh, how annoying she sounded, all smug and superior. "The Great and Powerful Trixie is only looking to ensure her own prosperity, and that just happens to coincide with your needs."

"So you're doing this for yourself?" I asked rhetorically. Unfortunately, Trixie seemed not to understand the concept of rhetorical questions.

"It's not that difficult to understand, lizard-brain." She sneered, making me want to forget what I was though about acting around mares and smack her. "Trixie doesn't intend to walk in rags, nor does she intend to spend the night on the streets."

"That's strange, I thought that was your natural habitat." Aaaand point to team Rainbow! As Trixie glared at RD, the prismatic mare smirked triumphantly, getting at least a bit back at her. However before things could escalate and before Twilight had the time to intervene Rynshinn made her decision.

"I suppose I could take a look at what you're offering." She said slowly, making us look at her with renewed hope. "You seem like nice enough people. And you're really in dire need of something… eh… clean."

"Splendid!" Rarity exclaimed, clapping her hooves hands and reaching for the dagger. She stopped however halfway there as if she just remembered something. "I hope it won't be a problem if what we're about to trade is a… um… a weapon?"

Rynshinn blinked at the question, caught off guard by it, and began studying us more closely. "You wish to sell me a weapon?" She asked, but before Rarity had the opportunity to explain she continued. "I don't normally buy such things but I suppose I can make an exception… that is under the assumption that I'm not about the get mugged by you guys."

We all, including even Pinkie Pie looked shocked at her words, and Rarity sputtered, trying to form the right words. "I… wha… we would never…!"

"Relax, I'm just joking!" Rynshinn interrupted, grinning amusedly at our expressions. After a moment of awkward silence she continued lamely. "Okay, I admit –not my best joke."

"Nah, it was awesome!" Shaking off her shock Rainbow began chucking. "It's nice to know not all pon… people like Rarity are only into all that frou-frou junk, no offence Rare."

"Can we just get on with it?" Rarity clearly wasn't amused by RD's behavior, the way she looked at her coolly was proof enough. Rynshinn nodded and accepted the sheathed dagger, looking at it with a mixture of curiosity and slight disappointment. "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no. Not at all." Rynshinn responded, shaking her head. "It's just that I've expected something… bigger. Daggers aren't exactly all that valuable and I fear it's not going to be enough in terms of payment." While saying that she slowly unsheathed the weapon. When it was about halfway out of its scabbard however her eyes seemed to widen and the rest of the blade found itself free from its holster within seconds. The look on Rynshinn's face was one of complete disbelief.

"Well I'll be damned." She breathed, making Rarity cringe a bit. Probably the idea of someone looking like her using expletives was not something she was comfortable with. "Is… Is this an Elven Messer?"

"I honestly have no idea. Is it?" Rarity responded truthfully. Rynshinn in the meantime was examining the blade in her hands, turning it in her deft fingers with surprising grace. The look on her face was still one of shock, but a smile was slowly creeping onto her face.

"It most definitely looks that way." She muttered, eyes still glued to the dagger. "I mean I fancy myself an amateur specialist when it comes to elven artifacts, me being a half-elf and all. Though I suspect I'm not the only one with knowledge on the matter." Here she glanced at us, her eyes lingering for a moment on Rarity's ears of all things, and then on the forms of Fluttershy, Twilight, and Trixie in that order. "Actually, why are we still using common speech?"

Having said that our hostess switched to the same moonspeak Einael used on us. And just like then, everypony except for me and Applejack seemed to understand it mo problem. I'm not even sure how or why it was like that, but every time the girls were approached by someone using this language they automatically switched to it like if it was the most natural thing in the world. Seriously, did no one find it at least a bit strange that they've gained a freakish knowledge of a completely alien language overnight? Then again, we were transformed into mythical creatures that were thought to be nothing more than legends, something like that could go unnoticed. Probably. Maybe. I doubt it. At least in Twilight's case. And why does she and Trixie know it? That's totally unfair.

"Ah get the impression this' gonna be a thing." Applejack muttered to herself, shaking her head. I couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Sucks, doesn't it?"

"Eeeyup." She mimicked her brother, making me chuckle a bit.

"Should we say something about it?"

"Probably. Unless ya want ta be left out o' the loop that is."

"Ok, here goes nothing." I muttered and took a deep breath. After I was sure I had enough air in my lungs I exhaled it in a shrill whistle, something that my expertise with having claws (or fingers) allowed me to do without much problem. As everypony was looking at me I nervously shifted but still said what I had to. "Guys, can you speak normally? AJ and I kinda don't understand a word you're saying."

It seemed to have the desired effect. Although Rynshinn seemed unperturbed and offered a quick apology for keeping us in the dark, the rest just then realized what had happened, the strangeness of the situation downing on them. I think my favorite was Rainbow's completely puzzled expression as she tried to comprehend what just happened, though Pinkie's cocked head and clueless expression was a close second. Of course Twilight was frantically trying to come up with an explanation of this situation, but that was her normal behavior. In the end however it was quite surprisingly Fluttershy who first broke the silence.

"You couldn't understand us? I'm sorry, I didn't know." Of course, she apologized for something she didn't have control over. How typical (and sweet) of her. "You must have been feeling so left out."

"Though you barely spoke a word." I heard Trixie mutter under her breath, but chose to ignore it as she didn't continue. In the end all the confusion didn't last too long, especially that Rynshinn decided to continue her scrutinizing of the dagger, or Messer, or whatever-you-call-it.

As the local seamstress was inspecting the blade I was beginning to have second thoughts about her. At first glance she seemed, as I've pointed out before, not that different from Rarity; they looked much alike, both were into dressmaking and fashion, and  of course both owned their own shops. But Rynshinn was, despite all the similarities, a completely different pony, or rather person. She didn't care that much about being proper, didn't shy away from crude language that much, and to top it all off her sense of humor was… I wanted to say odd but hanging out around Pinkie and Rainbow thought me it gets weirder than what Rynshinn presented. For the sake of this argument let's go with unusual and unladylike. In short –she was not a copy of Rarity. And it became even clearer once she began 'playing' with the knife.

At first I didn't know what to think about it. One moment Rynshinn was holding the dagger carefully in her hands, her slender fingers tracing the blade as she checked for signs of damage, the other she's twirling it in those same fingers like if it wasn't a piece of sharpened metal she just held. The blade was a blur in her hands, tracing small, quick arks in the air as it sailed between the half-elf's fingers. It was painfully obvious that Rynshinn knew perfectly well what she was doing, to the point that saying she was an amateur or that it all was just a fluke was just plain stupid. There was no way she wasn't trained in this. Just who the hay was she?

"Quality seems top notch, and it's balanced quite nicely." Rynshinn said, more to herself than to us. Her eyes were still on the blade, therefore she was completely oblivious to the dumbfounded expressions we all uniformly had. "I can see this piece of equipment fetching a nice price. Especially if it's original."

"Original?" Rainbow was the first to recover from her surprise. "Whaddya mean by that?"

"Oh, it's simple really." Rynshinn looked at Rainbow with a small smile playing on her lips. "You see, Elven Messers are quite valuable, their market price oscillating around one hundred and fifty sails to as much as four hundred sails per Messer. Sometimes even more if it's made out of rare, exotic materials. That's why there is a lot of fakes in circulation, many of which are of questionable quality. This here Messer however seems to be authentic, or a really good forgery. Fortunately, there is an easy way of checking just that."

Before I had the chance to ponder how someone could pay using sails of all things Rynshinn was already at work. Holding the dagger in one hand she made a strange gesture with her free one, after which she run two of her fingers along the length of the decorative flat of the blade. For a moment I also thought I heard her mutter something unintelligibly to herself, but I couldn't be sure, and after what I saw happened all thoughts about it just about flew out the window.

After less than a second the elegant blade went off like a light bulb, a brilliant white light dancing along its flat. The decorations on the blade, the intricate patterns carved in metal shone in a breathtaking display of artistic craftsmanship, like glimmering lines made out of a spider's web bathed in the light of the full moon. The beauty of this display was however secondary to us, as the act we had just witnessed was something far more interesting than a glowing piece of metal.

We just witnessed magic.

AJ, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash didn't seem all that impressed, most probably thanks to witnessing whatever magic Father Zantus used to heal them. Pinkie was fascinated by what she was seeing, but it was more of a "that's so cool" kind of fascination. The rest however… all our unicorns' eyes were glued to the form of Rynshinn, their expressions ranging from complete and utter fascination in Twilight's case to jealous hunger in Trixie's eyes. It was, and I'm not ashamed to confess it, like if somepony dangled a fire ruby in front of my face –to see such want in Twilight's, and Rarity's eyes for that matter was unnerving to say the least.

"Yes, this is most definitely an authentic Messer." The silence that filled the tent was shattered by Rynshinn's upbeat voice. A pleased smile graced her lips as she looked at her handiwork. "And I must say, the mithral damascening in the blade is one of the more intricate ones I have seen in years. Truly a work of art." Here she looked at us, her smile growing even wider. "This will most definitely work in terms of payment. You can take whatever you want, and I think you'll even get some sails as change. Doubt I have anything of this value on me at the moment."

If Twilight or Rarity heard any of that, they seemed to do a great job ignoring it. Both of them, along with Trixie, still stared at Rynshinn, trying to come up with something to say. It was clear as day that they wanted to know how she did it, not whether they could get a dress or not. Truth be told, it was kind of scary once you think about it. Rarity? Ignoring fine clothing at hoof's reach? Freaky…

As the three unicorns in a complete stupor tried to come up with something to say the rest started to pile up what they thought was good in terms of clothes. I on the other hoof (or should I say hand) stayed with the three, beginning to worry. This was by far not normal, it was as if the three of them simultaneously broke for lack of better terms. The way they stared, mouths silently working as if they couldn't force a sound out of them was downright scary. I mean it was only some sort of light spell for Pete's sake! Nothing all that fascinating about it, Twilight could cast it without any problem. Hay, even Trixie could pull something like that off! What gives?

I was just about to voice my concern when Twilight finally seemed to snap out of it. Shaking her head a bit she blinked several times, the want in her eyes replaced by an analytical gleam I knew so well. She entered her researcher phase, and that would only lead to voicing her thought. And sure enough…

"Verbal and somatic spell components evocating radiation in the visible spectrum with the intensity of about 50 candela and luminous emittance of roughly 30 lux. Would give right hind hoof for a lux meter right now." Phew, for a moment there I was really worried. Thankfully, Twilight seemed perfectly normal. And her hushed scientific rambling seemed to snap the other two out of their silent stupor, so that was great.

"The way the spell was worked seems to indicate a high end methodology of producing simple magical effects." Twi still went on. Wonder when she'll notice I'm not writing any of it down. "This could mean one of either two things: magic here is limited and producing even simple effects requires utilizing complicated formulas, or it is a preferred method of working magic and by its nature more efficient compared to others."

"Did you notice Rynshinn didn't use any outside form of conduit for her magic?" Rarity decided to add, only half-understanding what Twilight was talking about.

"Yes, I did Rarity. Nice catch by the way." She nodded, her brow furrowing in the process. "It would however mean that Rynshinn for some reason possesses magic of her own like a unicorn does, which should theoretically be impossible for a human… -oid." She ended with a thoughtful frown.

"Trixie… is forced to rethink her own theory it seems." I almost gave myself a whiplash when I heard that. Did she just admit to being wrong? The hunger in Trixie's eyes was still there, but it seemed to be hidden behind a mask of… was it professionalism? Didn't think I would ever use the words 'Trixie' and 'professional' in one sentence.

"Nice to know you can see reason." Twilight smiled hearing Trixie's words.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie is no ignorant. She can see when her own theories have no reflection in the real world.” She glanced at Twilight though haughty, superiority glinting in her purple orbs. “Trixie however still came up with a theory, which can’t be said about you, Sparkle.”

"This isn't a competition…" Twilight drawled.

"True that. You’re hardly any competition for Trixie."

"Oh for the love of… Fine! Have it your way." And just like that all good humor that Twilight seemed to have evaporated, like if by a touch of a magic wand. Wonder if that's what Trixie's cutie mark really represents.

Before the huddled conversation (or argument, depending on who you ask) had the chance to continue something happened that made everypony stop, including the others going through the mountains of clothes. Our hostess, Rynshinn, let out a surprised gasp loud enough to gain even Pinkie's attention, and judging by the look on the dressmaker's face whatever just happened was a huge shock. Wondering what had happened we began looking around the tent, searching for whatever could have prompted her to do that. It wasn't however until Rainbow noticed that the redhead was still staring at the dagger/Messer thingy that we decided to look more closely at her.

Rynshinn seemed to have frozen up, her mouth slightly agape and her eyes wide. She was still holding the glowing dagger, which for some reason seemed to look differently then I've remember it did. After a moment I noticed what was the change, but it still didn't explain her weird behavior. I mean sure, she unwrapped it's handle from the dirty cloth and found it to be carved from ebony wood and shaped to easily fit in the hand, but that shouldn't be that big of a deal. Obviously however it seemed to be exactly that because Rynshinn's eyes were glued to the spot.

"Where… where did you say you've gotten this?" The seamstress finally managed to ask, her voice shaky. The girls and I exchanged surprised looks and huddled together, not entirely sure what was going on.

"We got it from a certain gentlecol… gentleman in the forest." Rarity slowly replied, uncertain as to how she should react. Her answer however made Rynshinn snap her head straight at her, a strange look in her eyes.

"Was the man… was he by any chance an elf?" She asked shakily, surprising us with her knowledge. Again Rarity replied truthfully.

"That he was, yes. Is there a problem?"

The woman didn't reply and kept asking questions, this time more frantically. "What was his name? Did he gave you any name?"

Slightly taken aback from the sudden onslaught Rarity stumbled backwards, bumping into Applejack. The farmpony caught her before she fell and steadied her, in the meantime looking at the suddenly unstable half-elf.

"Whoa there Nelly, no need ta work yourself over this." She tried to calm Rynshinn down, but the woman seemed not to notice.  She repeated her question, this time more forcefully.

"What… was… his… name?" The look in her eyes sent a shiver down my spine. She looked like if she lost it, a half-crazed glint in her eyes mixed with something different I couldn't quite place. She was clutching the Messer in her hand tightly, and it almost looked like she wanted to attack us, fling herself at us and cut us to pieces. This time everypony stepped back, even Rainbow sensing that fighting someone that went off the deep end was something she didn't want to do.

"He said his name was Einael Solaris!" Fluttershy managed to cry out in complete terror. She was moments from fainting.

Surprisingly, Fluttershy's terrified answer seemed to snap Rynshinn out of her stupor. She blinked rapidly, looking momentarily confused, and lowered the dagger to her side as if her hands suddenly went limp. Still blinking, the seamstress finally managed to say something.

"I… eh… are you sure about that?" She tried inquiring, her voice cracking a little in confusion. The girls exchanged incredulous looks, surprised by her sudden change in demeanor, but answered all the same, opting to be on the safe side.

"Yeah, the guy said his name's Einael." Rainbow replied, eying the half-elf in case she tried anything funny again. Fortunately that didn't happen, and Rynshinn seemed to calm down even more. "So are ya gonna tell us what this was all about?"

"Oh, um… right, sorry about that." Rynshinn finally snapped out of it completely and had the decency to blush. "I… I just… sorry." She looked to the ground, ashamed. That however didn't stop me from voicing my opinion.

"That's all? Sorry?" I asked, peeved. "You just went all loco on us and threatened us with a knife and all you have to say is 'sorry'? You scared us half to death!"

"I wasn't scared." Rainbow interjected, but I ignored that. It was just Rainbow being herself.

"The least you could do is say why you were about to go stabbity stab-stab on us."

"Hey, that's my line!" Pinkie protested, but was overshadowed by Twilight's appalled voice.

"Spike! That's enough!" Before I had the chance to protest she already pushed me deeper into our little crowd and stood in my place in front of Rynshinn, blocking me from her. After that she started apologetically, sounding quite nervous. "I'm sorry about him, you know how those young ones can be, ha-ha… I do hope you didn't take anything personally."

For a brief moment I think I saw confusion on the seamstress' face, but that was quickly replaced by an apologetic frown of her own. Rynshinn shook her head and started slowly.

"No, he's right." She said, making Twilight stop what she was doing, mainly scolding me softly for what she believed was 'an unnecessary risk of making her mad at us again'. "You… deserve to know. After all, I was about to force information out of you…" She trailed off, a blank expression appearing on her face. In the meantime we looked at her expectantly, wanting to know what the hay was so important about that Messer that she was about to make us a few new holes over it. Even Twilight looked eager to know, despite what she showed not a few seconds ago.

Finally, after a moment of silently gathering her thoughts Rynshinn started her explanations.

"As you all well know I am a half-elf, a person with a mix of both human and elven blood. My mother, Vernah Povalli, may she rest in peace, had an affair with an elven bard, Iremiel Starsong, of which I am the fruit of. I… never knew my father. My mom said that he died not a week after I was born, but always told me that when he lived he was… ecstatic is too strong a word for what an elf usually displays, but I guess he came as close as possible to that state at the prospect of being a parent. Nonetheless, he disappeared from my life when I was too young to remember him and… that's really all I can say for certain about him.

"I grew up only having one parent. Mother tried her hardest to give me a good life, and for the most part she did a great job. She taught me everything I know about dressmaking and when I was old enough hired me to work in her shop. I still run it to this day, Vernah's Fine Clothing is my homage to that great woman, but that's beside the point. What really matters is that even though I had as good a childhood as I could hope to, I always longed for my father. And the gifts didn't help in the matter.

"For as long as I can remember on each of my birthdays a small package mysteriously appears on the upper floors of my house. It was always filled with elven coins, medicine, and until I grew out of them toys; it was always like a birthday present from a long lost relative. Mom used to say it was dad's ghost that brought those and that he's watching me from his grave. I… I don't believe that to be true. I think… no, I'm certain that my father lives and that it's him that brings those presents. I don't know why he doesn't show himself, why he chooses to live in the shadows, but I know it's him." At this point Rynshinn was both crying and speaking with so much conviction, that I couldn't help but feel her faith. She really believed that her father was alive. It was really touching, and I… well, I could somewhat relate.

The girls themselves were also moved by Rynshinn's tale. Whatever animosity or mistrust there was between them and her has all but evaporated, replaced by sympathy. Fluttershy, who moments ago looked like she was about to pass out now was looking sadly at the local fashionista, and Pinkie at some point of the tale broke out of our artificial crowd and hugged her to the best of her abilities (that is somewhere around her legs). The rest weren't maybe as outgoing with their sympathy as those two, but it was still clear they understood, and Twi was determined to show that.

"I'm really sorry to hear that. I can't even fathom what you must have went through." Her words prompted a few nods from the rest, me included. Rynshinn seemed to lighten up at that, absently patting Pinkie on the head and giving us a soft, thankful smile. "For what it's worth I hope you find your father, or at least the peace of mind. But…"

"Trixie fails to see what this sappy tearjerker has anything to do with the reason why you were about to assault Trixie with a dagger." As soon as the smile appeared on Rynshinn's face it disappeared. Trixie, in a show of complete disregard to the feelings of others had to run her mouth. Seriously, even Rainbow Dash knew to use tact in a situation like this, and she can be as subtle as a hoof to the face.

For a moment it seemed as if Rynshinn was seriously debating whether or not just go through with what Trixie suggested and just plunge the dagger in her stomach. Fortunately for the showpony she didn't go through with this; I doubt anypony at the moment would want to stop her. Rynshinn opted to just send her a glare and, after taking a deep, calming breath, continue.

"I told you my story and the story of my father because it ties directly to the reason I was… less than pleasant not too long ago." She started, her voice calm even though she had every right to be upset. "You see, Elven Messers are considered both weapons and a work of art, and their makers see themselves as artists. Most weaponsmiths therefore leave their mark on the finished product, usually on the guard of the Messer or its hilt. Here, look at this." She passed the weapon on to Twilight, pointing out a formerly obstructed spot on the hilt. As Twi inspected it I managed to sneak a peek and noticed what Rynshinn was pointing out: a small, barely noticeable symbol carved on the cross-guard. It seemed nonsensical to me, but as I was soon to discover it wasn't so.

"Hmm… I see. It's a signature." Twilight nodded, looking at the odd symbol as if it was obvious what it meant. "Izreni Notus.  I gather that it's the name of the manufacturer?"

"Obviously." Rynshinn nodded. "One of the better in business actually, but that's beside the point. If you would look on the other side, just under the guard, you will see why I was so surprised by your possession of this blade." Curious, Twilight did what she said and inspected the hilt. I couldn't see what she saw, but judging by her surprised expression whatever it was it was a shock to her.

"Oh my…" She breathed, eyes wide. For a moment she stared at the hilt, or rather whatever was on it, and it seemed she wasn't going to snap out of it anytime soon. Fortunately, the girls weren't going to let her zone out.

"Darling, is everything alright?" Rarity placed a hoof hand on her shoulder. Twilight didn't respond, only showed her the dagger, which she promptly took. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. It's just a symbol on the… wait, Iremiel Starsong… how is it possible that I understand what this mean… oh!" And she too went into shock, this time giving us at least the explanation behind why she did it. But that would mean…

"Now you see." Rynshinn said, nodding at the weapon. "The Messer, it was marked by its old owner. And that previous owner just happens to be my father." She paused, as if to gather her thoughts, and then continued, albeit more shakily. "For a moment I thought that you may have information on my father, that you may know where he is. I hoped you knew… And I'm sorry to say, but I even at some point began suspecting that you might had something to do with his… disappearance. I know, it's stupid. He may not have been the best of fighters, but I'm more than certain he could take you on if you were to… attack him… Ugh… how could I be so stupid!" She looked at us, her eyes filled with shame and hurt, and the intensity of her stare made us take a step back. "I'm terribly sorry for my earlier outburst. I… just, sorry."

Once again I found myself being proved right on my suspicions. Not only was the Einael guy a possible thief that decided to get rid of troublesome loot by giving it to us, but now we were in a morally ambiguous situation. I mean if this was something that belonged to Rynshinn's father than did we have the right to demand payment for returning it? Should we even do something like that? It was confusing to say the least, and I wasn't the only one that saw the problem.

"Darling? Could you give us a moment?" Rarity asked, forcing herself to smile at her fellow fashionista.

"Yes, of course." She nodded. "Besides, I do need a moment to make myself presentable again. Wouldn't want to scare off potential customers with ruined makeup now, would I?" She added as if trying to cheer herself up. She was right though –the few tears that escaped her eyes did in fact make a number on her makeup. So, having a moment to ourselves the girls and I gathered around and began discussing our next course of action.

"Ladies, I fear that the situation we have found ourselves in has just become significantly more problematic." Rarity started in a hushed tone. For a brief moment I was annoyed that she didn't include me in this, but I waved it off as simple oversight.

"You mean the whole mess with the dagger-thingy and it belonging to her old man?" Rainbow clarified.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm talking about Rainbow." She nodded, casting a glance at the rest. "I mean we cannot possibly consider selling it now, can we? It is after all a property of her relative. It would be like if we have stolen it from her and then tried to sell it back."

"True, but that leaves us without leverage." This time it was Twilight who decided to speak up. Her words were a mild surprise, so most –if not all –of us looked at her oddly, making her blush a bit from the not-so-positive attention. "Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm just stating the facts, and the truth is that we don't have anything else to try and sell. If we just give the dagger back to Rynshinn then we're completely out of money and we can forget about getting any clothes, not to mention renting any rooms in a motel or something."

"Hold up guys! So what you're telling is that we should act like total Grumpy McGrumpsons and force poor Shinny-Rinny to pay us for the knife?" Pinkie looked totally appealed by the idea. "That's super mean! Meaner than the mean-old Gild… I-I mean meaner than a certain party-pooper we all know." Nice save. Since her fallout with Gilda Rainbow didn't react too good to the mention of that name.

"I know Pinkie, and that's why I'm not too keen on doing that." Rarity agreed to our party expert. "This situation really is complicated. On one hoof we desperately need clothes… and money. On the other hoof however we can't just force somepony to pay for something that belonged to their late parent. That is something completely revolting and normally I would never even consider doing something like this."

"So you want to just give her the dagger, is that what you're saying?" Rainbow regarded her with a surprised look. "I mean seriously, after she threatened us with it you want to just give her back the dagger?"

"I… didn't make a decision yet, Rainbow. I am trying to get everypony's opinion before I make any decision."

"Well than here's my opinion: we don't just give her the knife without any compensation. The least she could do is give us something for it." Just like in Twilight situation everypony looked at her oddly, but to RD it didn't matter much; she was used to attention. "I mean come on! She was seconds from leaping on us with a knife in hoof… hand… whatever. And  personally I don't buy her explanation. Too much of a coincidence if you ask me."

"So you're saying Rynshinn lied to us?" I asked, trying to understand her reasoning.

"What I'm saying is that she's desperate to get that dagger." She clarified, conviction ringing in her voice. "Think about it. She said it herself: 'I doubt I have anything of this value'. That means this Messer-thingy is worth a lot, and she wants it for herself. And who's to say that she didn't just made up the whole story about her father?"

"I don't think she made that up." It was Fluttershy who decided to interject, and although she said that in her usual soft voice everypony heard her. Turning our attention to her, we waited for her to elaborate, and of course prompted her to squeak at the sudden attention. Fortunately she managed to overcome the wave of self-consciousness and continued. "I-I mean she seemed genuine enough. The way she was talking about her family and her father, she really believed what she was saying. A-and I think you too believed her at some point Rainbow… I-I at least think you did."

There was a moment of silence after Fluttershy had said that. Rainbow seemed at a loss of words, having no idea how to respond to that. I mean Flutters did point out a valid point –Rainbow did believe her story at some point. So why was she so adamant on proving Rynshinn lied to us now? That didn't make any sense.

My own pondering were interrupted by the very mare I was thinking about. Rainbow finally came up with a response, and I have to say: it wasn't a half bad explanation and she did make a few good points.

"Yeah, well… I thought I believed her back then, but now I kinda figured she could have been manipulating us. I mean come on, what's there to say she isn't some sort of actress or something and she's not playing a convincing role to fool us? Or the part with the mark on the hilt. Can we be sure it really was her father's mark? What proof do we have that her father was called Iremiel Starsong or whatever it was? She was the first to inspect the hilt, maybe she found it first and then built up her story around it?"

"That… makes a frightening amount of sense." Twilight reluctantly agreed. "Rynshinn was the first to inspect it, and it is possible she's a gifted actress."

"As much as it pains Trixie, she has to agree with the both of you." Ok now that was a surprise. Trixie looked as supercilious as ever while saying that, and the look she was giving Rainbow Dash was all but pleasant, but it still was clear that she agreed with her begrudgingly, and the feeling seemed mutual.

”Dunno if I should feel good or bad that she's agreeing with me." Yep, she definitely wasn't happy about that.

The discussion went on for quite some time, Rainbow, and now also Trixie presenting reasons why we shouldn't just give Rynshinn her father's Messer back. Of course that only spurred the ones wanting the complete opposite into presenting their own arguments, and those were mainly Pinkie and AJ, the latter of whom seemed the most sympathetic towards the local fashionista. Come to think of it, she was tipping her hat quite a bit during the whole discussion. Wonder what that meant…

Of course those four weren't the only ones taking sides. Fluttershy it was obvious was supporting the "give her back" group, but wasn't very vocal about it, as usual. Twilight on the other hoof was trying to apply hard logic to the situation and was backing up the "don't give her back" group, although that didn't mean she was agreeing with it on a moral standpoint. As to me, I wasn't really sure where I fitted in the most. Both parties had pretty good arguments, and it was all but impossible for me to choose. Then again, I didn't have much say in the matter. As usual my input was completely ignored once Twilight was with us. Eh, typical…

Twilight's presence had of course their advantages. The girls, although most of them knew each other for years still had problems with acting as a group. Before Twilight not all of them were friends, especially not AJ and Rarity, which was reflected by the two butting heads not too long ago. Twi however served as a buffer and defused most strained situations before they had the chance to escalate. It was probably only because of her that this discussion was just that –a discussion and not an argument. Well, mostly only just a discussion. Trixie of course wouldn't be herself if she didn't infuriate at least one of us, and it just so happens the most hot-headed of us that was her victim. In other words: Rainbow Dash vs. The Great and Powerful Trixie. Place your bets!

Before the argument had the chance to start however it was stopped by, again, none other than Twilight. She really didn't want this to become another argument and fortunately managed to talk some sense into the two (or at least Rainbow; one can never be too sure when it comes to Trixie). So, having the two arguing "don't give her back" supporters calmed down the discussion went on, or at least it would if it wasn't for Rynshinn's return.

Rynshinn returned from… who knows where she was, but it was clear she managed to make herself presentable again. Gone were the lines of ruined makeup, new eye shadows and eye liners applied and looking as if she had never cried today (man, I need to hang out with guys more; I shouldn't know those things!). It was clear that she was ready for business, and that meant we should too. I mean we couldn't possibly discuss the pros and cons of giving back her family heirloom in front of her. Unfortunately, we didn't reach any consensus before she came, and that meant Rarity had to make a decision herself. We could only hope that whatever decision she'll make will be the right one.
> Act Two Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 1 of Rova (Presumably 24 of September, 1000 SR), Afternoon


Let me draw you a picture: a baby dragon and his seven pony companions sit in front of a sumptuously laden table. Neither the baby dragon nor the ponies look like they should, instead transformed into human-thingies, but none of them seem to particularly care at the moment. The dragon stuffs his face with spicy salmon, while the others eat more pony-oriented food, such as greens and the like. They all use wooden cutlery with their newly acquired hands, though only the dragon should know how to do that. There is not much conversation, 'cause most of the group didn't have the opportunity to eat properly in over nineteen hours. A fair share of their numbers are scratching themselves, not used to the clothes they have to wear as human-oids. The prettiest of the ponies also jingles softly with each move she makes.

Hard to picture you say? Maybe, but that was the reality I had to cope with.

As I sat there, filling the hole in my gutter with curry-spiced fish I could finally in peace reflect on how we've gotten here. So here we are, in a place so alien to us it could very well be a different planet (which it might for all I know), in bodies not our own, having no idea how to get back home and… enjoying ourselves at a festival? Yeah, that sounds about right. But I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to Rynshinn's tent and her father's dagger.

Rynshinn came back from wherever she was off refreshing herself, and Rarity was in a bit of a pickle, having to decide what to do with the dagger. She could give the knife back to Rynshinn, but that would leave us without any means to get money. She could also force her to buy it back, but that just seemed wrong. The moral dilemma was eating away at her, the choice between the group's welfare and what was right a hard one for her to make. Finally, after an uncomfortable moment of silence she finally made her decision known.

"Here darling, you should have this." She said, passing the Messer to the surprised fashionista. "I simply cannot do such a thing as force someone to pay for the retrieval of their family's possession. It would be out of place to even ask."

Whatever protest those of us who wanted to sell the dagger had were silenced by the look Rarity gave us. It was clear as day –the decision was final, and nothing would change her mind. Besides, she already gave the Messer to Rynshinn, there was no going back at this point. Fortunately for us, Rynshinn was no stranger to showing gratitude.

At first it seemed as if the local seamstress was about to break down in front of us. The shocked expression on her face mixed with the sheer emotion in her forest green eyes was as touching as witnessing a reunion of long-lost relatives. She tenderly ran her thumb along the symbol that spelled her father's name, mouthing something inaudibly, and then looked at Rarity. The next second Rynshinn was embracing her, thanking profusely for Rarity's kindness and generosity (duh!), and asking if there was anything she could do to repay us. Of course Rarity wasn't going to go for something like that and was trying to politely decline the offer, but once Rynshinn made a certain proposition she reassessed her earlier conviction.

Our hostess knew we were in dire need of both new clothes and money. We told her as much. So it was no surprise that she quite quickly came to the realization what we would really appreciate in terms of thanks. Before Rarity even had the chance to protest Rynshinn decided that we could take whatever we needed from her store and promised she would refit them as soon as it was convenient for us, free of charge. Rarity of course tried to decline, saying that there was no need and such, but truth be told she wasn't opposing the idea too hard. It was after all a better outcome than any of us expected. The cherry on top however was when Rynshinn retrieved from a box hidden between some fabric a small bag jingling the unmistakable song of coins.

"I know it's not much…" she started, pressing the bag into Rarity's hands despite her protests. "…but I want you to have it. It should suffice for a few days in a tavern at least. And no, I don't want to hear any of this." She added smiling, cutting off Rarity. "A hundred or so sails won't ruin me, and I can see you need them. So please, make it easier for yourself and just take it. Besides, if it will make you feel better than think of this as an… investment in a potentially profitable partnership."

One: note to self –sail is the name of the currency around here, not actual sails. Two: what did she mean by "potentially profitable partnership"?

Unfortunately, Rynshinn didn't elaborate on the subject. When asked all she said was that we would talk more about it at a later date, preferably when she was going to make adjustments to our freshly picked clothes. Speaking of which, once we've gotten the "go ahead" from both the owner of this place and Rarity we renewed our efforts to find anything that would fit and not look like the thing we had on ourselves at the moment (mainly rags). In short order we managed to pick a substantial amount of articles of clothing and hurried to change into them.

It would probably be wise to mention that there was only one "fitting room" in the whole tent, and that it was makeshift at best. Normally that wouldn't be any problem; after all, we normally don't wear clothes. But being in a mostly coatless body (or being a mammal in general in my case) made it a teensy bit awkward to just strip and put something else on. Good thing I wasn't the only one that realized that. I mean come on, if even Pinkie Pie is racing for the changing room you know you've made the right call.

While most of us fought to get access to the "fitting room", Twilight had the opportunity to finally have a chat with Rynshinn herself. It was obvious that she wanted to bring up the subject of magic; from the moment she saw her perform that light spell it was clear that she wasn't going to let the issue slide. She approached the redhead fashionista and asked, quite bluntly might I add, how she performed magic.

The question itself caught Rynshinn off guard. She looked at Twilight uncertainly, not knowing how to respond, and only after a moment did she manage a reply. And by reply I mean ask if what she heard about most elves being taught at least the theory behind the arcane arts was just a load of hogwash. Surprised by this rebuttal Twilight was about to back out if it wasn't for Trixie's intervention, who with her ever present confidence, as well as quite the amount of fine talk managed to convince Rynshinn into believing that they were just testing her. How she manages to pull something like that off I will never know. The point is however she managed to convince our benefactor to share her knowledge, even if she wasn't thrilled about talking with Trixie after she earlier called her story a "sappy tearjerker". It probably had something to do with Rarity showing her interest on the matter.

I didn't get the whole story, as fighting to get into the "changing room" was higher on my priority list right now, but I did catch a few things. First off –Rynshinn mentioned that she wasn't exactly any sort of enchantress, and hardly even an amateur sorceress. She said that she knew only a limited few spells, and wasn't particularly good at them. The extent of her powers apparently was creating light, simple parlor tricks, and a few minor enchantments helpful in her line of work. She claimed that there were several more powerful magic users in Sandpoint, with Father Zantus being one of them (even though she wasn't sure for some reason if she should count in his abilities with the rest), and that we should ask them if we were interested in more details.

When asked about the source of her powers, probably the most important thing at the moment, she seemed even more clueless. All she could tell for certain was that during her teenage years some of her powers began manifesting on their own, and only after some dedicated studying under someone she dubbed Madame Mvashti was she able to control it with relative success. She did mention that that Madame-person claimed her magic came from within her blood and that it was her legacy, whatever that meant. She also mentioned something about some scholars of the arcane that throughout extensive study could control magic on a level well beyond her own, but she didn't know too much about that. She suggested talking with someone called Ilsoari Gandethus at the Turandarok Academy if we were interested in a more scientific approach to magic. Of course that was all Twilight needed in terms of encouragement. To be frank I didn't need a crystal ball to predict the future at this point; I already knew where we're going once the festival ends.

It didn't take us long before we were all set, wearing our new clothes and stuffing the spare ones in bags Rynshinn provided us with. Even though we've gotten the "go ahead" in regards to picking what we wanted to take, most of us felt that taking anything looking too expensive would be taking advantage on our kind benefactor. Key word being most. Even though I think Rarity was trying her hardest to restrain herself she couldn't help but take at least one of the more fashionable pieces of garment, not that Rynshinn minded. And Trixie... well, you probably already know. Flashy as all hey, like always.

After a quick farewell and a series of directions to Rynshinn's actual shop downtown we finally found ourselves back on the festival square. The sound of the crowd didn't lessen none, people going from stand to stand, enjoying the festivities. It was a really cheerful celebration, laughing and good-natured boasting coming from every direction, mixed with the sounds of music and singing, and street performers doing all sorts of entertaining stuff to the delight of the crowd. It was so much like festivities back home that for a moment I've nearly forgotten we weren't in Equestria. Thankfully, Twilight didn't.

Rallying us up like the natural born leader that she is, Twilight presented us her plan. For the time being we were to stay together, try not to get into trouble, and if possible –attempt to blend in. Seriously, easier said than done. Looking at our hair-colors and –styles we would be sticking out like a sore hoof even if we acted like the locals. But I digress. With the money we've gotten from Rynshinn we were probably set for a few days, but she wanted to be sure about that and decided that any and all purchases were to go through her or Rarity (who was left in charge of the money for obvious reasons) first. We were also not to draw to much attention, seeing as we were alien to this world an whatnot. She did give Pinkie a pointed look back then, but I think she knew it wasn't going to sink in with the party mare. But hey, one can dream, right?

It may sound weird that I would say such a thing in a manner as surprised as this, but Twilight's plan actually worked. I mean for the most part it worked, but still –it was a surprise nonetheless, especially considering Twi didn't have time to develop it thoroughly. No one wanted to bother our group, mostly because they were too busy having fun, and having more than one pair of eyes looking out for trouble significantly lowered our chances at ending up in an uncomfortable situation. That and we would be able to notice any potential cutpurse. Celestia knows how many pickpockets usually work on days like this.

Surprisingly enough we also didn't bring that much odd looks from the locals. True, here and there some looked at us funny, especially considering how differently from them we appeared, but besides that nothing really happened. For a society that looks mostly the same they were surprisingly open minded. Maybe we actually were in a less varied society and somewhere people with our colors were more common? That or they had colorful visitors. I idly wondered which of it was true in this situation, and why most of the odd looks seemed to ignore Pinkie's vibrant appearance, but after noticing a group of similar-looking smallish individuals possessing bright blue, orange, green, and purple hair I concluded she looked relatively normal for her new species. Go figure.

Of course not everything went perfectly as planned. For starters, Pinkie wasn't content to just watch the festivities. It wasn't nearly as much fun as she was used to, and that wouldn't sit well with her. So no wonder that at some point she disappeared from our group, only to be later found amongst the street performers, wearing a jester's outfit I'm sure Rynshinn didn't have in her tent, juggling a weird assortment of items, amongst them a potted plant, a kitchen knife, and a live cat. How that worked I will never know. And then there was the whole sail-revelation.

The sail-revelation was, as one can imagine, us finally figuring out what was so special about the local currency. It started simple enough: Twilight wanted to finally start her research on human… -oid society, and to do that she needed to take notes. Sorry, she needed me to take notes for her. Either way she needed writing materials. Good luck trying to find an open stationary shop during a town-wide celebration one would think but no, someone just had to have such a stand set up. Because everybody needs parchment and quills during a festival.

Wow, where did that come from?

Putting off questions why would anybody set up a stand selling quills, ink, and other various writing utensils for later Twilight immediately found herself in front of the clerk, an elderly-looking (can't say for sure if old or not with humans) man with a short-trimmed salt-and-pepper beard. The guy seemed nice enough, your average sails-stallion from back home, though that meant more trouble than one would imagine. Especially once he let it slip that writing materials weren't the only things he was selling. Long story short: he owned a bookshop, and a little bit of his other wares were for sale right here, right now. It took the combined forces of Rainbow Dash and Applejack to drag Twilight from the stand. And so it rested upon me (and Rarity, which for me was a bonus all of its own) to make the purchase.

Having secured a sizable portion of writing materials which knowing Twilight's tendencies would last for less than a week we came to the matter of price. First off, we had no idea how much was a sail worth 'round here. Seriously, the power of the local currency was lost on us. Secondly: nopony had came up with the idea of actually checking what the currency even looked like in the first place, and let me tell you, it would save us a lot of trouble. So to sum it up the price of five sails for the whole thing seemed adequate to us at that point. That is until Rarity opened the bag of coins from Rynshinn.

Have you ever seen a gorgeous mare, the exemplar of both refined style and etiquette, whose simple look could make most stallions swoon over her without as much as trying reduced to a slack-jawed, mumbling, wide-eyed filly with problems controlling her own drool? Because that's exactly what happened to Rarity. Not that I blame her, what she saw in the bag was most definitely worth drooling over, in more ways than one might I add.

There is a common misconception among other nations concerning the Equestrian monetary unit, the bit. Most assume, falsely, that Equestria is so rich that it mints its currency out of pure gold. Of course, that's not true in the slightest. Gold is rare and one of the most valuable metals known to ponykind. Most of it is either used as a material for exquisite works of art or stored in the Equestrian Central Bank, which in turn mints the bit and gives it the power behind it. Of course one could still pay with gold and such, but who in their right mind would walk around with something that valuable? No, the bit was minted out of aluminium bronze, an alloy that had a pleasant, yellow hue and that was much cheaper than gold. How do I know all this? Let's just say gems aren't the only thing a dragon likes to munch on and leave it at that. As to the local currency, well… Here things seemed to be a little bit different than back home.

The sail was a coin only slightly larger than the bit. Its obverse depicted a sort of coat of arms, the symbol of some sort of bird of prey, probably an eagle or something holding a sword in one of its talons. The reverse showed a type of ship I didn't recognize under full sails, probably the namesake of the coin. The odd part however was that it was made entirely out of what I could only assume was pure gold. That's right, freaking gold coins! I didn't know what to think about this, nor did Rarity, who by the way was still staring at the contents of the bag with a completely dumbfounded expression. One thing was for sure however; if we were to go back home right now we would be stinking rich!

Of course we couldn't marvel at the fact we were loaded just now. The clerk was beginning to get annoyed; he was still waiting for his payment, and we just stood there, staring like a duo of mentally retarded ponies who saw money for the first time in our lives. Thankfully it took only the man clearing his throat to snap Rarity out of here revere and finally pay him. Though now knowing what the sail was all about I get a weird impression that he just ripped us off. Just a hunch.

Having secured Twilight her writing equipment we could finally seriously participate in the festival. That is directly after Rarity informed the girls that the local economy might be slightly different than the one in Equestria and let it slip that we may have enough gold on us to buy Carousel Boutique four times over. To say the girls were surprised by this was an understatement. The most prominent reactions probably belonged to Applejack, who suddenly became extremely interested in the contents of the money bag, and Trixie, whose eyes gleamed with poorly concealed greed. Then again Rarity's hold on the money left little room for interpretation: she wasn't going to let it out of her hooves hands without a fight. That was however secondary, and after Twilight (or should I say I) noted that little find down we could begin operation "Try to Blend in".

The Swallowtail Festival was not, as we believed at first, contained only to the square in front of the cathedral. It stretched out far into the town proper, which was obvious enough thanks to the decorations many of the buildings sported. Streamers and wires with colorful paper lanterns attached arched over the more narrow streets, and some smaller stands we missed earlier were set up here and there. Vendors were selling their wares, ranging from toys and trinkets and various sweets, all the way to the more exotic stuffs, like glass carvings and similar expensive-looking works of art. One would think this was market day and not a celebration dedicated to the consecrating of a cathedral. I think the weirdest stand we passed by was a stall owned by a rather unpleasant looking man, displaying a large choice of weapons of all things. Seriously, you’d think that during a town-wide celebration selling weapons would be at least frowned upon. But hey, who am I to judge? And Twilight had something to write about, so…

The other significant part of the festival were the various games that were both being set up and already played. Their nature ranged significantly, some simple tests of brawn like the usual Ring the Bell (RD just had to test that one) or arm wrestling, others –of agility and eye-hand coordination, like Ring Toss or Ball and Bucket Toss. And of course the sack race that Pinkie desperately wanted to participate in. By the way, even with her small stature she all but trashed the much larger competition. Probably had something to do with the fact she always bounces.

There were also more rural competitions, like trying to tie up an oiled up piglet (Applejack seemed to be interested, but a look entitled "get a speck of muck on your clothes and I shall end you" from Rarity easily prevented her from doing that), or guessing games involving country products. Here AJ excelled, having spent most of her life on a farm giving her an edge over her competition, mostly townsfolk. Suffice to say she won a great big jar of… pickled onions? What kind of prize is that? Applejack seemed content though, even if Rainbow was good-naturedly making fun of it, so it must have some meaning.

Aside from the three earlier mentioned types of games there was also one that in normal circumstances would never appear in Equestria. It was both too hard to perform back home to make a game out of it, and it had rather militaristic origins, so for the most part it wouldn't be that popular in Equestria. In Eagleland maybe, but not in Equestria. I'm talking about Crossbow Target Shooting.

Back home crossbows were used only, and I mean only by the military. Usually mounted on the back of a pony, it was either cocked and fired by another pony, or in case of unicorns by themselves. In rare cases there were additional firing and aiming mechanisms attached to the more advanced repeating crossbows that could be utilized by any kind of pony, but those were from what Shining Armor said last time we talked rather complicated to make and operate. All in all they were hard to come by and difficult to handle by an untrained pony, so there was no reason to even make a competition like this. Here however, in a land filled with bipedal creatures with prehensile upper limbs it was way easier to properly use crossbows, and so they were more popular, to the point that there were games made that included using them. That's at least what Twilight wanted me to write down.

It was… actually fun, the crossbow game that is. I even got to participate in it, after I all but badgered Twilight to let me try. After a quick instruction (never had this type of contraption in my claws hands before) from the guy running the contest I had the basics down, and got a slightly too large crossbow to shoot with. The mark was about eighty or so hoofs from me, placed just in front of a cliff so that any stray shot would sail harmlessly into the sea. I didn't question that decision, after all it was the guy's bolts that were going to be lost. Nonetheless I readied my shot, preparing just like the guy running it told me to, and slowly, letting out my breath from my mouth I squeezed the trigger mechanism.

The recoil of the weapon hit me hard on the shoulder, making me almost stumble where I stood, but I've kept my gaze on the fast flying object I just launched. The bolt sailed through the air with a soft whizz, cutting through the air with impressive speed. The things that Shining mentioned about this weapon, that it could quite easily pierce through armor ringed in my head, and now I could safely say that I could believe that. Small and fast enough, the bolt seemed to be designed to do nothing more than to shoot right through solid plate. It neared its mark in less than half a second and with an audible *thunk* it sunk in the wooden target.

I stared at my handiwork, mouth agape. Before me AJ and RD, as well as several locals tried their luck with the contest. Dash sent her bolt to the crashing waves below, missing the target entirely. Compared to her Applejack's shot was like one made by a pro. Her shot hit the target, but surprisingly it wasn't as accurate as mine. Her bolt struck the second ring from the middle. Compared to them however, my shot seemed… surprisingly accurate. It wasn't a bull's-eye, I didn't have that much luck, but I managed to send the bolt into the ring surrounding the perfect mark. How I did that was beyond me: beginner's luck, hidden talents (yeah right), or dumb luck, I don't know. What I do know is that my shot, as weird as it may sound, was amongst the best that day, at least from what the owner assured me. That is until he himself showed how it's done and scored a perfect bull's-eye. But all in all he was a cool guy and even gave me a prize for my shooting.

Feel the power of my Willhoof Tail hat!

All in all we had some fun, most of everypony finding something to amuse themselves with. Pinkie was her usual self, Applejack and Rainbow Dash pushed each other in another of their friendly competitions, and Rarity and Fluttershy for the most part cheered them on. Twilight of course was too busy with her research to do something fun, but then again research was her definition of fun. Probably only Trixie didn't enjoy herself, preferring to brood on the sidelines, watching us with that superior look of hers but mostly ignoring us, accompanying us only because she had to. Not that I cared of course, in fact I was grateful she was brooding right now. The less she opens her mouth the better.

After a few more hours of unhindered mingling with the locals, participating in various games and activities, and getting the feel of Sandpoint we realized something that we should have realized hours ago. None of us, with the exception of Twilight and Trixie have eaten anything in over fifteen hours. Nineteen in my case, considering I was too caught up with the glowy mystery thingy to stop and eat anything. And no, sweets bought during the carnival didn't count. The point is we needed food and we needed it now. Remembering where the long tables were being set up and figuring food must have been there as well we headed back for the cathedral square, hoping to grab a bite.

Only one word sums up our decision adequately.

Jackpot.

The tables, the same ones we saw being set up hours ago were now filled to the brim with various dishes, most of which we saw for the first time in our lives. Piles of deliciously smelling food were stacked on their surfaces, plates filled with exotic cuisine only waiting for us to taste them. It was like a buffet only waiting for us to dig into it, and dig in we had.

It took some time for us to find a table that wasn't filled exclusively with omnivore-oriented food, but once we did it was like looking at a ravenous horde of bunnies invading a cabbage patch. Having most of the vegetarian stuff to themselves the girls seemed to forget about manners (most of them, with the notable exception of Rarity) and stuffed their faces with whatever they could get their hands on. For a time I actually accompanied them, chomping on salads and the like, but then my nose was assaulted by the most delicious aroma I had ever smelled. Following my sense of smell I quickly located the dish which fragrance made me drool uncontrollably. There, like a prize just waiting for me to reach out and grab it was what I could only describe as the strangest and yet most delicious looking dish I have ever seen.

Who would've thought that simple salmon curry would have such an impact on me.

My sudden and completely nonchalant shift from greens to meat (well, fish if you want to get technical) didn't go unnoticed by the rest. Twilight was… used to it I guess. She knew I could and on occasion would eat meat, even if I could live on pony chow for the most part. Rainbow wasn't disturbed by it because she probably witnessed similar things when she was closer friends with Gilda, and Fluttershy… well I guess living with animals, some of them carnivore in nature made her more open minded than most ponies. Pinkie and Trixie for the most part didn't care, the former too busy stuffing her face with… was that a cupcake?… to notice and the latter just don't giving a buck what I did. Probably the only ones remotely disturbed were AJ and Rarity. Applejack stared a bit as I chewed on my curry, more transfixed by what she was witnessing than anything. As to Rarity… as much as it pains me, she seemed positively disgusted with my choice of food, the green tinge on her face and sudden lack of appetite easily recognizable. I just hope it wouldn't affect my chances with her…

Which brings us to the present. The girls, most of them having filled the holes in their guts were slowing down, beginning to chat amongst themselves. Probably the only one still digging in with gusto was Pinkie. Seriously, where does that mare fit it all in? No matter, the important thing was that the girls were beginning to discuss the various carnival-oriented subjects and Twilight skimming through her (my) notes, checking if we didn't skip anything. Talks ranging from Rainbow's customary boasting to Rarity's and Fluttershy's discussion on the finer parts of the local fashion seemed so content, that for a moment one could think we weren't stranded somewhere where we shouldn't be. The girls, they seemed at peace. Even Twilight, who not so long ago was freaking out that she couldn't contact the Princess seemed far more calm and dare I say content. It was… I don't even have the right word for it. Calming? Comforting?

Frightening?

The downward spiral of my thoughts was interrupted by the arrival of a new face. I saw the person, the woman I think she was, some time ago. Once we found the more vegetarian-oriented table she seemed to observe us from afar, and kept doing that for the better part of the last half hour, only now deciding to come to us. Sitting next to Trixie (who gave her a once over, as if trying to determine if she should insult her or not) the mysterious newcomer gave us a look that I couldn't quite place. It was as if it was stuck somewhere between a curious glance and a piercing, half-lidded glare you give a foal after he or she did something wrong, and incorporated everything in between those two.

"Having fun I presume?" She said, her accent one I didn't recognize. A bit throaty if I was to describe it. "Hope the food is to your taste."

The girls' conversations died down abruptly as all eyes were on the newcomer. From what I could tell she was slim yet well toned, having just enough meet where it counted to dispel the image of a pushover. Unlike most of the locals, who had tan or pinkish-white skin, her skin had an almost unnoticeable olive hue to it, and her hair, which was cut just above the shoulders, was the first multicolored hair we saw on any person around here, mainly black with two white highlights framing her face. As I'm still not well versed in what passes for attractive amongst humans I can't tell for sure if she was pretty or not, but comparing her to how Rarity looked now she seemed to be quite close actually. With high cheekbones and a beauty spot on her right cheek she could be considered attractive I guess. Then again she also had multicolored feathers braided into her hair and worn rather masculine-looking clothes, so yeah. The most prominent of her features however was the mark on her exposed left upper arm, vaguely reminiscent of a cutie mark. Then again I didn't see anything like this on Fluttershy's arm, so it might've been some form of body pain or a tattoo of some sort. And besides, I've never heard of a viper cutie mark before. The thing is she looked, at least compared to most locals, quite exotic.

"Em… yes, the food is delicious." Twilight answered uncertainly. The way the woman's accent worked made it difficult to pinpoint what was her problem exactly. "Is there something we can help you with?"

"Help me?" The newcomer seemed surprised. She shook her head in the negative after a moment though. "No, I don't need any help. What I do need is answers." Here she looked directly at me for some reason, and the look she made me almost choke on my food."Tell me, for this I must know: why is it that you all, with the exception of the Little Master here avoid what most deem to be the best dish on this table?"

Okay, not gonna lie –I did not expect a question like that. For a moment there I was sure she was gonna ask about something more serious, or why I was unknowingly insulting her for all I knew, but no, it was about the food. Me and the girls exchanged confused glances, wondering what's this all about as the woman leveled us with that unreadable look of hers. Finally AJ gathered her wits and answered, her southern drawl as strong as ever.

"Ah dunno what ya're talkin' 'bout. This 'ere salad is hoof… Ah mean finger lickin' good."

The woman leveled AJ with a look, silent for a moment as she tried no doubt to decipher her accent. "I don't believe I made myself clear. Let me rephrase my earlier inquiry: why are you avoiding the salmon curry?"

"Ah… than why didn't ya say so in tha first place!?" Applejack smiled, completely ignoring the tension in the air. "We kinda don't eat meat… well, most of us don't." She added as an afterthought, shooting me yet another glance.

"You don't eat meat?" The woman arched an eyebrow and shifted her gaze to  Twilight. "Is that right? Or is it just that it's not to your taste?"

"Yes, yes it is." She answered, nodding. "It's really nothing personal, and judging by Spike's reaction it must be really… *gulp*… delicious, but we just don't eat meat."

"Best fish I had in my life!" I added helpfully, lifting the plate and eating a spoonful to stress my point. The woman studied me for a moment and then looked back at Twilight, her expression unchanging.

"So I'm to believe that you're all vegetarians?" She asked slowly.

"Pardon me miss but I must inform you I am quite frankly appalled by the behavior you are displaying." It seems that Rarity had finally enough of what could only be described as an interrogation this woman was subjecting us to. "You come here, rudely imposing yourself on us without a word of explanation, and you dare to treat us as if we committed some grievous crime? Just who do you think you are? Who gave you the right to treat us like criminals?"

Suffice to say the woman was shocked by Rarity's outburst, not that I blame her. It was rare to see this side of Rarity, the perfectly civil yet badass mare giving you a piece of her mind. It took our interrogator a moment to compose a reply.

"I'm sorry, I didn't intend for this to come out as it did." She shifted uncomfortably on her stool, the look on her face finally changing from the unwavering glare to  an apologetic smile. "If I came out as rude than you have my most sincere apologies."

"Well, ya kinda were rude." Rainbow supplied bluntly, giving her a flat look. "Who are you anyway?"

"I didn't introduce myself?" The newcomer asked, abashed. "Now this is really awkward. So much in terms of good manners." She muttered to herself, after which she gave us another look, this one far less pointed than before. "My name is Ameiko. Ameiko Kaijitsu, owner and proprietor of the Rusty Dragon Inn." Not sure if cute name for inn or insulting. Will go with former.

"Wait, so you're an innkeeper?" Rainbow looked her over again. "You don't look like one to me."

"Yeah, I get that often." The newly dubbed Ameiko shrugged. "Comes with having an adventuring episode. But right now I'm just an innkeeper. And a cook." She added, glancing at me and the plate of salmon I was finishing. It was enough in terms of clues for Twilight to deduce what this all was about.

"So you made all of this?" She gestured towards the food and received a nod in return.

"Yes, this is after all a table dedicated to showcasing the Rusty Dragon's wares. And truth be told it's why I came here and pestered you in the first place. For years my spiced salmon curry was the consumer's choice, if you know what I mean. And now you come along, ignoring it for the most part and choosing appetizers and greens over the fan favorite. I kind of wanted to know what's this all about… and why I have a sudden feeling I'll need to prepare a new pot of seaweed soup." Ameiko added, looking at the contents of said pot, or rather the lack there of.

"*slurp* Oh, so that's what the green mushy stuff was!" All eyes fell on Pinkie, who was happily slurping down a bowl filled with, well, green mushy stuff that it appears was seaweed soup. "*slurp* This thing feels yummy in my tummy, can I have more?"

"I'll let Bethana know we need more soup." She said, her smile morphing into a toothy grin. "Have to say though: it's nice to know someone besides me likes kelps. You and me Pinks, we're gonna get along just fine."

"Great!" True to her way Pinkie beamed at Ameiko, but the bowl was still calling her name and moments later she was gulping down the soup in great big swigs. We just shook our heads and continued what we were doing.

"Say, you're not from around here, are you?" The self-proclaimed chef asked, averting her gaze from Pinkie and looking at Twilight. "I mean I know about everyone in Sandpoint, as well as the usual guests from out of town, but I've never seen you guys before. At least I don't think so. I would remember a colorful bunch like you… no offense."

"None taken." Twi assured, though this made us a bit wary. We kinda had to play along and pretend we were form around here, but we knew next to nothing about this place. How could we pretend something if we didn't know the first thing about what's over the bend, not to mention miles from here? Still, Twilight put on a brave face and did her best. "Yes, we really aren't from around here. Didn't even know there's going to be a carnival until we came here."

"That's strange, I thought word got all the way from here to Magnimar with how Pops and Kendra were advertising it in the region. You must be really from afar." She concluded, looking at us with newfound interest. "Lemme guess: refugees from Korvosa?"

Refugees from where now? Korvosa? What kind of name for a place is that? Come to think of it, what kinda name is Magnimar? Boy, the local names sure as hay are weird. Ameiko's words did however present an opportunity, one which Twilight utilized to the best of her abilities.

"Yes, that's exactly what we are! Refugees from Korvosa, that's us!" Did I mention Twi was a pro at lying through her teeth? She's almost as good at it as AJ. Suffice to say Ameiko didn't look convinced, but didn't push it.

"Okay… with all the strange things happening there lately your arrival here is not in the slightest weird. Especially if you think about their approach to people not fitting their definition of normal. Desna knows how much of a hellhole that place is, especially considering their ties with Cheliax. Acting like their colony they are, goddamned diabolist bastards… no offense."

"Again, none taken." Twilight tried to assure her, in the meantime scribbling down information she got from this conversation. Of course that brought a look from Ameiko, one of confused curiosity, but she didn't dwell on the matter.

"You said you own an inn, correct?" Ameiko turned around to face Trixie, who once again eyed her, this time with interest. "That usually means one offers rooms to travelers, yes?"

"Yeah, I have a couple free right now." She nodded, a look of recognition on her face. "And let me guess: you're looking to stay a bit in Sandpoint, yes?"

"It appears the Great and Powerful Trixie will be gracing this town with her magnificent presence for some time. It would be therefore appropriate to house one of Trixie's greatness in her lodgings… and Trixie supposes her lackeys will also need a place to stay." Oh, she didn't.

"Not to burst your bubble but we're the ones paying the bills." I decided to take her down a notch before somepony else beat me to it. "I would be really careful with whom I'm calling a lackey if I were you. You never know when you might need cash."

Trixie's mouth worked for a moment, no sound coming from her lips as she glared at me. She knew full well however that my words weren't only empty threats, as one glance at the less than amused girls was testament to that. She sighed finally, sending me a hateful look.

"Trixie's companions will need accommodations as well." She rephrased, most of her grandeur demeanor gone.

"Okay, so rooms for what, eight people?" Ameiko counted us up quickly, frowning slightly. "Might be difficult finding enough rooms, but I think I'll be able to work something out. How long will you guys be staying?"

"Until we figure out what to do next." Twilight supplied, scratching her chin in thought. "That could take anywhere from a few days to a month or so."

"Hold on a minute darling." Rarity interjected, a look of dismay on her face. "I can understand a vagabond like her is used to staying in places like that, but do you really want us to stay in a dingy inn of all things?"

"Hey, I will have you know that my inn is as clean as an elven ar…" Ameiko trailed off, noticing Trixie watching her with an arched eyebrow. Probably had something to do with the fact she was kinda an elf right now. "What I mean is it's clean, alright? And I do not appreciate you insulting my home like that, whoever you might have once been!"

The look on Rarity's face clearly reflected her emotions, in this case a sense of surprise at the notion that someone may call an inn their home. Then again from what I know most innkeepers live in their place of work, so it shouldn't be that big a surprise. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Ameiko was protecting the good name of her establishment with such fierce determination? Because she was seriously peeved at Rarity's remark, and it was clear that she was willing to go to great lengths to defend her home.

"If you don't like my standards than you can go try your luck at the White Deer." She continued, sending an icy glare at my lady. "But be warned –Garridan's prices are for fellows with deep pockets. You can either spend half a falcon a day at his place or a fifth of that price in the Rusty Dragon, and you'll get much of the same. But don't let me stop you. You're free to spend your gold wherever you want."

"Falcons?" I blurred out before I bit my tongue. "I thought the local currency was sails?"

Ameiko begrudgingly took her glaring eyes off of Rarity and leveled me with a flat look. I could already tell I just said something unbelievably stupid. Why am I not surprised?

"What do you mean by that? Both are respected around here and… oh!" A sudden look of realization appeared on her face. "You're from Korvosa, I almost forgot. Bet you're used to the Cheliax currency."

"Em… yeah?" I nodded weakly. The feather-wearing woman nodded sagely, as if she just figured out a great mystery, and I wasn't going to prove her otherwise. Besides, Twilight seemed interested in this turn of the conversation, the quill in her… hand…proof of that.

"Figures it would be like that. If I didn't know any better I'd say Korvosa is already a Cheliax city. Well, from what I remember the Cheliaxian monetary system is as follows: a pin…"

"Aren't you perchance forgetting about something?" Came an annoyed question, asked with the unmistakable voice of none other than Rarity. She was sitting at her spot, arms crossed in front of her chest and glaring at Ameiko resentfully. "I do not appreciate being ignored, especially if I'm in the middle of a conversation. It's beyond rude and clearly points at the lack of…"

"Ah think that's enough Rarity." She was interrupted by Applejack, who just to be on the safe side blocked Rarity's mouth with her… hand (this is really gonna take some getting used to). The alabaster mare wasn't too pleased about that, her glare now directed at the farmpony, but if AJ was intimidated by it, she did a great job hiding it. Instead she smiled at Twilight reassuringly. "Ya'll don' fret none, Ah'll take care o' miss complain-a-lot, try ta talk some sense into 'er. Dash, lend me a hoof now, will ya! This' a work for at least two."

"On it!"

"Well… that was… interesting?" Ameiko said slowly, having problems with coming to terms with what just happened. Twilight only shook her head and asked her to continue her earlier though, all the while Trixie was watching the scene between the farmpony, the athlete, and the fashionista unfurl with an evil smirk on her face.

"Right, I was about to explain how things work here." The innkeeper finally snapped out of her confusion and looked back at Twi. "Well it's pretty simple really, much like it must be in Korvosa. You have your pinches, your shields, your sails, and your crowns. That's the basic Cheliaxian system, all of it decimal increments of the former. In Sandpoint, as well as in Magnimar and most civilized parts of this part of Varisia we use the Andoran system. Basically your pinch is our cap, your shield is our wolf, and your crown is our falcon. The name sail stays the same in both systems. But if you're still confused than you might as well use the standard copper, silver, gold, or platinum piece and be done with it. Everybody will know what you mean…"

My mind must have frozen at that point, because I haven't felt so numb since that one time Twilight practiced a paralyzing spell on me. Ameiko's words echoed in my skull, growing louder and louder with each passing second, until the only thing I could hear was one simple yet completely unbelievable word repeating again and again. Platinum.

They used platinum to mint coins here. Platinum! The single rarest and most expensive precious metal in the world, worth so much that a single ounce could buy a house in the noble part of Canterlot. And they used it to mint coins! Just how loaded were these people?!

I wasn't the only one that reacted so strongly to this revelation. The moment the meaning of Ameiko's words reached her Twilight lost focus and pressed the quill too hard on the parchment, snapping it. Trixie's eyes went as wide as saucers as she stared dumbly at the innkeeper, as well as Rarity, who looked somewhat like a victim of a stroke. AJ and RD didn't look that much different either, the two of them forgetting about their task of "educating" their fashionable friend. Only Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie didn't react in any way, probably not really caring about this revelation. But still: platinum coins?!

Our shocked behavior didn't go unnoticed by Ameiko. She eyed us suspiciously, once again finding us acting strangely no doubt in the span of less than ten minutes. If she hadn't figured out that we weren't telling her the whole truth before, she obviously did now.

"This is the first time anyone has reacted like that at the mention of cash." She said slowly. "Especially at the mention of platinum. I know some can live their whole life without even seeing a platinum falcon, but this? This here takes the cake."

"Cake? What cake? Where?" I really wasn't surprised that this phrase brought Pinkie's attention. Truth be told I would think she's ill or something if it didn't. The point is however Pinkie took interest in our conversation and was eagerly looking at us, as if expecting somepony to pull out said cake from who-knows-where.

"No cake here Pinks." Ameiko responded, her eyes still trained on us.

"Aw… but you said something about it. Why do you tease me so?"

"I wasn't trying to. It was just an expression."

"An expression of what? Something good? Something sweet?"

"…you really haven't been paying any attention to the conversation, have you?" She stated flatly, looking at Pinkie. The mare in turn beamed at her with that too-large-for-comfort smile of hers.

"You mean the one about platinum falcons and all that jazz? Like the thing that one platinum falcon is worth ten golden sails, which is worth a hundred silver wolfs, which is worth a thousand copper caps? Or that Korvosa is like a super-duper close ally of Cheliax, borderline their vassal?"

"Em… yeah, I'm talking about all that." Ameiko was at a loss of words. Considering its Pinkie she's talking to thought that was hardly a surprise. "But you looked like…"

"I wasn't paying any attention, to busy eating?" She finished for her and snorted in amusement. "Oh you silly filly, of course I was paying attention. I'm obliged by contract to pay attention to any plot I'm a part of, even if it's the plot of a B-class fan fiction written by a self-proclaimed scribe."

"Err…"

"By the way: girls? Are you seriously boggled by the fact there are platinum coins around here? Seriously, think about it. We're in a different place with different rules. Maybe people here have way more shiny stuff than back home? They may have more gold and stuff, but they may, I don't know, not have rock farms around here?"

"Rock farms?"

"It's a gnome thing."

"…do I even want to ask?"

"It's not that interesting, really. It has lots to do with cuboids, lei line theory, high-pressure press, and nuclear fission. I've worked with it since I was a itty-bitty Twinkie-Pinkie on my parents' farm, along with my two sisters."

"Em…"

"Told ya it's boring. Hey! How about I'll tell you the story of how Fluttershy here went all badass on a boar. It's a gem!"

"I, err…"

"Ameiko, there you are!" The poor, poor innkeeper was spared the horrors of talking more with Pinkie thanks to the timely intervention of an already known to us individual. From the crowds still filling the streets the familiar form of Father Zantus emerged, the same warm smile still present on his bearded face.

"Pop… I mean Father Zantus! To what do I owe this pleasure?" Ameiko eagerly greeted the prospect of getting away from Pinkie's verbal barrage, quickly closing the distance with the priest.

"Come now Ameiko, no need to be so formal. I'm well aware of how I'm called around town." His smiled widened a bit seeing the guilty look on her face. He glanced at us however, and that's when his look changed into a more serious one, but only slightly. "I see you've already met our guests."

"You have no idea." She muttered barely audible. "I take it you know each other?"

"You can say that." Father Zantus nodded and turned his attention to us, luckily after the girls managed to somewhat regain their composure. "Hello again! I see you've replaced your wardrobe, no doubt thanks to Rynshinn. By the way: I happened to run into her. Haven't seen her so happy since her mother passed away, the poor girls was devastated by it… She did mention you helped her with something though, couldn't speak highly enough about you."

"Oh, eh… It was nothing, really." Twilight quickly responded, still a bit dazed from earlier. The priest however seemed extremely pleased by her response for some reason.

"Such modesty." Ameiko looked at him funny at that, probably thanks to the combined forces of Trixie and Rarity, but she didn't say anything. "Anyway, I was  looking for you girls."

"You were?" Twi asked, this time not even bothering to hide her surprise. "Why's that?"

"Oh, nothing bad I assure you. Quite the opposite actually." He smiled the most sincere smile he could muster, trying to alleviate her (and our collective) fears. "I wanted to speak with one of your friends if that's not too much problem… I'm sorry, I can't seem to remember her name. I'm talking about the pink-haired half-elf girl."

All eyes fell on Fluttershy, most of our gazes confused as to why the man wanted to speak with her. The pegasus in question however acted true to her name, and once we looked at her she seemed to shrink in our eyes, shielding herself from the world with her hair.

"Y-you want to speak with m-me? What for?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Fortunately, Father Zantus seemed to possess a surprisingly keen sense of hearing and understood her without problem. He let himself sit opposite Fluttershy and spoke in a soothing voice:

"I wanted to speak with you about the Swallowtail Release ceremony and about what happened during it." I can't be sure but there was something in his eyes at the mention of that, a sort of glow and childish wonder I had a hard time associating with someone of his age, whatever it may actually be. "I haven't seen something like that in all of my years, nor did any of my faithful. They already call it the Swallowtail Miracle and word spreads that you may be a favored of Lady Desna herself."

The who-what of what now? This guy made less sense than Pinkie did most of the time, if that's even possible, and judging by Fluttershy's reaction she was agreeing with me wholeheartedly. I seriously didn't know what he was talking about, but from what I gathered it was something important from his point of view, possibly having to do with that weird religion of his. Unless…

"It's considered a blessing of the Great Dreamer when a single swallowtail butterfly lands on a person during the Swallowtail Release. But for them to swarm around someone?"

Bingo!

There was one thing that I failed to mention during my earlier recap. You see, during our foray into the festival grounds we happened upon a highlight of said celebration. A wagon had been pulled up onto the cathedral square, covered with a large sheet of light blue cloth, and Father Zantus was preparing for a speech. People gathered around him, eager to hear his words, and out of courtesy (or in Twilight's case want of knowledge) we joined them.

It quickly became apparent that this was a religious rite as the priest was recalling an old legend pertaining to his deity. In this story Desna, who I assume was the goddess, has been battling a nightmarish entity named Lemashtu, and grievously wounded she was cast from the heavens to the realm of mortals. There she was found by a poor, blind child, who in the goodness of its heart nursed her back to health, unknowing that it was aiding a deity. In her boundless gratitude, Desna cured the child's blindness by transforming it into an immortal swallowtail butterfly, so that it could witness with its own eyes the beauty of the surrounding world and explore its wonders for all of eternity. Or at least that's what I gathered from the story. As far as those go it was okay, maybe a bit dull, but I could see why some choose to follow a religion with such a message. The thing is however that the story was only just a prelude for what was about to happen.

Father Zantus concluded his tale by saying that from there on out, in memory of the child's transformation and their goddess' return to the heavens it is customary to release a swarm of butterflies as part of the Swallowtail Festival (hence the name, duh). And not to prolong the wait, the priest and a number of what I assume were acolytes removed the blue sheet from the wagon, revealing a score of open containers and a storm of large, azure butterflies. The insects took flight in a large swarm, momentarily obscuring the sun itself, and they were about to disperse to the four corners of the world if it wasn't for a certain pegasus mare.

As if led by some invisible force the flurry of butterflies fluttered straight for Fluttershy, to the confusion of onlookers and unmistakable delight of the interested pegasus. Those of us used to 'Shy's connection to the animal world weren't that surprised, which couldn't be told about Trixie, who was making a great impression of a fish out of water, but even then it was like nothing we've ever seen before. The mass of the colorful insects, their wings of mesmerizing azure lazily fluttering covered the normally timid mare from head to toe, prompting her to giggle softly in joy. It was no doubt like returning to the comfort of what she knew from home, a feeling of peace and security filling her being as the butterflies acted towards here like the ones in Equestria. For a second there she could forget where she was and into what she was transformed, only enjoying the moment of tranquility.

Soon enough however Fluttershy asked her new blue-winged friends to take flight and continue on their way, and so they did. Once again a storm of azure butterflies took flight and within seconds dispersed, fluttering on their merry way, leaving a smiling, content Fluttershy in their wake. Her good mood didn't last for long however, for the moment she noticed that everyone, and I mean everyone was looking at her she reverted to her normal, shy persona, especially considering most of those looks were in fact disbelieving stares from flabbergasted believers, who must have just witnessed something rivaling a miracle in their eyes. Suffice to say we quickly bailed her out and sought refuge amongst the crowds that didn't see the whole thing, and we had piece. Until now that is.

Father Zantus was studying Fluttershy with his kind, dark eyes intently, as if an answer to a great riddle was hidden somewhere in her face. It unnerved her to no end, Fluttershy never liking to be the center of attention, but her position as well as the sense that fleeing would only worsen things for us told her to stay where she was and try her best to put up a brave facade. The priest's unwavering gaze shifted finally to her only visible eye, and a smile bright enough to light a room at night sprouted on his face, calming the timid mare as well as showing his… was that admiration?

"There is something in you, child. Something truly beautiful, transcending the flaws of mortality." He said cryptically. His words did however manage to make Fluttershy blush like mad with their double meaning. "The Song of the Spheres echoes within you, and it depends only from you if it will be heard echoing in the wind, or playing in your heart."

"I… um, I-I… thank you." Fluttershy managed to squeak out, bowing her head and hiding behind the curtain of her pink locks. Father Zantus gave her a kind nod, and then cleared his throat, as if he wanted to make it clear he was changing the subject.

"Now, having that out of the way I wanted to ask how do you girls… and you, small master, find the festivities this year." Well look at that, he finally noticed me. Took him long enough. Not that I'm complaining, I was still confused by his earlier thing with Fluttershy, but it's nice to finally not be ignored. "I do hope you find the festival to your liking. It took a lot of planning and was extremely anticipated by our people for months, but in my humble opinion it was worth the wait."

"Hold on a second there Z-man!" Pinkie, who moments ago was sitting at her place in front of the table was now standing on a stool next to Father Zantus in an attempt to be at his eye-level. And just like that any sort of mysticism went down the drain. "You were in charge of putting together this party?"

"Why yes, amongst others." The priest nodded uncertainly, eyeing the pink mare warily. Pinkie in turn looked him over as if mentally assessing him, her face scrunched in focus. "Is there some sort of problem?"

"Oh, I wouldn't call it a problem per say." Pinkie shook her head, sitting on the stool she was standing on moments before, still unusually serious. "It's more like I've made some observations pertaining to this here festival, and I wanted to share them with someone from the management."

"Is that so?" Father Zantus seemed intrigued, or simply wanted to amuse Pinkie. "Very well then, I'm all ears."

"Okay, but just so we're clear on this: I am a certified member of the Royal Party-Planners Guild and a partylogist with a degree in Party Organization. I would also like to point out this conversation will be conducted with the proper amount of seriousness on my part, as show by the serious hat I am currently wearing." Wait, what…

"…is it just Trixie or is the pink one wearing a top-hat?"

At least I wasn't seeing things.

With Father Zantus busy talking (or listening) to Pinkie Pie, and Ameiko nowhere to be seen the girls and I could finally put our guard down, even if only a little. Our overenthusiastic companion worked as a great distraction, giving us a prime opportunity to quietly converse amongst ourselves.

"Does anypony have any idea what in tarnation was that priest-fellar talkin' about?" AJ was the first to voice her thoughts, shooting wary glances at Father Zantus. "Ah didn't get a darn thing out of his mumbo-jumbo."

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm as confused as you are. All I know is that he was talking about that butterfly-incident and then he went all googly-eyed over Fluttershy." The meaning of her own words reached her only after a moment and Dash looked at her pegasus friend with a sly grin spreading on her lips. "Seems like somepony has herself an admirer~♪"

As could be expected Fluttershy reacted swiftly by blushing up a storm and avoiding eye contact at all costs, letting out one of her adorable squeaks. Fortunately for her, Rarity came to her rescue just in time to prevent Rainbow from teasing her friend to bits.

"Rainbow Dash, would you stop that?! Do you have no shame? You know full well how sensitive Fluttershy is, teasing her like that is most definitely not helping her in any way!"

"I know, I know… I just wanted to lighten up the mood a bit, that's all."

"Good." She nodded sharply at her, only to shift a bit in her place moments later. "Besides, it's utterly ridiculous to think that good man was interested in Fluttershy in that way."

"Um, Rarity?" The pegasus in question looked at her friend, a rare annoyed look on her normally kind face. "I'm sure you didn't want to and that it's just a misunderstanding, but what you said…  it was… em… it wasn't very polite." Rarity, with utter surprise written on her face spun around to look at Fluttershy.

"What are you talking about darling? I didn't…" Her mouth turned into a silent "o" as she realized what her earlier words implied. "No, no, no dear,  it wasn't at all what I've meant. What I intended to say is that the way he looked at you was far from what could be associated with romantic interest. Believe me, I would recognize a lovestruck look if I saw one, and this one just wasn't it."

"Then what do you suppose the look was about?" Twilight asked, probably making a mental note to ask Rarity how to interpret looks later.

"From my experiance darling I would guess that he was curious, very much so, and I also noticed a hefty dose of wonder. Of course he did mention it had much to do with that butterfly-incident –by the way you looked absolutely stunning while covered in butterflies darling –and therefore I would guess that it left an impact on him, one either mental, or, as he is a holy man, spiritual."

"True, considering the whole thing with the butterflies was a religious thing to begin with." Twi nodded, referencing Rarity's suspicions with her (my) notes on the subject. "Besides, it did gather lots of attention from those who witnessed it. I wouldn't be surprised if there will be more similar things happening in the near future."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to blow our cover or anything." Fluttershy apologized quickly, already blaming herself for a catastrophe that didn't even occur. "If I knew this would happen I would've asked them to fly away quicker than…"

"Nah, it's no biggie." Rainbow cut her off, smiling reassuringly at her as the others, me included, nodded at those words. "A bit of extra attention never hurt anypony. And besides, it's not as if you did it on purpose. It's not your fault."

Fluttershy smiled softly at us in response, appreciating the reassurance of her friend. Meanwhile a certain showpony seemed torn between commenting on the no doubt too emotionally deep display she was forced to watch just now and asking what Rainbow meant by Fluttershy not doing something on purpose. It was easy to forget that she didn't know the first thing about 'Shy and that she was bound to be confused by half the thing we did. I seriously wonder how she was managing to cope with Pinkie's randomness this long without asking the obligatory "how" question. All in all, if Trixie had any questions they weren't going to get answered anytime soon, 'cause Twilight decided that with this issue solved we could go over the next one.

"Okay, with this all settled we can move to more serious issues." She said, gaining the girls' attention. "First of all: we need to talk about money."

"Trixie's wage stays the same if that is what you are aiming at, Sparkle." The showmare quickly butted in, glaring at Twilight as if her words were a declaration of bypassing earlier agreements. "The Great and Powerful Trixie will not be swindled out of her…"

"I'm not talking about that." Twi interrupted her tirade with a flat look. "Contrary to what you may believe the world doesn't revolve solely around you."

"…did Twilight just snark at Trixie?" Rainbow breathed out, staring wide eyed at the two unicorns glaring daggers at each other.

"Seems that way." I nodded, as surprised as her.

"Sweet!"

"Fine then! What is it that you wanted to discuss, Sparkle?" Trixie huffed annoyed, glaring at Twi in the most prideful way she could muster.

"What I was trying to talk about was our earlier reaction to the fact platinum is a legal means of payment and is used to mint coinage." She glared back at the infuriating fraud for a moment before she looked at us and sighed, shaking her head. "As much as this may sound weird coming from my mouth I think Pinkie had a point; we shouldn't be too shocked by that, or anything we find strange around here really."

"Eh, Twi? Ah hate ta argue but are ya even listenin' to what yer sayin'?" Applejack seemed perplexed and regarded Twilight with a confused and quite a bit scared look. "Ah mean yer agreein' with Pinkie Pie of all ponies. She may be a great friend an' all, but she's Pinkie for cryin' out loud! That mare makes less sense than a coyote strapped in pink polka-dot pajamas on Zap Apple harvest."

That's… an interesting allegory.

"Normally I would most likely agree with you AJ, but the truth is that Pinkie just made too much sense to ignore." Twilight countered, still looking like she wasn't believing she was saying this. "Listen: for all we know we're not in Equestria anymore. We may be hundreds of thousands of miles from home, probably even light-years from Equis. For all purposes we may be on a completely different world altogether. Who's to say what passes here as normal and what doesn't? We, guests in these parts, or the locals, who lived their whole lives here?

"We know next to nothing about how this place, this… Varisia or whatever this land is called works. Like Pinkie said, they may have a world rich in precious metals, or it can support completely different animal life than our world. For all we know they may not even have ponies here. On the other hoof Equestria may have things unheard of in this world, like rock farming for example…"

"Is rock farming even a thing?" I asked, now curios. If Twilight was willing to talk about it then it must have, but what purpose would it even have?

"Yes Spike, it is. From what I know it's a bit of earth pony magic that enables them to grow various forms of gemstones within rocks. Of course I don't know the details, but from what I understand it's the main reason why large gems are relatively cheap in Equestria while smaller, natural occurring gems are worth tremendous amounts of bits." And suddenly the Pie family went up to the top ten of my favorite pony list.

"So what you're saying, darling, is that we should not act surprised when we encounter something absolutely bizarre while in this place and accept things how they are, even if it means spending a night in an inn instead of a hotel?" Rarity was trying to decide what Twi was trying to say and voicing her discontent at the same time.

"What I'm saying is that we should keep an open mind about things. I'm not saying that we should take everything like it's completely normal when it clearly isn't, but if it concerns the mundane and the locals seem to act like if its nothing out of the ordinary than we shouldn't make a scene, not like with our discovery of magic and definitely not like when we learned about gold and platinum coins. And besides: we can't be too picky about things until we learn more about this place. Maybe humans don't have hotels, or Sandpoint is too small a town for one."

"I… suppose I will have to endure if that is the case. It's going to take a toll on my beauty sleep however, of that much I am certain."

"Glad we're on the same page then. We should count ourselves lucky that we even managed to run into somepony… er… someone like Ameiko in the first place and try not to make an enemy in her. Especially since she's already suspicious of us."

"Amen to that, sister!" Pinkie agreed, nodding vigorously.

"Thank you. Now… wait, Pinkie?!" Twilight made a double take and sure enough Pinkie was sitting right next to her, grinning from ear to ear (literally). "What are you doing here? I thought you and Father Zantus… Wait a moment, where is he anyway?" She looked around in search of the bearded man, but try as she might, she couldn't spot the kindly priest anywhere.

"Oh, some sort of his coworker-acolyte fellow came by and  said something about the consecration ceremony being almost ready. We had to cut our discussion short." Pinkie explained, absentmindedly grabbing a carrot and munching on it. "And we were getting to the interesting stuff too. I was about to present him a plan for a hall of mirrors and explain how it would bring more traffic to town."

"Well… that's a… shame?" Twi said slowly, uncertain how to react. "So you talked about anything interesting?"

"Oh, you know, the usual party-oriented stuff. Pops wasn't very talkative though, he mostly listened and nodded from time to time." Pinkie seemed a bit downtrodden about that, but whatever frown threatened to appear on her face was wiped out by an excited smile as she continued. "When he was leaving though Z-man invited us to the consecration ceremony. He said it was the centerpiece of the festival and that after that the main part of the fun would start. Can you believe that? We spent all this time having fun, and it wasn't even the main event!"

"Yes Pinkie, that's very interesting." Twilight answered evasively. It was clear enough that she wanted to change the subjects, especially after hearing from Pinkie that the festival was about to shift into high gear. She probably knew what was about to happen. "Now, why don't we…"

"Can we go there?" Twi's closed eyes and slight frown would be answer enough for most ponies, but not for this pink mare.

"Pinkie, I don't think that's a good idea." She started slowly, like if she was explaining something to a particularly slow foal. "You remember what happened last time we've been near a religious rite, right?"

"But there won't be any butterflies this time, honest! Please?" She insisted, and it was clear Pinkie was desperate to go. She even rolled out the heavy artillery: the famed and feared Pinkie-style puppy-dog eyes, complete with oversized, wide eyes and a trembling pout. How she managed that in her new form was, like most things Pinkie, beyond my understanding.

Twilight put up a valiant effort to withstand this emotional assault, but there was nothing she could do against a look like that. After less than half a minute it was all over. "Ugh… Fine! We'll go. Just try not to bring too much attention to us, okay? The last thing we need right now is a repeat of the butterfly incident."

"Yay!" Pinkie cheered and bounced out of her chair and in the direction of the cathedral. And so the girls and I, some of us less enthusiastic than others (I'm looking at you Trixie) followed her.

The cathedral square was already crowded by the time we decided to follow Pinkie. It was apparent that the consecration ritual was about to start any moment now, and a large percentage of the townsfolk didn't want to miss it. There was a feeling of excited anticipation in the air, people waiting anxiously for the ceremony and for the real part of the festival to start. Almost everybody here was too busy talking amongst themselves or paying attention to the platform and Father Zantus bustling about on it to pay us any mind, which in Twilight's opinion was for the best.

As we waited amongst the crowd of Sandportians we began noticing some familiar faces. One of the guards from earlier, the gruff one, was patrolling the crowd with a bored expression, as if he would rather be anywhere but here. Priest Naffer was hobbling about, probably giving the whole scene to his fellow priest, engaging some of the locals in cheerful conversation. I think I spotted Rynshinn at the verge of the gathering, a mix of nervousness and anticipation written of her face, and not too far from her there was Ameiko, a confident air about her as she watched the bearded priest busy himself on the stage. One could say that everyone that meant anything was here.

As I was looking around from my porch on Applejack's shoulder and trying to spot any more familiar faces something caught my eye. Turning to face it I felt my blood run cold as ice and a pit form in my stomach. There, high above the street level, partially obstructed by one of the massive stone domes of the cathedral was the thing that was responsible by our presence here. Hiding like the cowardly thing that it was, the white glow seemed to look upon us as if mocking us, like we served no other purpose but to amuse it.

I frantically looked around, trying to figure out what to do. I wanted to tell somepony, point it out, get back at the thing that played with our lives like we were of no real consequence. I think I also wanted the others to see it, to make sure that it wasn't just my mind playing tricks on me, that I wasn't slowly going insane. I desperately wanted it to be true, but at the same time I dreaded the consequences it would have on us if it turned to be true. If it had enough power to do all that it did to us, if it really existed, it could just as easily get rid of us, permanently.

Scanning my friends in search of any recognition on their part I noticed that one pony in particular was watching it with interest. With eyes glued to the luminous creature, Trixie seemed to study its every move like if expecting it to lunge into action at any moment. Feeling both relieved and terrified, I managed to ask a simple question.

"You see it too?"

She didn't even look at me as she responded. "The thing that supposedly dragged us here from Ponyville? I see it." I can't put my claw on it, but she sounded different when she said that. Gone was the ever present superiority of hers, replaced by what I could only assume was rare seriousness.

Trixie's unusual tone of voice seemed not to go unnoticed by the others. Applejack shifted slightly so that she could see the silver maned magician. "What're ya'll talkin' about? What do ya'll see?"

"There, on top of the church." I pointed out with my claw finger, barely controlling my voice. "The thing that I told you guys about. It's here."

"What? Where?" Rainbow also seemed interested at that point. She looked where I was pointing at and let out a surprised sound as she noticed the glowy thing. "That thing took my wings and brought us here? Oh, let me get my hooves on it…"

"Um, girls?" At this point everypony was looking at it with various levels of surprise, fear and/or anger, Pinkie included. And even she looked to be serious for once, her normal bubbly persona replaced by an unusually calm one. She did however massage her knee with her hand for some reason. "Not to be a bother, but this thing gets my knee all pinchy, and you know what that means."

For some reason that short declaration made all the girls save Twilight and Trixie stiffen up like if she just declared that a rampaging dragon was nearing Ponyville. A terrified glint appeared in their eyes, even in Rainbow's, and they began looking around frantically as if in search of a place to hide. Just what the hay did a pinchy knee on Pinkie Pie mean?

I was about to ask what was going on when a sudden movement from the stage caught my eye. Father Zantus appeared to be holding something in his hand, above his head, and after a second he threw it on the ground. Whatever that thing was, it emitted a loud, resounding bang. All eyes shifted towards the priest, who seemed about ready to deliver a speech, but as Father Zantus was about to start he was cut off by a terrified shriek and a loud, painful, dog-like yelp.

Seconds later another scream was heard, then another, and soon enough the whole crowd gathered on the square began panicking. People were running in every direction, bumping into each other and pushing one another out of the way. But there was something more going on. Amongst the shrieks of fright I could make out something different. High-pitched voices, almost completely masked by the screams of people but completely different from them. They sounded like… giggling, cackling even, screams of glee and delight, and singing, a catchy but strangely unnerving melody spreading around town, coming from different directions all at once and forming an almost intelligible cacophony of sounds, spreading like wildfire. And the worst part was that I could understand them. They weren't in Equestrian, but I could understand their meaning without difficulty. But at that moment I wished I didn't.


Goblins chew and goblins bite,
Goblins cut and goblins fight,
Stab the dog and cut the horse,
Goblins eat and take by force!

Goblins race and goblins jump,
Goblins slash and goblins bump,
Burn the skin and mash the head,
Goblins here and you be dead!

Chase the baby, catch the pup,
Bonk the head to shut it up!
Bones be cracked, flesh be stewed,
We the goblins—you the food!


> Act Two Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 1 of Rova (Presumably 24 of September, 1000 SR), Afternoon


I held on for dear life as the crowd of townspeople ran past our small group, bumping into us in a desperate attempt to get away from the high-pitched voices. My porch on AJ's shoulders proved to be a bad place to be at the moment; with all the jostling going about and Applejack's attempts to dodge the ongoing storm of limbs it was like if I was a part of a rodeo competition. And knowing how those types of things usually ended for me I was mentally preparing myself for a close encounter with the ground.

I didn't have to wait long.

Some man (or was it a woman?) bumped into AJ violently, knocking her over. But if it was enough to knock Applejack to the ground, it most definitely was more than enough to fling me across the square. Which it did by the way. For a split second I was in the air, feeling completely witless as I soared majestically through the sky, just like a pegasus. And then gravity kicked in. Ah, gravity, my old foe, how I despise thee thou hath no idea. With your brutal, unforgiving ways you forced me to the embrace my lack of wings and reunite with the ground. My face greeted the dirt-covered street like one would greet his lover. Or in other words I face-planted. Hard.

Groaning and feeling my nose, hoping it wasn't broken, I tried to get back on my feet. A bit dizzy from the whole ordeal it took me awhile, and by the time I managed to stand up most of the crowd had dispersed. Only a few stragglers, either too terrified to move or too confused by what was happening still stood around, scanning their surroundings wide-eyed. The cackling, giggling, and let's not forget singing grew louder by the minute, and soon enough I saw my first glimpse of what drew so many people to panic. One thing's for sure however: whatever I was expecting, it wasn't that.

I noticed the… thing… the… goblin… hiding under one of the long tables, grinning gleefully. It was a small creature, a bit shorter than even me, which for all reasons and purposes should not terrify creatures three times its height. But its height wasn't the decisive factor on the creep-o-meter. The goblin had green skin, giving it the appearance of your stereotypical alien (that is if it was a quadruped), and its oversized head that seemed not to fit its scrawny little body only reinforced that image. It was bald, had long, bat-like ears and two small, beady eyes the color of deep crimson. And its mouth, dear Celestia its mouth. If I thought Pinkie had an overly wide one, than this creature had the mother of all maws. It almost spit its bulbous head in two, stretching quite literally from ear to ear, and was filled with rows of sharp, yellow teeth, giving it a look so downright creepy that I really was contemplating legging it. Its strange appearance was completed by a set of brown, leather clothes fastened in a crude fashion and decorated with bones and skulls that strangely resembled rodents, and by a rusty-looking, red-stained knife kinda resembling a cleaver with a sharp point, looking like if the thing had raided somepony's garbage bin and made it from refuse.

I stared for a moment at the strange creature, at its grinning, tooth-filled maw as it looked around in search for something to do. It licked its crude blade while giggling, unnerving me to no end. Instinctively I backed up until I bumped into somepony. Glancing back I realized it was Twilight, and noticed that she too was staring at the goblin under the table. The pale green tint her face was enough to realize what she thought of the creature. The fact she too was backing away from it slowly only added to that.

I stuck closer to Twilight, feeling a bit safer knowing she was near, but to be on the safe side I kept an eye on the greenskin. At the moment the goblin seemed content to ignore us and decided it would be a good idea to climb on top of the table. Judging by the twitching of its nose I gather it smelled all the food and decided it might as well eat something while it was here. After all, it was a smorgasbord it was climbing on.

With the goblin preoccupied I let myself glance at the others and see how they were doing. It took only a moment to realize that by this point everypony had seen what was making all the commotion. Problem is, each of the girls was looking in a different direction. Following Rainbow's gaze, and then doing the same with AJ who was looking somewhere completely else I came to a disturbing conclusion.

We were surrounded.

Why am I not surprised?

There was about twice as many of the greenskins as there was us, maybe more. Although most of them were distracted by other things, some for example comparing their shoddy garbage-made cleavers with actual tableware, a few of them were eyeing us, and the demented smiles they were sending our way were anything if not disturbing. It was probably why the girls gave in to their pony herd instincts. Each of them individually decided it was best to huddle together for protection, and in mere moments formed something akin to a defensive  line with AJ, RD, and Pinkie of all ponies in front. Swallowing the lump in my throat I decided I wasn't going to let myself look like a wimp and begrudgingly I stepped forward too. Only once I stood in front of Fluttershy did I realize something however. We were completely unarmed, the makeshift clubs we made that night discarded before we entered town. Just our luck…

"Um… guys?" I asked. "Shouldn't we, well I don't know, try to find a way out of this? I rather not mess with those things."

"What is it Spike, you chicken?" I looked at Rainbow unamused. "I mean come on, they're like what, four hooves tall? Five? We can take 'em."

"They're barely shorter than I am." I said evenly, eying one of the goblin bite the flat of its own blade. "Sure, they look like numbskulls, but who knows what they're capable of."

"Considering they're green-skinned midgets with bulbous heads I doubt they are any serious threat." RD replied cockily.

"Besides, maybe they're not so bad." Pinkie chipped in. "Just look at them smile. How can something that smiles so much be bad? I bet they're real party animals." I was about to send her "are you serious?" look, but I, and everyone else for that matter, along with the greenskins themselves were distracted by a piercing scream. Turning to face the sound we were greeted by a disturbing site.

One of the locals still on the square seemed to attempt escape. Unfortunately for him, that brought the attention of the goblins. Two of them bound for him and clung to his legs, attempting to slice at his tendons with their rusty knives and effectively immobilizing him. Another of those little monsters jumped on the man from the table it was on, its weapon in hand, and tackled him to the ground. Once the man was sprawled on the dirt-covered square it was over for him. The greenskins pinned him down with their combined weight, a few of their numbers joining them in the process, and began slashing and stabbing at him mercilessly. The man's screams resounded in the air, accompanied by the shrill sound of cheering goblins, cackling manically all the time. Soon enough the pained cries died down, replaced by the sickening sound of metal piercing flesh as the victim's blood began pouring onto the street, painting it crimson. And all the while the green monstrosities were hacking at it, tearing parts of its still warm body from the rest and… I'm getting sick just by thinking of if… stuffing it in their mouths, skin, flesh, and intestines alike, ravenously eating his flesh.

"I stand corrected." Rainbow and Pinkie chorused, both looking like they were going to throw up. I think I even heard one of the girls do just that, but I'm not sure who that was. I was too preoccupied with the grim spectacle unfolding before my eyes.

"C-can we go now?" Fluttershy's voice sounded shakily, as if she was on the verge of tears. "Please? I-I don't want to be here anymore."

"Yeah, what she said." Trixie agreed, not even pretending not to be affected by the gruesome site. "I rather not be some greenskin's food."

"Hold your horses,  were workin' on it." AJ assured, turning her attention from the feasting greenskins to the ones surrounding us. They seemed to still be distracted by their companions' success, cheering as they watched them hack and devour that poor man. "C'mon y'all, while the midgets are…"

She was about to continue when one of the little guys finally averted his gaze from his feasting brethrens and noticed us for the second time. The sick grin that spread on its fanged face made AJ pause, and the fact he poked his neighbor and pointed at us with his knife made her earlier words obsolete.

"…distracted. Shoot!" She cursed, backing up instinctively. By this time most of the greenskins surrounding us returned their attention to us, and it was clear they were going to attempt to repeat their kinsmen's success.

"Now what do we do?" I asked, slowly beginning to panic.

"Well, there's nothin' left than try an' break t…" AJ never got to finish her thought. The goblins decided to make the first move.

The greenskins began inching towards us, slowly yet nonchalantly, as if they were sure of their success. Some of them stalked forward while shifting their blades from one hand to the other. Others were cackling and intoning that horrid song I heard before, their shrill and off-tune voices making my ears ring. I think I even saw one pick up a knife from the ground and after comparing it to its own weapon decided that two was better than one and came at us dual-wielding. Others went to even more bizarre lengths to prepare. One of them for example jumped on a stool and got two if his companions to carry it while it was swinging its rusty blade overhead and making a high-pitched battle cry. There was even one skipping towards us like Pinkie, all the while swinging its rusty knife in wide arcs. I swear, this was the strangest, most random threat any of us has ever faced, and considering most of us lived in Ponyville that was saying a lot.

Finally, the goblins decided enough was enough and one by one they started charging at us. The girls tried their best to avoid their rusty blades, all the while staying close to one another. After witnessing what could happen if they got you while you were alone nopony was eager to stray away from the rest.

Rainbow seemed to handle herself quite well actually. The goblins charging at her had a hard time hitting her, and she even answered their attack with her own counters. Kicking and using her superior reach she managed to send a few of them flying already, though the greenskins just kept coming for more. AJ too was doing well enough, or at least I think she did. From my position all I could see was that a goblin or two were sent flying and that they seemed to approach her more cautiously. But there was just so many of them. How in the name of Celestia were we going to survive this?

"Hey, what's that one doing?" I heard Twilight's voice behind me. Following her eyes I noticed a particular goblin standing at the back of the pack, fiddling with something. After a moment it pulled some sort of clay flask from its… wait a moment, it didn't have a belt, did it? Well, it pulled it from somewhere, and not waiting for anything else it chucked it in our direction, all the while cackling. I got a bad feeling about it, and so I did the only sensible thing I could think of.

"Incoming!" I yelled and bound in a random direction, the girls actually trusting me for once and doing the same. True, we dispersed, making us easy pickings for the green midgets, but something told me we would be in much more trouble if we stayed there when the flask hit. And what do you know, my paranoia paid off.

The moment the flask hit the ground it shattered, spilling its content. And let me tell you, it was some content. Whatever it was, the liquid inside it burst into flames, making a small explosion of fire as it splashed on the ground. I felt extremely lucky that I listened to my gut feeling, especially after I noticed an unlucky goblin close enough to the flask be covered in the flammable liquid, screaming bloody murder as the flames ate away on its flesh. The other goblins didn't seem to notice though, or just didn't care, and were still coming at us, and now, separated into smaller groups, we had to fight them on our own.

Whipping my head around I tried to take stock of what was going on. Aside from myself, only Fluttershy and Pinkie seemed to choose the same direction I did. Fluttershy of course looked like she was about to pass out, scanning her surroundings wide-eyed in search of a hiding spot. Not that I blame her, she was being smart about all this. The same couldn't be said about Pinkie however. She was jumping excitedly, her grin matching those of the goblins, all the while she was clutching a wooden spoon as her weapon of choice. Seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if she planned on charging the greenskins while screaming "spoon!" at the top of her lungs.

Soon enough, a hoof-full of goblins decided we were easy pickings. In no time at all they surrounded us, each of them wearing a grin more demented than the other, and began creeping up on us. I counted at least two of the creatures coming for Fluttershy, at which point I wanted nothing more than intervene, even if it would lead me to my doom, but I didn't get the chance. One of those insane creatures bounded for me at full sprint, swinging its blade wildly.

Surprised by the sudden attack I stumbled backwards, the blade narrowly missing my face. My assailant wasn't deterred by it however and kept pushing his advantage, swinging blindly at me. I was hard pressed to dodge those attacks, the erratic pattern of the attacker coupled with my lack of any fighting experience (not to mention weapon) made this a very one-sided confrontation. I stumbled about and tripped, always narrowly missing potentially deadly blows or just getting barely nicked by the rusty blade. Almost always.

My assailant finally realized he was getting nowhere and tried something else. He marked a stabbing motion with his armed hand, to which I reacted accordingly by dodging to my right. Problem is, that was what the goblin was expecting. Instead of stabbing the greenskin sliced widely with its knife, catching me off guard.

The blade sunk deeply into my exposed side, the soft, mammal flesh giving next to no resistance. I cried out in pain and shock, grabbing onto the blade and its owner's appendage on instinct. The goblin seemed to take pleasure in seeing me in pain, grinning at me with those yellow, sickly fangs of its. I was gritting my teeth in pain, and the thing was smiling at me. Oh, I was not going to let it have its little moment. With all the power I could muster and trying to ignore the searing pain in my side I did the first thing that came to my mind.

I headbutted it.

I was really lucky with my improvised strike I must say. I managed to smack the goblin square in its button-like nose, and judging by the crunching noise I think I actually broke it. Not that I had the time or was in the state to celebrate my small victory. As my assailant stumbled back from the blow it yanked its weapon from my side, making me cry out in even more pain. Now with a bleeding wound on my side I could do nothing but clutch at it, and I had a really angry goblin in front of me, glaring daggers at me. In short –I was bucked from here to Manehattan.

The enraged greenskin prepared something nasty for me, I could tell. Abandoning all playfulness (if you could call it that), the goblin took a few steps back, glaring at me all the time, and after it decided it was far enough it raised its garbage-made weapon in the air and with an angry cry charged at me. I could do nothing but watch as the enraged goblin ran towards me, mentally preparing myself for what was to come. Trying to spare myself the image I closed my eyes and in the last sign of defiance I lifted my free claw hand in a vain attempt to shield myself.

A strange sound, like if something collided with a thick layer of glass made me open my eyes. By this point I was sure I would've been skewered by that creature, but nothing happened. I looked around, confused, and was greeted by a site I still have a hard time comprehending.

The greenskin was slowly sliding down the reverse side of a dish-like object. It was clear and smooth-looking, like a great piece of glass, but it hovered in the air. I'm not making it up, the thing actually floated in front of me, no further than four hoofs from me. Completely dumbfounded I looked at it, and so did the goblin, who finally slid off of its surface. The creature looked at it dumbly, tapping it with its blade, only to be rewarded by the sound of metal hitting thick glass.

The goblin frowned and decided it might as well go past it, probably not wanting to tamper with something it didn't understand. I immediately snapped back to reality and followed the creature as it began going around the see-through shield. Still confused and letting my instincts direct me, I moved the same hand I lifted to shield myself in the direction of the midget. I was even more surprised when I noticed the invisible barrier moved accordingly and once again shielded me from the small monster. A sudden, crazy though sprouted in my head. Was it I that controlled the shield? Did I make it appear? Did I use… magic?

I didn't have much time to think about it as the goblin began pounding at the shield in annoyance. With each of its hits all it managed to accomplish was make a lot of noise. The… I don't have a better name for it… force field didn't show a sign of damage on its surface, as if it was completely immune to it. But if I created it and could control it… a little wiggle of my hand as a test was proof of that … then I may have an idea that could actually work.

Clenching my teeth and trying to ignore the pain, I sprung forward, catching the goblin off guard. The invisible shield, maintaining a constant distance from me slammed into the greenskin with enough force to knock it off its feet. Sprawled on the ground it looked at me dazed, but I knew it wouldn't last. In the spur of the moment I jumped on the creature, still pointing my shield-controlling hand at the goblin, and sure enough the shield complied. The goblin, now pinned to the ground by the invisible force could only watch helplessly as I jumped on the inside of the shield (it actually felt more like a sheet of hard plastic), with each jump beating it ever harder to the square floor.

"I'm… not… gonna… be… any… one's… food!" I shouted with each jump, my fear transforming into anger. I didn't even notice when the shield finally collapsed and I began jumping on the goblin itself, though by this time it was long unconscious, if not worse.

I cambered off of the unmoving greenskin, breathing hard. My side was killing me and my head pounded from my blood pressure, but at least I was alive. I couldn't allow myself to celebrate yet however. There was still lots of those greenskins around, and they could come at me any moment. I needed to be on my guard. Last time I got lucky, but now… why do I have a feeling I'm forgetting about something?

"Eeep!"

Oh yeah, Fluttershy's in danger.

Fluttershy's in danger!

I whirled around, my heart pounding. If something happened to Fluttershy, I would never forgive myself. I wouldn’t let somepony as innocent as her become goblin chow, not if I had something to say about it.

"Don't worry Fluttershy! I'm a com…"

"An' stay down, ye pansy!" I stopped mid sentence, noticing something I wasn't quite expecting. The same grumpy guard from this morning, the one that got on AJ's nerves was standing in front of Fluttershy protectively, a bloodied sword in hand. At his feet lie the still twitching carcass of a goblin, a vicious slash mark splitting its chest in two. It didn't take a genius to realize that it was his doing.

"Ye alright lass?" He asked Fluttershy, not even looking at her.

"I-I'm okay." She managed to squeak out, too horrified by what was going on to say much more. It was enough for the guard however as he nodded, his eyes scanning their immediate surroundings.

"Good. Its best ye stick with me fer now. No reason ta give the bloomin' greenskins a chance ta mess up yer pretty face, lass." He stated, tightening the grip on his sword. Well, at least one of the local law enforcers was doing something about this mess. But where in the name of all things sharp and pointy is the rest of the town watch?

Shaking my head I looked around, searching for the others. Pinkie I found without any problems. As expected, she was doing her usual shtick and annoying the living horseapples out of the goblins that attempted to attack her. Let's just say that she was running around with that spoon of hers, smacking the greenskins wherever she thought appropriate, all the while bellowing "spoon!" on the top of her lungs.

I'm beginning to think I'm psychic.

AJ was doing good as well. I was fortunate to witness her grab a stool and smash it on the head of a charging goblin, leaving only the stool’s legs in her hands, which she quickly utilized as batons. As for Rainbow…

"You wanna piece of me?! Come get some!" She was kicking flanks and taking names, and… wait a moment. What was that in her hand?

"No way… She's actually using one of the goblins as a club?" I muttered unbelievingly, looking at the former pegasus swing a screaming greenskin like if it was a ragdoll. One of the other goblins tried to attack her while his companion was flung to the left, only to receive a swift kick to the face courtesy of RD, stopping him in his tracks. Seconds later his kinsmen was flung right into him, sending him several hooves back, all the while the living club was screaming something about "stupid longshanks" and "going off this crazy ride". And I thought Pinkie's method was weird…

Shaking my head again I searched for Twilight, all the while keeping an eye out for any goblins that might decide to go after me. I found her, and surprisingly Trixie, together. The showpony was holding a broom defensively while Twi held onto a chair leg, swinging it wildly. Both were screaming something, though through the cacophony of battle I couldn't make out what, and were backing up from a trio of goblins. Again, I was about to run off to try and help them, but that appeared to be unnecessary.

The two former unicorns were backing up until they bumped into someone. Glancing around, they noticed it was priest Naffer, the one with the limp. Reacting without thought Twi and Trixie scrambled behind the disabled man, just to put something between them and the goblins, even if it wasn't exactly the most honorable thing to do (though in Trixie's case that's probably hardly anything new). But there was something different with the priest, something I couldn't place at first. After a few seconds though I noticed what it was.

Priest Naffer was holding a shield in his hand, a round, wooden shield reinforced on its rim with a strip of metal. I was genuinely confused by that, what was a guy like that doing with a shield of all things? That quickly became apparent however as the three goblins decided they might as well attack him instead of the two girls.

One of the greenskins bound in the priest's direction, rising its knife for a stab. Naffer parried this hit with his shield, and using its momentum bashed the goblin with it. Seeing its companion dazed by the hit, another greenskin tried his luck and charged the man. This time however, the priest didn't limit himself to just defense. With a surprisingly swift motion, especially considering this was a holy man, he pulled a strange, curved, cutlass-like blade from the skirts of his robes and in one swift motion slashed at the charging goblin. The tip of the blade seemingly barely nicked the approaching creature, but in that moment the goblin stumbled back and began clutching at its throat, blood gushing out from between his fingers.

The third goblin tried to be smart about this. He tried to silently flank the priest and attack from his unshielded side. Naffer however saw him and he seemed to say something while adjusting his shield slightly. Figuring it has been discovered the goblin charged at him and tried to slash, but in that moment a shimmering likeness of the priest's shield seemed to detach itself from said defensive item and blocked the slash, just as well as the actual shield would. I was momentarily reminded of my own mysterious force field thingie, but I didn't get to think too much about that as something unexpected caught my eye.

A random goblin ran in front of the combatants, closer to my position. That in itself wasn't enough to warrant my attention, but what happened to it was a different story. For you see, a bright, bluish ball of something collided with the running midget, exploding in a shower of sparks upon hitting. The force of the impact was enough to send the creature sprawling to the ground, and a strangely familiar object fell from its grasp and landed on the dirt. Moments later a certain redhead entered the scene, her face in a furious scowl, and stepped on the goblin's back, hard.

"That'll teach you to steal from me." I managed to make out what Rynshinn said to the goblin. She drove her foot even harder to its back and picked the apparently stolen object from the ground. It turned out to be her father's Elven Messer, and in that moment I realized I did not want to end up on this Rarity look-alike's bad side.

After retrieving her stolen property Rynshinn seemed to snap out of her rage. She looked around as if she didn't realize she was even there, and tried to make heads or tails of what was going on. She must have heard Twilight's screams however, because she whipped around in her direction. Noticing her, as well as priest Naffer and Trixie, the three of them battling against two goblins, she decided to help out. Whistling loudly to gain the goblins' attention she pulled her dagger-holding hand threw the sharp object at one of the greenskins.

The goblin she choose as her target turned around with a dumb expression, wondering what was the noise it heard. Its eyes momentarily widened as it noticed the blade sailing towards it. It tried to dodge, but it was too slow and the Messer hit it square in the chest, piercing its leather clothes with ease, as it did with its skin.

The dagger stuck out from the creature's chest grotesquely, the goblin looking at it like it was more surprised by it than actually hurt. That is, it looked that way until the Messer just teared itself out of its chest and flew to Rynshinn's waiting hand, as if pulled out by an invisible force. Then the goblin reacted like it should. It collapsed, blood oozing from the wound.

I'm beginning to think that if Rynshinn was any more badass she would be a dude.

I was saved from the rather disturbing image of a male recolored version of Rarity by a very familiar scream. Tearing my eyes away from the mental image, I frantically looked around, realizing that the cry was familiar for a reason. Within seconds I located its source, and it made my blood run cold.

Rarity, in an attempt to stay away from the murderous little creatures climbed on one of the still standing tables. She was unarmed, frightened, and what's worse, she was being followed. Two goblins choose her as their victim, and one of them was already on the same table. Slashing with its weapon wildly, it tried to hit my lady and was forcing her to back away. She was doing her best to dodge the greenskin's hits, but being on a not entirely stable surface made it difficult. As the table shifted under her weight, she lost her balance and ended up on her back, hitting her head on the wooden surface. It was all the invitation the goblin needed and within seconds it was on her, bringing its blade down furiously. Lifting it for another stab, I saw it was painted red with blood. Rarity's blood.

I'm not sure what happened next. All I know for certain is that everything seemed to turn red. I vaguely remember letting out a bellowing cry and charging at the two, ignoring everything else around me. I think I ran as fast as my short legs would carry me, that I used a nearby stool to launch myself from the ground, and that once in the air I tackled the offending greenskin off of Rarity. We fell to the ground, or at least I think we did, and rolled around, trying to overpower one another, but for me it was all behind a thick, red mist. I was so angry, so furious that I lost control of myself for a moment. All I wanted to do was make the goblin pay.

I don't know how long it took: second, minutes, or maybe hours, but finally the red began to dissipate from my eyes. Breathing hard I realized I was sitting on the goblin's chest, pinning it to the ground. For some reason it wasn't moving, wasn't struggling to get free. Hay, it seemed it didn't even breathe. I saw some red beneath its bulbous head, but my eyesight was still blurry. Blinking out the tears of anger, I took a better look at what it was.

I wish I never did.

Where there should be the goblin's throat there was a gaping hole, blood oozing from it slowly. It was as if something torn it right out, clawed on it until it reached the neck bones. It was a horrifying, tangled mess of skin and tissue, all soaked in bloody crimson. I stumbled back in shock, staring wide-eyed at the mortal wound, and only one thought echoed in my mind.

Did I do this?

Shakily I lifted my claws, dreading what my eyes would meet. I felt a wave of nausea wash over me at what I saw. Crimson. Crimson everywhere. My claws were covered in blood, they were dripping with it. Realization came crashing upon me. I… I killed it. I ripped its throat out. In my blind rage I murdered something. It didn't even matter at the moment that it would gladly do the same thing, if not worse to me if given a chance. All I could think of was that I ended its life as if it was nothing.

I felt lightheaded, the world spinning around me. The thing I saw, my own doing, it disgusted me. I was disgusted with myself.

I started to hyperventilate, my eyes glued to my bloodied claws. I stared at them, and like through thick fog I noticed something else. My claws… they were actually claws. Not those soft, defenseless hands my new body should have, but actual claws. I still had five fingers, they still looked basically the same, but now… now they were covered in purple scales, and my weak fingernails were sharp and hard as steel. I don't know how or when, but somehow I've got back my old claws back.

It didn't last long.

Before my very eyes my claws began to shift and contort, a sickening crunching sound emanating from my fingers. Wide-eyed I stared as my scales began fusing together and softening, their once magnificent royal purple changing into that pinkish hue I came to know. I watched helplessly as my claws shortened and dulled, losing all that made them useful to me. I… I felt as if I was losing it. I was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Was this even happening?

I shiver to think what would've happened to me if not for Rarity's scream. Her frightened voice, her shrill scream of terror has led me back from the verge of insanity back to the waking world. I shoved to the back of my mind the thoughts of my bloody deed, the warping of my very own flesh forgotten for now, for I had much more important things to do than dwell on such petty things. Not when Rarity was in danger.

I shot to my feet and turned in her direction. She was still on the table, clutching at her shoulder where the goblin I've dealt with stabbed her. She was backing up as quickly as she could from another greenskin who realized she would pose less of a threat than the others, especially now with her wound.

I was about to repeat my murderous rampage, tackle that flesh-eating monster and get rid of it for Rarity, when suddenly a loud bang pierced the air and a mist of white smoke erupted between the fashionista and the creature. The goblin skidded to a halt, looking at the smoke suspiciously, and I admit, I did the same thing. The two of us stared at the slowly dissipating mist for a moment, and I could hear a faint hissing sound coming from it. The goblin however didn't seem to notice and finally dismissed the smoke as nothing to worry about, taking a step forward. Oh, how wrong it was.

The hissing intensified and in a flash a golden blur rocketed from the white haze. It bound at the goblin at lightning fast speeds, colliding with its knife-wielding hand and biting into it. The goblin let out a pained yelped and tried to shake the thing off, but the thing, a golden-scaled serpent coiled around its arm. The greenskin dropped its weapon and tried desperately to get the reptile off, but all that did was make the snake angrier and bite him again and again, each time sinking its fangs in the goblins flesh and releasing new doses of a deadly poison. Soon, the goblin slumped to the ground, the venom doing its thing, and the snake slithered away from it and towards Rarity.

Confused and afraid that the serpent was going to do the same thing to Rarity I sprinted to her side, grabbing the rusty knife my… victim… previously wielded as I went. Within moments I was by her, standing between the serpent and my lady and shielding her with my own life. The snake seeing me move stopped, staring at me with its shiny reptilian eyes, its forked tongue tasting the air. We stared at one another, the golden viper looking as if it was studying me, evaluating me. Suddenly, I got this weird impression that the snake didn't mean me no harm, lying flat on the table, and that it didn't want to harm Rarity as well. I don't know how I've gotten to this conclusion, I just did, and against all better judgment I let it pass, turning to face Rarity myself.

At once I noticed she wasn't in a good way. She clutched at her shoulder, blood dripping from between her fingers, and she looked horribly pale. Her deep blue eyes were frozen in shock and she breathed hard, giving off pained, unladylike grunts. With the goblin gone the adrenalin levels in her blood must've lowered, allowing for pain to kick in. Before now I've only read about it, but now seeing this with my own eyes I came to the frightening realization that Rarity was going into shock.

"Don't close your eyes Rarity!" I pleaded, trying to figure out what to do. "I'm… I'm going to get help. Don't worry, I'll get help." I promised.

"S-Spike…" She breathed out.

"I'll be back, I promise!" I shouted back, already on my way. I looked around in panic, searching for somepony or someone that could help. In my confused state I didn't even know who to look for, who to prioritize, and I ended up doing what I did for most of my life: I ran for the first pony I recognized. And it just so happens that it was Twilight.

I ran towards her, ignoring everything around me. All I wanted at the moment was to get to her as quick as possible. I wasn't concerned that some wayward goblin would attack me, nor did I care. I was so focused on my task that I'm surprised I even noticed AJ and Rainbow taking cover behind an upset table from one of those flame bomb thingies. All I wanted was for Twilight to help.

It took me less than a few seconds as I sprinted for Twilight. I barely noticed she was still accompanied by Trixie and the locals, by this point both Rynshinn and priest Naffer. I skidded to a halt in front of her, kicking up a cloud of dust, and bellowed as loud as I could: "Twilight!"

"Spike?" She looked at me surprised. Moments later she let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness you're al… Is that blood on your hands? Oh my gosh, are you hurt?!" Before I managed to get a word in she scooped me up in her arms and started to check me for injuries. I broke out of her embrace and took a step back.

"No time… Rarity… goblin… snake… shock… lots of blood… we're losing her… help her!" I yelled out in rapid succession. There was no time for explanations, Rarity could… oh dear Celestia… she could die at any moment!

For a second Twilight looked confused, but to her credit she shook it off quickly. She was about to say something when priest Naffer decided to butt in.

"Lead me to her, I can help." He said simply, looking concerned. I wasn't about to look a gifted horse in the mouth and nodded, turning around and running back towards the table with Rarity. The priest hobbled right beside me, somehow managing to keep up with me despite his limp. Twilight too was close behind, as was Rynshinn for some reason. And of course Trixie tagged along, probably not too keen on leaving the safety of numbers, though that wasn't important right now. All that mattered was Rarity.

As we were nearing the table with Rarity so did a single goblin, again hoping for easy prey. And again, the nasty buggers found itself having to go through a gold-scaled serpent to get to her. The greenskin shrieked as the snake was sinking its fangs in its flesh and backed away terrified. He wasn't the only one however, as Twilight too stopped in her tracks, looking with wide, fearful eyes at the reptilian. I ignored it, figuring it was just her fear of snakes thing. Besides, there were more important things than that.

We finally reached Rarity and the priest went straight to work. Throwing his shield and weapon to the ground he removed the hand Rarity was clutching her wound with and looked it carefully over. By this point Rarity was as white as a sheet of paper and was sweating heavily, her breathing labored. I silently prayed she would get through this, hoping that the guy would be able to help.

"Is she going to make it?" I heard Rynshinn ask, her voice sounding like it was coming from down a well. She seemed concerned, though I couldn't figure out why.

"I hope so." The priest replied uncertainly. "It all depends on the Dawnflower's will at this point. She lost a lot of blood, and I'm not as good as Abstalar at this type of thing…" He trailed off, looking at something slightly to the left of Rarity's wound.

It was the serpent. The legless reptile coiled beside Rarity's injured shoulder, as if in concern, and lifted its triangular head, its shiny, beady eyes staring at the priest. Naffer seemed transfixed with the snake, looking at it as if it was not an animal, but, I don't know, a sign from the heavens or something. Of course, not everypony reacted like the holy man, mainly Twilight, who let out a whimper and backed away slightly. Trixie looked at her with a raised eyebrow for a second, but dismissed it and looked back at Rarity, and… I must've been seeing things. There's no way she looked even remotely concerned. I must've been projecting my own emotions or something.

"Everything's going to be alright." Naffer's voice snapped me back to reality. He was smiling serenely for some reason, and it wasn't exactly clear whether he was reassuring Rarity, us, or himself. He seemed sure however, and for Rarity's sake I hoped he was right.

The priest reached for something around his neck. Only then did I realize he was wearing a sort of pendant made out of painted wood and attached to his neck via leather string. It looked somewhat like a likeness of a human woman with two feathered wings sprouting from her back and with a nimbus of light surrounding her head. The priest brought the pendant close to his face and whispered something inaudibly, as if praying. Seconds later he lifted the symbol over his head and loudly he proclaimed:

"May the Healing Light shine upon you!" His voice rang clear as a bell, and seconds later we were all engulfed in a bright flash of white light. Well, maybe not exactly white, it had a gold-like shine to it if you looked close enough, but I digress. It slowly dawned upon me what was going on as I saw the light move seemingly on its own accord and seep towards the wound on Rarity's shoulder, especially since it started to close up before my very eyes. The girls did say something similar happened to them when father Zantus was treating their wounds, so it must've been that healing magic thing they were talking about. But if memory serves me right…

I looked at the wound on my side which by now was all but forgotten. With all the stress of the last few minutes it completely slipped my mind. And now it could be forgotten completely, for it wasn't there anymore. The slash the goblin made in my side was gone, replaced by new skin I could faintly see through the tear in my clothes. But instead of relief I felt uneasy. There was something eerily familiar about this healing flash of light that was nagging at my thoughts. But try as I might, I couldn't figure out what was wrong.

I dismissed the thought hearing a loud intake of air from Rarity. Giving her my full attention I noticed her wound too had completely closed, and that a bit of color returned to her face, but she was still deadly pale. She breathed hard, as if exhausted, and looked at us in confusion.

"What's… going on?" She asked slowly, eyes darting from one face to another. "Not to sound rude but why is everyone looking at me?" She tried to sit up, but was stopped by priest Naffer.

"Easy there miss, please refrain from any sudden movements." He told her softly, helping her up carefully. "You lost a lot of blood and you may feel weak for a day or two. Sadly, I'm not as talented as Abstalar and I don't know how to replenish lost blood effectively, but I did manage to bring it up to a safe level."

Rarity looked at him nonplussed, as if the events of the last few minutes were completely forgotten to her. After a moment however realization hit her and she hastily looked at her shoulder. She flinched, seeing her blood-soaked clothes, but still smiled softly noticing that was the only damage there was. She looked again at the priest and nodded gratefully.

"I'm very grateful for your help, Mr. Zantus. If it wasn't for your timely arrival I shudder to think what fate would befall me."

"There's no need to thank me, I'm just trying to help." He waved the thanks off modestly and pointed at me to my great confusion. "If anyone, it's the little master you should be thanking. If he hadn't informed us of your condition when he did, I fear my measly knowledge of the healing crafts would not be enough to help." Okay, I think my ears are starting to burn for some reason. Have I just been praised for running around like a scared chicken?

Rarity gave the priest's words some thought and then shifted her sapphire gaze to me. Even now, pale, covered in sweat, and with tangled hair and tattered clothes she still looked breathtaking. It didn't even matter that she was a… what was her kind called again? Ah yes, a half-elf. It didn't matter that she wasn't a pony anymore, she was still as beautiful as ever, and I just realized that she was for the first time truly grateful for my help. Did I just got hit in the head and was daydreaming again? Because if so I never want to wake up.

My dream mare sent me a smile that could melt through even the thickest of icecaps. I felt my knees grow weak on me and my cheeks catch on fire. My heart was pumping harder than ever before. It was like in my dreams had just come true. She was now going to lean to me now… Holy buck, she actually did it! …And now she's going to whisper 'Thank you, Spike'…

"Thank you, Spike." …am I in heaven? But if my predictions are true then… oh please dear Faust, don't let me fain, don't let me faint, don't let me…

"Rarity, thank goodness you're alright!" What?

I looked confused as Twilight embraced Rarity.

Did she just…

Did she…

She did, didn't she?

…

BUUUUUUCK!!!

"I wouldn't go as far as to claim I'm perfectly fine, darling, but I am most definitely better." Rarity reassured Twilight, hugging her back. Not that I cared or anything. I was too busy planning my revenge on Twilight for ruining such a great moment for me to do that.

"That's good to hear." Rynshinn decided to butt in, smiling in relief. "I would hate to see someone as generous and kind as you die, miss Rarity. Not after what you have done for me." Well, now at least I know what her business here is. She's still feeling gratitude towards Rarity. Good for her I guess.

"Oh come now, it was not…" Rarity cut off mid-sentence with a look like she just remembered something. She ended her friendly embrace with Twilight and reached to the side of the table for something. Seconds later she returned, her beautiful gaze fixed on what she was holding in her ho hand. By the yelp of fright I could guess it was the golden snake.

"Well hello there, gorgeous." She cooed at it, not unlike Fluttershy usually does. The serpent was lazily slithering through her hands, its small head fixed on her. "I remember you. You came to help me and kept me safe while Spike was searching for help." Surprisingly, the snake seemed to nod at that, as if confirming her words. "Such a fabulous little thing to come to my aid, I must really be a lucky girl."

"Not that she particularly cares but Trixie was meaning to ask: what's up with that thing?" Still plotting revenge here, nothing's gonna distract me… oh buck it, who am I kidding. Trixie asked something I myself wanted to know.

Rarity looked at the showmare as if she just noticed her and scoffed, but answered nonetheless. "This, if you haven't noticed yet, is a serpent. A beautiful, fabulous, and most of importantly friendly serpent. And if you listened to me closely you would remember what I have said about it protecting me while Spike here was looking for help…"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie wasn't asking what it was, she has her own eyes." She replied coldly. "What she was asking was where did it come from, and why is it so docile."

"Actually, I kinda want to know that too." I added my three bits. "I mean it appeared with a loud bang in a cloud of smoke and all, but I have no idea where it came from."

"It did what now?" Well that got Twilight's attention. She looked genuinely interested, and I think her hands were instinctively reaching out for parchment. She even inched towards Rarity's serpentine friend, though she was still keeping her distance from it.

Rarity was about to respond, and I was actually looking forward to hearing it when something unexpected happened. The snake, still in Rarity's hands seemed to stiffen for some reason, and looked at Rarity strangely. I mean snakes don't have facial expressions, right? So how come it looked like it was apologetic? But I digress. So the serpent looked at Rarity apologetically, and after a second or two burst into a small cloud of white smoke, not too different from the one it came from. Twi and Trixie looked by all means surprised by this, and I wasn't any better, but for some reason neither Rynshinn nor priest Naffer looked fazed. Truth be told, Rarity too looked like if this wasn't anything surprising, though for all reason and purposes she should not be fearing any better than we did.

"Seems like she couldn't stay any longer. A pity, I was hoping to introduce her to Fluttershy. I'm more than certain she would be smitten by her golden coloration." Okay… Either I'm missing something or Rarity really knows what's going on.

My confusion was mirrored by Twilight, however unlike me she was more vocal about it.

"What are you talking about Rarity? What just happened?"

"Oh, nothing much Twilight. Our scaled guest just had to run back home is all." She explained, as if she was discussing the weather. We exchanged confused glances.

"Home?" I asked. "What do you mean by that?" The smile on Rarity's face gradually faltered, until it was replaced by a thoughtful frown. She stayed silent for a moment, thinking, and after a moment she managed to form a reply.

"I… don't rightfully know." She admitted to our ever growing surprise. The look on her face told us that she wasn't joking either, she really didn't know what was going on, and was beginning to panic. "How on earth do I even know about all this? What's going on? And what in the heavens is that noise?" Wait, what noise…

*clang*clang*clang*

Oh, that noise.

We turned around to check what was making all the ruckus, and truth be told, what we saw was something nopony valuing his or her life would dare question.

It was Pinkie Pie of course, being her usual random self. She was sitting on top of an upturned cauldron bigger than herself, and was hitting it with that spoon of hers creating a loud, resounding *clang* with each hit. Of course, Pinkie seemed to be too engrossed with what she was doing to notice much else, such as the fact she was making it hard for us to hear one another.

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted, trying to gain the party pony's attention. "Could you cut that out?! We're trying to talk here!"

"No can do Twilight! *clang* I'm kinda in the middle of something! *clang*"

"Pinkie, darling, whatever are you doing?" Rarity, who by now was back on her feet decided to venture down the path of enlightenment, though when it comes to Pinkie it probably was a road straight to a migraine headache.

"Subduing *clang* goblins *clang*!" Well, there you have it folks. She was subduing goblins.

How in Equestria did banging a spoon against a cauldron count as subduing anything?

The cauldron lifted up a little bit, a few clawed green fingers poking from beneath it. Feeling more than seeing this happen Pinkie jumped on the oversized pot, her momentum enough to force it back down and painfully squish the creature's fingers.

Sorry I asked.

We were about to shrug off Pinkie's antics and continue our earlier conversation, but silly us, there of course had to be something that would derail it entirely. And it started out innocently enough, when two mares hid behind a table from a fire bomb. Of course, we didn't have the rest of the story, which happened to be important to understand the ending. And just our luck, the ending was coming at us with all the force of a charging bull.

"Make way!" The unmistakable voice of Rainbow Dash rang out, and it took but a single glance to realize it was better to heed the warning. The girls and I, and of course the locals accompanying us all dodged to the side as a table charged where we stood only seconds ago. You got that right, it was a table. Of course, it wasn't moving on its own accord. Rainbow and Applejack were responsible for it, having lifted it between the two of them and running at full speed while using is as a shield. And to make things even more interesting three or four goblins were clinging for dear life to the top side of their crazy ride. And here I though nothing else was going to surprise me today.

AJ and RD charged straight past us, and judging by their course their plan became transparent. Running as fast as they could they barreled straight into the nearby church wall, goblins first. The greenskins' pained cries could be heard echoing through the square, but they apparently were still very much up and about. So, the dynamic duo decided to rinse and repeat. A few hasty steps back and they smacked against the wall again. And again. And again. They stopped only once the goblins fell silent.

"Ya reckon we got 'em?" AJ asked, panting.

"Think so. Lemme check." Rainbow volunteered and took a peak to the other side of the table. She was back within seconds, a bit green on her face. "Ya know, I think we overdid it a bit."

"Whaddya mean? What happened?"

"Trust me, ya don't wanna know." RD deadpanned, moving away from the table-turned-bulldozer. She was soon joined by Applejack and the two of them joined up with us.

"Hey guys. How you holding up? And what the hay happened to you Rares?"

"It's a long story Rainbow Dash, one that I will be more than pleased to forget about." Rarity responded with a shudder. "I see you two were not complaining about a lack of things to amuse yourself with." She added, gesturing at the table they were using.

"Are ya kiddin' Rarity? Ah would gladly take borin' over these green varmints any day of the week." AJ replied with irritation. "Fightin' for my life definitely ain't my definition of fun."

"Hey, where's Fluttershy?" Rainbow asked, noticing the lack of the shy pegasus. However the moment she asked the question it became obsolete, as in that same moment we could hear Fluttershy's sweet voice.

"Thank you again Mr. Caletti. If it wasn't for you, I don't know what would happen."

"Bah, don' mention in lass. I was just doing my job." The voice we came to associate with the grumpy guard replied, though it sounded significantly less… well, grumpy. Moments later we noticed the two walking towards us, Fluttershy keeping close to the guard, and the guard looking like he was enjoying himself, some would even say more than it was appropriate. Guess that's the Fluttershy Effect in the working. The look of enjoyment however disappeared from the guard's face once he noticed us, particularly Applejack. "Well, here ye go, yer… friends… are all 'ere an' waiting fer ye. Just do me a favor an' try ta keep away from trouble, alright?"

"I'll try my best." She promised, turning to face us and giving us a small, shaky smile. "It's good to see you girls are okay, I was worried sick that something bad has happened to you, and… Why are you looking at me like that Applejack?"

"Nothin' just… glad to see ya too sugarcube." AJ replied, though I suspect she purposely omitted whatever she was thinking about. Besides, the cold glare she was sending the guard was a dead giveaway. Not that he seemed to care much, she was too busy giving Rynshinn glare of his own.

"Spit it out already Ernie." She said flatly, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "I don't have all day." The guard's glare intensified.

"Don't think ye can fool me like ye did with Belor, Povalli. I'm keeping an eye on ye." Okay, seriously: what the heck was going on? I was completely lost at this point, and it didn't seem it was going to change anytime soon, especially considering the guard averted his gaze from the fashionista and looked behind her at something, his expression changing into one of confusion. "What the bleeding 'ell…"

"Ernie! We have a problem!" I turned around and saw the second guard from this morning, Titus if memory serves me right, running at us in the company of three other guards. They didn't look very good, one of them was heavily bleeding from his arm, and another seemed to have a nasty cut on the face. Titus himself was sporting a black eye, and his orange mantle was stained with blood splatters, but other than that he seemed fine, still holding his spear tightly. Priest Naffer went on to help the wounded at once.

"What is it? Shouldn't ye be defending tha gate? An' where's Sorrento?"

"Sorrento's dead man, a goblin sniped him." Guard Titus was clearly agitated. Every few seconds he was shooting looks behind him, as if he expected something to come after them. "Listen: something's coming our way, and whatever it is, I saw it spit fire." Ernie paled hearing that, and the girls just got confused. What the living hay was going on?

"Ye mean like a bloomin'…"

"Nah man, it ain't that. The thing's on wheels." Titus shook his head.

"Then why are ye here? Ye closed the gate, didn't ye?"

"That's just it: we can't! The shit's stuck man, it won't budge! Someone tapered with it or some shit, I don't know."

"Oh, fuck me sideways…" Ernie muttered, shaking his head. After a moment however he regained his composure and looked the guards over, a strange look in his eyes. It seemed almost… professional for a lack of better word. "Listen up lads, here's the plan: we're gonna form a defensive perimeter 'ere an' block off Church Street. Find anything that can be used fer creating a barricade an' set it up: tables, stools, crates, whatever. We're not about to let them soggin' green arsewipes torch us down. Now move it!"

Three of the four guards set off to work, securing whatever they could for their barricade, the fourth still being treated by priest Naffer. However, it was only three men, four if you counted Ernie, and who knows how soon whatever was coming would get here. The guard with the Edinspur accent noticed that too, and though it looked like he was doing it reluctantly, he turned to us.

"Listen, I'm not doin' this lightly, but we really need any help ye can give." He almost pleaded, looking both at Rynshinn and Naffer, and at us. "If whatever's out there get's deeper into Sandpoint, we could have a repeat o' the Late Unpleasantness. So please, fer fuck's sake, help us."

The two locals didn't need to be persuaded. The vision of their hometown burning down was enough reason to help out. But what about us? We didn't live here per se, and our first priority should be our own safety. But there was just something wrong with letting those people unaided, not when we could make a difference. And keeping the town safe would translate into us being safe, right?

The girls and I shared a look. We all knew what was needed to be done. We nodded at each other, even Fluttershy, though she seemed to be terrified at the prospect, and we looked at the guard with resolve in our eyes.

"Where do you want those barricades?"
> Act Two Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 1 of Rova (Presumably 24 of September, 1000 SR), Late Afternoon


From the very moment Twilight voiced our group decision I had a bad feeling about this. Something in my bones was telling me that somepony was going to regret getting involved in this, most likely me. Sometimes I really think the universe just hates me like that.

The girls, or at least most of them seeing as Rarity was in no condition to help and Fluttershy wasn't the best choice when it comes to manual labor went straight to work, and so did I. Thanks to the instructions the guards working on the barricades were giving us we at least knew what to do. Right now our main priority was to find as much materials as possible for the blockade: tables, stools, crates, barrels, anything that could help, and gather it near the mouth of the street leading to the gate. A simple task, really, or at least it was simple for those of us that were taller than six hoofs. Let's just say being a short guy didn't really help in the strength department. Though seeing Pinkie drag that cauldron of hers with next to no effort might've made my argument moot.

It didn't take us long to realize we had a problem at our hooves. Despite our best efforts to gather as much stuff as we could it just wasn't enough to block the street completely. Even with that butterfly-wagon from earlier that guard Ernie and his men rolled into position it wouldn't be enough. So, in a desperate attempt to make do with what we had instead of one single blockade Ernie decided to make several closely-placed barricades, packed so densely that nothing should be able to ride between them. Or at least that was the plan.

It took us surprisingly short to erect those impromptu defenses. They… weren't exactly the most defensible thing I ever saw, but hopefully they would be enough. I mean a wagon, several overturned tables, a bunch of barrels and crates, and one cauldron filled with unconscious goblins (Pinkie, need I say more) against what? Two dozens of greenskins? Or that fire-spewing thing Titus was talking about? Seriously, I would be surprised if everypony one would walk away alive from this. We're all gonna die, I just know it.

Just when I was starting to get myself acquaintance to my more fatalistic side reality came crashing upon us. The sound of goblin cheers, war cries, and songs was beginning to get audible, mixed with some kind of yapping-barking noise I never heard before and the sound of something on wheels. Fortunately, the defenses were mostly ready. Wasting no time the whole lot of us took cover behind our barricades, a few brave souls peeking carefully from behind them in search of the green menace.

Within seconds the street became swarmed by goblins. Pouring into town through the sabotaged gate, the greenskins looked eager to do more damage. But there was something strange about them. The only goblins we faced up until now looked mostly the same: leather protective clothing, wide, rusty knives, that sort of thing. Now however…

First off, a good number of the greenskins carried torches with them, probably planning on setting whatever they could ablaze. And seeing as a good portion of town was made out of wood, that could be one hay of a fire. Secondly, there were the rare individuals that looked and acted different from the rest. Some of them wore a little better gear than the rest, like metal-studded leather jackets or less rusty knives. Others were armed with bows and arrows, and were already scanning their surroundings in search of a potential target. And then there were they: goblin riders.

Armed with lance-like weapons only slightly better looking than most goblin knives, the riders sat on the backs of creatures I have never seen before. They looked almost like dogs, but something was off about them. They looked gnarly, like twisted, sickly, malnourished canines with a matted, thinning coat, yet they moved with surprising speed and strength. Their ugly heads sported maws filled with sharp teeth, showing them off as they growled and yap-barked. Slobber seeped from their muzzles constantly, as if the creatures themselves were rabid, yet somehow the goblins were able to control them. But probably the weirdest part about them was their tails. They were… rat-like. I kid you not, they looked like they belonged on an oversized rat. Come to think of it, were they even dogs to begin with?

We didn't have much time to think about the mystery of the rat-dog hybrids however. It seemed that the cosmos decided to throw at us everything and the kitchen sink, as became  apparent once the sound of wheels became loud enough to draw attention. I heard a series of loud gasps and a "what in blazes is that thing", and I became curious. Taking a risk I normally wouldn't, I peeked around cover, searching for whatever it was that made such a commotion. I didn't have to look long.

A strange contraption overtook the swarm of goblins, more than one of them being run over by it. The thing looked like a… fire pump for lack of better word. Actually it looked like a fire pump made out of everything a fire pump shouldn't be built out of. Its frame looked like if somepony took a bed and attached cartwheels to it. Said wheels seemed to be salvaged from a junk pile; missing spokes and with rusty axles, they seemed to be holding together only thanks to some mysterious divine will of some sort. The wagon itself was divided into two parts: one where the goblin steering this contraption sat, and a "cargo compartment" if you will. The cargo section was mostly took up by a large, barrel-like container, protected by sheets of rusty metal and crowned by a wooden handrail, forming something like a crow's nest. A single goblin sat on top of it, aiming a shabby-looking crossbow at us. Now, the barrel itself was connected to a pump manned by two goblins going wild on its handles. I kind of think they didn't know what they were doing, treating the pump as a seesaw of sorts if their piercing laughter was anything to go by. Either way, the pump was connected to a flexible hose-type thing held by a third goblin, who was aiming its tip threateningly, a sick grin plastered on his hideous face. The picture of this mind-numbingly, Pinkie Pie-esque contraption was completed by two of those goblin dogs (think that's a good name for now), strapped to it and urged on by the driver.

"Okay, is it just me or did we just get to freaky town?" Rainbow commented, looking oddly at the contraption as it screeched to a halt in front of our barricade. The goblin driver seemed angry that someone had the gall to force him to stop, a stream of curses I rather not repeat escaping his mouth. "Seriously: what the hay is that thing supposed to be?"

"A flamethrower?" One of the guards proposed, peeking at it. "I saw it spew fire like forty feet away." Well, a fire pump it is then.

"Well if it ain't just peachy." AJ commented, also glancing at the thing. "Ah'm begginin' ta think this was a bad idea."

"I didn't hear ye propose anythin' better." Guard Ernie seemed to have heard that and take offense. He then glanced at his men, all of them hiding behind the roadblocks, and scowled. "Were aren't ye lot jus' the pinnacle o' uselessness. Ye got bloomin' bows, use 'em fer fuck's sake!" And to drive his point across he retrieved his bow from his back, drew an arrow and quickly peaked out of cover, releasing it into the crowd of greenskins.

Although Ernie probably missed horribly if the lack of pained goblin yelps was anything to go by, his men seemed to snap out of their trance. One by one they lay down their melee weapons and switched to bows that every one of them was carrying. Within seconds they were ready to start shooting at the assaulting greenskins, using the tactic presented by their (I guess) senior officer.

At first it seemed to be working. The goblin dogs pulling the flamethrower, spooked by the whistling of arrows flying by began scrambling away, running away and pulling the contraption with them despite the swearing protests of their driver, and a few unlucky goblins suffered arrow wounds, some of them dropping dead on the spot. I was even kinda relieved at that. At least they weren't going to hurt anypony if they're dead.

Man, that's a morbid thought.

Either way, the goblins' line began to waver, probably surprised by the opposition they were facing. That didn't last long unfortunately. For some reason the song some of the goblins were still chanting, the one about slashing and bumping and all that gritty stuff, as if by magic seemed to fill the greenskins with confidence. They slowly began retaliating, the archers shooting back at us, the ones with knives trying to rush our positions. Within moments what looked like a possible victorious defense turned into a desperate attempt to keep the goblins away.

"Ernie!" The Titus guy yelled over the din of hollering greenskins. "This doesn't look good!" He ducked, narrowly dodging a goblin arrow aimed at his head.

"Well a bloody genius ye are!" He snapped, taking a pot shot. Judging from a goblin shriek he must've hit one.

"They're gonna rush us Ernie!" Titus warned.

"And what am I to do 'bout it?! I have me hands full, and we need all able bowmen as it is!"

"Hey, new guys!" Titus, who was still ducking under cover looked at us. "You wanted to help out. Each of you grab a melee weapon from a guard and hack at any greenskin that comes near." Before we had the time to process that request he turned to the two local civilians. "Povalli! You're quick with that dagger of yours, make use of it. Vosk! A little divine help would be appreciated. Or at least use that scimitar of yours when push comes to shove."

"Surely I must have misheard you dear." Rarity interjected, hiding behind a barrel and completely ignoring the two local civilians proving her otherwise. "There is no possible way that you have just asked us to… to pick up those filthy, bloodstained weapons and use them to harm anything." Seriously? I mean seriously?

"Look: either you take those blood-covered weapons as you called them…"

"Filthy and bloodstained dear. I said filthy and bloodstained."

"Not important!" Titus snapped. "Either you take those weapons and put them to use, or we're all dead meat, you got that? There's no going back now, and I don't wanna hear that someone's a sworn pacifist; either we all do our part or we die and get eaten."

Well that was an interesting motivational speech if ever I heard one, but he had a point, and after my… episode… I was slowly getting used to the idea of killing to survive. And it did serve its purpose. Though begrudgingly, Rarity picked up one of the guards' swords clumsily (she made an effort to do that through a handkerchief), and crouched behind cover. I doubt she was going to actively take part in this fight, but then again, she still looked a bit too pale for comfort. At least if the situation went too far south she would have some means of defending herself that was more reliable than a golden snake coming out of nowhere.

Following Rarity's example the rest of the girls minus Fluttershy (again, no one seemed to notice nor be particularly peeved by it) took up some kind of arms. Rainbow was quick to secure a sword for herself, figuring this was going to be awesome or something, and so did Applejack. Twilight was forced a sword as well, interrupting her furious scribing… wait, what? Seriously, was she noting down what was going on right now? Should've known she would do something like that. Eh, no matter.

The rest, and by that I mean Pinkie, Trixie, and myself were left with significantly shorter blades, which coincidentally seemed almost to scale when it came to me and Pinks. Suffice to say Trixie was rather upset that Twilight's was bigger… okay, that came out wrong.

A few greenskins fell before they reached the barricades, shot down either by the guards or friendly fire. But that was only a little percent of their actual force. Most of them managed to reach our position and were trying to climb over our defenses. Clearly they weren't the brightest bunch. I mean there were openings in the barricade, maybe too small for a wagon to drive through but enough for them to fit on hoo foot. But that's not important. The point is that they were taking their sweet time climbing over the overturned tables and stacked crates, making them surprisingly easy pickings.

Rynshinn once again was proving to be far more than a simple seamstress. The dagger in her hands a blur, she didn't leave even a shadow of a chance to those few unfortunate greenskins that chosen her stretch of the barrier. Priest Naffer was doing well too, that strange sword of his making little work of the small monsters, the shield in his other hand defending him from the incoming projectiles. AJ and Rainbow too weren't slacking off, handling their weapons with surprising ease. It was almost as if they weren't in alien bodies at all, and weren't a Wonderbolt hopeful and a farmpony but professional guards with some training under their belts. Especially Applejack. She was slashing those greenskins that managed to climb to the top effortlessly, and stabbing those who were still climbing by quickly reaching over her cover, and not once had she flinched while doing so, her face set in determination. Rainbow for once in her life was hard pressed to keep up with her, swinging her own weapon wildly at any goblin she could reach and trying her best to contribute to the defenses. The others however… well, that's a completely different story.

Rarity, as I suspected earlier, was avoiding having to use her sword as much as possible. She kept her head low and tried to stick as close to Applejack as she could, quickly figuring she was doing great. The same went for Fluttershy, only she was tailing the living blur known as Dash. Twilight tried to help out as best she could, but her wild swings for the most part weren't connecting with anything. I even think she closed her eyes at some point and was hacking at the "goblins" (more like air) blindly. Trixie I didn't even see, so there's not much I can say about how she was doing. I suspect she legged it the moment the assault started. And as for Pinkie…

"This is the best game of whack-a-mole ever!" Yep, she was doing fine. Actually, she was probably the only one besides me that decided to cover the gaps in the barricade, though thanks to her (and my own) diminutive stature helping out with the barricade proper would be problematic to say the least. Zipping from one break to another, she whacked the more intelligent goblins that decided to use them over their heads with that wooden spoon of hers. It didn't even matter that she was holding a short sword in her other hand, she still favored the most inefficient weapon possible.

I should probably mention what I was up to during all this. Well, I tried, like Twilight, to contribute somehow. And, like I said before, I had the same idea as Pinkie did, though instead of running from one opening to another I guarded one and the same. Truth be told, I didn't have much to do; most goblins were too dumb to figure out there were gaps in the barricade, and the ones that did were taken care of by miss Spoon Fanatic over yonder. Though there was this one goblin…

I was standing near one of the gaps, back to the barricade, short sword in claw hand, looking at how the others were doing.  That's when a green, bald, oversized head popped through the hole, its red, beady eyes scanning its surroundings. Our eyes met, the goblin letting out a surprised shriek, but instead of backing away it pulled the rest of its green body inside. From the corner of my eye I saw the blade it was carrying. Remembering how much it hurt to get hit by that thing, as well as noticing it was in the hand further from me, I made a split-second decision. Putting all my weight into it, I swung my blade in an arc, going for a wide stab. Surprised by this, the goblin was unable to parry or dodge out of the way in time. With a sickening slicing sound the sword sunk into the stunned sadist's sternum. The greenskin's eyes only managed to widen before they lost all life and the creature collapsed, sliding off of my blade. For a second I stared at its lifeless body, blood pouring out of its wound, but this time I managed to shake myself out of my stupor. It was a quick, clean death, he didn't suffer long, and I didn't brutalize his body afterwards. I'm cool.

Ah, who am I kidding. I'm probably having nightmares about this for the rest of my life.

Ducking back behind cover I decided to take a sneak peek at the goblin ranks, wondering how much longer was this going to take. I mean we were holding up surprisingly well, but that couldn't last forever. Somepony or someone was bound to slip up at some point. Even now one of the guards was taken out of commission by a stray goblin arrow, and with priest Naffer trying to heal him the melee ranks were weakened as well. If this keeps up we're going to end up as goblin chow in no time.

Just as I was thinking this something unexpected happened. The greenskins, up until now relentlessly storming our lines began losing momentum, as if they lost their drive to attack. It took me a moment to realize that the assault wasn't the only thing that was dying down. For some reason the singing (if those screeches could even be called that) stopped, and as if that was some kind of catalyst for their bloodlust the moment it stopped the greenskins did so too. Instead, they gathered further away and waited, as if expecting something to happen.

"Guys, I think it's working!" One of the guards shouted, encouraged by the weird goblin behavior. "We can repel them!"

"Focus ye twit, this ain't normal fer them soggin' greenskins." Ernie scolded, peeking over his cover at the weirdly behaving goblins. "They're up to somethin', I can feel it in me bones."

"No offense Ern, but you always were a pessimist." The same guard responded, a grin on his face. "Just look at 'em, they're hightailing it out of town as we speak." I quick glance past my cover revealed it wasn't exactly true. I'm beginning to wonder if that guy isn't just a tad bit overenthusiastic.

I didn't have time to ponder this any longer unfortunately. Looking at the goblins back away from our line of defense I could faintly hear something over their screeches and deranged laughter. It was the familiar sound of bark-yipping and the rattle of a wagon. Putting two and two together I realized what was going on, and it made my blood run cold.

"Flamethrower incoming!" I yelled as loud as I could, ducking back behind cover. The guards and the girls looked at me funny, but when Twilight was about to ask what I was talking about the goblins' ranks parted, letting in the fire wagon at full speed.

The guys didn't have time to react as the strange contraption rolled on the now corpse-ridden foreground. Knowing that there was a barricade in their path the goblin steering the contraption forced the dogs to go in a wide arc, riding just in front of the barrier with surprising speed. In the meantime the goblin operating the hose, that same sick grin still plastered on his face made his debut with the onboard weapon. Aiming in our general direction he pulled back the sealing mechanism on his hose, releasing hell in liquid form upon our ranks.

For a split second after it left the confines of the hose the napalm-like substance looked like a stream of tomato juice, opaque and dark red in color. Half a second later it was a blazing inferno speeding through the air towards us. With shrieks of surprise and fright, and a good number of startled yells everyone ducked behind cover, trying desperately not to get hit by the liquid flames, me included. After all, now that I'm not a dragon anymore I'm not exactly fireproof.

The fire wagon rode off a bit, its driver preparing to turn it around and come for a second pass, all the while laughing maniacally. Our group on the other hand was attempting to figure out what just happened. True, we all knew at some level this was bound to happen, but it did little to diminish our shock. It was slowly dawning on us what we were up against, and it was not looking pretty.

"Man, we're screwed." Titus muttered dejectedly. "That thing's gonna roast us."

"Will ye quit yer whinin' already?! Yer getting on me nerves!" Ernie snapped at him. Then, after he took a calming breath the looked over his men. "Status?"

"Nothing serious, a few scrapes and light burns, but we're mostly good." The same young guard replied. "Only problem is that hell engine over there. I'm telling you man, I have a bad feeling about this. I can only imagine what that thing can do to you if it hits."

"As long as ye do yer part ye can even imagine yerself makin' sweet love to it." Ernie grumbled and then turned to us. His eyes lingered for a moment on Fluttershy, who as predictable was scared out of her wits and was huddling behind a barrel, as close as possible to Rainbow as she could. "How are ye holding up?" He asked finally, a little less gruffly than when he asked his men.

AJ shook her head and pushed whatever animosity she felt towards the guy to the back of her head as she replied. "We're fine for the most part. But that fire-spewin' do-hickey is a might concernin'." As if to stress her words the goblins did a second pass and sprayed even more liquid fire on our position. Thankfully, no one got hurt.

"Agreed." The guard nodded, taking a sneak-peak at the retreating contraption. "That thing has to go."

"Easier said than done." His most vocal companion retorted snidely. "If you haven't noticed Ernie, that thing is impossible to get near to. What, we rush it and hope it doesn't burn us to a crisp?"

"Ye got bows, do the math." Was the only reply he got. Unfortunately for Ernie though, Titus was far from finished.

"Ah, yes, brilliant idea oh fearless leader. There's only one problem: we're running low on arrows. What are we gonna do once we run out of them completely, huh? Throw rocks at them?"

"If ye don't quit yer bitching I'm gonna throw you at 'em!"

"And those are supposed to be the defenders of this place." Rainbow muttered, shaking her head in exasperation.

"Well, both have fairly good points to be honest." Came Twilight's reply. "We are in a tight situation, and the only way to get out of it is risky to say the least. It's obvious that tempers will flare in such conditions."

"Yeah, I hear ya Twi. It's just that… do they have to argue about this right now? We have bigger problems at hoof, like the one spitting fire every fifteen seconds." That effectively shut up Twilight, mainly because Rainbow was right. This was getting us nowhere. And like the fool that I am, I decided to remedy this by doing something extremely stupid.

Waiting for another pass of the fire wagon I inched my way to a break in the barricade. I was hoping that if I was quick enough I would be able to spot something that could help us, like a weak spot or something like that. So, waiting for it to go by my position I prepared myself mentally for what I was about to do, and the moment I heard the high-pitched sound of grinding axles I peeked around the corner, keeping my eyes peeled for anything we could exploit.

I quickly scanned the whole bulk of the wagon. The thing actually looked pretty shabby to begin with, like a proper smack would break into itty bitty pieces, yet somehow it was able to withstand all the jerking around, sharp turns, and of course the constant quick pace. It really was bizarre how something like this could actually work.

Just as I was about to duck back into the safety of cover I spotted something that made me realize what needed to be done. My eyes lingered on the contraption on the wagon, the barrel-pump-hose system operated by the four goblin passengers, and in a stroke of realization I knew what had to be done. We could take this thing out of commission, in more ways than one actually. The greenskins after all weren't protected by anything, all that had to be done was to get rid of them to make the contraption only a simple wagon.

Or we could focus fire on the barrel containing the combustive liquid. Although it was somewhat reinforced with makeshift armor plating, it was only sheets of thin, rusty metal, and I bet if we were to punch a hole in it the liquid would burst into flames in a violent reaction. After all, it combusted when mixed with air, and if such large amounts of the thing were to suddenly get into contact with it, it could even explode! That would make this so much easier for us.

I was about to share my findings with the others, but of course something had to go wrong. So preoccupied with my scrutinizing of the wagon I failed to notice what the one with the crossbow was doing. Yelling at the one holding the hose and pointing me out, he grinned maliciously, readying his weapon, looking forward to what was about to happen to me. I only noticed all this when the gunny hefted his hose in my general direction and hollered at the top of his lungs something along the lines of "Burn! Burn! Burn!". Before I could react a stream of red liquid quickly turning into flames sailed through the air towards me, promising me a painful death.

I stood there, paralyzed by fear. I know I should've just bound back behind cover, that it would be enough to protect me, but when faced with the possibility of confronting my own mortality I just couldn't force myself to act. They say when faced with certain death your life flashes before your eyes. For me, the only thing I could see was the damned fire coming my way, and the helpless realization that this was going to hurt.

I faintly felt something grabbing me by the collar of my shirt, but I was too preoccupied with my impending doom to pay it any mind. But just as the liquid fire was about to splash into me and burn me to a crisp, I was yanked out of the way with enough force to send me flying. For a split second I was confused as to what just happened, especially after hearing something whizz right past my ear, but that was quickly replaced by the searing sensation in my right foot.

The moment I landed on my side I scrambled to a sitting position, my eyes darting to my injured foot, and with dread I realized that I didn't avoid the napalm strike completely. The short, curly fur on my foot was seared and blackened, as if charred (which it was, considering the wisp of smoke coming from it), and my exposed skin was scarlet, with blisters slowly forming on it. It was official: my first ever burn, and in a highly irritable place to boot. One thing was for sure however –I did not want to experience something like this again, ever.

Gulping down mouthfuls of air I tried to ignore the pain, focusing my mind on something different. Obviously my first thought was on what the heck just happened. Did somepony pull me from harm's way? It sure seemed that way. Guess I owe somepony. Hmm… maybe I should incorporate that into my dragon code? Well, that can wait, I needed to find out who saved me first, and then properly thank…

"You could've moved on your own, lizard brain." Oh hay no!

I whipped around, almost giving myself a whiplash, and with wide eyes I looked at the one who pulled me out of the way. And I already knew this was going to be a pain.

Trixie was gathering herself from the ground, obviously after pulling me to safety. She was looking at me with that infuriating superior scowl on her face, but… There was something different about it. Again, I'm probably only projecting this, but I think she was actually a little bit concerned. I mean a little bit concerned, like you'd be for your goldfish or something, but it was there.

"Did you just… pull me into cover?" I asked, voice heavily laced with confusion. I was rewarded by another smug, superior look from the magician, and I already knew what was about to happen next.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie, in a show of her boundless grace has decided to come to your aid, and saved you from certain death by immolation." She proclaimed proudly, actually doubly so because it was somewhat true. Problem is, from the position she was in, still trying to get on her feet after being painfully reunited with the ground it was more comical than glorious. That and her tone was still getting on my nerves.

I shook my head listening to this. "You pulled me into cover and that's that." I droned, receiving an incredulous look from the mare. Still, there was one question that kept nagging at my conscience. "Why?"

For a second it looked like Trixie was spluttering, as if shocked by something and desperately trying to come up with something to say. It took me a moment to realize that I actually asked that question out loud, no wonder she's acting like this. I decided however against trying to explain myself, this was after all only Trixie, it's not like I have to play nice with her, right?

Why do I suddenly feel like a jerk?

"See if I pull you out of harm's way ever again, half-size." She finally settled on a glare, her tone easily described as furious. Trixie then scowled and averted her gaze, muttering darkly under her breath. "You pull his scaly behind from certain doom and he questions your motives, the ungrateful sonuva…"

"Alright, alright! Sheesh, don't need to blow a gasket about it." I interrupted her angry ranting. Judging from her glare that didn't do too much to calm her down. Ugh… This was really the last thing I wanted to deal with right now. "Yeah, well… thanks for pulling me out of the way." I attempted to appease her, despite really not wanting to do this. Fortunately, I didn't need to do much else; Trixie's glare morphed into a superior look that I was more used to.

"Finally, some well deserved recognition." She stated proudly, and finally gathered herself from the ground, still ducking behind cover. Seconds prior another swoop of the fire-spewing contraption splashed against the barricade, so it was understandable. "You were very lucky that the Great and Powerful Trixie saw it in her to risk her own wellbeing to save you from a fiery death."

"Yeah, I'm the luckiest dragon in Equestria." I droned. She really had to push it, didn't she?

Once again she leveled me with a look, and for a moment I was beginning to think that Trixie took notice of the heavy sarcasm in my tone. "Do not get your hopes up, lizard." Huh? What is she insinuating now? "As much as it pains Trixie to admit it, you, Sparkle, and her minions are the only other natives of Equestria besides her. If keeping you all alive will make Trixie less of a target for such deranged creatures as these green-skinned menaces, then so be it."

…that answers that; herd mentality at its finest. I don't know what I was expecting.

I shook my head once more and got to my feet. Or at least I tried to; the moment my left foot touched the ground I felt a sharp jab of pain course through my system. Stumbling a bit and letting out a grunt of pain, I managed to steady myself against the barricade. I forgot for a moment there my foot wasn't exactly in the best of states. Still, I had information that might be crucial if we wanted to survive this, something as trivial as a burnt foot wasn't going to stop me.

I hobbled my way towards the girls, leaning against the barricade for support. Following me like a shadow was Trixie, and of course the high and mighty con mare didn't bother to help me. I ignored her, making my way to the bulk of our group, still huddled against the blockade. By now most of it was on fire, burning slowly and providing rather poor protection, but it was still better than being in the open. Getting closer, I was able to make out between the crackling of the flames and the goblin screams of fiery ecstasy the tail end of a conversation.

"…hope you know what you're doing Ern. This is risky as all hell." I think it was guard Titus who said that, but I can't be sure.

"I bloody well know it's risky, but what other choice do we have?" That was unmistakably Ernie, the bearded guard's accent easily distinguishable. "Now on the count o’ three: one, two…"

"Hold up!" I yelled, interrupting them. The guards all looked at me, as did the girls as I quickened my pace.

"Spike?" I heard Twilight's surprised voice. She was looking at me, those too-dark-to-be-normal eyes of hers boring into me. "Where have you… oh my gosh, you're hurt!" Here we go again.

Before I had the time to protest she bounded for me, her eyes gleaming with concern. Within seconds I found myself scooped in her arms (however strange that sounds) and carried towards the only person that knew any healing magic around, priest Naffer. Before long the holy man was looking over my burnt foot and preparing a spell.

"Spike, what happened? How did you get hurt? You should've been more careful. Why did you wander off in a time like this? You should've known better…" Okay, as rare as this was, Twilight just went into overprotective mode. I don't even know if it's more embarrassing than sweet, but right now, it was first and foremost getting in the way.

"Whatever you guys were planning, hold up with doing that!" I yelled over Twilight's concerned rambling, as well as the din of the girls who more or less swarmed over to me. In any other circumstances I would find this as proof of my irresistible charm. "I found out something that might be useful!"

"What are ye talking about, half-pint?" Ernie asked, for once actually curious. In the meantime Naffer cast that healing spell of his and a small, golden light was shining on my foot, easing the pain.

"I took a better look at the contraption, and I think I know how to deal with it." I said, grabbing everyone's attention. With all eyes on me, I gulped down the sudden wave of nervousness and began retelling my findings.

By the time I was finished Ernie adopted a thoughtful expression, going over the info as well as my suggestions. For a second it looked like he was about to reject my input entirely, but then:

"I got to give it to ye: this plan isn't half bad." He nodded, though the look on his face didn't change one bit. "I just don't think we 'ave enough arrows fer this to work. That plowin' hell engine moves so fast it takes a bloody marksman to hit it. We'll sooner run out o' ammo than properly hit it."

"Maybe we won't need to aim though, Ernie." Titus suggested, and at the bewildered look from his fellow guardsman elaborated. "What if we all shoot in a volley, aiming only in the wagon's general direction? Maybe we won't be as accurate as while taking the time to aim, but a few arrows are bound to hit."

"Hold on a minute now, sugarcube." AJ for some reason decided to jump into the conversation. Looking at her, it seemed like she had an idea of her own. "What if we wouldn't need ta worry 'bout them green varmints makin' rounds round the square?" The two guards looked at her for a moment with surprise, and after a moment Ernie decided to voice his thoughts.

"Ye want to tell us, lass, that ye could a stopped 'em a long time ago, is that right?" His question was more of an accusation, but Applejack expertly ignored that part.

"Ah'm sayin' that Ah have an idea how ta make 'em stop. There's no promise it'll work." She explained. "Ah'll need a length o' rope though. Any of you guys have some?"

"I think I saw some loose rope over by the tents earlier today. I'll get it." One of the guards volunteered. After getting permission from his superiors he ran for the nearest tent, careful to avoid being spotted by the goblin pyros.

"I hope whatever you're planning works, I really don't fancy using Ernie's approach." Titus commented, earning a glare from his fellow guard and a confident nod from Applejack.

"Don't ya fret none sugarcube, Ah took part in enough rodeo competitions ta know what Ah'm doin'."

"Still, I'd sleep a lot better if I knew we have enough firepower ta shower those green arsewipes in arrows if things don't go yer way, lass." Ernie grumbled, flinching a bit as the said greenskins made another pass and released another torrent of liquid flames.

"If that is the case than rejoice, peons, for I, the Great and Powerful Trixie, have exactly what you need!" The sudden declaration from the con mare took us by surprise. All eyes fell on Trixie, most of them either suspicious or annoyed, for obvious reasons. Still, the magician seemed to grow, obviously enjoying the spotlight if her smirk was any indication.

"What are you blabbering about?" Rainbow asked suspiciously, probably voicing the thoughts of most of us. As expected, this only served to inflate Trixie's already overinflated ego. With the "better than thou" look of hers in full swing, she hefted something from her back and placed it on the ground in front of us. After closer inspection it was revealed to be a quite sizable bag. Opening it, she revealed that it contained a number of crossbows, quite similar to the one I used earlier today in that target shooting game, as well as a good amount of ammunition for them.

"Trixie will spare you the details of how she came into possession of these armaments. Suffice to say we have more burning problems as it is to lose our breath over such details."

For a moment there it looked like Dash was about to argue about it, but she ultimately refrained from doing so. Whatever she did to get those crossbows, or why she did it in the first place was unimportant. The only thing that mattered was that with these we would finally be able to do some serious damage to that fire wagon. The guards too seemed to share my point of view and didn't ask questions. I'm guessing they're just going to later say it was requisitioned for the purpose of driving off the goblins or something.

The crossbows were quickly distributed between us, the guards sticking to their bows while the civilians, us included, took one each. Or at least most of us did; again, Fluttershy didn't seem too comfortable with the idea. Curiously enough though Rarity didn't seem to hold as much resentment towards taking one as when she was forced a sword into her hoof hand. Each of us took a quiver of bolts and after getting a crash course on using crossbows (or refreshing our knowledge in AJ's, Rainbow's, and my case) we spread out, preparing for the assault. That is until all hey broke loose.

As we were getting into position, each of us trying to stay low and find a good firing position, preferably one that wasn't already on fire itself, the guard that went looking for rope for Applejack made his comeback. Unfortunately, he didn't time it right. The moment he choose to try and regroup with us the goblins started another pass. The gunny, noticing a lone human running in the open hefted his fire-spewing hose a bit higher and aimed at the guard. When the time was right, he released a torrent of liquid flames at the unfortunate man, murderous intent audible in his shrill cry.

The guard had barely any time to react. The moment he saw the flames flying towards him he threw the rope he was holding as far away from him as he could, already knowing he didn't have a chance to dodge. A second later the liquid fire splashed against him, covering the poor man from head to toe in flames. His agonizing cries of pain filled the air with the lament of a tortured soul, momentarily making our blood run cold, The pain of fire eating away at his flesh was enough for him to lose his mind, and as he began thrashing about, flailing his arms around he ran in a random direction. And luck just had it that he ran straight at a familiar-looking white and red tent.

Within seconds the tent caught on fire, flames spreading at a lightning fast pace. Bales of fabric and ready clothes alike, they all served as fuel for the raging inferno as Rynshinn's possessions went up in flames. It took the fire less than ten seconds to consume everything, the weakened, blazing canvas collapsing on the still horrifyingly screeching man inside. It was already clear that he wasn't going to make it, and that he was destined to die in a way so unimaginably painful that I shudder to even think about it.

We watched helplessly as all this happened, too shocked and horrified to do anything. We were by now slowly getting used to the idea of death, that we all could die here, but witnessing this was like a slap to the face. We truly knew nothing, we knew only that death may happen, but we didn't think about it being such a horrifying, mind-numbingly painful experience. But now? Now we knew. And we were determined not to let it happen to us.

We weren't the only ones affected by the events of the last minute. Rynshinn, who not only had just witnessed the death of the unfortunate guard but also lost her own property was staring at the blazing remains of her tent, her wide eyes glued to the burning structure. The look on her face was one of shock and disbelief, her eyes brimming with tears. She seemed to try to say something, but no sound came from her throat. But this state of shock didn't last forever, and within moments it was replaced by something completely different.

White-hot rage.

She stood from her place behind cover and turned around to face the goblins. Her eyes burned with boundless anger, her whole frame shook with barely controlled emotion, but the worst part were her hands. They were glowing with a sort of light one could describe only as magic; wild, uncontrolled, destructive magic. Its bluish hue was darkening with every second as if reflecting Rynshinn's emotions, yet it was growing ever more intense at the same time. It was warping, coalescing, forming into small balls of energy that were doubling their size with each heartbeat. Soon, they were so large that they barely fit in Rynshinn's palms, flowing and crackling with mystic power that made every sane creature witnessing it happen step back in hesitance.

With an animalistic, rage-filled cry Rynshinn threw the first of the blue balls of energy at the retreating fire engine. The magic bolt flew through the air in a ballistically-impossible course, moving in a corkscrew motion while flying in a wide arc, its speed difficult to follow. It zoomed towards the goblins, as if guided by an invisible force, and in less than a second it collided with the one holding the hose. Upon impact the ball of energy discharged in a bright flash, a bang echoing through the square, drowning the pained screech of the injured greenskin. The goblin stumbled, letting go of the hose, and a large, purple, bloody bruise was beginning to form on its ugly head, but it otherwise managed to stand its ground against the magical attack. That is until with an equally animalistic grunt as before Rynshinn released the second ball of magical energy. The second missile collided with the greenskin's torso with enough force for its ribcage to collapse with a sickening crunch and send the goblin flying off the wagon.

We stared in silent awe at the dressmaker's range-induced magical assault. It was one thing to know that she was capable of things like that, but something completely different to see her do it. For a second none of us, including the guards and priest Naffer knew what to do. That quickly changed when Rynshinn suddenly collapsed to her knees, letting out a pain-filled cry. Shaking off his confusion priest Naffer made his way towards the redheaded woman, sensing what was the problem.

It took but a glance to realize what had happened. While Rynshinn in her surprising display of magical power managed to kill one of the goblins, the one sitting in his post on the barrel managed a clear shot at her with his crossbow. The bolt was sticking from her right shoulder grotesquely, blood pouring from the wound. It was clear that she was in much pain, and that the shot managed to make her whole arm completely useless.

Naffer quickly got to Rynshinn's side and after laying her down checked her wound. For a second he looked remotely relieved, as if he knew that this wasn't too much of a problem for his healing magic to handle. This expression changed however once he got to work. For reasons I'm not entirely sure whatever healing powers he possessed seemed to be unresponsive to his attempts. He strained with all he had, brow furrowed in concentration, but try as he might, he couldn't produce that healing glow of his. After several seconds of unsuccessful attempts, when his whole face was covered in sweat and his breath started coming out in ragged pants he came to a frightening conclusion.

For reasons I don't know his powers have abandoned him in a time of need. But what was the cause? Was human magic more strenuous than unicorn magic? Did he reach his limits? Or was something else at hand here? Whatever the case was however, it spelled trouble for the red-headed fashionista.

A sudden movement from the corner of my eye brought my attention from the bleeding form of Rynshinn. At first I was half expecting to see the ugly mug of a goblin trying to sneak attack me. Before I brought up my short blade however I realized that it was nothing like that.

It was a… butterfly? What in Equestria was a butterfly doing in a war zone like this? Half the square was set ablaze by the goblins, the smell of fire and death filled the air, and a butterfly of all things was fluttering about just like that? I was slowly starting to think I was losing it, and what happened next didn't help in that regard.

The aforementioned butterfly, as blue as the ones from earlier today made its way towards, surprise, surprise, Fluttershy. Like the ones from that Swallowtail Release ceremony, the azure insect gently landed on the terrified mare's hand. That seemed to snap 'Shy from her stupor. She stopped covering in fear (though she still was huddled behind cover) and looked at the butterfly in surprise, probably as confused as to why it was here as I was. She stared at it for a few brief seconds, and then, as if she suddenly decided to pony up for no apparent reason she took a deep, calming breath, and turned towards the downed fashionista.

Fluttershy was by Rynshinn's side in no time, a rare determined look in her eyes. For a second she looked as focused as when she was dealing with that boar last night. Giving a short nod to the confused priest she looked over the woman's wound and after a few seconds and to my ever growing consternation she placed both her hands on her shoulder, butterfly still in place.

And then magic happened. No, seriously, that's the only explanation I have; the butterfly started to glow like that bauble priest Naffer used, and that same glow enveloped Fluttershy's hooves hands. Seconds later, when the glow started to die down, a barely audible clattering sound could be heard as the bolt was pushed out of Rynshinn's shoulder by rapidly regrowing muscle tissue.

Told you I was beginning to lose it.

With my mind still boggled by the fact I just witnessed Fluttershy of all ponies using magic, I started to back away slowly. Silently questioning my own sanity I turned around and just like that found myself face to face with Pinkie Pie. Yep. My mind just about shattered at this point.

"That was amazing, don't you think Spike?" Pinkie asked, her eyes looking right past me at Fluttershy. "The way Fluttershy went all super-duper healing crafts on Rynshinn, that was totally awesome! I didn't even know she could do that! Come to think of it…" She adopted a thoughtful expression quicker than you could blink. "I wonder… Maybe if I'm lucky I'll get some magic too? That would be magi-riffic don't you think?"

"Eh… maybe?" I really didn't know what to say, my mind was so full of “what” right now.

"I know it would. Imagine how much fun it would be! And don't get me started on all the party-applications magic would present itself with. I'm telling ya, the possibilities are limitless!"

"Yeah… right… limitless." Slowly back away, don't make any sudden movements. Maybe if you're lucky she won't notice…

"Hey, where are you going?" …that you're legging it. Great.

"Nowhere! Nowhere at all!" Actually why am I scared of Pinkie Pie? She's just Pinkie after all, the one mare that would be able to befriend an ameba if given enough time. It's not like… wait, what's that in her hands? Is it… "What's with the rope?"

Pinkie blinked at me like an owl and looked at her hands. Sure enough, a length of rope was resting in her grasp, though to Pinkie it still looked like she just saw it for the first time in her life. For about a second that is. After that agonizingly long period of time (not really) she grinned at me that disturbingly large grin of hers.

"Oh, this old thing? Remember when you told us your plan and the guards were like "not bad", but then they started to worry that they'll won't be able to hit the barrel, but Applejack said she had a plan and she needed a rope, and that one guard went looking for it?" Does she even breathe? "Well, here it is!" Cue squee.

For a second Pinkie Pie looked like her normal (relatively speaking), cheerful self, but that lasted about as long as a period of peace in Ponyville library, which isn't long to say the least. It took her a moment to remember that the same rope she was holding right now was the reason why someone had died not too long ago. For reasons I'm still not completely sure her puffy hair seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon, or at least become visibly straighter, and the smile disappeared from her face, replaced by a look so sad that I could feel my heart shatter just by looking at it.

"Oh… oh my." Did she just pull a Fluttershy? "I… em… I completely forgot about the guard that brought it here. I didn't get to properly greet him. I… I didn't even learn his name… And now he's…"

"Dead?" Oh, me and my big mouth. The moment I said this Pinkie's hair went completely straight and she was visibly on the verge of tears. Trust me, it was a really heart-wrenching experience, and I was mentally kicking myself for saying anything.

Grasping at straws, I tried my best to somehow console Pinkie Pie, or at the very least direct her attention at something less morbid. Thinking quickly, I glanced at the rope she was still holding and hastily conjured up a plan.

"Pinkie, listen… em… How about we… er… we deliver the rope to Applejack?" I started uncertainly, hoping it would work. "I mean the guy risked his li… neck to get it, it would be a waste to let his sacrifice go in vain. Well? How does that sound?" Okay, maybe not the best plan ever, but it seemed to work. Although her hair still was as straight as a die, Pinkie at least didn't look like she was going to break down any time soon, especially after she gave me a resolute nod. Another mental breakdown avoided thanks to yours truly. Maybe I should consider a career in psychiatry after all…

It didn't took us long to find AJ. She was currently huddled behind cover in the same place I used not so long ago to observe the wagon, loading a bolt on her crossbow. We approached her, careful not to blow her cover.

"AJ?" I asked, gaining the farmpony's attention. Applejack looked at the two of us, and was about to say something, but then she noticed the state Pinkie was in. Making a double take, she asked slowly:

"You alright there hon? Did somethin' happen?"

"It's something for another time, trust me." I jumped into the conversation before Applejack could coax Pinkie into sharing anything. Not that I was trying to cover it up or anything, it's just that Pinkie was obviously in no state to talk about it right now. "Maybe after all this dies down a bit you can talk, but right now, we have bigger fritters to fry. By the way, Pinkie has that rope you wanted." Applejack gave me a mildly suspicious look, but didn't press the matter and instead took the rope from Pinkie.

"Allrighty then, but Ah'm not lettin' this slide. Mark my words, Ah'm gettin' to tha bottom of this." She warned me, and I got a strange feeling she was somehow blaming me for what was going on with Pinkie. I didn't have the time to properly come to terms with this though, as AJ started to do her stuff.

With a surprising amount of dexterity, achievable only by creatures with opposable thumbs, Applejack tied the hempen rope into a lasso in record time. Even she was surprised at how quickly it went, now that she didn't have to use her mouth, but she didn't let it distract her from her goal. Preparing her weapon of choice and giving a signal to the others to prepare their barrage, she scooted towards the opening in the barricade and waited.

The goblins in the fire wagon didn't have the slightest idea what was about to happen. After the loss of their main gunny the goblin with the crossbow clambered down to replace him. It was obvious that he wasn't as experienced as his dead compatriot, at least not in the use of the fire-spewing hose. Fumbling with it, he was barely able to shoot it in a way safe for himself and his companions, and his accuracy left very much to be desired. That's probably one of the main reasons why Applejack was so confident this would work.

The goblin wagon made another pass, the liquid flames barely reaching the barricade. As it was about to start to make a turn and put some distance between them and us, Applejack burst into action. With practiced ease she threw the hoop of her lasso at the object speeding right past her. For a second I thought she was aiming for one of the goblin dogs and was about to try and stop the whole thing that way, but her actual plan was more ingenious. In a show of skill only a regular rodeo contestant could hope to come close to, she threw the hoop over the unsuspecting driver, catching him completely off guard.

With a mighty yank Applejack pulled on the rope, the hoop momentarily tightening on the greenskin's midsection and forcefully tearing him from his seat. With his wind knocked out of him the goblin didn't even manage to utter a single syllable before he hit the ground with a resounding thud. Applejack didn't leave him time to come to however and quickly dragged him towards her, and using his dazed state tied him up tightly, effectively immobilizing him.

In the meantime the wagon was left without a driver, a situation no one wanted to find himself in. The goblin dogs pulling the contraption, feeling the distinct lack of another being directing their moves lost any pretense of working together. One of them decided to stop, while the other did the exact opposite, forcing the whole thing to make an extremely sharp turn and effectively stop after kicking up a cloud of dust. The green skinned passengers didn't fare any better. One of the goblins manning the pump has been flung from his end, colliding with the ground and letting out a pained groan. The other bumped his head against the pump itself and looked like it had trouble controlling his eyes. The least affected was the crossbowyer-slash-firemaster. The only visible injury on him was probably his pride, as he was knocked down on his butt and looked around in confusion.

The moment couldn't be more perfect. The goblin fire engine was momentarily immobilized, making it an easy target which the guards were going to capitalize on. Shouting out an order, guard Ernie gave his men and us the awaited signal. Each and every one of us that happened to be in possession of a ranged weapon let loose their arrows and bolts. The girls and I, well, we weren't particularly useful at this, though AJ scored a nice hit on the barrel (didn't punch a hole through though, so that's a shame). Seems my expertise with the crossbow was only a fluke unfortunately, since I missed the darn thing completely, while the others either hit the side of the wagon or their bolts bounced off the metal plating of the barrel.

The guards however were far more effective, and significantly faster. In the time it took us to fire and reload our crossbows, these guys managed to let loose two or even three arrows each. And they were more accurate too; figuring their bows didn't have as much power as the crossbow bolts carried, they concentrated their fire on the live targets. The goblin on the pump has been hit twice and looked like he wasn't going to see the next day, and the new gunny suffered a precise hit into his shoulder, doing the exact same damage as he did to Rynshinn moments before. The dogs weren't left unscathed either, and both now had an arrow each protruding from their sides. It's a wonder they didn't run off once hit. Unfortunately for us however, our plan on completely getting rid of the fire-spewing menace didn't work out quite as we have hoped it would.

After the initial shock of losing their driver and being showered by arrows, the goblins managed to hastily regroup. The one with the arrow sticking from his shoulder dragged himself to the front and grabbed the reins, ready to replace their actual driver. The one that fell from the wagon entirely clambered aboard and tried to replace their second up until now gunny, hefting the hose at us with a vengeance. Unfortunately for him however, nothing came out, as the only greenskin left operating the pump was on his way to meet Surprise (or whatever the local corresponding spirit of death is).

The goblin clutching at the reins tried his best to force the two rat-dog hybrids to move, planning on retreating. It was probably the best we could've hoped for right now, but that obviously wasn't enough for somepony. The moment the wagon started to slowly roll, the two beasts forced into submission, a very familiar voice called out in anger.

"Oh no you don't!" Before anyone could react Rainbow Dash, in a surge of bravery or blinded by anger cleared the burning remains of the once barricade in an impressive leap. She was holding the spear guard Titus discarded in favor of his bow in her hand, intent on using it. Ignoring our pleas for her to stop she charged at the wagon, closing the distance despite it gaining more and more speed with each passing second. In far less than ten seconds she was within arm's reach of the fire-spewing contraption, and was about to do something, that the whole town of Sandpoint was about to remember her for.

With a burst of speed that wouldn't be that surprising if she still was a pegasus Dash jumped onboard the retreating fire wagon. Grabbing at the crown of the barrel for balance with her free hand, Rainbow quickly took stock of what was going on. In less than a second she found herself confronted by the newest gunny, aiming his hose at her and pulling at the release mechanism, hoping to burn her alive. Yet like before, nothing happened as the pressure in the whole contraption was too small to force the liquid flames out. Realizing his position the goblin quickly discarded the hose and was about to draw a backup weapon, but it never got the chance. Seizing the opportunity Rainbow did the only sensible thing and thrust the borrowed spear at the greenskin, stabbing him right in the gut. The creature collapsed to its knees within seconds, trying in vain to keep its entrails inside.

Having dealt with the offending goblin, Rainbow went to the second stage of her impromptu plan. Figuring she didn't want to be onboard when the wagon reached the goblin lines she made a quick decision. Adjusting her grip on the spear so that her hoof hand was closer to the spearhead, she made a powerful swing and brought it on the barrel's side. Either her brute force was enough to stab through the sheet of metal or she managed to hit it in a particularly weak spot, but the point is she managed to pierce the side of the puncheon, effectively making her weapon stick out of it. And that was exactly what she was hoping for.

Taking a calming breath Dash jumped off of the by now speeding wagon, grabbing at the far end of the spear with both hands. Once her hooves feet met the floor she did the best she could to dig her heels into the ground. The effects were to be expected. The spear, working like a crowbar, broke off a portion of the barrel's side, widening the hole enough for a fairly large amount of air to come into contact with its contents. And seeing as the liquid stored inside combusted when exposed to oxygen, the effect could only be one.

A literal storm of fire engulfed the moving frame of the wagon in one massive burst. The flames easily reached the wounded driver, immolating him within seconds, and spread even further, claiming the two rat-dog hybrids as well. The two beasts, crazed with pain and fear began pulling the burning remains of the wagon blindly, straight into the crowd of shocked goblins, leaving a burning trail in their wake. Screeching and hollering in fright the greenskins dispersed, retreating as quickly as their short legs would carry them away from the inferno on wheels as well as from the accursed square altogether. Some of them weren't quick enough, ending up beneath the wheels of the contraption, themselves catching on fire, others managed to flee, but whatever fate befell them in the end, it meant nothing in the light of what just happened. For in her crazy attack, Rainbow Dash managed to drive off a large portion of the goblin horde all by herself.

Speaking of Rainbow Dash, our prismatic friend, after rolling a bit to lose momentum clambered to her feet using the spear she was still holding to prop herself up. Somehow she seemed to be unscathed, as if what she just did didn't even faze her. With a confident smirk on her lips she shouted at the retreating goblins, shaking her fist for added effect:

"Yeah, you better run! You're no match for us!"

"Rainbow Dash!" I teared my gaze from RD upon hearing Twilight's voice. Looking in her direction, I noticed she got past the burning remains of the barricade and was running towards her, Applejack and guard Titus in tow. Judging by the look on Twi's face however she wasn't about to congratulate Rainbow, not that Dash seemed to notice.

"Hey Twi. Did you see how awesome I was?" She asked, oblivious to the annoyed look on Twilight's face. "Seriously, I didn't think I could bust out such sick moves the way I am right now, but man, if that wasn't rad as hay I don't know what is."

"Rainbow Dash…" Twilight started slowly, now actually glaring at the prismatic mare, which had enough of an effect to make RD pause in confusion. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

"What?! No, of course not! What gave you that idea?"

"Oh, Ah don't know." AJ decided to add her two bits, also looking a bit peeved at Rainbow's performance. "Maybe the fact that ya went off runnin' after a retreatin' wagon filled with flammable liquid and risked your life fer nothin'?"

"What were you thinking Rainbow?! Not only was that stupid and reckless, it was downright dangerous!" Twilight continued, but at this point RD had about enough of being accused all those things.

"Hey, I did what I thought was right, okay? I mean think about what would happen if we let them escape with the wagon untouched. At best it would take them some time to find and train another crew, and who knows what would happen then. Someone could get hurt, or they could use it in another attack or something. Or they may had a spare crew just waiting around to switch out. Then what? You ever thought of that?"

It was actually a pretty solid argument she presented there, so solid that Twilight herself faltered for a bit. Managing only a "well, I… eh" she gave an opening for Rainbow, one that she was adamant on taking advantage of.

"I just made our life that much easier by getting rid of that thing entirely. I mean sure, it was dangerous, but my middle name isn't Danger for nothing. And besides, I'm okay, they didn't lay a hoof on me."

"Yeah, and I for one found all that awesome as all hell." Guard Titus jumped into the conversation, siding with Dash and obviously ignoring the typical Equestrian language mannerisms. "Seriously, that was all kinds of incredible. I bet if any guard did something like that he would be bound to get a promotion from old man Belor, ain't that right Ern? Ernie?" Titus looked around in search of his fellow guardsmen, only to find him back with the two surviving guards, looking over the damage dealt to the square. Seeing this Titus shrugged and continued on. "Eh, no matter. If I know him it would go something like this: 'Ye don good lass, but I still think yer giving a statement with that hair o' yours'." He made a commendable impression of the second guard, earning a chuckle from Rainbow and AJ. Twilight still looked conflicted between being angry/worried at RD and admitting she was right.

"Is it over? Are those scary monsters gone?" I faintly heard Fluttershy ask in her timid voice. Looking in her direction I noticed she at some point left her post with priest Naffer and Rynshinn, the fashionista already better but still in a slightly enraged state, looking hopelessly over the smoldering remains of her tent, and joined me and Pinkie Pie.

"Seems that way." I responded, letting a bit of tension escape my weary body and lowering my guard slightly. "Rainbow drew them off. Didn't you see?" In response Fluttershy shook her head.

"No, I was too busy helping miss Rynshinn and then, well, I hid." She seemed ashamed to admit it. "I'm really sorry I couldn't help more, but those mean monsters were just too much for me to handle. Especially after what I saw them do to others, as if they were treating murder as a game…" She trailed off, shivering slightly. Looking away from us and avoiding eye contact she lowered her voice to barely a whisper. "I feel like I'm just a burden. You all risked your lives and all I did was hide."

"That's not true." Surprisingly enough it was Pinkie that decided to intervene. Her hair still was that same unnerving strait, but her eyes seemed to shine with a sort of determination I rarely saw her display. "You're not a burden Fluttershy, you never were. So what that you didn't take part in the defense, nopony's blaming you for it; it really was scary now that I think of it. But you helped out in your own way."

"B-but…"

"If it wasn't for you Shinny would be… would be…" Pinkie faltered at that point, again coming to a point in which she didn't want to finish her own sentence. Sensing where this could go I decided to carry on from there.

"Rynshinn probably owes you her life. That alone is more than we all did today, trust me." I expertly avoided the dreaded "D" word, and was rewarded by a nod of gratitude from Pinkie. There was however something that kept nagging at my thoughts, and I decided to let it out of my system. "Say: how did you exactly do that healing trick. I mean you're no unicorn, you shouldn't be able to do magic…" I ignored the fact I shouldn't be able to do it too and yet I did.

I was rewarded by a slightly confused look from Fluttershy, as if she didn't know what I was talking about. After a moment however her eyes lit up and she reached to the back of her head, retrieving something from her hair. It was the azure butterfly from before, fluttering its colorful wings lazily as Fluttershy looked at it and smiled serenely.

"It was thanks to this little guy." 'Shy explained in an affectionate tone. "Somehow, when he landed on my hoof… excuse me… hand, I just knew what I should be doing. He directed me through all I needed to do and gave me confidence I needed to do it."

"So a butterfly told you how to use magic?" I asked, slightly skeptical. On one hoof I doubt any sort of insect could possibly hold any knowledge on a subject as diverse as the arcane arts, but on the other it was Fluttershy we're talking about. She could do a lot of weird things with the help of her animal friends, like for example clean up a whole library worth of mess.

To my ever growing surprise though, Fluttershy shook her head no. "He didn't tell me how to use magic. All he did was direct me through what was needed for it to work. And besides, he… doesn't actually talk for some reason." Here her brow furrowed a bit. "I can feel what he wants from me, but he doesn't talk like the butterflies from back home. It's… a bit strange actually." She finished with a curious glance at the butterfly, who by this point fluttered from her fingers and was circling around Fluttershy's head.

I was spared the need to think further on strange magical butterflies as the rattle of armored steps came from the road leading deeper into town. A quick glance revealed it to be a man wearing the armor of the town guard, running towards our position in a hurry. He did however slow down once his eyes fell on the burning remains of our barricade and the number of goblin and human corpses littering the square.

"What in blazes happened here?" We heard him ask no one in particular, after which he shook his head and went straight for the form of guard Ernie. "Ern, gather your men. Belor needs reinforcements at the marketplace, stat."

"Shite." Ernie grumbled and shook his head. "Tell Belor we're be there in five. I need ta take care o' something real quick."

"Don't take too long mate, you know how the old man gets." The second guard replied and turned on his heels, running back deeper into town. In the meantime Ernie took one more glance at the square-turned-battlefield and let out a heavy sight.

"Murciani! Quit yer flirting and prepare ta move out. Belor needs help at the market." Guard Titus shot him an annoyed glare but didn't protest. With an apologetic smile he took his spear from Rainbow's hands and regrouped with his fellow men. As he was doing this, Ernie looked at us, or more specifically at Applejack and Rainbow Dash, with a mix between annoyance and respect, and decided to say something. "Ye best find some place ta hide. Can't say if the goblins will try anythin' else. An' don't worry 'bout the barricades, they're far enough from other buildings that fire won't spread. Now get yer arses moving, we don't need Belor chewin’ us out fer being late." The last portion he directed at his men, and within seconds they were on their way deeper into town, leaving us to our own devices.

"This was quite possibly the worst twenty four hours of my life." I heard Rarity say, finally getting out from her hiding spot. She looked herself over, noticing the state of her attire, and let out an unlady-like groan. "First giant ticks, then boorish guards and equally boorish magicians, and now this mess. Can my life get any worse?"

I really hope Murphy's law doesn't work around here.

"Gotta say, for once Ah agree with ya Rares." Applejack nodded, her, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash joining us. Within moments our group was assembled once again, all eight of us (yes, Trixie actually joined us of her own volition). "Glad its over though, too many close calls if ya ask me."

"Agreed." Twilight, well, agreed. She looked over the mess the square has turned into, and, just like that, produced some parchment and a quill, scribbling something down. "It was possibly the most frightening experience I ever had, bar maybe the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco. Nonetheless, it was a learning experience, and I am not going to let it pass unrecorded. The sheer magnitude of data I managed to gather during this attack is staggering and I need to write it down as quickly as I can, until the memory's still fresh." Considering earlier events, I have no doubt in my mind that she was serious. Sometimes I wonder if she would write an essay about a dragon attack on Ponyville during said attack…

Why do I have the feeling I just jinxed myself?

"We should probably do what that whole Ernie guy said and look for somewhere to stay." Rainbow proposed, snapping my out of my thoughts. "Not that I'm skittish or something, I can totally handle myself against those midgets, but, well, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie don't look too good." She glanced at the two mares in question, as did the others, and quietly agreed.

"I may have a solution then." An unexpected male voice sounded from behind RD, making her jump and whip around. She was met by the tired face of none other than priest Naffer. "I thought that it would be wise to bring Rynshinn to a safe place until this whole mess is sorted, and what better place to do that then inside a stone cathedral, no?" He smiled tiredly. True to his words, he had Rynshinn wrapped around his arm and was obviously leading her to the church.

"Yes, I… I think that would be nice. That is if everyp… everyone else is okay with that I mean. If no then I'm okay with whatever you want to do." Fluttershy, need I say more?

"The Great and Powerful Trixie does agree, the temple does strike her as a very defendable, and she would rather not waste her time on any other greenskins that may still lurk the streets.” The con mare surprisingly supported 'Shy's idea. Or maybe it wasn't that surprising? She acted high and mighty, but I think she was as nervous as most of us (with the noticeable exclusion of one Rainbow Dash).

"Okay then, in that case follow me please." And with that said Naffer continued to hobble his way towards the cathedral building, Rynshinn still wrapped in his arms.

We were about to follow the holy man when Fluttershy suddenly stopped mid step, tilting her head as if she heard something. After a moment I could faintly make out the sound too. It sounded like a dog barking frantically and whining, as if something bad had happened to it. In normal circumstances such a thing wouldn't warrant our attention, nor should it in the situation we were in right now. Problem is, with Fluttershy onboard you can be certain that this wouldn't go unnoticed.

The pitiful barking of the dog must have unlocked something in Fluttershy, the same instinct that made her be able to stare down a boar like it was nothing. Her features momentarily became more stern, her normally kind eyes hardening significantly, and without a word she changed direction from the cathedral to the town gate, where the sound was coming from. It was quite a shock to everypony present, and it took a moment for the rest to realize what just happened. The first to snap out of it was Dash.

"Hey, Fluttershy, wait up!" She shouted after Fluttershy and started to run after her. One by one, the girls also joined the chase and in a few moments everypony except me and Trixie was rushing to catch up with Fluttershy.

"What do they think they are doing?" I heard Trixie's ask no one in particular, staring at the retreating forms of the girls. For a split second I actually agreed with the sentiment, but then I realized that this wasn't the time nor place. If what happened to that dog to make it whine like that had anything to do with the goblins, than Fluttershy would need all the help she could get. So, wasting no more time I rushed to join the rest, leaving a bewildered Trixie in my wake.

"The things I put up with." I faintly heard her say, and was joined by another pair of footsteps.
> Act Two Chapter Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 1 of Rova (Presumably 24 of September, 1000 SR), Late Afternoon


There are many thing that could be said about Fluttershy, aside from her shy, animal-loving nature that is. Kind, soft spoken, graceful, those were only a few things that described her. I would even go as far as to say that she was probably the only mare to come even remotely close to the perfection that was Rarity (what, I may have eyes only for Rarity, but I can still appreciate beauty when I see it). There was one thing however that most, me included, would never associate with Fluttershy, and that was speed.

The moment Fluttershy shot off in the direction the barking was coming from, she reached speeds unprecedented. I mean if even Rainbow Dash had a hard time keeping up with her than you know something was amiss here. I suspected it was her caring nature and unwillingness to let any animal suffer that spurred her on, but I digress. What I wanted to say was that in her worried state she was almost impossible to keep up with, especially for somedragon like me. Why that glowy thing couldn't change me into something with longer legs?

Fortunately for us, the dog in peril that caught Fluttershy's attention wasn't too far away, so we didn't lose sight of her. Barely passing the White Deer Inn, now slightly scorched and with one of the wooden deer beheaded by the goblin horde from earlier, 'Shy came to a stop, allowing us to catch up to her. That however didn't mean we were out of the woods yet, for we just stumbled on a scene that could go from bad to terrible in a manner of seconds.

The first thing we saw was the dog that led us here in the first place. The poor pet, a rather large yet lean breed of dog I never saw before was limping on three legs, its front left one curled under its barrel. Its off-white, dotted fur was stained with large splashes of red, and a visible gash on its side was a glaring injury that would put down any other animal. The canine however was putting up a fierce fight, baring its fangs in a snarl and barking with as much conviction as it could muster at its opponent, clearly unwilling to give up. However, it didn't seem like the dog was going to stand its ground any longer, not against what it was facing.

It didn't come as too much of a surprise to see a goblin of all thing fighting the dog. It was a given that there would be some stragglers left; after all, Rainbow's stunt may have scared most of them off, but not every single greenskin saw her epic attack at the fire wagon. This one however was different from the ones before, at least from what I could tell from my position at the back of our group.

The most obvious thing was that the goblin was riding one of those goblin dog-things from earlier. The mangled, rat-like creature was even more hideous than the rest of its kind, looking even sicklier than the rest yet moving with more fluidity and purpose than it normally should have. There was a strange bulge near its ribcage dangling like a grotesque cancerous growth with each of its movement, yet it didn't seem at all concerned about it, concentrating on one thing only, and that was on heeding its rider's every command. The goblin itself sat in a saddle, and not the fun kind either, and controlled the beast with its legs and one hand, in the other holding a spear-like weapon, its bloodied blade similar to the short knives other goblins were fond of using yet looking far more sturdy. Near his leg, attached to the saddle was a bow case with a bow, now discarded in favor of the melee weapon, and a quiver full of arrows. The picture was complete by a leather doublet, studded with small, dull metal spikes for extra protection the creature was wearing, along with a matching pair of pants. It didn't take a genius to figure out this was some sort of goblin bigwig.

The goblins was eyeing the wounded dog warily, as if it was barely controlling its own fear, yet it was obvious he wasn't going to back down. Closely observing the bleeding creature, the greenskin slowly urged its own dog forward, the ratty creature all too happy to oblige. The dog barked even louder than before, growing more desperate, but it too didn't seem to show any signs of retreating, as if it was defending something important. Maybe it had pups somewhere? Either way, the dog was holding its ground to the best of its ability, but it simply wasn't enough.

Spotting an opening, the goblin quickly utilized it. Forcing the creature carrying him forward, he brought his spear-like weapon down on the defenseless canine, sinking its blade deep into its nape. The dog let out one last, pathetic whine as it slumped to the ground, only to be met by an even more horrific end, one of sharp teeth that tore into its flesh and ground its bones. The goblin's mount was quick to start feasting on the fallen creature, bringing it a painful death.

All that happened in the span of a few seconds, too quick for any of us to react. We could do nothing but watch the grim spectacle unfurl like a grotesque play, frozen in place in shock. True, it was only a dog, an animal, but it was obviously someone's pet, and the sheer brutality of it all was as big of a shock as the first sight of what a pack of goblins could do to a human. As the sound of crunching bones filled the air, most of the girls seemed to snap out of their stupor and slowly started to inch away, not really in the mood to fight with that particular greenskin. The only exception: Fluttershy.

The moment she realized Fluttershy wasn't following us, Rainbow stopped in her tracks and looked at her friend with worry. 'Shy was standing in the same spot still, shaking slightly with her back turned to us. She was probably still staring at the dog, now slowly being devoured, and if I know her, she was on the verge of tears. Rainbow probably figured as much as well, because she started in her direction, probably wanting to pull her childhood friend from the gruesome sight before she was discovered by the goblin, but a multitude of voices made her stop in her tracks.

Loud, shrill cheers erupted from behind a number of barrels stacked against the nearby town wall, unmistakably belonging to more goblins. And lo and behold, a score of them emerged from their hiding spots, cheering their obvious leader and praising his victory over, and this is a direct translation, 'the Dreaded Barking Beast from Hell'. It was almost as if they were mortally afraid of dogs or something, and the way their leader acted during what little of the fight we actually saw made this all the more possible. In the end however this wasn't what made Rainbow Dash stop in her tracks. It was a different, more understandable voice that barely made it over the clamor the goblins were producing.

"Please, someone, help!" It was a male voice, weak and afraid, as if whoever was saying that both wanted to be heard and dreaded the goblins would notice him. It took less than a second to notice the source of the voice: a man of average height with short, black hair, wearing rather nicely-looking clothes was hiding behind a stack of crates next to the inn's stone wall, blocking him from the greenskin's view. He was obviously terrified out of his mind, staring at Rainbow with pleading eyes yet too scared to dare even move. Well of course something like this would've happened, it would be too easy for us to just run into a random group of monsters and have the option to back out without fighting. Eh… The universe really hates us, doesn't it?

Rainbow seemed to share my sentiment for once, sighing quietly in exasperation. Glancing over at the rest of the girls, she gestured them to come back and prepare for another round of goblin bashing. However before any of us had the time to even process her request, something completely unexpected happened, taking off guard not only us, but the greenskins as well.

It was Fluttershy. In all the commotion, with the sudden reemergence of the goblins none of us paid her any attention, which proved to be a mistake. What at first we took as silent sobs wracking her body was in fact something completely different. True, she was shaking, but it wasn't fright, nor was it sadness. It was something so out of place for the shy and kind pegasus that it was no small surprise for us to witness it.

Fluttershy was angry, and she wasn't about to let it slide.

At some point of time, I'm not even sure when, Fluttershy picked a number of pebbles from the ground, and it was obvious what she was about to do with them. Normally I, and anypony else for that matter, would consider her "plan" as the worst possible thing to do in a situation like this, but something prevented me from doing that. It probably had to do with the fact that said pebbles seemed to eerily glow, a soft, blue sheen emanating from them. Remembering Fluttershy's recently uncovered magical talent (still can't fathom how that's possible) I came to the immediate conclusion that whatever she was planning, it was going to hurt. And what do you know: I was actually right.

"You find this fun?" Fluttershy asked softly, too softly for the greenskins to hear her, yet in a tone of voice that was nothing like her usual kind self, but a menacing half-growl sending chills down my spine. "You find hurting defenseless little animals fun?! What is wrong with you?! You're… You're evil! You're evil, sick, twisted monsters!!! I… am going… to make you PAY!!!"

The last bit was actually shouted, louder than I thought possible from Fluttershy. Her voice echoed in the street, cutting off the goblin discussions and bringing their startled attention to her. But that didn't matter to her, not now, not in the state of mind she was in. No, all that Fluttershy wanted right now was to make them pay for what they did, and she wasn't going to be intimidated by them.

Without so much as a thought out plan, Fluttershy hurled the first of her glowing pebbles at the goblin leader, letting out an animalistic cry. The bluish rock sailed straight for the rider and was about to strike him in his face if it wasn't for his lightning-fast reflexes and a dose of surprising luck. He managed to somehow knock the pebble off course with his spear-like weapon, though it groaned in protest once it connected with the magically infused projectile. The pebble instead sailed at a nearby goblin mook and landed on his head. The moment it connected with the bald scalp of the greenskin the pebble let out a loud bang, and the unlucky goblin went cross-eyed, landing on his rear, out cold.

Before Fluttershy was able to throw her second projectile, the goblin chief came to the startling conclusion that she was in fact dangerous. Thinking quickly, he decided to put as much distance between her and himself as he could, and forced his dog to carry him in the opposite direction she was in, meanwhile switching from his spear to the bow. While he was passing them, he barked out a few short orders to his subordinates, who in a rush grabbed at their weapons and prepared to fight. Especially one of them seemed to be dangerous; a goblin wearing a goat skull on his head like a hat, with a whip in his hand and a sick grin plastered on his face. I feel we'll have to keep an eye on that one.

As startling as Fluttershy's outburst was, the girls didn't lose any time in forming a defensive perimeter around the normally shy pegasus. Rainbow within moments was standing in front of her, ready to take on any goblin that came near, and Applejack joined her not too long afterwards, brandishing a charred piece of wood that she replaced her given sword with. The rest, including me, joined soon after, some of us less enthusiastic than the others. Especially Rarity seemed to dread what was about to happen, not that I blame her, and Twilight along with Trixie also looked a fair bit worried, though the letter was partially distracted by the glowing stones in Flutter's hands. And then there was Pinkie.

From the moment she finally understood that ponies, or rather people were dying here her hair was unnervingly straight, and her behavior strangely subdued. Fortunately that didn't seem to affect her willingness to protect her friends, and as such she was at the ready, holding that thrice-damned spoon of hers. Seriously, Trixie somehow got us crossbows, she could do some damage from afar, and yet she sticks to the spoon? Ugh… I'll never understand Pinkie.

"Anypony else feels like this is a bad idea?" From my left came Rarity's voice, slightly trembling. The goblins were eyeing us evilly, and that skull-wearing one was doing something strange that made the spines hair on my neck stand on end. "Because I most certainly would prefer to go back to the cathedral and wait all this out there."

"No. We're staying until that green, dumb meanie gets what he deserves." Surprisingly (or not) it was Fluttershy who answered her, an earlier unseen edge to her voice. I admit, at that moment I wasn't sure what I was afraid of more: death from the hands of goblins, or Fluttershy.

"Sugarcube… are ya alright?" Applejack asked uncertainly, conflicted between keeping an eye on the greenskins and looking at Fluttershy in concern. "Ah never seen ya this riled up before. Ya sure ya wanna…"

"Now is not the time." She was interrupted by Trixie, which earned the magician a glare from the farmpony. Instead of snarking at AJ however, she pointed at in the direction of the goblins. "You might want to concentrate on that."

Curious, I looked at where she was pointing, and quickly noticed what was amiss. The skull-wearing goblin was making some weird gestures with his clawed hands, singing, or rather screeching something that could be called a somewhat-jaunty tune. Not a second later he threw something that looked suspiciously like feathers in the air, only for them to burst into several colorful flames that disappeared as quickly as they appeared, leaving nothing in their place. In that moment the goblin made use of his whip, whipping it in our general direction for reasons I don't understand, and waited.

At first we didn't know what the hay was that all about. For all we knew, nothing had happened, and the spell, or at least I assumed it was one, seemed to be nothing but a dud. Even Pinkie was starting to crack up at his feeble display, snorting and chuckling. Seriously, what was that supposed to… wait a moment.

I slowly turned my head to Pinkie, expecting to see her smiling and chortling like she always does, back to normal thanks to some kind of cosmic intervention. My eyes however were met by a rather disturbing image. True, Pinkie was smiling, giggling, laughing, and chortling, you know, the whole package, but it was off in a blood-curdling way. She was desperately looking around, as if trying to find help, her eyes pleading and most certainly not smiling. But the worst part was her hair. Her still unnervingly straight hair.

"…ha-ha… g-girls… ha-ha… he-he-help me-hi-hi…" She managed to choke out between laughing fits. It almost sounded… painful, as if speaking or even breathing was an incredible effort for her, as if the laughter that suddenly overcame her was forcing her to do nothing more than chortle. My eyes widened and cold dread washed over me.

"What kind of sick curse is that?" I breathed out silently. A curse that forces you to laugh and makes it painful to even attempt to do anything else? What kind of evil, sick, twisted mind could come up with that? And Pinkie… I never imagined seeing her laugh would be so terrifying.

The girls also seemed to notice Pinkie's plight, but unfortunately for her, none of them could help her. It was then that an arrow whizzed past Rarity's ear, startling her. Jumping back and looking in the direction it came from, she was met by the sight of the goblin leader, still sitting on the back of his gnarly dog, reaching for another arrow. As if that wasn't enough, the greenskin mooks seemed to take it as a signal to attack, and as if spurred on by an invisible lash they charged at us, screaming bloody murder and waving their crude weapons. We didn't have much choice but prepare to fight.

As should be expected, Rainbow and AJ stood their ground, meeting the charging goblins head-on. Applejack was skillfully blocking incoming attacks with that charred piece of wood she picked up, knocking the greenskin's blades aside and trying her best to bash their heads in. Dash in turn was dodging their swipes deftly, delivering counterattacks of her own, even though she fought without any weapon. Then again, her height advantage did play a large role in this.

Surprisingly enough, Fluttershy too stood where she did, not in the slightest intimidated by the greenskins' charge. Heck, she even actively took part of the fight for the first time I could remember. Making use of those glowing stones of hers, she chucked one at one of the charging goblins and managed to score a hit straight into his kneecap, the pebble once again bursting with magical power. The effects were, hmm… let's just say he wouldn't be joining the ballet anytime soon. Or ever.

The rest of the girls, far less athletic or driven than the trio did the smart thing and bound for cover, although Pinkie needed some help. She was still overcome with uncontrolled, painful laughter and couldn't move on her own. Fortunately Rarity was nearby, and not wanting to let anything happen to a friend took her in her arms (still sounds weird) and carried her behind the already occupied pile of crates. I was about to do the same and try to be useful by providing fire support when I heard a voice from beside me.

"Spike! Come on, it's too dangerous out in the open!" I didn't need to look to know it was Twilight, I would recognize her voice anywhere. She was mentioning me to follow her to the same place Rarity and Pinkie took refuge. I was about to comply, maybe throw in a sarcastic jab about this being my idea all along, but I was prevented from doing that by something that made my heart almost stop.

One of the goblins managed to sneak past the Rainbow-Applejack-Fluttershy line and decided to try his luck with the less combat-ready part of our group. Noticing Twilight and the fact she had her back turned to him his choice fell on her. He was already running at her, his weapon raised over his head for a vicious stab, and I doubted Twi would be able to react quickly enough to avoid getting shivved.

"Behind you!" I managed to force myself to scream, my legs already carrying me to her. Twilight seemed surprised by my outburst, but her curiosity forced her to turn around, only to be met by the same site I already saw, freezing her in the spot. Seeing this I forced myself to run faster, in the same time reaching my claw hand out and desperately trying to recreate that forcefield thing from earlier today. I just hoped I would be quick enough.

The goblin jumped, bringing his crude knife down in an wide, overhead ark, expecting an easy kill. A terrified shriek escaped Twilight's lips as she watched helplessly as the blade neared her, but it died down soon after. Her eyes suddenly widened, her gigantic pupils now encompassing her whole eyes. She fully expected to die here, but she didn't. The goblin just bounced off of something… see-through, like a bubble or dish of some sort. To her, it just came out of nowhere, colliding with the greenskin and knocking it off course. Shakily, she looked around for its source, until her eyes rested me, little ol' Spike, stretching out both of my hands in the direction of the transparent shield, keeping it in place. Even though horrified and having just experienced a near-death encounter, her brilliant mind quickly added everything up and came with a surprising conclusion.

"S-Spike? Did you just…?"

"Not now!" I grunted, trying my best to hold the shield up. I don't have the slightest idea how I managed to make it appear again, but I did, though this time it wasn't as smooth as the first. I felt drained after creating it, my muscles aching, and I was feeling the telltale signs of a headache building up at the back of my head, but I ignored it all in favor of making sure Twi was alright.

"But how?!" Oh for crying out…

"Twilight, focus! One thing at a time!" I snapped at her as the goblin I rammed into managed to pick himself from the ground and was now furiously hacking at the invisible force. I could already tell this one was far weaker than the earlier, and I was feeling each of the greenskin's hits reverberating along my arms.

The urgency in my voice was enough to snap Twilight out of her daze, at least temporarily. Fidgeting slightly, she clumsily managed to reload the crossbow she was still holding on to and aimed at the goblin. Nodding at her, I prepared a little surprise for the nasty bugger.

As the greenskin was preparing for another swing I directed the shield to the side, letting the little monster stumble forward. Losing its balance, the goblin was unable to do anything as Twilight, figuring out my plan, let her bolt loose. The short, sturdy projectile hit its target within less than half a second, and although the shot itself wasn't the best in the world, it still did its job. With one foot pinned to the ground by a wooden bolt, the goblin let out a bloodcurdling shriek, followed by a thud and a stream of vile curses.

"Phew, that was a close one." I commented, slightly winded. Expecting an endless stream of questions from Twilight, I mentally prepared myself for the onslaught, but instead I was greeted by an urgent scream from my lifelong companion.

"Spike, look out!" Confused I looked around in search of danger, instinctively bringing my shield-controlling claw hand  around. And good thing I did. I didn't even notice the arrow flying straight at me until it would be too late, but thanks to blind luck I managed to block it. The deadly projectile ricocheted from my forcefield, its energy enough to make it collapse, and by a weird twist of luck it embedded itself in the eye of our erstwhile opponent, silencing him for good.

"How about we move this somewhere safer?" Twi suggested weakly, to which I only nodded, a sudden headache starting to pulse in my brain.

Unfortunately, we didn't have the chance to move far before the situation complicated itself even more. The skull-wearing goblin again started to chant some sort of song, and once he was through with that whipped his whip in the general direction of Rainbow Dash. The mare in question, by now running circles around those unfortunate enough to pick her as their opponent seemed unaffected by whatever curse he cast at her, but that quickly changed.

Rainbow stumbled, losing her balance inexplicably. She barely managed to stay on her hooves feet, and she seemed to have trouble even with standing straight, as if she had one too many mugs of hard cider. But she was okay seconds ago, how could she… the goblin. It must've been some sort of weird spell he cast on her. He already forced Pinkie under one, who's to say he couldn't get into the heads of more of us? That line of thought could wait for later however, because right now Rainbow Dash found herself on the receiving end of a vicious goblin comeback and needed our help.

The greenskins that just moments ago were at the mercy of Rainbow Dash quickly caught up with the situation. Noticing that the tables have turned they didn't lose any time and pressed their advantage. One of them was already slashing at RD, the mare awkwardly trying to dodge his admittedly sloppy swipe and managing only to do it partially. Dash let out a pained scream as the goblin's rusty knife sliced through her forearm, leaving a nasty gash in its wake. Unfortunately for her however, she stumbled right into range of the second greenskin, this one determined to jump her and at least try to stab her in the back.

Twilight saw this, and was trying her best to reload her crossbow as quickly as she could, but I knew she wouldn't manage to do it in time. Desperate to somehow help, I remembered something from earlier. For a split second my mind's eye showed me the image of Rynshinn, the deadly seamstress creating a blue ball of magical energy that she used to attack the goblins. A crazy idea sprouted in my mind. Maybe I could try and replicate that power? I could form a forcefield, who's to say I couldn't do anything else? So, with that in mind I tried my darnest to recreate the effects Rynshinn produced.

I was working blindly, having no idea what I was doing. All I did know was that I had to somehow form whatever power coursed through me over my palm in the form of a sphere. I also remembered that Rynshinn was able to form them quicker and more effectively when she was angry. Figuring that it must've had something to do with it I concentrated all my pent up anger at the whole situation into something I hoped would be productive. Closing my eyes and feeling my headache reach migraine levels I grunted in effort, hoping with what I had that this would work.

I was rewarded by a surprised gasp from Twilight.

Snapping my eyes open again I looked to my right hand. I was greeted by a sight that made me breathe a silent 'wow' in wonder. There, just inches over my palm, hovering in the air was a small ball of magic, no bigger than a tennis ball. It hovered there silently, shining brightly with an emerald hue I found most appealing. But it wasn't exactly like the one Rynshinn produced, and I'm not talking about the different coloration. The magical ball seemed to be covered in equally emerald flames. I knew they weren't real, I couldn't feel any warmth radiating from them, but they were there, and I couldn't help but feel they were right.

A sharp jab of pain coursing through my brain snapped me out of my revere. The migraine that seemed to follow each time I used magic (still can't believe that) had worsened, but fortunately for me, and for Dash for that matter, it reminded me of what I was to do with it. I focused my eyes on the goblin preparing to jump Rainbow, by now shifting on his feet in preparation. Still concentrating, I feigned hurling something at the greenskin with my emerald-orb-wielding hand, hoping that this would work. To my great relief, the magical sphere obediently sailed through the air, going in a wide yet quick ark and colliding with the greenskin just as it bound for Rainbow.

The force of the impact surprised me. The green sphere of energy, once it collided with the side of the greenskin's head burst into a shower of emerald shards, yet not before it conveyed its energy to its target, changing its course midair. Instead of leaping at Rainbow's exposed back, the goblin made an impressive cartwheel in the air, landing in a boneless heap on the ground, either out cold or possibly even dead. But we didn't have time to celebrate just yet.

Concentrating all my attention on the one goblin that was attempting to jump on Rainbow I completely overlooked another one. This greenskin seemed adamant on just doing as much damage to the prismatic mare as he could, nothing fancy, even though the little idiot was holding his weapon the wrong way. By the time I spotted him, he was already charging Rainbow, blade poised for a strike. What’s worse, I felt completely spent; just standing there felt like an uphill battle, and coupled with the migraine that threatened to split my skull in two I was sure I wouldn't be able to produce any more of that magic-thingamajig. Not that I would be fast enough. And to make matters even worse, Twilight was still struggling with reloading that damned crossbow of hers. Things were not looking up for Rainbow.

Then, just as the goblin was about to deliver the first in what I assumed would be a series of vicious hits to our friend the green-skinned menace collapsed to his knees, sliding for a second before hitting the ground with its face. Surprised and confused, I looked at it dumbly, and only thanks to that did I notice a bolt sticking from between his shoulder blades. With even more questions sprouting in my mind I looked around in search of who might've done it.

Twilight was obviously out of the question. Still attempting to reload her weapon, she didn't even notice the goblin was already dealt with. A glance to Rarity's hiding spot revealed that she too didn't have anything to do with it, despite aiming her weapon in that general direction. Her crossbow was still loaded, and the angle wasn't right. Just as I was starting to consider the possibility of an invisible sharpshooter looking after Rainbow Dash I finally noticed who she really owed her life to. And let me say: Rainbow's not gonna like this one bit.

A couple meters from me and Twilight, crouching behind a lone barrel was none other than Trixie. She had her crossbow in her hands, aimed exactly where the fight was going on, and her weapon had obviously just been fired. A smirk was playing on the magician's lips, one that I instantly realized meant she's going to use her deed and rub it into Rainbow's face once she gets a chance. Seriously, she did good and all, I'll give her that, but if she thinks RD's gonna just let her brag about how she saved her flank she's really gonna have a bad time. I'm giving Rainbow five seconds tops before she wipes that smirk off her face. Or maybe now; Trixie's smirk disappeared from her face as soon as it appeared once the goblin raider shot an arrow at her, the projectile hitting her barrel.

Before I had the chance to think more about this I felt Twilight grab me by the collar and led me to cover. Dragging my feet like a zombie I followed her, and soon enough found myself next to the laughing form of Pinkie Pie.

"This is utterly ridiculous." I heard Rarity complain from her position, keeping her eyes on the battlefield. "I am a lady, an upcoming fashionista, a fashion designer that will someday be renown across Equestria, not some sort of uncivilized brute that takes pleasure in fighting with repulsive monstrosities."

"Rarity, we don't exactly have a choice in the matter right now." Twilight informed her, finally managing to cock back the crossbow. She was rewarded with a quick glance from Rarity, who seemed to slightly shrug in response.

"Oh, I am well aware of that dear. Desperate times do require desperate measures I suppose. I'm just repeating this for my own sake. Between Pinkie Pie being completely immobilized by uncontrolled laughter and Fluttershy's weird behavior, I do have to look out for my own mental health."

"Fluttershy?" Twi asked confused.

"Why yes. You can't possibly say that the way she's acting right now is even remotely… normal for her." She stressed the last bit and moments afterwards winced as if seeing something she rather not. Curiosity getting the better of me, I tiredly managed to pull myself up a nearby crate and take a look at what was going on.

I didn't have to look long for what Rarity saw. A storm of pink hair, clearly belonging to Fluttershy was hovering right above a downed  goblin, right next to Dash. It appeared that at some point 'Shy tackled the greenskin to the ground, and judging by the startled expression on Rainbow's face it may have come as a surprise even to her. That wasn't the most surprising thing however. By this point Fluttershy was acting as if her actions were fueled only by pure rage. Having at some point discarded or used the last of her glowing pebbles, she picked up a rock from the ground, large enough to barely fit in her hand, and proceeded to brain the pinned goblin with it in blind abandon, letting out unintelligible, animalistic cries.

I had to agree with Rarity on this one; something was seriously off with Flutters'.

"Okay… That's disturbing." I muttered to myself, shaking my head and wincing as a new wave of pain pierced my skull. Note to self: using excessive amounts of magic in a short time hurts like Tartarus.

Just as I was about to sink back behind cover I noticed something that could pose a threat. It was the goblin rider. Up until now keeping to the back of the fight and taking pot shots at us, he had a clearer view of the battlefield than his green compatriots. Slightly more intelligent than the rest of the goblins, he must've noticed they were doing poorly and determined the biggest threat to his squad. Problem is, said biggest threat winded up being none other than Fluttershy. And it seemed he had a plan on how to deal with her.

Spurring his sickly dog on, he made for the skull-wearing spell-slinging goblin. Once in range, he barked out a series of short orders that only thanks to the inexplicable familiarity with their language that I seemed to possess did I understand, and rode off to shoot at us again. The term 'take care of the crazy longshank' however made alarm bells go off in my head. And the added 'her head will make a nice trophy' made that alarm bell morph into a full-blown air raid siren.

"Aw man… shoot at the skull-wearing one! He's gonna do something nasty to Fluttershy!" I yelled urgently, almost falling from my spot on the crate.

Twilight looked at me perplexed. "How do you know that?"

"I just do, okay!? Don't question it and shoot him!" I… was starting to think that the overabundance of information fried the part of Twilight's brain responsible for prioritizing. No matter, as long as she shoots I'm not gonna complain.

Although she still spared me an odd look, Twilight did as I asked and aimed at the goblin magic user, Rarity joining soon after. Taking careful aim, both unicorns let their bolts loose in quick succession, getting to reloading their weapons right away. I was left as a lookout, about to witness the damage that the two of them managed to deal, hopefully enough to stop him from completing whatever weird spell he was casting (or rather chanting) now. Let's… let's just say it wasn't as significant as I hoped it would be.

As both Rarity and Twilight had next to no experience with crossbows, I wasn't expecting incredible feats of accuracy from them. Still, Twi's bolt sailed several hoofs to the goblin's left, ricocheting from the stone wall further away in a shower of sparks. Rarity's shot on the other hoof did meet its mark, even if only scoring a glancing hit. The bolt, if it sailed an inch or two to the left would've scored a perfect headshot. As it was however, it barely grazed the side of the goblin's head and shattered the side of the goat skull it was wearing. The shot did however manage to break the greenskin's concentration, rendering whatever spell he was about to cast useless. Thank goodness for small miracles I guess.

The goblin spellcaster, now devoid of his iconic goat-skull hat glared in our direction while touching the side of his head checking how badly he was hurt. Grunting in annoyance once it found its clawed fingers bloody, he spat on the ground and cleared his throat. Next thing we know, the green guy was shrieking a short jumble of barely rhyming words that translated to something along the lines of 'I won't be pulling any shots; your aim sucks'. And of course, as if the universe just had to make this all the more complicated on us, that short "song" enabled his healing powers that he of course had to have. As his hand glowed with off-white light I let out a groan of annoyance and… why is it suddenly so silent?

"Never thought I would be saying this but I sure am glad I'm not laughing anymore." I looked down behind cover and sure enough, I was met by the site of Pinkie Pie slowly getting on her hooves feet, her laughing fit all but forgotten. Maybe the goblin's shattered concentration was enough to break whatever hex he placed on Pinkie? "My ribs hurt from all that laughing. Is it normal that other ponies feel like this after laughing so hard Spike? I can't tell, I'm usually immune to detrimental effects of anything fun-related, but not anymore it seems." I blinked. Yes, Pinkie was getting okay. Even her hair curled up a bit, so that's good news, right?

"Duck!" Rarity's shout snapped me out of my revere. She and Twilight did just that, and trusting their judgment I dropped to the ground as well, but Pinkie, well…

"Duck? Where?!" She of course did the exact opposite, scrambling on the crates and looking around. Just as she made her way on top of the nearest one an arrow whizzed past her head, snapping once it hit the stone wall behind our backs. This of course didn't make Pinkie even flinch, though she made a sound of disappointment. "Aw… The ducky must've flown off."

Is it so bad that I think I preferred her paralyzed by giggles?

"Holy Sarenrae, I beg you, I don't want to die here. I don't want to die like this…" In the silence that followed Pinkie's nonsense I was finally able to make out what the guy who hid here in the first place was mumbling. Taking a better look at him I noticed he had curled into a ball and was swinging back and forth in a traumatized manner, looking quite… pathetic? Sorry, I just can't find a better word to describe it. I mean when you have Fluttershy actively clobbering whatever's hunting you the idea of someone curling into a ball in fright goes right over your head.

"Don't 'cha worry mister, everything's gonna be A-okay." It appears I wasn't the only one that heard him, though if for better or for worse was up to debate. Pinkie glanced at the man with a grin slowly spreading on her lips, giving him a thumbs up (seriously, how does she even knows what that means). "Your auntie Pinkie Pie is on the case, and she's gonna make sure neither you nor Fluttershy will get hurt."

"Pinkie? What are you planning?" Rarity dared to ask with worry. The smile Pinkie sent her in reply did nothing to calm her, and the reemergence of the Mighty Spoon™ didn't help any.

"You'll see~♪" She sang, turning to face the battlefield. She then took a deep breath and on the top of her lungs shouted: "Charge! For cupcakes and bacon!" Aaaand she's off. Why am I not surprised?

"Pinkie, stop!" Both Twilight and Rarity tried to stop her, Rarity going as far as to try and grab her, but the party pony was just too fast for them. She sped through the battlefield like a mare possessed, swinging the spoon over her head and hollering all the way, making a beeline for the green magic user. In the overall confusion, many had stopped what they were doing and stared at Pinkie at a complete loss. Guess being random does have some advantages after all.

"This is bad, this is really, really bad!" I heard Rarity panic, looking with worry at the running form of Pinkie Pie and her chosen target, who was preparing to intercept her. Twilight in the meantime was franticly reloading her crossbow in hopes of providing fire support. I desperately wanted to help somehow, but the moment I tried to force any more magic out of my system I felt like if somepony had stuck my head in a vice and started to squeeze. Grunting in pain and helplessness, I was left hoping that the girls would be able to figure something out.

The moment I thought that, Rarity seemed to came to a sudden realization. Her face, until now set in a worried expression, seemed to momentarily get serious, a glint I've never seen in Rarity's beautiful eyes shining in them. Seconds later she scrunched up her face in concentration, reaching out her free hoof hand in the direction Pinkie was going. At first I was confused as to what she was trying to do, but that quickly changed once I remembered what happened earlier today. She probably was trying to summon that snake from earlier again to help Pinkie. But would she be able to pull it off in time?

I was nervously looking from Pinkie to Rarity. The party pony was already within ten hoofs of the chanter, who decided to make good use of his whip and swung it at her. Pinkie seemed unprepared for something like that and ended up with the whip wrapped around her torso, all to the greenskin's delight. He already chose to take advantage of this and made sure to squeeze it tightly around her, effectively forcing the air out of her. This was already looking bad, and there still was no cloud of smoke appearing near them.

"C'mon Rarity, you can do it!" I tried to somehow encourage my lady, but whatever else I had planned on saying died in my throat once I took a better look at her. With her eyes tightly shut and outstretched arm shaking in effort, Rarity looked like she was already giving it her best. Beads of sweat were rolling down her gorgeous face and small, ladylike grunts of effort were escaping her lips, and I couldn't help but stare at her, a mix of worry and awe painted on my face. That's probably the only reason I saw it.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Rarity, still trying her best to bring the golden snake from wherever she brought it again suddenly opened her eyes, startling me. But what was more startle-worthy was that something… strange appeared on her forehead. In the place where her horn should be, for but a split second a strange, spiral symbol appeared, glowing a sapphire blue, just like her magic. It was gone before I could take a better look at it, winking out of existence, but not before something happened; something, that Rarity did not meant for to happen.

An extremely loud *bang* and an equally bright flash of light filled the battlefield, momentarily stunning and blinding everyone. It was like the mother of all teleportation flashes, like if something massive had just appeared. Yet once the bright light subsided and I could look again there was nothing to see. Nothing… except for a ring of scorch-marks where Pinkie and the goblin chanter were.

"Oh my goodness…" I heard Rarity breathe out aghast. Her eyes were locked on the same spot I was looking not a moment ago, terrified realization dawning on her. "Did… did I just…? Please no…"

"There, look!" Twilight suddenly shouted, pointing at something further back. Taking a closer look, I noticed a strikingly familiar shape sitting at the foot of the town wall. It was the goblin chanter, the greenskin sitting there with his eyes wide open, tongue lolling out of his slack jaw, and neck bent at an odd angle.

"Is it… dead?" I asked, trying to figure out what the hay just happened.

"Seems that way." Twilight nodded. Then her eyes narrowed. "But if he's there, then where's Pinkie?"

I shrugged in response, not fully comprehending what happened. The goblin looked like if something had thrown him at the wall with enough force to break his neck. But what could've…

"The flash!" I breathed out, my eyes going wide. "It was the flash, it threw him at the wall, like an explosion!"

Twilight looked at me for a second and then nodded. "You're right Spike. But then where's Pinkie? She was far enough from him not to be blow in the same direction, so…" She trailed off as a strange, creaking sound came from above us, easily detectable in the silence that followed the magical *bang*.

The three of us looked up in unison, end I think our eyes went wide at the exact same time we saw what was up there. The blast of magic that Rarity involuntarily produced was stronger than we thought, for there, suspended from a beam and hanging from the whip that managed to embrangle itself into a sort of safety harness was Pinkie Pie. She was obviously out cold, her eyes shut and no signs of her cheerfulness detectable. For a second there I even feared she might've not made it, but that fear was quickly dispelled by the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest.

"Any idea how're we supposed to get her down from there?" I asked, breaking the silence. Twilight and Rarity shook their heads and looked at me.

"I guess our best bet would be to reach for her from the window?" Twilight suggested, pointing to said opening not too far from Pinkie.

"I suppose that could work." Rarity nodded, looking back at Pinkie and adopting an ashamed expression. "I did not intend for this to happen, I don't even know what happened, but that does not mean that I am not about to take full responsibility for this. Rest assured, I will endeavor to make it up to the poor dear or my name isn't Rarity."

Twi seemed to want to reassure Rarity that we didn't blame her, a notion that I wanted to back with all my heart, but of course, this moment of friendly reassurance had to be ruined by the goblins. An arrow whizzed right past Twilight's pointy ear, making her jump in surprise and turn around. As suspected, there was the greenskinned rider, pointing his bow at us and muttering obscenities, directing them both at us in general, at Rarity in particular, and even at his dead comrade, calling him a 'worthless piece of dog…' You know what, I'm not gonna finish that. I have to have some standards.

The leader's attack seemed to snap the rest of his forces into focus. Beginning to fight anew, now more out of fear of their superior than their own bloodlust they renewed their efforts to try and kill or maim us, forcing the girls to take up arms once again. And although their numbers were slowly but surely dwindling, that didn't make it any easier for the gang.

Rainbow, despite her injured arm was doing her best to take the fight to the greenskins, opting to use kicks more instead of punches. AJ was doing well too, clobbering those of the goblins that dared to try and attack her, but she seemed a speck distracted. She was keeping an eye on Fluttershy, who by now had slightly calmed down from her earlier rage, or at least ran out of steam, and was concentrating more on avoiding being attacked than attacking herself. Not that she didn't retaliate whenever she had a chance; she was indisputably still angry, and any greenskin stupid (or brave, seeing as they all were giving her a wide berth) enough to target her was swiftly met with a surprisingly brutal counter. I truly was beginning to feel uneasy looking at Fluttershy acting like that. It was as if she was a completely different pony. What happened to her?

I shook my head and tried my best to decide what could I do to help. In all the commotion I lost my crossbow, magic or whatever it was I could use was at the moment out of the question, and I really didn't feel like sticking my neck out of cover. With the goblin leader circling the battlefield and taking pot shots at anypony foolish enough to turn their back to him, it was way too dangerous to try anything. Resigning to the thought of once again being completely useless I slid behind cover, allowing Twilight and Rarity to provide whatever support they could to our friends.

"Move aside lizard brain!" I heard the last voice I wanted to deal with right now. Looking to my side, I noticed the running form of none other than Trixie, who seemed to try and make herself as small a target as possible and was making a beeline for our crate fort. Wisely, I made as much place for her as I could, letting her slide to cover, just as an arrow hit the wall where her heart was moments ago.

"That was too close for Trixie's comfort." She muttered to herself, ducking behind a crate right next to me. In the meantime Rarity spared her a glance and huffed slightly, as if annoyed by her, but didn't comment. Twilight on the other hoof…

"You okay Trixie?" She asked also ducking while she reloaded her crossbow, one of the few ponies genuinely concerned for her. Twi was rewarded by a second huff however, this time originating from the magician.

"Trixie is fine, no thanks to you Sparkle." She replied haughtily, which went in obvious opposition to how she looked. Between the cuts on her face and the bruising on her arm, she looked worse than Twilight at the moment, and although she was making an effort to hide it with a mask of cold arrogance, her shifty eyes betrayed her nervousness. "While you were sitting here in safety, Trixie was off contributing to this pointless fight."

"By doing absolutely nothing and keeping a low profile this whole time." I couldn't help but snark. So maybe she helped out Rainbow in a jam, big deal. She was still getting on my nerves, especially after calling me a 'lizard brain' again.

I was rewarded by an icy glare from the mare, tough I managed to pick up something more in it. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think it might've been jealousy. Seems like she noticed me using magic.

"If you weren't so preoccupied with hiding like a coward this whole time you would've noticed how the Great and Powerful Trixie was contributing to this endeavor, lizard. And if you weren't as blind as a mole you would notice that Trixie spent all of her crossbow bolts before she even searched for cover, which of course cannot be told about you, seeing your quiver almost full."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't have that much of them if I didn't lost my crossbow somewhere!" I defended, returning her glare with one of my own. Her eyes narrowed.

"Which only proves how useless you are, seeing as you can't even hold on to your own weapon, butterhooves." Was her nasty reply. Gritting my teeth, I was about to point out I didn't need a weapon to contribute, just to see the annoyed look on her face, when I saw movement from the corner of my eye. Ignoring the triumphant huff from Trixie, I turned my gaze from her and looked up at where Pinkie was hanging.

I nearly had a heart attack when I did.

The place where Pinkie was hanging not moments ago was empty, no trace left to indicate the fate of the pink party pony. Or rather, no obvious trace. I could barely see it from my position, but I could tell without a shadow of a doubt that something was on the roof of the inn. Something, that we were already all too familiar with; a soft, white light shone from the edge of the rooftop, casting a shadow over our position. I was almost positive that it was the same thing that brought us here, and that the evil light was doing something horrible to Pinkie up there. I was almost positive… but I couldn't force myself to do anything about it. I felt like if my body was paralyzed, my heart racing as an animalistic fear gripped it. I was well aware that whatever was there, whatever the light was, it could end me and anypony else if it so much as wanted to. I couldn't possibly try and help Pinkie without risking death, and as much as it pains me to admit it, I was too cowardly to risk my life for her. Deep down I felt that it was wrong of me and that I was going to regret it in the future, but I did nothing and just stared at it in silence.

"…ike! Spike!" Like from the bottom of a well I heard Twilight's voice calling my name. Slowly, very slowly, I blinked my eyes and tore my gaze from the roof, looking in her direction. Twi was at my side, in the place where not too long ago Trixie was, and was looking me over with concern written on her face. "Spike, answer me!"

"Wha… What's going on?" I asked in confusion. My inquiry however seemed to be enough to calm Twi down; she let out a sigh and looked at me with relief in her large, dark eyes.

"Oh Spike, you had me worried there! You just… zoned out and stared into space vacantly, and I couldn't get a response out of you." She explained, wrapping me in a quick hug. Her words confused me however, so once she pulled away I looked at her weirdly.

"I was doing what now? Staring into space?" I asked, to which she nodded. I furrowed my brows. "You mean to tell me you didn't notice?"

"Notice what?" This time it was Rarity who asked, ducking behind a crate and looking at me with equally relieved eyes. I felt my cheeks burning from her attention, but ignored it and pointed at where Pinkie should've been.

"That Pinkie's gone and the light from before is now on the roof, and…"

"What are you talking about? Pinkie's right there." Twilight interrupted me. Even more confused, I looked up there, and to my ever growing consternation I noticed right away that Pinkie was still hanging there, as if nothing happened, and with no trace of the being of light anywhere in sight. "Are you sure you're alright? Maybe you hurt your head or something?"

"I… eh… it must've been the light playing tricks on me… yeah… just a trick of the light…" I mumbled, still dumbfounded about what just happened. Something was definitely fishy about this, I know what I saw. But did I really, or was it just a hallucination of sorts? Was my mind so tired I made something like that up?

I didn't have the chance to ponder this much longer. Trixie's voice came from behind Twilight's back, a note of urgency audible in it.

"If you're quite done there with all that lizard's nonsense you may want to come back to your post. Trixie believes that the pink raging one may require as much assistance as she can get in a few moment." Twilight, though begrudgingly left my side and took her post behind the impromptu fortification, only to gasp in shock and quickly scramble to load a bolt in her crossbow, Rarity's reaction much the same. Realizing however that Trixie was mentioning the 'pink, raging one' I quickly concluded she was referring to Fluttershy, and that was enough to not only snap me into attention, but also make me forget about the strange experience I just had.

As I clambered on the crate I was greeted by a sight that made my heart fall into the pit of my stomach. The goblin commander, tired with his kinsmen's ineptitude, as well as his own futile attempts at scoring a hit on the girls with his bow switched to his melee weapon. With the spear-like weapon in hand, he urged his dog onwards, directing it into the very center of the carnage with but one target in sight. Forcing the beast to do what I assume no normal animal would ever even consider, the greenskin charged at Fluttershy, his weapon poised to strike. The shy yet still enraged pegasus had barely a second to spare before she would end up skewered by the little monster.

Fluttershy managed to avoid the goblins blade, the weapon barely nicking her shoulder, but she wasn't able to avoid the goblin dog. The sickly-looking canine, reaching all the way up to 'Shy's ribs slammed into her with enough force to knock her off her feet. Urged along by its rider, the creature approached the fallen form of Fluttershy, and after taking a quick glance at her, with salvia dripping off its teeth it tried to bite at her. The pegasus, letting her instincts guide her crossed her forearms in front of her and blocked the advancing goblin dog from reaching her throat.

The beast did not relent that easily, desperately trying to get to Fluttershy's exposed neck. Strands of ropy drool fell from its maw as it time and again attempted to get closer to her, the crazed creature snapping blindly at the pegasus and covering her with slaver, its sharp claws digging into her skin as it pinned her to the ground. Whenever the beast touched her skin and wherever its drool fell on her, Fluttershy's skin was becoming redder and redder, a nasty-looking rash sprouting within seconds from contact, as if in an instant allergic reaction. The creature, despite its seemingly starved state seemed to be enough to overpower our friend, and it would without a shadow of a doubt rip her to pieces if its small, bleary eyes didn't lock with Fluttershy's.

The creature momentarily stopped its assault, staring in transfixed wonder into the pegasus' eyes. Its sudden halt confused its jokey, the greenskin urging the beast with his stirrup, but to no avail. It just looked at Fluttershy, as if it only just saw her, and seemed to completely lose its will to fight. It stared at her, and seemed to shrink on itself.

I wasn't a fool, I knew what was going on. Fluttershy, despite the position she was in and the goblin dog's foul temper managed to lock it into one of her mythical Stares about which I heard from Rarity. She was doing the same exact thing that she did to the boar last night, only this time she didn't have to say anything. Just her eyes, her big, blue, disapproving eyeballs were enough to stop the beast's advances. It didn't work on the goblin however, but that wasn't going to be a problem.

The greenskin, tired of its dog's unresponsiveness was about to get the job done himself. Getting a better hold of its 'spear' he directed its tip at Fluttershy, intending to end her himself. Unfortunately for him however, that's when everypony capable of helping 'Shy decided to act. Three crossbow bolts sailed towards him, two embedding themselves firmly in the goblin dog's body and one nicking the goblin's spear-bearing shoulder. Twi, Rarity, and even Trixie allowed themselves a small cheer as the goblin dog reared, howling in pain and almost unseating its rider, backing away from Fluttershy. Seconds later, Rainbow and Applejack were in front of her, blocking the path to her, ready to defend her if need be. The greenskinned commander cursed seeing this, smacking the rat-like dog in annoyance, and turned tail, but not before he screeched out an order to his remaining forces.

The few goblins left alive circled the three mares, nervously looking from one to the other. It was clear they weren't in the best fighting spirits and would rather run away if presented with the opportunity. None of them however wanted to risk the ire of their commander, who seemed to instigate even greater fear in them. So they gritted their teeth and did their best to look intimidating, failing miserably while they were at it. They were so unthreatening right now, that Rainbow took the time to check up on Fluttershy and help her to fer hooves feet. This however changed quite drastically, all thanks to a single arrow and a vengeful little greenskin.

The moment the goblin commander was far enough from the girls to feel safe he clambered down from the dog's back, taking his bow and a single arrow with him. Next he smacked the creature hard in the snout, eliciting a whine-yip of pain from it, and forced it to face the girls. With a nasty scowl that promised pain on his ugly face, he ordered the dog to sic them, smacking it again for good measure. The goblin dog, sore all over but still as ill-tempered as ever didn't need much more encouragement and charged into the fray in wild abandon. And that's when the goblin drew his bow with his only remaining arrow.

The green commander took careful aim at its target, better than he ever could on the back of the ratlike dog. Holding his breath, the goblin aimed its deadly projectile at the girls, or rather at the mongrel-like creature that was charging at them. After a second or so of taking account of the wind and properly adjusting its aim, the greenskin released its arrow, discarding his bow soon after and fleeing as fast as he could towards the town's gate. It all might've been dangerous for one of the girls, if not for one thing: the goblin dog was more than we initially thought.

It were literally seconds. The arrow flew through the air in an almost perfect line, effortless reaching its target. The arrowhead pierced the dog's sickly skin the moment it reached Applejack. It struck the gnarly animal straight in the strange, tumor-like growth on its side, only it wasn't in fact a tumor at all.

The moment the arrow sunk deeper and the dog let out a whine of pain, all Tartarus broke loose. The animal, like a nightmarish piñata burst open, only it wasn't filled with sweets, nor was it the macabre sight of its innards that greeted us. In a flash of yellow and red, flames burst forth from it, within milliseconds consuming the goblin dog and spreading in an explosion none  of us saw coming. The storm of fire spread violently, quickly reaching the girls and the remaining goblins alike, licking at them and hitting them with the pressure wave it produced. The explosion ripped the dog apart, chunks of its body flying everywhere like fleshy shrapnel, forcing me and the girls to duck behind cover and wait.

Seconds drag on like hour as the singed parts of the dog's body rained upon us. The stench of burnt flesh and fur filled the air, making me gag, but I held strong, too worried to trouble myself with something like that. After a moment or so, when the rain of gore finally subsided did we dare peek from our hiding spot. Twilight was the first to look upon the blast area, and her reaction served to inform me how bad the situation was.

"Girls!!!" Twi shrieked, a terrified tinge to her voice. Without waiting she jumped over the crate and sped off towards Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Applejack. Rarity followed her soon after, white as a sheet and with wide, terrified eyes, covering her gaping mouth with her hand. Even Trixie seemed disturbed by what she saw as she slowly moved towards the carnage. Preparing for the worst, I too hazarded a look at the trio caught in the blast radius.

The first thing I noticed was the sheer destruction the explosion caused. Where the detonation took place there was a small crater, three or four hoofs wide, its edges blackened by the flames. Bits and pieces of the goblin dog lie strewed around the place, some of them smoldering, others staining the ground red. The goblins caught in the blast radius lie in various places, knocked back by the force of the explosion and either dead or unconscious, with broken limbs and blackened skin. But then my eyes fell on the more familiar shapes, and I realized why the girls reacted how they did.

To one side of the crater lie Rainbow Dash. She was moving and moaning in pain, so it was obvious she was at least alive, but she didn't look good. Parts of her clothes were blackened, in a place or two catching on fire. Her prismatic hair seemed singed and smoked a bit, as if preparing to burst into flames. But the worst were her legs. Even from afar I could see a piece of bone sticking from it, skewering her thigh. It couldn't be her own bone, that was fortunately for certain. It was curved, like a rib, and I would guess it belonged to the exploding dog, but it still was sticking out from her like a morbid reminder of what just happened.

I couldn't see Fluttershy anywhere, at least not at first. For a second I feared that the blast could've done something to her to such an extent, that I just couldn't recognize her in all this destruction. Fortunately, this wasn't the case. When Dash tried lifting herself from the ground, letting out a gasp of pain in the process, I managed to spot a speck of pink lying underneath her. I quickly realized what happened; Rainbow, in a show of bravery and loyalty shielded her longtime friend from the explosion with her own body. Seeing as Fluttershy was trying to get herself from underneath her childhood companion and having one less thing to worry about, I looked for Applejack.

I felt week to my knees when I saw her.

Applejack, being the closest one to the dog when it detonated took the brunt of the explosion, the force of it knocking her several hoofs from the where she initially was. There, lying motionless with her iconic stetson several paces from her she was, her clothes blackened and charred, sticking to her burnt and broken body. Her face was seriously messed up, looking like one gigantic wound, cauterized by the flames, and her hair was missing at places, scorched off by the fire. She looked like death itself, and her still form and labored breathing made it clear she wasn't going to make it without immediate medical help.

Twilight was already at AJ's side, Rarity following in tow, both unicorns trying to somehow help their fallen friend. But with neither of them able to use any magic or any medical know-how, all they could do was watch helplessly and try their best to somehow help, even if only by moral support. But I know somepony that might be able to help. I just hope she'll be up to the task.

I ran right past Applejack, earning a quick glare from Twilight who I knew didn't have any idea what I was doing, and came to a stop in front of Rainbow and Fluttershy. The prismatic speedster had by now managed to get herself off of her friend, letting 'Shy to shakily get to her knees. The look on her face told me enough –the explosion snapped her out of her rage, and left behind the scared, terrified form I was so used to. With her wide eyes locked on Rainbow's wound, she seemed both ashamed and mortified by what she unwittingly caused. She was about to say something, probably shower Dash with apologies, when I came to a screeching halt beside the duo.

"Fluttershy, we need your help!" Was the first thing I said. With the two mare's attention on me I elaborated. "Hope your butterfly friend is up to do his tricks, 'cause Applejack really needs 'em right now."

"What are you talking about?" Rainbow looked at me confused, just before she winced again from pain. Fluttershy on the other hoof seemed conflicted.

"I… I don't know if I can. I… this is all my fault." She said weakly, on the brim of tears. Seriously, she chose a great moment to snap out of her rage-induced confidence.

"Look, it doesn't matter. Right now Applejack lies there, with her face burnt off, and you're the only one that can help. So please, pony up and help her." I insisted, earning a shocked look from Rainbow and a mortified one from Fluttershy. Fortunately, that expression quickly changed to one of resolve and after nodding to me she got to her feet and ran in the direction I pointed her in.

"You're serious with the burnt off face bit?" Rainbow asked, still a bit stunned. I nodded sullenly. "Jeez, that green bozo seriously messed her up… shhh…"

"Not only her. You probably need to visit that Father Zantus fellow again and get that leg checked up."

"Gee, ya think?" She snarked in response, only to let out another hiss. "What happened to the green guy? Somepony got him?"

"No, he ran away. After that explosion nopony was exactly thinking about stopping him or anything."

"That sucks, I'd like a few choice words with him." Rainbow muttered darkly, giving me the impression it would be her fists that would do all the talking. That however quickly changed when Dash looked behind my back at something. "Hey, isn't it that Ameiko-person?" Confused, I looked behind my back and sure enough, I spotted the exotic-looking woman running towards us with a burly-looking guy in the town guard uniform on him in tow.

The two stopped beside Applejack and the rest, and the innkeeper kneeled at her side. It looked like she wanted and actually knew how to help. A few seconds passed, and sure enough, her hands, just like in Fluttershy's case glowed with the strange healing magic she possessed. Seriously, is there anyone here that doesn't know how to use magic? Oh, right, Twilight can't.

This place's weird.

With his innkeeping companion preoccupied, the man that accompanied Ameiko took a better look around. He noted the goblin corpses littering the street, the small crater punched into the ground, and then his eyes fell on me and Rainbow. For a moment I didn't know what to think of this guy –he looked really stern, a dour scowl on his face, but at the same time something about him seemed to tell me we could trust him. He had this air of confidence and control over him, like if he lived for situations like this and thrived in them, reminding me somewhat of Shining Armor. Considering he was a guard I guess it was a good comparison.

The man approached the two of us, his dark eyes scanning Rainbow's injuries, before he spoke:

"You and your friends went through a lot." He stated, kneeling in front of Rainbow and taking a better look at the bone sticking from her leg. "My men told me you were responsible for driving off a goblin fire wagon. Any truth in that?"

"Yeah, I sure did!" Dash immediately seemed to perk up at hearing this. "Those greenskins didn't know what hit theaaaahhhh!!!" A loud scream escaped her throat as the man ripped out the bone fragment from Rainbow's thigh in a swift motion. I could only look on, shocked, as the man casually wrapped her injured limb in a part of his own orange cloak he ripped off, ignoring the pegasus' screams and did the same with her wounded arm. Finally, once he was done and Dash managed to somewhat calm down she glared at him and hissed. "What the hay did you do that for?!"

"Drink this." He replied, completely ignoring her and sticking a small vial filled with a shimmery white substance under her nose. Rainbow took it, but looked at him as if he was crazy and did not want to do what he asked her for. Sighing, the man explained. "A healing draught, for your injuries. Down this and the’ll start to regenerate." Still looking at him with doubt in her eyes, Dash begrudgingly did what he told her, only to gasp in surprise once she drank the whole thing.

"Whoa… That was wicked! It feels like the wounds are gone…"

"Not quite, I'd go with this to Zantus and have him take a look at it." The man interrupted her, helping Dash to her feet. "And I'd stay off that leg for some time. Healing brews aren't known for their reliability, but they're better than nothing. Now mind telling me what in Asmodeus' cloven hooves happened here? One moment I'm escorting one of my men to the church for healing, the other I hear an explosion from my brother's inn."

Rainbow and I exchanged looks, shrugging at one another. The guy seemed okay, blunt and straight to the point, but okay, there probably wasn't anything wrong in telling him what happened. So, taking the initiative I quickly summarized what just happened, mentioning the guy that I think was still hiding behind those crates and stressing the fact the goblin's dog was the source of the explosion. Now that I think about this, the story was so unbelievable that if I was in this guy's place I wouldn't believe a word of it.

The guard seemed to take my story into thought, pondering my words for a few seconds. It actually looked like if he believed me, which I was grateful for, but still wanted it checked. Turning around, he looked at the crowd that gathered around Applejack and shouted:

"Hey, you there! You with the purple hair!" Surprised at being addressed in such a manner, Rarity turned from the broken form of the farmpony and looked at the guy in confusion.

"Yes? May I…" She started, still a bit shaken from witnessing AJ's state, but the man cut her off.

"You don't look like you're treating the blonde's wounds. Make yourself useful and check on the man behind those crates." He ordered authoritatively, pointing at our former hiding spot. For a moment I was half-expecting Rarity to refuse on the ground of this being no way to talk to a lady, but surprisingly she complied. Guess she was still too shaken up to argue.

Rarity quickly went back behind the crates, and seconds later returned with the covering man trailing behind her. Now that I could take a better look at him, I could tell that he was a person of some social status, his clothes, although dirty, still a clear display of his wealth. With a blue doublet with gold trimmings and a pair of beige pants there was no denying that. Again, as a dragon I have no concept of what could pass as handsome for humans, but I could guess with some level of certainty that this guy could possibly be called that, if not for his still terrified expression and shifting eyes. He still looked as if he expected a goblin to jump out of the shadows and gauge his eyes out.

The moment he saw the man the guard's scowl deepened a bit. It appeared that he knew the man, and whatever his relations to him were,  they weren't exactly friendly. With false relief, the guard addressed the covering man, earning his immediate attention.

"Lord Foxglove, it's a joy seeing you in good health." Wait, hold on. Lord Foxglove? As in a noble?

"Sheriff Hemlock." The man nodded, and I immediately glanced at the guard's chest in search of a badge. "I… eh… Is the situation under control, sheriff?"

"As much as it can be, considering we were just raided by the biggest goblin party since Sandpoint's founding." The newly dubbed sheriff replied evenly, a small glare directed at the lord. "This was probably the last group of stragglers remaining inside town perimeter, with the last suicide rider. I have to say that you're blessed with surprisingly good fortune, sir. If it weren't for these ladies' you probably wouldn't've made it, milord." The sheriff spat the title as if it left a bad taste in his mouth, but the man named Foxglove didn't seem to notice, or care. The moment he heard the guard's words his attention was immediately drawn to Rainbow Dash, and then to Rarity, where it lingered for enough time to make it seem uncomfortable.

I was about to say something when the lordling sprung into action. Grabbing both of Rarity's hooves hands in his own, he brought them to his lips, kissing them, and then bowed deeply, a torrent of thanks coming from him:

"Thank you, thank you, a hundred times thank you! You… you saved my life! I…I could have died there if it wasn't for you!" Rarity blushed at all the praise directed at her, uncomfortable with the sudden attention. At least I hope it was that.

"Well now, let's not jump to conclusions." She tried to calm the man down awkwardly. "I only helped a little bit… and did more harm than good." She added under her breath, but the Foxglove-fellow would have none of that.

"Nonsense! I can tell a true hero when I see him, or her in this case." That left me gawking at the guy, Rainbow following close by. Was this guy for real? I mean I know I tend to praise Rarity to the heavens themselves, but I at least try to do it accordingly to what she…

"I'm afraid I could only dream of being half as courageous as you, milady. Unfortunately the gods did not bless me with as strong a heart as I would desire." Well, that makes some sense I guess. Compared to him Rarity really was…

"But I am no stranger to gratitude! You have saved my life, and as such I am forever in your debt. On my honor as a noble, I will repay you for your deed, or I am not Aldern Foxglove! And I will do so gladly, seeing as my savior is also a lady of unparalleled beauty." ATTENTION!!! Possible rival to Rarity's heart detected! Initiating countermeasures in 3… 2… 1…

"I'm flattered, I really am, but it really isn't necessary." Rarity really seemed uncomfortable with where this conversation went, which thankfully snapped me out of my… possible episode let's call it… Who knows what I would do to the guy if she didn't step in. "I was just trying to help…"

"And help you did, milady! But I realize that this may seem a bit sudden. In the regard of me repaying my debt: I will be staying in the White Deer Inn for the next week. I'm sure I'll be able to come up with a suitable way of compensating your deed in the following days. Now, if you'll excuse me, I would like to put this day behind me as soon as possible and retire for the night. Fare thee well…" Well, good riddance. Finally the guy will... "Uh, such a faux pas. Here I am, pestering you milady, and yet it did not come to me to even ask for your name, or give my own for that matter." Or maybe not. Ugh… "I do hope you can forgive such untactful behavior. My name is Aldern Foxglove, lord at Foxglove manor, at your service." He bowed again, this time even deeper than before. For a second Rarity was as stunned as we were at this, but she quickly regained her composure replied with a curtsey of her own.

"Rarity the Unicorn, a pleasure making your acquaintance."

"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Rarity. Such a beautiful and fitting name." I'm starting to think I'm at a serious disadvantage here. "Now then, if you'll excuse me, I want to wish you a good night and until our next meeting. Farewell!" And with that Aldern Foxglove, lord of whatever and the first to grace my personal unwanted element list made his retreat, passing by Applejack and her ER group without sparing her so much as a glance and bounding for the inn's doors. It took us a moment to process what had just happened, but in the end it was Rainbow who decided to break the silence.

"Well, that just happened." She commented. "Is it just me or did he the guy completely ignore all of us except for Rarity?"

"Seems that way." I nodded, silently gritting my teeth. That guy seriously got on my nerves.

"I have to admit, I haven't seen Foxglove act like that in years." Sheriff Hemlock added, reminding us that he still was there with us. "Then again, he left the Hinterlands for a few years so my information on him isn't as accurate as I would like." He looked at us again, his ever-present scowl lessening slightly. "But he did bring up a good point: you did a great service to Sandpoint, all of you. So, on behalf of the town guard I'd like to thank you all for helping in our hour of need. I'll see about arranging a proper reward for you later. Right now I think some of you should go pay Father Zantus a visit. This was a long day and I'm sure your friend over there will need the medical attention of a professional sometime soon." He added, pointing in the direction of Applejack.

Speaking of her, the two healers that worked on her, that is Fluttershy and Ameiko looked like they were ready to collapse. Both of them seemed to be extremely tired, barely able to keep their eyes open, but they did what they could to help our friendly apple farmer. Applejack actually looked somewhat better than she did a few minutes ago, her chest rising and falling regularly, but she was still covered in cauterized wounds and burnt clothes.

Ameiko, after pumping the last of whatever healing powers she had slowly rose to her feet and, looking in our direction, made her way towards us. Once within speaking range, she addressed the sheriff by what I guess was his first name:

"Could you help us out Belor? Jack or whatever her name is needs to be brought to Pops. We managed to stabilize her, but she's still in pretty bad condition."

"Of course." He nodded and waved someone over. It appeared that Trixie was currently looking in our direction, 'cause she was the one to come, still looking disturbed by what she witnessed but regaining some of her usual spunk. "You. Help her get to the church. I'll help carry the burnt one."

"WHAT?!?" Both mares shouted in unison, glaring at one another until Trixie continued. "Why should I help this featherbrain with anything? She looks fine to Trixie."

"Yeah, I can totally get there one my own!" Rainbow added, taking a step. Seconds later she landed on the ground, moaning in pain and clutching at the bandaged part of her tight. The sheriff sighed seeing this and shook his head.

"Obviously you can't. And I told you to keep of that leg." He muttered, annoyed. "Now I don't know what the deal is between you two, and I don't care. Right now you do as I say, or today's casualties may be a few number higher, is that clear?" The two mares nodded, both staying silent and glaring at one another. The guard helped Rainbow get to her feet again and placed her in Trixie's 'care', wrapping her arm around her shoulders for support. In no time the two of them were making their way towards the cathedral. As they went I heard a snippet of their 'conversation'.

"It seems like the Great and Powerful Trixie is once again keeping your prismatic mane safe. Just like when she covered you from a vicious goblin attack to the back…"

"Shut up and walk."

Called it.

"You too should go, you look like you need a checkup, and some rest." Sheriff Hemlock looked at me and Rarity. I was about to respond that we didn't exactly have a place to stay when miraculously this issue solved itself.

"I can arrange for you to stay at the Rusty Dragon for a few days, free of charge, as a token of gratitude." Ameiko offered, giving us a tired grin. "Hey, I may find you and the way you talk about my place annoying, but after you helped out with the goblin I feel inclined to return the favor. Just try to keep the complaining to a minimum." She winked at Rarity, who rolled her eyes but smiled tiredly nonetheless.

"Thank you dear for your generous offer. We may actually take you up on it, seeing as with all this mess we didn't have an opportunity to book a place anywhere else." She replied, but then added as an afterthought. "I'll be sure to inform the girls of this arrangement, as soon as I get Pinkie down from her place."

"Pinkie… you mean the pink one with an appetite for kelps?" Ameiko asked, and after getting a nod asked. "What do you mean by 'get her down from her place'?" I responded by pointing at the place where she was hanging, the pink party pony still swinging there in the wind, unconscious. "Oh. How'd she get there?"

"It's a long story." Rarity replied dejectedly and turned to me, flashing me a tired yet still bedazzling smile. "Spike, dear, would you mind lending me a… hand… and help me with Pinkie? I'm afraid I won't manage alone."

"Sure thing!" I replied, all the wariness in my body disappearing as if by the touch of a magic wand. That is it disappeared for a whole of five seconds, after which it came crashing down again, especially after I looked at Pinkie's position.

"This is going to be a real pain" I thought to myself, trying to figure out how best to approach this. Bus as I was looking at Pinkie, delicately swaying from side to side in her makeshift harness, I noticed something odd. At first I couldn't place it, but after a second or two I realized what I was seeing. Taking a closer look at Pinkie, I noticed she was looking back at me. I momentarily froze at the realization of that, staring wide eyed it her. She was just there, hanging there, unmoving, and staring back at me, unblinking. I momentarily felt my blood run cold, creeped out by this immensely. This wasn't natural, she's supposed to be unconscious. And even if she wasn't, she'd probably be swinging there right now and laughing hysterically, not stay there silent and just stare.

I looked at her, breath caught in my throat, ignoring the sounds coming from anywhere else. I vaguely remember Rarity saying something to me, asking me if I was okay, but I didn't respond, just stared in the eyes of Pinkie Pie. I stared… and her mouth curled into a smile, not a happy one or a reassuring one, but one that made my skin crawl. The next thing I remember, her blue eyes turned solid white and started to glow that accursed glow, ever brighter with each passing second, and I couldn't help but stare. I stared as the light became overwhelmingly bright. I stared as it began spreading, consuming everything in its path. I stared as it engulfed me.

I stared, as it all faded to black.

I stared into darkness, and it stared back at me.
> Act Three Chapter One
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Act Three: Small Town Heroes



Sandpoint, 2 of Rova (Presumably 25 of September 1000 SR), Morning


Pain.

That was the first thing my groggy mind registered after I finally came to. A dull pressure filled my skull, banishing any form of coherent thought out of my mind, leaving only the bare minimum most call instincts. Surrendering to them, I sought solace beneath my pillow, hoping that the pain wouldn't last much longer. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be.

I let out a muffled groan in a vain attempt to alleviate my headache. This was seriously the last thing I wanted to deal with right now, especially after the night I just had. Rolling to my side and curling into a ball, I tried to remember the details of that crazy dream. No, not dream. Nightmare. With all the blood, pain, and death it could only be a nightmare, and a bad one at that. With me and the girls transformed into creatures of legend, Applejack being almost burned to a crisp, and Pinkie being, well, Pinkie, it was easily the worst night terror I have ever had… wait, why can't I feel my tail?

Confusion and dread overrode my pain and within seconds I unburied myself from my covers, frantically looking myself over. At once I realized that I was still in the same form I was in my dream, only now I wasn't that sure it was a dream to begin with. With my now pinkish and scaleless claws hands I frantically checked myself in vain hope that it was only an illusion my aching brain has concocted, but alas, I was proven wrong. Realization slowly started to down on me: that wasn't a dream.

That wasn't a dream!

I cursed under my breath, a shiver running down my spine. Everything that happened yesterday was coming back to me, every grim, bloody detail of it, and I slowly felt myself grow sick. Every life I saw being taken, every life I took myself… I saw it all before my mind's eye, playing out in the macabre, grotesque spectacle that was the goblin raid. Feeling my stomach begin to twist and churn I shook my head and tried to distract myself from those thoughts. It wouldn't do me any good if I threw up now.

Taking a few calming breaths I slowly glanced around, trying to take stock of my situation. The first thing I noticed was that I was in a bed. Yeah, I know, expert observation skills right there. In my defense: I just woke up, I had a constant pressure pressing against my brain, and just realized that what I took for a nightmare really happened. Either way, the bed I was resting in was fairly large, definitely… what were they called… ah yes, human! Well, the bed was human-sized, with an off-white, goose down duvet acting as a cover and similar pillows as headrests. All in all, a comfy thing, even if a bit too warm… okay, that's a first. Never would've thought I'd say something was too warm for me.

I miss being a dragon.

Shaking my head (and wincing, as my headache reminded me of itself) I looked further than just the bed. I found myself in a rather small room, consisting mostly of the bed itself, a small nightstand to its right, and a simple desk a few hoofs down the room, with Twilight diligently sitting behind it and reading something. On the furthest wall there was a simple door leading to what I assume is the hall, and on the wall opposite it, just over the nightstand is a window, and judging from the steel-gray sky I gathered the day's weather was expected to be overcast, maybe even rainy. Come to think of it, it's actually quite clever; a good downpour would be great in getting rid of whatever blood still stains the streets, and…

Wait a moment. Did I say Twilight?

My eyes snapped back to the desk, and sure enough Twilight's form was there, sitting in a chair, her full, undivided attention focused on some kind of book. Glad there are some universal constants; as expected, she too was in her human-ish form, with those two pointy, oversized ears poking from beneath her purple hair. What really made this an odd site however was that Twilight, the same mare that couldn't function properly in the morning without her fix of green tea was already up and about. With a few exceptions Twi never was up before I was. Then again, she was in the middle of some sort of book, so it may very well be that she didn't go to sleep in the first place. After a moment of consideration, I hoped she didn't go to sleep. Why? Three words: only one bed.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that there were times Twilight and I shared the same bed, it'd be silly to claim otherwise. But for Faust's sake, back when that was a thing Twi was about ten and I wasn't old enough to even begin to comprehend the implications of sleeping with a mare. Besides, Twilight's like a sister, it's weird and wrong to even think about it. So let me say it right here: back then it was mostly me acting as a live teddy bear (I'm surprisingly good to cuddle to despite my scales, or so they say), no strings attached, and it stopped when Twi hit puberty. Well, it stopped more or less… Point is, if Twilight and I really did sleep together, I would be so weirded out it wouldn't even be funny.

Trying to back out of weird-zone and simultaneously fighting off the awkward feeling creeping on me I looked at Twilight again. As expected, she was too engrossed in whatever it was she was reading to notice I was up. Taking a deep breath, already knowing this was going to be a royal pain, I tried to get Twi's attention.

"Hey, Twilight?" Of course, I could just as well try to get the attention of the chair she was sitting on. Twi ignored me completely, as if I didn't say a word. Sighing and massaging my temples, knowing my headache was only going to get worse before I get a response from her I tried again.

"Twilight! Twilight!" Nope, still nothing. I swear, even walls are more responsive when she gets like this.

I really didn't feel like doing this, so I pulled out the game breaker already. Noticing a few odds and ends neatly organized on the nightstand, probably sorted by Twilight herself, I quickly formed a plan. Leaning from the bed, I pushed a glass of water half an inch to my left and waited for Twi's OCD to kick in. And I didn't have to wait long.

As if waking up from a trance Twilight stirred and blinked rapidly. Looking around, her eyes quickly zeroed out on the misplaced glass of water, its content still slightly sloshing inside of it. And from there it wasn't far to my own handsome mug. Twi must've caught up to my deadpan expression, because she smiled sheepishly and blushed.

"I did it again, haven't I?" She asked, to which I nodded, ignoring the fact it felt like if my brain just rattled inside my braincase. "Sorry. It's just that this book is so interesting and… No matter. It's good to see you awake." She added, her smile turning sincere, and she stood up from her chair and switched to the edge of the bed. Before I knew what was going on I found myself wrapped in a hug.

"Em… Not that I'm complaining or anything, but is there some sort of occasion for this, or did you just feel like giving me a hug?" I asked, slightly confused by the sudden embrace. Twi pulled out of the hug a moment later and looked at me, or rather looked me over if her scrupulous gaze was anything to go by. After a moment of scrutinizing me, she finally answered with a question of her own.

"Do you remember what happened yesterday?" I cocked my eyebrow at that.

"Well, yeah. I mean it's rather hard to forget something like having to fight for your life against a bunch of green midgets with fudge for brains. Why do you ask?"

"So do you remember that you blacked out not too long after the fight was over?" She quarried.

"I don't remember getting here, wherever here is, so I guess you could say that." I replied, confusion starting to kick in.

"This is serious Spike. Do you remember why you blacked out? Tell me what you remember." The seriousness of Twi's voice made me really think about what I was about to say.

"Well… I remember that goblin dog exploding and AJ getting the brunt of the explosion. Then we, that is Rainbow and I, talked with some guy, I think he was a town guard, and he patched up RD's thigh and sent her to Father Zantus. Then Rarity asked me to help bring Pinkie from her hanging spot on the roof and… I think that's it. I don't remember anything past that point." I answered to the best of my ability, though I couldn't shake off the feeling that there was something more, something that just eluded my memory, but at the same time was really, really important. Maybe it was just the headache messing with my mind? "Why is it so important that I remember all that?"

Twilight didn't answer right away. She stood from the bed, starting to pace, her hand stroking her chin. It lasted for about ten seconds before Twi stopped and looked at me, her wide, dark eyes staring at me intently.

"Rarity told me what happened. When she asked you for help, you seemed to zone out, staring at Pinkie for some reason. You were unresponsive for about half a minute, completely ignoring Rarity's attempts to gain your attention, and then you collapsed like a puppet with its stings severed. Rarity had to carry you to the cathedral so that Father Zantus or any other 'healer' could check what was wrong." Well, there goes my image. And I was hoping to impress Rarity with how I was handling all this too.

"After Priest Naffer took a look at you he said you were completely fine, only exhausted, so we didn't think much of it at the time. But after we brought you here you started to rave, mumbling incoherently and thrashing about in your sleep. We… I didn't know what to do, I never saw anypony act like that, and as it was you it made it even worse. I did what I could, tried to calm you down, but you just kept at it, like if you were trapped in a nightmare and couldn't wake up. And you were repeating the same thing time and again; 'keep the light away from me', and 'I don't want to die', and 'I'm safe in the dark'. I was… I was terrified!" By that time Twi was close to breaking down, tears slowly forming in the corners of her eyes.

Seeing Twilight tear up like that and hearing the fear in her voice I couldn't help but feel ashamed. I know she can be overprotective at times, and make no mistake, it drives me mad most of the time, but right now, hearing all this from Twi, hearing and seeing how scared for me she was I couldn't help but feel like it was my fault. So, feeling I should somehow calm her down I hopped off the bed and tried my best to give her a comforting hug.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm alright now, see? No need to worry." I did my best to console her while wrapping my arms around her leg and admittedly awkwardly patting it. That quickly changed when she kneeled before me and wrapped me in another hug of her own. We stayed that way for a minute or two, me whispering comforting words to Twilight and she just keeping me in her arms as if afraid I would disappear if she let go, until she broke the embrace, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Sorry Spike, didn't mean to get so emotional." She apologized, making an effort to sound casual and failing miserably. "It's just that… It's just that all that happened in the last twenty four hours finally caught up to me. Us being stranded here, unable to reach Princess Celestia, and all the carnage the goblin attack did, Applejack's state, and then you…" She let out a shaky sigh and looked at me again with those wide, sad eyes of hers.

"It's no problem, really." I assured, giving her the biggest smile I could muster. "Heck, I'd probably be a nervous wreck if the situation was reversed. Compared to me, you're holding up like a champ." This brought a chuckle out of Twilight, signaling I was on the right track. Stepping away from her and taking in her features better I already had the next comment ready. "Seriously though, you look better than yesterday. I think your magical exhaustion is wearing off."

"Yes, I think it is." She nodded, sitting back on her chair. "While I was trying to calm you down I must've dozed off and caught a wink of sleep. That probably helped a lot." I nodded, figuring as much. Twilight was looking no worse for wear, a sure sign that she replenished most of her magical reserves. And I'll just leave the question of where she slept unanswered, better I not know.

"So… where are we anyway? And, well, how're the girls holding up?" Twilight lightened up a bit at the change of subject and launched into an explanation.

"The girls are doing well, all things considered. Most didn't get too injured during the fight, just scrapes and bruises, and Rainbow's thigh as you already know. Father Zantus managed to patch most of us up within seconds… still, that healing magic is unbelievable, nothing like the simple things from back home. I really hope I'll get to learn how it works exactly. It'd catapult medicine in Equestria by decades, if not centuries altogether. Think of how many lives could be saved if…"

"Twilight." I interrupted before she went on a tangent. Blushing, she apologized and went back on track.

"As I said, most of us were ready to go a few minutes after we got to the cathedral, except for Applejack. Fluttershy and Ameiko were able to stabilize her enough for transport, but Father Zantus said that it would take some time before she was fully healed. I think he said something about burns being a pain in the neck to deal with, and that his work wasn't going to be pretty, but he assured she's going to be fine, and I'm inclined to believe him. As for Pinkie… well, she's okay, believe it or not. Apparently the flash that launched her on the roof only knocked her out. I haven't seen Rarity so relieved in my life." I smiled, relieved at that too, but there was something nagging at my thoughts. I still couldn't place it, probably thanks to the headache I tried valiantly to ignore, but it was there. Just what was it?

I didn't have time to ponder it much longer, Twilight continuing her tale.

"After we took care of our wounds and left Applejack in Father Zantus' hoo… sorry, hands, we were invited by Ameiko to stay the night at her inn. She said that in a way of showing thanks for helping out in town she was willing to give us a place to sleep for the week, and seeing as we don't exactly have much choice in the matter we agreed. Fluttershy stayed in the cathedral though, she said that she wanted to make sure AJ was going to be alright and help out if she could. Which reminds me: how did you know Fluttershy can use healing magic?" Twilight looked at me suspiciously, not that I blame her. Shrugging, I answered lightheartedly.

"Saw her heal Rynshinn after she got shot by a goblin. I just figured she could and rolled with it. Besides, it's not even the strangest thing that happened yesterday so…"

"I suppose you're right." Twi nodded slowly, although she didn't look exactly convinced. "With all the weird stuff that's happening lately finding Fluttershy using magic isn't all that shocking. Especially considering you can too." She added as an afterthought, shooting me a calculative glance. For a second I was afraid she was going to try to coax information on magic out of me, even though I didn't even know how I did it, but fortunately that didn't happen and she continued on with the story.

"So to answer your first question: we're in the Rusty Dragon Inn, Ameiko's tavern, more specifically in one of the rooms she gave us. It's… nice enough I think. I didn't get to look around much yesterday with you starting to rave. Only downside is there isn't enough rooms for all of us; Ameiko still needs to make money, and she already has a few guests, so most of us are forced to share. I hope you don't mind sleeping in the same bed, at least for some time." Twilight smiled uneasily, probably feeling as embarrassed about this turn of events as I was. For my part, I shook my head no, trying to once again ignore the growing awkwardness. Keep it together buddy, she's your sister and you slept in the same room as her for years now. Think of it like the good ol' days.

I have no idea where all those dirty thoughts are coming from.

Trying desperately to redirect my thoughts from the weird-zone again I searched the room for something to change the subject to. Momentarily my eyes were drawn to the open book laying on the desk. Yes, that would do…

"What's that book you were reading?" I asked, nodding in its direction. Twilight, never one to shy away from the subject of literature of any kind immediately caught on, an incredibly wide, radiant smile appearing on her face. Either that's a spellbook of some kind, or she found the long lost diary of Starswirl the Bearded.

"Oh, Spike! You wouldn't believe what a treasure this book is! It's the single most interesting read I have had in years!" Calling it now: spellbook. "I mean I read hundreds of books on the subject, but to read one written by a completely different species, and one that theoretically shouldn't have any knowledge on its subject in the first place?! It's almost like finding the personal notes of the Archmages of ancient Unicornia!"

"So are you gonna tell me what's in the book today or do I have to come back in a week?" I was rewarded by a quick glare from Twilight, though it lasted maybe half a second before it changed back into an excited grin.

"This, Spike, is a multi-purpose spell compendium, doubling as a research log for young, aspiring spellcasters. It has everything anypony interested in working magic would ever want: from an introductory chapter dedicated to the absolute basics of human magic, with tips concerning human spellcasting and recommendations of other titles for more advanced studies, all the way to analyses of simple spells, with a breakdown of their intended uses and diagrams showcasing their expected potency dependant on outside conditions. For example, it presents an intricate system of measuring spellforce, utilizing a set of units similar in form to the ones used in the Unified Scientific Equestrian Measuring System. They have their own version of the Starswirl Constant, an adaptation of the Swiftspell Temporal Dilation Equation, but they also have formulas and units describing magical phenomena still unrecorded by unicorn scholars! They have something called the Wilfux-Haarakin System, used in describing levels of magical imbuement of enchanted items, a method of utilizing non-Euclidean geometry in forming advanced spell glyphs through the use of the Minkov Equation, and the Arya Formula, used to describe the flux of arcane powers in natural conditions, something the scientists in the University of Canterlot were trying to develop for over three hundred years! Three hundred years! And a working formula is here! And it's listed as a basic one at that! Of course it’s all in base ten instead of the quaternary system from back home, but it's only a minor setback, easy enough to overcome. Aside from that though the book also goes in-depth with the methodology of spellcasting without the use of a concentrator, in my case my horn, substituting them with precise hand- and finger-gestures and proper intonation of verbal spell components, leading to creating specified magical phenomena in numbers that could be potentially staggering. It's truly astonishing that a race that theoretically shouldn't be able to use magic is capable of utilizing it to such an extent that they're hardly any different from unicorns in this regard, especially considering the advances they already made in this field already seem to place them above us.  I can safely state that they utilize a really high-end methodology of working raw magical power into useful, diverse spells, at least judging by what I was able to gather from this one book. Think of what else could there be in other, more advanced ones!" So… spellbook. Like she couldn't just say that up front.

Figuring this was going to take awhile I climbed back on the bed and tried to get comfortable, all the while listening to Twilight list off the more interesting fragments of the book too me. Sitting like that and listening to her enthusiastic voice, to her rambling about the exciting prospects this new magic presented to her, I couldn't help but smile. This really brought back memories. But by the time Twilight started to tell me about something that I vaguely recall she called 'a surprisingly well thought out spell classification' or some such I realized something. Just as she was about to tell me about the specifics of her latest discovery I interrupted her.

"I'm happy that you found something interesting to do, really, but… where did you get that book exactly?" I asked, looking at the said volume curiously. For a second Twilight looked confused by my question, but that was quickly replaced by realization on her part.

"True, I didn't tell you how I got it." She started, a bit less giddy than moments before but still quite happy. "It's actually a bit of a mystery. You see, after we brought you here I stayed the whole time with you, trying to… well, you know that part already. Either way, before I fell asleep I'm pretty sure there wasn't any book in this room, but after I awoke a few hour later there it was, resting on the desk as if it was there all along."

I raised an eyebrow at that. "So the book just appeared when you were asleep?" I asked, eyeing the tome suspiciously.

"Don't be silly Spike, book's don't just appear out of thin air." Twi replied with a giggle. I had half the mind to point out I could burp up a scroll, which technically is the same thing, but instead I asked:

"If it didn't appear out of nowhere, then how did it get here?"

"Someone left it here of course." Was Twilight's response. I'll admit, my brain must've frozen at that moment, because it took me awhile to comprehend what just happened.

"Someone… left it here?" I echoed confused, looking at Twi intently. All I got in response was a swift nod from her, as if she wasn't perturbed by what happened in the slightest. "You mean to tell me that someone was here, in this room, while we both were asleep?" Another nod. I felt my headache come back with a vengeance. "Twilight, please tell me that you find it at least a little bit creepy."

"Oh, believe me, I did at first, and not only because of that." She replied casually, making it hard for me to believe she was serious. As if sensing my doubt though Twilight reached for the book, snapping it shut, and presented its cover to me.

I momentarily realized what she meant. There, at the front cover of this leather-bound tome, pressed in the expensive material was a symbol I knew all too well. Twilight's cutie mark. It wasn't even a cheap rendering of it too; the symbol was precise, the starburst having exactly the same number of arms as the original, and the surrounding stars were placed in precisely the same order they appeared on Twi's flank.

Looking from the magical tome back at Twilight I noticed her smile at me knowingly. Judging by the look she was giving me I gathered she too was completely slack-jawed when she first saw that. Closing my mouth I tried for a moment to say something, but my mind was in such disarray that I couldn't even remember my own name. Fortunately Twi took pity on me and explained before I even asked.

"Yes, Spike, that book indeed has my cutie mark on its cover. And yes, I was freaked out the moment I saw it."

"Then why did you keep it!?" I blurred out, hardly controlling myself. "There is like some kind of creepy stalker thing going on here! I don't like it one bit."

"Calm down Spike. There's nothing to worry about." Twilight tried to calm me down, but that wasn't going to happen.

"Calm down?! Calm down?! Some guy just waltzed into the room you're sleeping in, left a book with your own cutie mark on its cover, and you tell me to calm down?! Are you nuts?!"

"This is getting nowhere." I faintly heard Twilight mutter under her breath before she produced a sizable piece of parchment I didn't notice earlier from the desk. "Before you start jumping to conclusions maybe you should read this. It'll let you understand what I have to say later better." Begrudgingly I took the paper and trying to remain as calm and level-headed as I could in this situation I looked over its content. Covered in a strange, blocky script I at first didn't recognize I was about to hand it over to Twilight, but just as I was about to I realized that my lack of familiarity with the language was really a non-issue. Just like with the girls being able to speak a language none of them could possibly have known before, I too was able to understand the meaning behind the strange symbols, just as if I knew them all my life. Pushing this sudden revelation to the back of my mind I began to read.

Do not throw this book away!

Forgive me m'Lady for starting this message in such an uncivil manner, but trust my words: it is imperative that you do not throw away this tome. I realize that a word of a complete stranger means nothing, even more so of one that snuck into the bedchamber of a fair maiden such as yourself, yet I implore you to heed my warning. Within this tome contained is the knowledge of the arcane arts that you oh so desperately crave for, m'Lady, written down in an approachable way for ease of understanding and bound to you by ancient magick, manifesting in the form of the symbol adorning its cover, Your symbol. I realize this may appear suspicious, and rightly so, for only a fool does not find the manner in which this message was delivered and its contents as questionable, and a fool you are not. Nay, I know for a fact that your intellect is rivaled by few, I have realized that from the very beginning. And it is to that intelligence that I implore that you keep this book and view it as a gift from a friend who too knows what it means to be lost in a strange land. For indeed, you have a friend in me, one that very much wants you to succeed and wishes not to see you harmed. Yet again I realize that my words mean nothing to you, m'Lady, and that without proof you shall never accept this gift as true and sincere. To this however a remedy is sure, and it is with my great hope that you will accept it as such.

Within this tome, among the slew of other lesser cantrips there is a certain spell, one that forever shall vanquish any doubt you may have in my words. It is one of an ocular kind, one that broadens the perception of the sense of sight. With this spell you shall be able to see with your own very eyes the workings of magick itself, and hopefully you shall be able to see that what I have said about the symbol on the cover being the working of the arcane and not of a nefarious nature is true. For indeed, I have naught but best intentions towards you, m'Lady, and may the gods strike me down if ever I bring harm upon you, willingly or otherwise.

Let me hence implore to you once more, m'Lady, that you throw not this book away, and accept it as a gift and show of good will. May it serve you well, as a guide and as a repository for knowledge of the arcane that you shall no doubt acquire, for better and for worse. Know, that I shall pray for you, so that the gods may look favorably upon your actions, and have good fortune shine upon all of your endeavors.

Sincerely

A Friend

I reread the letter at least three times, trying to fully comprehend what was written on this piece of parchment. I haven't seen such proper grammar since Princess Celestia sent Twilight a letter that was meant for the griffin ambassador by mistake. And the strange way magic was spelled… What was this guy, stuck in the sixth century or something? Of course, that didn't diminish the fact that whoever it was that brought this here was still a creep, no sir. If anything, it only reinforced that image.

I looked at Twilight from the letter, eying her carefully. I couldn't understand how she could be so calm in a situation like this. The letter didn't shed any light on who might've brought the book here, and the constant claims that he was a 'friend' and that he 'did not mean any harm' didn't convince me in the slightest, yet Twi seemed to take it at face value. I just couldn't understand why, though! This didn't make any sense!

"So I take it you read it?" I was brought out of my musings by Twilight's voice. I didn't even notice she was looking at me intently, not much differently from how I was looking at her.

"Yeah, though I still don't get how you can be so calm." I replied bluntly. "This thing doesn't just prove that this guy's a stalker, it practically spells out that he's also a creep."

"Now that's going a bit far don't you think?" Twilight immediately retorted, looking slightly perturbed at my words. "I agree, whoever left this book could at the very least take the time to deliver it to me when I'm not asleep, and that all this is a bit creepy, but I can't in good conscience say that his intentions weren't pure."

"Pure intentions? Are you for real?"

"Yes, I am in fact." She nodded sharply, cutting off whatever comment I had prepared next. Then, before I had the chance to recover she launched into an explanation. "When I first read that message I was in a flurry of emotion, make no mistake. The simple thought that someone was in the room while I was out like a candle didn't sit right with me. But I gave whoever it was the benefit of the doubt and checked his story."

"You mean you studied that spell he mentioned in the letter?" I asked, quickly connecting the dots.

"And managed to cast it on myself." Twi added proudly. "And I have to say –it really is a marvel. It never even occurred to me that there might be a spell that may allow one to see magic itself, or at least active magical effects. I mean it's easy enough to see magic at work when it comes to unicorn magic, but most enchanted items don't produce a visible aura unless activated. This spell however allows just that, and… I'm getting off track again, aren't I?"

"Kinda, yeah." I nodded. "So let me guess: the cutie mark on the book is enchanted?"

"Actually, the whole book is." Twilight corrected, picking the book up once again. "I can't say exactly what kind of magic it is, most of it is different from anything I ever studied, but one thing did stand out."

"And that was…?"

"My cutie mark." Why am I not surprised? "I'll be honest with you Spike, I don't have the slightest idea what it was about that part of the book, but whatever it was it felt… right." Okay, that's new.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm… not exactly sure. It just felt like it should be there, like it fit." Twilight was for once struggling to find the right words, though considering the situation that was to be expected. "It's… hard to describe. You would have to see it for yourself to understand. All I can say is that whatever magic was at work there, it felt right, it felt familiar, like a piece of my own magic was bound to the book."

"A piece of your own… wait, isn't that a bad thing?" I was immediately alarmed. Twilight description wasn't exactly inspiring confidence.

"Relax Spike, nothing happened." She assured, placing a calming hand on my shoulder. "Remember what the fellow from the note wrote? That the book was bound to me?" I nodded, letting her know I did. "My theory is that whatever 'ancient magick' was at work there reacted to my passive magical field and adjusted accordingly, both taking on the shape of my cutie mark and assuming characteristics of my magic. Hence the claim that the book was 'bound' to me."

"Okay, well, that's all fine and dandy but that still doesn't explain why the guy decided to creep into your… our room." I pressed on, still not convinced. Hearing that however Twilight let out an exasperated sigh.

"This really isn't getting us anywhere. Look Spike: whoever wrote that note claimed that the book was bound to me and that I would realize that after I cast that spell, and it proved to be true. Who's than to say that he wasn't telling the truth with the rest? Maybe he really is someone that wants to help us, and decided that giving this book to me was the best way to do that?"

"And that's why he had to give you this in your sleep?" I challenged, only to receive another exasperated sight from Twi, this time with a roll of her eyes.

"Maybe he doesn't want to draw attention to himself? Or maybe he's like Fluttershy and doesn't handle direct interaction very well, haven't you thought of that? You can't just assume everyone has bad intentions towards us. Innocent until proven guilty Spike, innocent until proven guilty." Normally I would agree with Twilight on that, but in the situation we're in it's better to just forget about that rule and assume everyone is out for us. Makes things a hay lot easier. But alright, if she wants I can stop acting as the prosecutor in this little lawsuit. At least for now.

"Okay, okay, I get your point!" I  started, rising my claws hands in defeat. "I'll stop pestering you about the book. Doesn't mean I'm okay with it though…" At the sight of the look Twi gave me I could help but let out a few awkward chuckles.

"Spike…"

"Okay, okay! I'll drop the issue, alright? Just… just promise me that you'll be locking our door from now on. The guy that been here last night might've been harmless enough, but who's to say others will be like that. This place isn't exactly Equestria and you've seen yesterday how hectic things can get, and I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. I just… I'm worried about you." I finished lamely, or so I thought. Twilight's face, until moments ago a picture of annoyance softened considerably, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"I promise I'll take care." She answered softly, I guess touched by my concern if the quiver in her voice was anything to go by.

Silence fell between the two of us, neither knowing what to say to the other. I still couldn't help but think about that book and the mysterious man behind it, wondering what sort of trouble it would bring upon us. On the plus side –my headache was almost gone. Now, from a constant pressure against my brain it morphed into a barely noticeable discomfort at the back of my head.

In the meantime Twilight shifted in her seat, opening the offending book again and scanning its pages quickly, like if she was searching for something. After a moment or so of leafing through its content she found what she was looking for and began to quickly read through it. Moments later she stopped, her eyes glued to a passage, scanning it intently like she hoped it would yield her its secrets if she looked hard enough. That wasn't about to happen however and after about a minute she let out a frustrated groan, startling me from my thoughts. Looking at her questionably I asked:

"Something wrong?" Twilight started to shake her head no, but stopped mid shake and looked more closely at me, or to be precise, at my claws hands.

"Say, Spike. You have fingers from the day you hatched, right?" I blinked owlish. What sort of question was that?

"Yeah, I do."

"Then you should be familiar with the nomenclature regarding anything finger-related, right?" Seriously, what the hay was that about?

"Is that a trick question?"

"Spike, this is serious! Do you know what it means to 'snap one's fingers'?" I stared at her, my mind drawing a complete blank. This question was Pinkie-levels of absurd, and it just escaped Twilight's lips. Shaking my head slightly I figured I might as well humor her, and instead of answering verbally I just snapped my fingers a couple of times as presentation.

I have never seen Twilight stare so intently at something as mundane as that in my entire life. Her dark, iris-dominated eyes scanned every move of my fingers, dedicating them to memory to the best of her ability. After the eighth or ninth repeat I noticed she was trying to replicate the movements with her own free hand, first slowly, than more quickly. Finally, after about half a minute she sped up enough to actually produce a sound with her fingers, bringing forth the widest smile I have seen on her new face to date.

Confused, I stared as Twilight went to work. Refocusing on the book in her hoof hand and yet still snapping her fingers with the other, she began to study the text. It took her a moment to reread the passage that was of the most importance to her, but once she did she set her face in determination, the snapping of her fingers (still sounds weird to say that) ceasing for a moment. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes in concentration she focused, as if preparing to cast a spell, and… wait, cast a spell? Dear merciful Celestia, did I just provide Twilight with the last component of a spell she was trying to cast? Well, seeing as Twi's eyes snapped open and judging from her determined face, I was about to find out.

Twilight, her eyes focused in attention at the tips of the fingers of her right hand, with the utmost attention one can give to such thing snapped her fingers. I was expecting something spectacular to happen, like a moustache to appear on my lips or a glass of chocolate milk to materialize or something, but no, nothing happened, and Twi knew it. Furrowing her brow in confusion she consulted her book again. After a moment she attempted it again, to the same, disappointing effect, prompting her to check the book again. It took her around fifteen or sixteen tried before she finally figured out what was wrong, and finally, snapping her fingers as energetically as she possibly could she produced what she was aiming for.

A single, bright-with spark flew from her fingers, like a spark produced by a blacksmith hammering away at a red-hot piece of metal, connecting with the wooden floor and leaving a small scorch mark where it hit. That’s all.

Well, that was anticlimactic.

It didn't seem to deter Twilight though. In fact, judging by the triumphant 'yes!' that escaped her lips, it was precisely what she was aiming for. Guess Twi is methodical in her approach, like always, and tries to work her way up to the actually impressive spells. That, or the book was filled with Trixie-level parlor tricks.

The moment in which Twilight allowed herself to celebrate her small victory was drawing short, and with it gone came her usual thoroughness. Clearing her throat and composing herself, she looked at me and smiled in a way I knew all too well.

"Spike, take a note."

Just like old times.
> Act Three Chapter Two
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 2 of Rova (Presumably 25 of October 1000 SR), Afternoon


I have to give it to Pinkie: that seaweed soup really is good. Of course, it's nowhere near rubies or sapphires, but as far as pony-friendly chow goes it wasn't bad. Then again, it may be because it was the first meal Twilight and I had today.

The moment Twilight started to study that book from a mysterious 'friend' I should've known it would end up something like this. Having me write down each and every observation she made while experimenting with the magic spells she found in it, it was only natural that she would lose track of time. And ignore her bodily needs. And mine. Boy am I hungry.

That wasn't all though, if it was only about me noting down each and every little thing she said I would be able, with some difficulty of course, to persuade her to at least eat something. But no, Twilight had to need my help with most of the spells she was trying out, especially my knowledge of digit-related nomenclature, and I, like the stupid lizard that I am had to feel my ego being stroked. I mean come on: I was actually helping Twi understand (or at least utilize) magic, not merely being a guinea pig like most of the time. I felt actually useful for once. Not that it made my belly feel any more full.

And so we stayed in our room, cooped in our small lodgings and experimenting with the arcane, completely forgetting about the outside world. It was… actually fun I have to admit. I'm even starting to see why Twilight enjoys learning magic so much. The exhilarating feeling of manipulating the very fabric of reality by exerting small amounts of your own will outside of your body is something one can get addicted to. Not that I would know unfortunately, every time I tried to copy Twilight I couldn't produce the effects she could. It was almost as if we used two completely separate sources of power to produce any magical phenomena at all, which begged the question why I even had any magic in the first place. But that could wait until I ate. And besides, as long as Twilight was having fun I wasn't going to complain.

I'm not really sure how long it would take us to realize we needed food if it wasn't for Rainbow Dash. Sometime after Twilight and I started to work on yet another spell she found her way to our door and barged right in with no respect for any form of decorum. Next thing she knew, Rainbow knocked over a levitating glass of water, spilling its content all over herself. The look on her face was priceless.

After a few moments of chuckling on my part, Twilight hurriedly apologizing, and Rainbow's remark about hanging a 'do not disturb –magic at work' sign on the doorknob next time, RD herded us out of the room and down to the inn proper. Before either of us had a chance to take a better look around, Dash led us towards a fairly large round table, Rarity and Pinkie Pie already seated at it.

I could tell right away that Rarity didn't sleep so good last night. I don't want to brag, but after spending so much time around her I could notice things like that. Even with a liberal application of makeup she couldn't completely hide the bags under her eyes, and her hair, usually perfectly styled had a bit less curl to it. This of course led me to wonder what could've possibly happened to rob Rarity of her sleep. Was she worrying about the others? Maybe nightmares? Or is it just that the inn's standards weren't up to par to her own? I'll probably never know.

Pinkie on the other hoof looked as fresh as a daisy. The moment she saw us she waved energetically and greeted us with her usual cheer, as if yesterday never happened. But as I watched her rock on her chair and hum a happy tune I couldn't help but feel that something was not right. I… I don't even know what it was about, but something was telling me that there was something… off about the way she smiled, but for the love of me I couldn't tell what it was.

Shaking off the strange feeling I took a seat beside Rarity and finally looked around the inn. The ground floor was quite spacious yet packed, littered with tables similar to our own, if not smaller. Already there was a significant number of patrons enjoying the services provided by Ameiko, be it food, drinks, or generally enjoying the opportunity to hang out and chatting with friends. The clatter of cutlery and the multitude of voices filled the room with a comfortable din, banishing the memories of yesterday's incident. The people here acted as if nothing had happened, as if the goblin attack was nothing more than a distant memory, but if it was a show of human endurance in the face of tragedy or simply the magic of alcoholic beverages I couldn't tell.

Banishing the thoughts of therapeutic properties of booze I continued my inspection of the inn. Quickly I noticed the bar, a few locals sitting at it and drinking from large, metal mugs served out by a woman I didn't recognize, probably the bartender. Not too far from them there was a notice board, nailed to a wall, with several pieces of parchment attached. For a moment I wondered what that was about, but I let it drop soon after, figuring it was just a pricelist or something like that. On the other side of the room was a set of stairs down which we came not too long ago. Aside from that there wasn't really anything really of notice, aside from a few decorative accents here and there. I think I heard Twilight saying that they reminded her vaguely of the Neighpon culture, whatever that is.

My thoughts were interrupted by Rainbow, who, with a wide grin on her face and a mug full with a foaming, amber-colored drink asked what we wanted to eat. After exchanging a glance with Twi, and trying to silence the rumbling of our guts we just ordered whatever, as long as it was edible. Nodding, Dash went up to the bar, and after a few moments came back in the company of a… I guess female halfling, she was about as tall as me and had no boots, her feet covered in thick hair. Well, whatever she was, she worked as a barmaid and brought the two of us a bowl of the green, mushy kelp soup each, plus one for Pinkie, who I'm pretty sure was at her fourth helping already.

And that's how I got here. Sitting contently beside my lady and having a warm bowl of soup before me, I was about as close to heaven as I could without wings. That is I would be if not for one teensy little detail. Using the clamor in the room as cover and the fact she wasn't here as far as she could tell, Twilight decided to finally privy Rainbow and the rest to her controversial decision of keeping Trixie around. It went about as good as I expected it to.

"Tell me you're joking." Rainbow was the fastest to voice her displeasure. She looked at Twilight in a pleading manner, as if Twi's decision could change the fabric of the universe. "Please tell me this is a joke."

"I'm afraid not Rainbow Dash." Twilight answered apologetically. "Magic is a fickle thing, even the slightest change in its structure can lead to unforeseen consequences." Rainbow quickly switched her gaze to Rarity, as if seeking confirmation, eliciting a sigh of defeat from our fashionista.

"I may not be as well versed as Twilight in this manner, but I fear she's right dear. Magic, especially unicorn magic, follows its own rules. If one variable is changed, the whole spell may at best not work, and at worse have a really destructive effect." Hearing that Rainbow slumped down.

"Great, just great." She mumbled dejected, taking a swig from her mug and staring blankly in front of her. "Not only are we stuck here, but we have to put up with that no good con artist just because her presence is the only thing that can bring us home."

"Sorry Rainbow, but I really don't have any influence on the matter." Twi replied, placing a hand on her shoulder. Rainbow glanced back at her and gave her a weak smile in return.

"Hey, I'm not blaming you Twilight. You're not the one writing rules or anything. It's just that I have a really low tolerance for ponies like Trixie." Aaaand another swig from the mug. I idly wondered what was it that she was drinking, but not enough to prevent me from flapping my gums.

"That's strange coming from you Rainbow, you two kinda act similar in a lot of ways…" I… momentarily trailed off noticing the look RD was giving me. I just had to put my foot in my mouth, didn't I?

"Spike. I'll pretend you didn't say that if you promise never to compare me to the likes of her, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." I nodded vigorously, shying away from the glare I was receiving from our resident speedster. Unforeseen by me though I found an unexpected yet not unwelcome ally in the form of none other than Rarity herself.

"Now Rainbow, that's no way to treat Spiky." Did… Did she just gave me a pet name? Oh yeah baby, I'm officially in the zone! "He just made an observation that I believe does hold some truth to it." Dash looked as if she was stabbed in the back.

"You too, Rarity?"

"Oh, don't give me that Rainbow Dash, I don't mean it as an insult." Rarity interrupted, discretely rolling her eyes. "What I mean, and I am most certain Spiky does too, is that both you and Trixie" she almost spat the name as if it left a bad taste in her mouth "tend to boast a lot. Of course, unlike her, you can, most of the time, put your words into action. Still, you cannot possibly deny that the similarity is there."

"Oh yeah?! Well… I… I at least don't claim to be able to fight off an Ursa Major!" Rainbow replied hotly, as if she didn't hear what Rarity just said, or heard only what she wanted to. This of course prompted Rarity to look at her in an unamused fashion.

"If you were listening to me Rainbow Dash you would have known that I never claimed you did in the first place. In fact, I'm sure I stated quite the opposite."

"Well… good! Because I'm nothing like Trixie!" By this point I looked at Twilight for help. Sighing, Twi shook her head slightly and was about to step into the fray and try to calm the two mares down when another voice entered the budding argument.

"I actually like Trixie." Arguments ceased at that small declaration, all eyes falling on the source of those words. As to be expected, it was none other than Pinkie Pie, still happily wolfing down her soup.

"No offense Pinkie" Rainbow started, looking at the pink party pony weirdly "but you like everypony, no matter who they are or how they behave."

"Hey, that's not true!" Pinkie protested. "There are ponies that I don't particularly like!" RD raised an eyebrow at that in challenge.

"Really now? Then name at least one pony that you don't like." Immediately Pinkie adopted a thoughtful pose, rubbing her chin and furrowing her brows in an exaggerated manner, like all things Pinkie.

"Hmm… Hmm… Hmm… Give me a sec, that's a tricky one." I think I speak for everypony when I say that it took a lot out of us not to facehoof at that (or is it facepalm?) Rainbow was about to declare her victory when Pinkie suddenly brightened up and bounced in her chair, smiling that too-wide-for-comfort grin of hers. "Oh, I know, I know! Black Snooty, Black Snooty!"

"What?" Was all RD managed to force herself to say, trying to wrap her head around Pinkie's answer.

"Somepony's missing out on her dark chocolate fix~♪" Pinkie sang, bursting out in giggles. After a second however she calmed down and explained… as if she was explaining something obvious to a foal that is. "You asked me to name at least one pony I didn't particularly like, remember Dashie?" Nod, because Rainbow wasn't in any state to answer verbally right now. "So I did! I don't particularly like Black Snooty."

"Em…" I don't blame Rainbow for looking at Twilight for help, I was about as lost here as she was. Twilight however, in some incredible twist of fate (or somehow having tapped into the same madness that plagued Pinkie's mind) was able to come up with a somewhat reasonable answer.

"I think Pinkie's talking about Nightmare Moon."

"Wait… how in the world does Black Snooty translate into Nightmare Moon?" Rarity once again braved the endless abyss of Pinkie's logic and dared to ask. All she got in terms of answer was a non-committable murmur that vaguely sounded like 'I dunno'.

All in all however, that little bit of Pinkie Pie-ness managed to cool some heads before it could turn into yet another argument. Come to think of it, it was starting to become a recurring theme the last couple of days. No matter how small or insignificant the issue was, everypony seemed way too willing to let any discussion turn into an argument. It was as if the girls somehow became more irritable, which left me wondering one thing. Why?

I glanced at Rainbow Dash and then at Rarity, the two mares finally overcoming the confusion brought by Pinkie's randomness and actually apologizing to one another. Both looked sheepish about what almost transpired and seemed to want to put it behind them as soon as possible. That was another thing that made all this more confusing. The ease with which we could fall to anger was not in any form proportional to how quick and easy it was to snap out of it. Short bursts of pointless irritation just didn't make any sense. And why did Pinkie seem immune to whatever was happening? Okay, scratch that last one; common rules never applied to Pinkie Pie, so why should they start now?

Taking another spoonful of soup I let myself ponder this riddle. The more I thought of this however the more widespread the problem seemed to become. It wasn't only how easy it was for the girls to start fighting with one another, I quickly realized that they we all became more prone to conducting violence. Rainbow for instance always was a hothead, and wasn't one to shy away from getting her hooves dirty, but she never lashed out on verbal assaults only. You'd need to actually threaten her or her friends for that. Yet the moment she found out Trixie was here as well, she didn't waste a second and pounced on her, even though it was obvious she was as much a victim as we were. Something was terribly wrong here.

"Something the matter Spiky?" I was brought back out of my musings by the angelic voice of Rarity. Looking up from my bowl I noticed that not only she but all the girls were looking at me.

"Everything's fine." I replied, confused by the sudden attention. "Why do you ask?"

"You've been playing with your soup for the past five minutes." Rainbow stated simply.

"If you don't want it I'll eat it!" Pinkie offered, eying my food hungrily. Having no doubt she actually would I hurriedly took another spoonful in an attempt to show her that it wouldn't be necessary.

"It's nothing, really." I assured after swallowing. Seeing the unconvinced look Twilight was giving me however made me sigh, realizing there was no backing out of this. "Haven't you noticed something strange going on with us? I mean aside from the obvious?"





It took me some time to explain everything to the girls, and by the time I finished a sizable chunk of the Rusty Dragon's patrons left, replaced by new ones coming fresh from the rainy streets of Sandpoint. It wouldn't take so long if I wasn't interrupted every five minutes by either Twilight or Pinkie, but that's neither here nor there. The point is I shared my observations with the girls to varying yet foreseeable reactions on their parts.

Twilight seemed to be the most interested in this, asking additional questions all the time and nodding or murmuring in appropriate places. Rarity too seemed to be interested, but stayed mostly silent, as if mulling over all the information in her head. Rainbow didn't seem particularly concerned, aside from a few places where she wasn't exactly ecstatic that I used her as an example, but that changed when I mentioned Fluttershy's rage-induced blood lust as yet another example. And Pinkie… well, I'm not sure what she thought of all this. She listened, yes, and asked questions, some of them even relevant, but as far as I know she didn't care much aside from letting out a small cheer at me mentioning she was probably immune to whatever was causing this.

There was one thing I did withhold from the girls though, and that was my own bloody rage. They really didn't need to know what I did. Hey, I didn't want to remember it. I still feel filthy and wrong when I remember what I did to that goblin. Ripping out its throat, growing and then retracting claws; each time I thought about it I felt sick to the stomach and a shiver ran down my spine. The girls, especially Twilight and Rarity didn't have to know about that, though the latter probably saw a little bit of it herself. After all, she looked apologetically at me when she mentioned it and I quickly had to covered it up with a half-truth. Thank goodness they didn't drag the issue.

"Ya know Spike, when you put it that way it really does seem like we have an anger problem or something." Rainbow commented just after I finished my long-winded explanation. "It's kinda creepy when you think about it."

"Yeah, I noticed. That's why I even bothered mentioning it." I replied, my eyes focusing on Twilight's pensive face. "Any idea what's going on Twi?"

"No, unfortunately not." She muttered, shaking her head. "It all just doesn't add up. Information just contradict one another; I can't come up with a feasible theory as to why it's even happening."

"But surely you must have some idea as to what could possibly be happening, darling. Even half an idea is better than none." Rarity reasoned, and Rainbow and I nodded, backing her up.

"Well okay girls, just don't take what I say as hard facts. It's all guesswork at this point." Twilight warned, and after a moment to gather her thoughts she started.

"From what I understand it all started the night we ended up here. The biggest fight you had back then was between you, Rarity, and Applejack, is that correct?"

"Unfortunately yes." Rarity nodded solemnly. "If I knew what would have happened later that day I wouldn't let out even a peep about that tick."

"So we can assume that this started early during our presence here." Twi concluded. "That could possibly mean that this problem is genetic-based. In theory, we can't be completely sure if humans and other humanoid species aren't prone to random bouts of anger. As such, it could be possible that we just react accordingly to the brain chemistry of our new forms."

"True, but why does Pinkie seem to be immune to those changes?" I asked, immediately poking at the hole in the theory. Most would assume it rude, but I knew better; Twilight wanted me to point out where she erred so that she could later improve. We done that since I was old enough to help her in her studies.

"That's a valid question Spike: why does Pinkie Pie seem to be immune to those changes?" See? What did I tell ya? "This is the point where this theory falls apart. While it's possible that Pinkie found herself transformed into the one species that isn't susceptible to anger like the rest, that on itself would be a precedent where the humanoid species are concerned."

"What can I say, I'm just that special." Pinkie smiled at that, taking this for a good sign.

"Maybe, or maybe it is we that are quote unquote 'special'." Twilight replied without missing a beat, just as if she expected Pinkie to say that. "Bouts of aggression don't seem to be a naturally occurring event in human society, at least from what we've seen of it until now. That also doesn't seem to fit the psychological profile of a sociable omnivore.

"Drawing comparisons from the studies of griffon culture written by professor Careful Inquiry and cross-referencing it with the treaty on chimeras by professor Daredevil I can estimate that intelligent creatures with a carnivorous or omnivorous diet generally fit into two categories: solitary ambush-predators, or predators with pack mentality. Griffons fit into the latter group, having a strong pack, or rather family mentality, with a drive to provide for every member of the 'pack', and with strongly developed social skills. We, as ponies, may not see those social skills that often, but it's a deeply rooted instinct amongst the griffins, manifesting mainly when they are amongst their own species. That's one of the main reasons why griffons were able to establish their own nation: they know how to work together and how to interact with one another on a daily basis. And I believe that humans and humanoids, as omnivores themselves, fit into the latter group as well.

"Now, knowing that cooperation is the key to forming any sort of higher civilization, behavioral patterns of both humans and griffons need to promote such actions. As I already stated, griffons are sociable omnivores. Although most ponies associate their race with aggressive behavior, most of it is highly ritualized and more often than not has nothing to do with actual aggression. They don't, for example, fly into a berserker frenzy over an insult, though that may vary from individual to individual, and depends on the race of the one insulting them. As such, in the event that humans are similar to griffons in this regard I would have serious doubts over whether or not they are highly irritable and prone to bouts of aggression, as well as…"

"Twilight?" I reached over the table and poked her hoof hand with my spoon to get her attention.

"What is it Spike?"

"I don't think the girls are following you." To punctuate that I pointed at Rainbow, who looked like if her brain froze, and then to Pinkie, who was happily humming a tune and completely ignored what was going on around her. Seeing this Twilight couldn't help but let out a defeated groan and ask in a deadpan:

"Okay, from what point did you girls stop following my explanation?"

"I lost you at 'psychological profile of a sociable omnivore'." Rainbow admitted straightforward, not even bothering to act sheepish. That of course earned yet another groan from Twi.

"You want the abridged version? Humans and humanoids are like griffins, and they're not as easily irritable as we ended up being."

"Oh. Then why didn't you say so?"

"I just did… You know what? I'm starting to see what Spike means by us getting irritated really easily." Twilight replied, the effort she put into maintaining calm visible to the naked eye. Fortunately her words were enough to tip off Rarity about her mental state. Initialing damage control, she redirected Twilight's train of thoughts to something else.

"Twilight, darling, if I recall, you mentioned something about us being the ones different. Could you perhaps explain what you had in mind?" I was really grateful that Rarity came up with that ploy. Twilight immediately brightened up at hearing that question, her earlier ire at Rainbow all but forgotten, only feeding into the theory of something being not right.

"Certainly. You see, if my earlier assumption on humans being like griffons is correct, then that would leave us as the odd ones." Twi started to explain. She took care however not go fully into lecture mode this time and at least try to keep it brief. "That would mean that we were in some way manipulated during our transformation, possibly by the mysterious entity that abducted us. Taking into account that the culprit was able to transform us in the first place, it is possible that he/she manipulated with our brain chemistry as well."

"I see." Rarity nodded, getting at least the gist of what Twi just said. She furrowed her brow however when she realized something. "Not to appear as a naysayer darling, but that theory is once again thwarted by Pinkie's apparent immunity to those supposed changes."

"I realize that Rarity. It makes even less sense than my first one." Twilight agreed readily, probably noticing that herself. "As much as it may sound weird, Pinkie is our standard when it comes to normal behavioral patterns in this situation."

"You're right, it does sound weird." Pinkie interjected, looking thoughtful. "I don't recall the last time someone used me as a standard for something."

"Gee, I wonder why?" I jokingly replied, earning a chuckle from Pinkie.

"So… what? We're the odd bunch and humans are peaceful, or do we have a problem with controlling their nature?" At this point Rainbow seemed more bored by this whole discussion than anything. "And does it even matter that much?"

"Looking back at what poor Fluttershy did –yes, this does matter." Rarity rebutted, giving me a sideways glance. She probably knows more than she lets on… great. "What if we get into an argument with somepony that we shouldn't? Or what if at some point one of us 'snaps' for want of better word and lashes out at the other? This may prove to be a ticking time bomb."

"A time bomb that we're unable to diffuse." I added, bringing attention to me. "Think about it: if this is something that whoever brought us here did to us, or something natural to what we're now, than what hope do we have to fight it? I don't remember anypony ever winning against genetics."

"There is one other option." Twilight chose this moment to interject, effectively stealing the limelight, not that I minded of course. "Out of all the theories so far this is probably the most farfetched, but it would explain most of everything perfectly."

"Okay then, let's hear it."

"What if this is the work of some kind of magic?" Really? I mean really? Did Twilight just pull out the old 'magic' card on us?

"No offense Twilight, but that really does sound farfetched." See? Even Rarity agrees with me! What gives Twi?

"You're right Rarity, and it probably is. But it's the only explanation that fits everything perfectly." Twilight defended weakly, probably not buying it herself. "With a little bit of mental exercise I could even believe that Pinkie is immune to whatever magical force affects us. She does break some commonly accepted rules of nature, what's there to say that she can't break more here? But you're right, that's just a silly notion I came up with on the fly. It's probably something different and obvious, something that we just don't see right now."

With that being said, Twilight fell silent, her brows knitted in thought. Figuring she was going to stay that way for awhile the girls let her to it and struck up a conversation of their own, trying to ignore the issue of anger management and focus on something else. As for me, I was starting to feel like mentioning this was a mistake on my part. I brought moods down, I put even more on our collective plate… It's like no matter what I do it just backfires at me in some way.

Trying to take my mind off my self-induced guilt trip I took a look around the inn again. Only now did it occur to me that we were discussing important matters of social, mental, and scientific importance in what was basically a bar. Chuckling slightly at the amusing thought I almost missed a new guest entering, but the moment I saw who it was I immediately stopped laughing.

I quickly recognized the drenched, chainmail-wearing figure as one of the guards, namely one of the guys that helped in repelling the goblin fire wagon yesterday. I couldn't quite place his name at the moment; it was neither guard Titus, nor that grump Ernie, but the dark complexion, dark hair, and unmistakable burnt orange cape was familiar enough. Wondering what one of the town guards was looking for in the Rusty Dragon I paid close attention to him.

Our nameless friend passed through the throng of patrons with the practiced ease of a regular. Making his way towards the bar, he quickly got there and asked the bartender something I couldn't make out through the din. The woman at the bar nodded to whatever he said and went back to what I assume is the kitchen. Moments later she came back, accompanied by Ameiko herself, wearing a set of simple clothes and an apron.

Ameiko and the guard quickly struck up a conversation, and judging by how the two acted towards one another it seemed they knew each other rather well. After a minute or so the guard produced a piece of parchment and passed it to the bar owner, letting her read its contents. Finishing whatever was written on it she looked at the armored man and simply nodded, passing it back to him and pointing at the board next to the bar, immediately making me realize that it actually was a notice board and not as I suspected a price list. Quickly pinning his parchment, the guard went back to chatting with the apron-clad woman on whatever it was they were chatting about.

I was about to turn my attention from the duo when I noticed something I thought strange. Ameiko and our still unnamed guard seemed to be discussing something, the two of them nodding from time to time, until our host arched an eyebrow at him. Saying something that I still couldn't hear from my position she started to scan the room as if searching for someone. But the moment her eyes fell on our table, her face lit up and she inclined her head in our direction. The guard followed her eyes and momentarily noticed us. Nodding in what I assume was thanks to Ameiko, he then made his way towards our table, his intentions about to be revealed.

"Good afternoon ladies, little master." The moment he came close enough to talk comfortably he greeted us politely. "Mind if I join you for a moment?"

"Nah, go ahead." Rainbow replied shrugging, making place for him. The guard pulled up a vacant chair and sat between her and Twilight, glancing at us all, an easy smile on his face. "So, what's up?" RD tried to break the ice.

"Nothing much, just had to run an errand before my shift's over." The man replied simply, leaning in his chair and stretching a bit. "After yesterday's goblin raid Belor has us working overtime to keep everything safe. With Sorrento and Esper dead, and a few others out of commission for the time being, we're a few hands short."

"Oh, um… I'm sorry to hear that, Mister…?" Rarity politely tried to inquire for his name and at the same time fight off the weird feeling that crept up her spike after the mention of the deaths sustained by the guard force. The guard seemed to quickly catch on.

"Ferizzo, Asper Ferizzo. And there's no need to feel sorry; our job has this type of thing written in its description." His reply was smooth, though I couldn't help but notice a bit of regret in his voice. He quickly brightened up however as he continued, a smile finding its way onto his face. "Besides, you helped us minimize casualties by quite a bit. In fact, if it wasn't for you, we may have never been able to stand against that fire-spewing hell engine!"

Guard Ferizzo seemed to be sincere, if a bit overenthusiastic. The last part he said quite loudly, enough for the people sitting at a nearby table to take notice. Looking at us, they started to whisper amongst themselves, most probably talking about us. I could already feel my ears burning.

"Glad that we could be of help!" I was brought back to the conversation by Pinkie's exclamation, her wide smile directed at Asper. She was eagerly shaking hands with the guard, who seemed a bit perplexed by her sudden outburst, but nonetheless went with it.

"Pinkie's right, that's the least we could do." Twilight nodded after a moment of consideration. "We just did what we thought was right."

"Believe me, that was still more than what most would do in your position." Asper replied solemnly, but smiled soon after. "Still –I wanted to thank you for your help. I'm sure Belor and the guys will want to too, but since I'm already here…"

He trailed off, waving in the direction of the bar. After a few seconds the barmaid from before came weaving through the throng of patrons, waiting for the man to place an order (and if I'm not mistaken stealing glances at me).

"Five mugs of Ameiko's best cider for the brave ladies and their companion!" Asper ordered jubilantly, immediately bringing a grin that could rival one of Pinkie's on RD's face.

"On it." The barmaid quickly went to fulfill the order. The moment she left however Rainbow nearly tackled the guard from joy.

"Dude! You have no idea how cool of you is to do that!" I have the weird impression that Rainbow Dash likes cider. Just a thought.

"It's no problem, really." Asper assured, laughing. "Besides, it's just some cider, it's not as if I'm about to go broke just by buying you guys a round of drinks." He added, seeing that Twilight was about to protest. His demeanor however changed as if by the touch of a magic wand and he looked at us with curiosity. "By the way –is the pink haired half-elf lady a friend of yours?"

"Yeah, that's Fluttershy." I said slowly, eying the guy. "Is there something wrong with her?"

"No, of course not. I just remembered seeing her with you." He replied, waving his hand dismissively. "She was quite a bit of help in the cathedral, going around and helping the guys. I even saw her cast a few healing spells on some of the more severely wounded. She seemed to be quite a sweet soul…"

"Yes, Fluttershy is one of the sweetest and kindest po… ekhm…  half-elves I had the good fortune to meet." Rarity nodded, almost slipping up back there. Asper didn't seem to notice though, so she continued, letting out a silent sigh. "Seriously though Mister Ferizzo: was there any reason for you to mention our dear friend?"

"Actually yes." The guard finally admitted, leaning again and swinging in his chair carelessly. "Before I went out with Belor's notices she approached me, asking if I could perchance pass a message to you guys."

"Wait… Fluttershy asked you that?" Twilight looked surprised at that, scanning the guard's face in search of deceit. After all, that definitely did not sound like something Fluttershy would do.

Asper seemed to notice Twi's suspicions and sat straighter. "I wouldn't exactly call it 'asking me'. With the amount of avoiding the topic and insistence of not wanting to be a bother I almost had to force it out of her… not that I did!" He added, noticing the immediately hostile looks he received from all of us.

"So, care to tell us what Fluttershy wanted?" Rainbow asked, her tone of voice carrying an unspoken threat. When confronted by four glaring mares and one dragon, even an armor-clad soldier such as Asper Ferizzo had to feel uneasy. Swallowing hard, he managed to respond:

"Miss Fluttershy wanted me to tell you that you needn't worry about someone called 'Apple Jack', that she was feeling better and that she recently woke up. She also said that she should be 'discharged', whatever that means, later today, and asked if it wouldn't be too much of a problem if you could come and see her in the cathedral. That's honestly all she told me!"

Rainbow studied the man's face for a moment longer, as if trying her hoof hand in intimidation. From the corner of my eye I could see Pinkie Pie wipe a fake tear from her eye, mouthing 'they grow up so fast', but she didn't have the chance to finish before RD nodded slowly at the guard. "Yeah, that does sound like something 'Shy would say." Asper let out a breath he didn't know he was holding at that, and visibly relaxed.

Just then the barmaid from before came back, balancing five large mugs of foaming cider on her plate. After placing them on our table she quickly retreated to wherever she was hiding most of the time, our recently relaxed guard quickly following in her footsteps.

"Well, it's time for me! I still have to hang those notices in a few places." He stated hurriedly, standing from her chair so quickly it tumbled to the floor. It was obvious he didn't want to stay in Rainbow's presence longer than he absolutely had to. "I'll be going now, okay? A-and thanks again for your help with the goblins! We'd been roasted if not for you!" He added the last bit as he was making his way through to the door, loud enough for everyone in the inn to hear. Again, murmurs arose and more than a few eyes turned in our direction, but the instigator of all this was already closing the door behind him, leaving us to our own devices.

"Don't you think you went just a little bit overboard Rainbow Dash?" Rarity asked soon after our associate left, giving a sideways glance to the mare in question. Rainbow just scoffed at the notion.

"He had it coming. I always react like that when Flutters is in question. I don't take kindly to ponies bullying her." Rainbow replied, glaring at the door guard Asper disappeared behind. Sighing irritably, she took a sip of her drink. The moment she swallowed however her eyes shot open and she let out a low whistle. "Whoa! This stuff's good."

"Not as good as Sweet Apple Cider, but it's a close second." Pinkie added, sounding like a connoisseur. The image was marred by the foam mustache on her lips. Wanting to be the judge of that myself I was about to take a sip when suddenly the mug of cider was ripped out of my claws hands by none other than Twilight. I was about to complain, but whatever arguments I formed died in my throat when I noticed the look on Twi's face.

"Spike, this is hard cider. I won't be letting you drink alcoholic beverages. You're still a baby dragon." Her tone of voice left no room for complaint, but that didn't prevent me from trying, even if only by a barely audible murmur on my part.

"I'm not that young. I'm fourteen." Unfortunately for me, Twilight's new form came with an acute sense of hearing.

"Don't you give me that, Spike! You know full well that you're still a growing dragon. Alcohol could seriously stunt your growth." Yeah right. Like I grew more than two inches in the last ten years. *sigh* Guess I'll just have to give in to Twilight's better judgment. After all, she's the lead specialist when it comes to dragon physiology and how our growth processes work.

No, I'm not bitter. What gave you that idea?

Deep down however, and as much as I loath to admit it, I knew Twilight was right. She was trying to look after me like a big sister should after all. Add to that her own rather unpleasant experiences with alcohol and you had the perfect explanation as to why she acted as she did. Heck, I still remember the last time she got completely smashed, and boy, was that a thing to behold! Who would've thought that Twilight was such a lightweight. It took a simple cup of spiked punch (pun intended) during Shining's eighteenth birthday party for the bookish, timid recluse that was Twilight to change into a complete party animal. I still don't have a clue where she knew half the bawdy songs she sung that day from. Nor how she climbed onto the roof of Princess Celestia's tower for that matter.

So there we were, Twilight and I, the only two without a mug of cider before us, watching as our three friends were downing their own. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie I could even understand: both seemed to love the stuff, having their own mugs already empty and beginning the ones the two of us left untouched. Rarity however was a surprise. I would've thought she would consider it uncouth to drink something like cider of all things, but I was sorely mistaken. She still tried to look as dignified as she possibly could during the whole ordeal, but she couldn't hide the fact she really enjoyed her drink. Heh… the more you know…

I didn't particularly fancy watching as the girls were filling their systems with booze, nor was I in the mood to. So, to take my mind off of the injustice of once again being refused the chance to participate in the group's activities I decided to occupy myself with something. Remembering guard Asper brought some sort of notice here and my realization about the notice board itself, I decided to check it out. Trying not to draw any attention to me, I jumped off my stool and made my way towards the notice board.

Maneuvering through the throng of patrons was surprisingly easy I noticed. Where at first I thought I would have problems weaving between guests a few times larger than I was, I found that most of the time they let me pass without me having to do as much as ask them to. For a second there I thought that I was getting some sort of special treatment, you know, after guard Asper brought it to light we helped quite a bit in defending the town, but that couldn't possibly be it. Either way I quickly got to the notice board, and after hopping on a nearby stool I started to check what was on it.



Help needed in mapping Devil's Platter. Will pay adventuring group 250 sails per square mile of mapped terrain. For details ask for Veznutt Parooh at The Way North.



A work offer? In an inn? That's an interesting custom if ever I saw one. Okay, what else is there?



Killed a goblin? Make sure to take it's ears! I pay for every undamaged pair. Half price if you only have one. Ask at the Goblin Squash Stables for details.

Daviren Hosk



Okay… because that's not creepy at all. Next!



Trade caravan looking for guards willing to travel to Korvosa. Will pay standard wage of 100 sails per month plus any additional income in form of bandit loot. For details ask Sandru Vhiski.



Wait, did that offer mention looting bandits? As in kill those guys and take their stuff? That's some strange morality right there, though the irony isn't lost on me.



Let it be known that a price of 1,000 sails has been placed on the head of the monster stalking the Farmlands known as the Sandpoint Devil. Proof of the fiend's demise should be brought to the Turandarok Academy for Ilsoari Gandethus to determine its authenticity. The reward shall be paid from the Sandpoint Monster Fund by mayor Kendra Deverin.



So… monster problems. At least that's kinda like back home. But where's the one hung by that Asper fellow? It has to be here somewhere… oh, there it is. Ekhm…



Following the tragic events of the goblin raid on first of Rova the Sandpoint Guard Service seeks able bodied, law abiding men and women capable of holding their own in a fight to fill the ranks of the Guard. We offer a steady wage of 17 sails a week as well as provide any and all new recruits with a set of chainmail armor and basic weapons. We also offer professional training and free meals at the Rusty Dragon Inn for the first month of service. People interested in joining should talk to Sheriff Belor Hemlock at the local garrison.



So that's what all this was about. The local guard force was looking for new recruits to fill in the gap created by the goblins. It made sense at least; I mean if what guard Asper was saying was true and they worked overtime already to fill in for the dead and wounded then they really needed to fill up their ranks as quickly as possible. Either way, I wish them the best of luck. With what I saw yesterday, they really needed a good guard force in place.

Just as I finished reading the notice and jumped back on the floor did I hear Twilight calling my name. Quickly making my way back to our table, I sat in my chair and looked quizzically at Twi, waiting for her to fill me in on what she needed.

"Okay, now that you're here we can finally get going." To my confusion Twilight stood from her chair the moment her eyes fell on me, the girls doing the same.

"Wait, what's going on?" I asked, looking lost.

"We're off to see Fluttershy and Applejack, duh!" Rainbow replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "If she's going to be discharged today then we might as well accompany her on the way out."

"Besides, the poor dear deserves to have all her friends with her, especially after that horrid explosion she survived." Rarity added, a slightly ashamed expression on her otherwise gorgeous face. That was about all the explanation I needed; not a second later I was already on my feet following them towards the exit.

Rainbow Dash was about to turn the doorknob and lead us towards the cathedral when Pinkie stopped abruptly, causing Twilight to almost tumble as she tripped on her. Recovering her footing, she looked at Pinkie, confused as to what she was up to. After all, she just stood there, as if paralyzed, her eyes focused on Rainbow. Seeing her piercing blue eyes fixed on her, RD let her hoof hand  fall to her side slowly, barely brushing against the knob. That was enough for Pinkie however.

"You must gather your party before venturing forth." She said it with so much conviction that it almost made us physically stumble. The way Pinkie was looking at Dash, no cheerful grin and no barely masked laughter, made us realize, that however weird her 'demand' sounded, she was being completely serious. Finally, after a good moment of just looking at Pinkie with varying levels of confusion painted on our faces did I gather the courage to venture down the path of enlightenment.

"What are you talking about?" The art of eloquence is not lost on me, that much is certain.

Either way, Pinkie turned to face me, her expression still one of utter seriousness. "I said that we need to get everypony before we go." Was all I got as a response, as if I should know what she was talking about by now.

”Pinkie… we're all here." Rainbow deadpanned. "Unless you're suggesting we take that pain in the flank Trixie with us I don't see anypony…" She trailed off seeing Pinkie nod eagerly at that. After about a second or so she groaned loudly. "Did you drink too much cider Pinks? You can't be serious about that!"

"I am." Pinkie shrugged, a grin reappearing on her face. "Oh come now Dashie, don't you think it would be super rude to leave her behind like that? I mean she's all alone, and the only ponies she knows are us. Show her a little good will, will ya?"

"The only thing she needs showing is the back of my hoof." Dash grumbled, and would probably found some sort of retort if it wasn't for the timely intervention of Twilight.

"Pinkie's right… kinda." The moment Twi said that Rainbow looked at her wide eyed. "As much as she may get on our nerves, she's still a pony like us. She's stuck here as much as we are and as long as we are, and it may be a good idea to try and at least normalize our relations as much as possible. Or if nothing else we can keep an eye on her, in case she decides to skip town and make going back to Equestria even harder." After her lengthy explanation, lined with a surprising amount of goodwill, Rainbow seemed to be momentarily conflicted. On one hoof Twi's reasoning was sound, and it played well on Dash's sense of loyalty, on the other it did make a good argument in regards of better being safe than sorry. Finally she groaned in defeat and started in the direction of the stairs, grumbling under her breath.

"Let's get this over with." She muttered darkly while scaling the stairs, the girls and I following her in case Trixie made problems. Once on the corridor Rainbow wasted no time and approached the magician's door (incidentally it was opposite the room Twilight and I shared), and without much preamble she threw it open, stepping inside.

Not even half a second later she jumped back with a start, a pale-blue ray shooting right above her head and hitting the wall behind her, where it left a barely visible layer of frost.

Something tells me Twilight wasn't the only one with a midnight visitor.
> Act Three Chapter Three
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 2 of Rova (Presumably 25 of October 1000 SR), Afternoon


"Aw shucks. Y'all didn't have ta come."

"Come now darling, what sort of friends would we be if we didn't check on you after that dreadful explosion?"

The girls and I were crowded around Applejack's bunk, each of us wearing a relieved smile after we found out for ourselves our farmer friend was okay. The place was crammed even if it was placed in the main part of the cathedral, barely a few square hoofs in total, but for the purposes of looking after an injured patient it was enough. Makeshift curtains marked the perimeter of her space as well as provided her with a sense of privacy, not that different from what was typical for hospitals back home.

"While Ah appreciate the concern, Ah'm sure y'all had better things ta do than lose yer time on me."

"Applejack, you should know full well that friends come first, no matter what."

"But Ah'm fine! Y'all are just loosin' yer time chekin' in on me."

"Yeah, right."

I couldn't help but agree with Rainbow's sentiment. While Applejack was okay, as in her life wasn't threatened by anything, there were still obvious signs that she went through a lot. Most prominent was her surprisingly shiny skin, an effect that I assumed was stemming from the fact she was covered in new, freshly regenerated tissue. Aside from that she was still lacking eyebrows and eyelashes, and she was missing her hair in a few places, the rest having to be significantly shortened, leaving her with barely one-third of their original length. At the very least her freckles were where they belong.

"Listen, Applejack. We came here because we wanted to, not because we had to. We're not doing anything against ourselves. We just wanted to see you."

"Ah… Ah know Twi. It's just… Ah'm usually the one visitin' injured kinfolk, not tha other way around, y'know. This' just… odd feelin', alright?"

"But you didn't break anything, did you AJ?"

"Uh… no? Ah dunno, ya have ta ask Fluttershy 'bout that Pinkie. Right now Ah don't think Ah have any broken bones or anythin'. Why are ya askin' that anyways?"

"Shoot! And I was hoping to sign your cast too."

"That's taking this a bit far, don't you think Pinkie Pie?"

Fluttershy was right, that was taking it a bit far. Still something Pinkie would probably say, but too far nonetheless. Come to think of it, since we came to the cathedral Pinkie seemed to act a little bit different than usual. She was still her cheery self, smiling widely and acting all hyper, but there was as if a subtle shift in her demeanor that until now I couldn't pinpoint. Her jokes seemed to become just a tad bit darker, like that one comment about loving the smell fresh beacon (Dash informed me it was a meat dish griffins were particularly fond of) the moment we entered the holy place. It was a bit unsettling, but nothing completely out of the ordinary, so I ignored it for the most part. What I couldn't ignore however was Fluttershy.

The first thing I noticed was that in addition to the clothes she got from Rynshinn yesterday, now stained red with blood of both goblins and the people she helped, she wore something looking kinda like a veil. Blue in color and decorated with a sun motif, I guessed it was given to her by Priest Naffer. It didn't do a good job in hiding her long, pink locks, though it did keep them from getting in her face, but I guess it wasn't meant to in the first place.

What was really noticeable was that the veil had a portion designed to cover ones face, and Fluttershy was taking full advantage of this feature. At first I couldn't for the love of me understand why she was wearing that. I mean I know she's shy and tends to hide behind the cover of her own mane and all, but this? Then it hit me however: the goblin dog spatter. It obviously had an ill effect on Fluttershy, covering her face with rather unpleasant-looking rashes. She was probably just trying to spare others from having to look at her, at least until she heals properly. Hopefully she won't be taking a liking to it though; it'd be a shame not to be able to see her face again…

Okay, I'm beginning to see a pattern here. First embarrassment about sharing a bed with Twilight, and now a casual comment about Fluttershy's beauty? Have I suddenly, oh I don't know, lost interest in Rarity or something? I stole a quick glance at her, just to be sure. Nope; she's still as gorgeous as ever. Then why in Tartarus do I have those thoughts? Ugh… better concentrate on Applejack, at least that's a safe topic. Wait, did she always have such green eyes? Ugh…!

"So, what did Ah miss? Where're y'all stayin'? An' when am Ah gonna be let out 'a here?"

"Why, is the food around here bad?" Rainbow teased, a smug grin on her face. Her joking remark however immediately brought the attention of Pinkie Pie, who gasped loudly and gave AJ a concerned look.

"Oh, you poor, poor thing! Here you are, stuck in a hospital/church/thingy, and none of us brought you anything yummy to eat. Don't worry, I'll try to sneak in some cupcakes next time we come visit."

"Pinkie Pie, Applejack is being released today, remember?" Twilight deadpanned.

"Oh, I know that silly. I'm talking about next time we're here to visit Applejack."

"But there isn't going to be a next time." At that Pinkie gasped, again, this time more dramatically, and pointed an accusing claw finger at Twi.

"Some friend you are, Miss Sparkle. Abandoning your friends in their hour of need, leaving them alone on the mercy of wicked doctors that are plotting to eradicate the populace by slowly poisoning us through their inferior foodstuffs. Shame on you!"

"…the pink one is unstable, right?" Trixie asked nopony in particular. Still, I felt inclined to answer, even if only to poke some fun out of her.

"That's tame in comparison to some things she does." I was barely able to hold in my snicker as I watched Trixie eye Pinkie warily and take a cautious step back. In the meantime Twilight had about enough of our party pony's antics.

"Oh, for Pete's sake… Pinkie! We won't be coming here next time to see Applejack because she's not going to be here anymore! She's going to be released today! Today!"

"I know that. I'm talking about next time."

"There won't be any next time!"

Finally taking pity on my lifelong companion I decided to help her out. Clearing my throat, I dared to poke her. "Um… Twilight?"

"What!?" …did she seriously just shout in my face? I have half the mind to just back out and let her suffer a mental breakdown.

"I think Pinkie's talking about next time somepony ends up here." Eh, I'm a goody four shoes, aren't I?

"…oh." You know what? I'm actually okay with being an overly good guy, if just so I can see Twilight like this more often. That completely embarrassed expression on her face is just priceless.

"Well, at least Ah know that now." AJ managed to squeeze in, taking advantage of the momentary pause in 'conversation'. "So… where are y'all staying? And can y'all keep it down a notch this time? Ah don' think mah neighbors appreciate listenin' to y'all yellin' yer lungs out."

The girls exchanged a few glances, in Twilight's case a sheepish one, and launched into a recount of the latter part of yesterday's events. However, as I was already familiar with all this, and most definitely didn't fancy sitting through all this again, I decided it wouldn't be terribly rude if I just slipped away.

Finding my way to the other side of the curtains I looked around the cathedral, wondering what to do. Much has changed inside the impressive stone structure since yesterday. With the pews removed to accommodate the injured, the church building looked more like a field hospital than anything. A number of cots lie scattered around the holy place, though most were by now vacant, the men and women they once served having been already healed. The few that still remained were either in no state to walk, some of them moaning slightly, filling the ambience with their voices, or like Applejack were waiting to be released. All in all, it really seemed like a makeshift hospital right about now.

Having nothing better to do at the moment I decided to explore the cathedral a bit. Walking deeper into the stone structure, I glanced around, trying to take in as much as I could. The dim, colored light shining through the stained glass windows cast the church into semi-darkness, the overcast weather blocking what little light the sun could provide. Only a number of lit candles did illuminate the darkness, along with several enchanted pieces of wood, glowing their white, artificial glow near the cots to ease the work of the priests busy tending to the wounded. Unlike the first time I was here, the cathedral's interior seemed to be more foreboding than inviting, the long, spindly shadows and colored illumination making for an unsettling blend. The few moans I could hear from the wounded only added to that feeling.

Shaking myself out of my stupor I pressed on, still feeling a chill creep up my spine. Trying to distract myself from my suddenly fearful thoughts I concentrated on the stained windows. Most of them depicted rather mundane things and actions, such as tending to the fields or boats on the sea, making the cathedral seem less of a sacral building and more like a peculiar-looking meeting hall. Between those however there were several others, those with a clearly sacral undertone. People praying, a beam of light shining upon them; priests tending to the wounded while white-clad beings looked upon them from above; a radiant knight battling a nightmarish monstrosity; those were just a few of the more religious illuminations I found. And then there were the big ones.

When the girls and I came visit Applejack, we once again were greeted by the sight of two large, stained glass windows with that loosely clad woman and that cloud- and wave-made duo. Both looked as impressive as I remembered them to, the craftsmanship easily rivaling that of the royal glassmaker back in Canterlot. But it was only after that second visit that I noticed both windows had small portions under those figures dedicated to a small line of text. I quickly figured those were names of the figures the artistic windows depicted, gods if I wasn't mistaken, and after a quick check I was assured of that indeed being the case. The single woman was called Shelyn, with the words "the Eternal Rose" added, a title I guess. The duo in turn was called Gozreh, and I mean the duo. They both wore the same name. Or there was something else at play here, I don't know. The best I could tell was that they were titled as the Wind and the Waves, which at least made sense of why they were depicted how they were. Those two however weren't the only ones.

As I went deeper inside the cathedral building I came across another set of two large stained glass windows. Actually curious how the locals saw their equivalents to the princesses I wasted no time in studying them. The first one depicted a large man wearing a set of gold plated armor (or actual golden armor, I'm not sure), with an armful of scrolls in his grasp and a number of keys hanging at his belt. He had a nicely trimmed dark beard and was pointing at something, as if explaining something to somepony. The text underneath him identified the man as Abadar, the Master of the First Vault, whatever that meant. The second one… well, that's where things got weird.

Up until now every god or whatever the individuals in those windows are were for the most part human. I mean sure, that Gozreh-duo was basically made out of water and clouds, but you could still see that they were human. The one depicted in these colorful plates of glass too was decisively human, at least in body type. With two arms and two legs and clad in clothes in earthy colors he reminded me of that one guy from the forest, Einael Solaris or whatever his true name was. In fact, with the figure crouching as if preparing for an ambush and with a cocked bow the familiarity was really strong. However there was one thing that prevented me from really calling the figure human, and it was its head. For you see, it was something quite unexpected and creepy at the same time.

The figure had a stag's head.

Yeah, I know how that sounds. Ridiculous, right? I mean come on, it's like imagining Twilight in her humanoid form with a pony's head on her shoulders. Unfortunately, that was precisely how this thing looked like. A human-thingy with the head of a proud deer, glaring into the distance with its dark eyes and with its mouth half open, as if preparing to let out a shout. It… just creeped me out, you know? I barely even noticed it's name written underneath it, Old Deadeye Erastil. I just wanted to be as far away from that creepy thing as possible.

Hurrying along and trying to distract my mind from the mental image of that thing I barely paid attention where I was going. All I knew for sure was that I was walking deeper still into the cathedral. Therefore it was to no surprise that I almost walked straight into a pillar. Having my face almost planted in its side I finally took stock of where I was going, and happened upon something I wasn't expecting to see. And yes, it was in the form of yet another pair of large stained glass windows.

The moment I laid my eyes on the decorative illumination I was instantly reminded of a certain pair of royal siblings. With dark blues, purples and specks of white on one side, and reds, pastel blues and yellows on the other, this pair just screamed Celestia and Luna at me. I was even half expecting to see them here, depicted in all their alicorn glory, but instead I was greeted by two beings completely alien to Equestria. And it was at that moment that I decided Rainbow Dash should not be allowed this deep inside the cathedral. I'm pretty sure she'd otherwise throw a fit at what I saw.

As with the earlier sets of stained glass windows, these two also were dedicated to a duo of what could only be called supernatural beings. The one on the left, with all the warm colors in its color scheme depicted a tall, copper-skinned woman clad in garbs similar to the ones Priest Naffer wore. With red, pastel blue, gold and even a speck of pink she was really easy on the eyes, and the warm smile she was depicted with seemed extremely inviting, reminding me strongly of Princess Celestia. She wasn't however all smiles and pleasantries it seemed, for there was a number of things that made her look both radiant and dangerous at the same time. Her hair, if you could even call it that, was a long tongue of fire, circling her whole body like a protective layer. In one hand she held what I could only describe as a miniature sun, shining even in this dim lighting, and in the other she had a long, curved blade, also made from fire. Her most striking feature however was a giant pair of white-feathered wings sprouting from her back, a testament to her ability to soar in the sky like an eagle. The small line of text beneath her identified this figure as Sarenrae, the Dawnflower, enforcing the image of an analogue to Princess Celestia.

The window on the right was starkly different. With a much colder spectrum of colors, it would be easy for it to be less pleasing, especially when it was such a stark contrast to the one with Sarenrae. It wasn't however. In fact, it was probably even more inviting than the one with the Dawnflower. It depicted a woman, a naked, pointy-eared woman with a whispery mane of black hair. I could even see specks of white in her hair, as if stars were trapped in them. The woman, despite being naked as I pointed out before, was by no means indecent. She was surrounded by a whispery swirl of silvery light, running the length of her body and leaving only glimpses of her skin to see. As in the case of Sarenrae, she too had a pair of large  wings (see the pattern here?), though hers were completely different from the ones worn by the sun-themed deity. She had gigantic butterfly wings, easily taking up most of the stained glass window she was on, with a deep blue coloration that strongly reminded me of the night sky, and in extension the old depictions of Princess Luna. Looking down at her name: Desna, the Song of the Spheres, I could only marvel at the uncanny similarities between those two. The only thing she lacked was a moon for the image to be complete.

I'm not sure how long I stayed there, staring at the two familiar yet alien images. I know my mind went back to the times before we were torn from Equestria, barely forty eight hours feeling like a lifetime already. I remembered seeing Princess Celestia rise the sun on many occasions and the old stories Twilight regaled me when I was younger of how Princess Luna did the same with the moon, no doubt second-hoof accounts from the only live witness of those events. I recalled all the times I actually got to speak with the Princess myself, how she always was like a second mother to me, always willing to listen and provide me with her millennium worth's of wisdom. And it was then that it finally hit me: we were stuck here, stranded like castaways on a foreign shore, with no way to come back home within our grasp; that we were the only Equestrians here, strangers in a strange land, where even the sun and moon were different and governed by foreign powers.

All because of it.

"Say what you want about the bipeds, but they most definitely know how to make impressive artwork." I was brought back from my musings by a voice I didn't quite expect. Looking to my left I was greeted by the site of the last mare I'd see striking up a conversation with me.

Trixie stood not five hoofs from me, her arms crossed as if in boredom, and she studied the window depicting the Song of the Spheres. I couldn't quite read her expression, she was adept at wearing whatever mask she needed at the moment, but I could say that she was genuinely interested in the stained glass. She hardly even spared me a glance, as if I was of no consequence, a part of the background, but I was quite sure she directed her earlier words at me. And as much as it pains me to admit it, I was actually thankful for the distraction. Celestia knows how irritated I became the moment I thought about the white freak that brought us here.

"Agreed." I finally managed a response, looking back at the windows. "That's some impressive craftsmanship right here."

From the corner of my eye I could see Trixie nod slightly. Huh, would you look at that… she's actually agreeing with me on something. As nice a change of pace this was however I still needed to address the elephant in the room.

"Any reason why you're here? I mean besides admiring the art?" I could feel the glare she sent me on the side of my head but ignored it.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie goes wherever she wants, and she does not need to explain herself to such lowlifes as you." And it was actually pleasant a few moment ago. Oh well. "Besides, this is a public building; there are no rules preventing Trixie from wandering about if she so pleases."

"Yeah, yeah, forget I even asked." I muttered, shaking my head at her response. "It's not like I expected a straight answer anyway."

"If you truly must know than Trixie decided that she had enough of the company she was with. She can take only so much accusations before she grows tired of them, especially if the accusations have nothing to do with what actually happened." So… she tells me anyway. She must really love the sound of her own voice. Aside from that however I knew exactly what she was referring to. It's not like Rainbow was subtle about it.

"Well, truth be told you did fire a freezing spell at Rainbow Dash. It's hardly a surprise she's taken it personally."

"And Trixie explained it time and again that she did not assault the featherbrain." She replied hotly, I guess irritated by the fact she had to explain it again. She was doing just that the whole way from the Rusty Dragon to the cathedral, it could get on the nerves of anypony. "The Great and Powerful Trixie was practicing spells found in the book left by her admirer, not actively assaulting the rainbow maned one. And if that idiot knew the meaning of decorum she would've knocked first. That way Trixie would have enough time to cancel the spell or at least direct it somewhere else. If anything, it's her own stupidity that is to blame for the whole situation, not Trixie."

"Yeah, sure…" I replied halfheartedly, my mind somewhere else entirely. The moment Trixie mentioned the 'book from an admirer' I was momentarily reminded of our nighttime visitor. I could somewhat understand why he (at least I'm fairly certain it's a he) 'paid a visit' to Twilight, but why in the wide, wide world did he drop by Trixie too? It only took a single glance at the showpony's waist to notice an almost identical book to the one Twilight has firmly secured to her belt, her cutie mark proudly displayed on the front cover. As if that wasn't enough though Trixie had been gifted with one more thing, a fact she was determined to flaunt to the best of her ability in front of Twi. Just to the side of the book Trixie had secured a star tipped wand, an exact replica of the one on her cutie mark, and apparently she was able to use it to cast her own spells instead of having to figure out how to maneuver her hands and fingers to achieve the same results. In her opinion it was probably a show of superiority or something, but if you ask me, it was a crutch.

"Hello, Equestria to lizardbrain!" I was brought back to reality by a hoof hand waving just in front of my face. Startled, I stumbled back, sending a glare at Trixie as I went.

"What?" I barked out, annoyed. I was half expecting to see a smirk on her lips, but instead I was greeted by a serious, and rather intimidating if I do say so myself scowl.

"Trixie can't believe she has to talk with such an airhead… oh, how low hath she fallen." I'm seriously beginning to get annoyed here. If she's not going to tell me what's this all about within the next five seconds I swear I'll… "No matter; there are things Trixie needs to know, and as loath as she is to do so, she has no other choice but to ask you to tell her the answers that she seeks."

"…huh?" Seriously, that's all I managed to come up with. What could she possibly want from me? Well, I was about to find out, might as well go with the flow for now.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not expect a lizard such as you to comprehend the intricacies of applied magic, yet she could not help but notice you utilized magic-like effects far sooner than Sparkle or any of her other minions. As loath as she is to do so, Trixie has to admit that you have also managed to forestall her in this endeavor. Therefore Trixie has no other choice but to ask how you managed to complete a feat like that? You were not a magic-using species before, you should not have any magical abilities of your own, yet it was you who first showed any real aptitude towards the arcane, and without the need to refer to any outside sources of mystical knowledge. How is that possible?"

I should've known she'd ask me about that. If Twilight was interested in how I managed to use magic, then so would Trixie. Problem is, that was a million bit question I would like to know the answer to myself. It still boggled my mind that for some nondescript reason I could work magic, and it was even more confusing when I couldn't replicate the magic Twilight had in that book of hers. Right now however none of this was really important. I had myself a golden opportunity to bring her to heel. After all, I 'had the answers she was looking for'.

"And what makes you think I'm about to tell you that, hmm…?" I replied, trying to mask my triumphant smirk at the site of her surprised expression. "You insult me and my friends, you criticize us, and as if that wasn't enough you constantly whine like a spoiled brat. A pony like that really isn't somepony I would want to share such mind-blowing secrets with. So, either you start to behave, or the best you'll get out of me is that my sheer awesomeness lets me bend the fabric of the universe." Yeah, you tell her me! Maybe I'll even manage to make her start to behave a little less r… why do I feel a chill run down my spine? Oh, yeah, Trixie's glaring daggers at me and is storming up to me.

Help!

"Listen here, midget! Trixie doesn't have the patience to play your stupid little games." She's still storming up to me, forcing me to back away. At least, she was forcing me back until my back ended up against a pillar. "Either you tell Trixie what she wants to know, or she'll force it out of you." And now she kneels to get on my eye level, pinning me to the pillar with her hands.

I'm a goner, aren't I?

"H…hey, l-let's be reasonable about this, okay?" I managed to stutter out, looking around wildly in search of a way out. "I-I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement, he-he…" That laugh died in my throat the second I noticed the amused glint in her eyes, making me feel even less sure of myself.

"Did you know that Trixie's spellbook contained a shrinking spell, specifically designed to reduce impertinent little dragons that refuse to cooperate? Unfortunately, Trixie didn't have the opportunity to test it. Would you like to be her test subject?" Deer sweet merciful Celestia, please let this only be a bluff.

"Can I get back to you on that? I think I heard somepony call me. I think it was Twilight… umgh!" That went about as I expected it to. The moment I started shouting Trixie covered my mouth with her hoof hand and that's as far as I got. And of course it served only to irritate her further. Leaning over to me, she glared me in the eyes and whispered with poorly concealed venom:

"I'll give you one more chance, lizard. Now: talk!" She's mad, there's no denying it. And to think I was afraid of Pinkie… There's no telling how she'll react when she learns that I'm as much in the dark as she is. Well, here goes nothing.

"I…"

"Aren't you two lovebirds with those girls from yesterday?" A strangely familiar male voice asked from behind Trixie's back. The sudden interruption, as well as the odd question in itself led to a rather easy to predict reaction on our side.

"Huh/mmuf?" Eloquence for the win. Either way Trixie turned her head a bit to see who was behind her, allowing me to see who it was myself. I quickly recognized the guy as the same one from yesterday, just moments before I passed out. Belor was it? Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's his name and… wait, what did he just say?

I wasn't the only one who realized what Belor's question implied. Trixie for all her faults wasn't stupid, and she quickly connected all the dots. Which, coincidently, led to her freeing me from her pin and jumping to her feet, facing away from me with an undignified huff, and… wait, was that a blush? Nah, it must what little light falls through the stained glass. Besides, it's not important. What really matters is that I'm free from her clutches, and I plan on it staying that way.

"Oh, don't mind me, you just point me in the direction the rest of your merry band is and I'll leave you to your… uh… fun." Seeing Trixie's reaction the local law enforcer seemed to draw the wrong conclusion, not to mention look awkwardly to the side, but that's okay. In fact, it gave me an opening.

"Nah, don't sweat it. The mood's gone either way so… yeah." I should really consider applying to an acting school. I mean the way I played along seemed to even confuse Trixie there for a moment, and Belor seemed none the wiser, so yeah. Bridleway, here I come!

"Sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to…" I waved off his apology before he could finish.

"I already said: don't sweat it." Flashing him an assuring smile I quickly made my move. "So you're looking for the girls? I can take you to them." The feeling of being watched is back again. Bet Trixie finally caught up and was glaring a hole in the side of my head.

"I'd be much obliged." Belor nodded and stepped to the side, allowing me to lead the way. Before I did that however I glanced at Trixie, intent of flashing her a 'I win' smile, only to meet her glare that seemed to convey a simple message.

"This isn't over yet. And I'll get you back for this."

Yeah… my future is nothing but sunshine and rainbows from here on out, isn't it?
> Act Three Chapter Four
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 2 of Rova (Presumably 25 of October 1000 SR), Afternoon


"You know AJ, you don't have to prove anything. Especially not after yesterday."

"Ah know Twi, an' Ah ain't provin' anythin'."

"Doesn't look like it to me."

"Oh, hush you Rainbow Dash. Ah'm fine, Ah can help. 'Sides, that Father Zantus fellar said Ah'm as fit as a fiddle, an' seeing as he an' 'Shy were the ones responsible fer mah recovery Ah'm inclined ta believe it."

This sort of banter was our companion for the last few minutes, ever since Belor, or should I say Sheriff Hemlock, the chief of Sandpoint Watch, approached us with a certain request. Of course, Applejack didn't want to sit idly by and wait for us, so she offered to participate, and by offer I mean refuse to take no for an answer. Despite the fact Father Zantus had apparently discharged her moments before and in spite of all the protests the girls put up, including that of Fluttershy herself, she was hay bent on going with us.

"I still find it horrid what you had to endure for the actual healing process to begin dear. I simply cannot imagine what it must have felt like." Rarity commented, referring to an earlier topic while shuddering in disgust.

"You got that right. Having all your burnt skin and flesh cut off and then regrown through magic doesn't exactly sound like my idea of an afternoon." Rainbow agreed, though she could've spare us the recap. It's really not a mental image I need right now, even if it explained the shiny new skin on AJ.

"Well Ah can't say nothin' 'bout that, Ah was unconscious when that happened." Applejack herself seemed completely uninterested in that line of conversation, either not caring about the fact she had her flesh peeled off or figuring it for what it really was: an attempt to persuade her not to join us.

"Oh come on Applejack, you really don't need to do this. Leave it to us; we'll deal with this problem in no time and be back in a jiffy." If there's one thing I could say about Rainbow, it's that she's persistent. But so was Applejack.

"Ah ain't leaving y'all ta do everythin' while Ah'm layin' around doin' nothin'. Ah'm not a freeloader."

"Applejack, nopo… body here thinks you're a freeloader. You don't need to prove anything." And back to Twilight, the cycle starts anew. It's about the fourth or fifth time that happened the last few minutes, and it was getting old fast.

"Your friend is right, miss Apple. Nobody here will hold it against you if you decide to sit this one through." I'm guessing I wasn't the only one finding the circular argument starting to get boring. Sheriff Hemlock decided to voice his own opinion in hopes of stopping this meaningless discussion. "I wouldn't even be asking any of you to do this if it wasn't for the fact most of my men are still injured."

"Ah know that. Ah just want ta contribute some and not feel useless, if ya know what Ah mean."

"Seriously Applejack, you're more stubborn than a mule." Even Twilight seemed to have enough of this, and she started it. Goes to show how persistent (or stubborn as Twi said) Applejack truly can be.

At this point I should probably explain what all this was about. It all started when Sheriff Hemlock accepted my offer to lead him to the girls, or at least I first noticed something was wrong back then. I may not be as good at reading ponies (or people) through their body language, but I could safely say that there was something troubling the man. He seemed a bit tense, as if something weighted on his mind heavily, but it wasn't my place to ask so I just let it slide and led him to his destination.

By the time we got to Applejack's bunk we were met by Father Zantus, who seemed to had just spoken with the girls himself, probably discharging AJ. The moment the two men noticed each other they both seemed to tense, or in the sheriff's case get tenser, and looked each other straight in the eye. I managed to spot a slight shake of the lead priest's head, as if telling the other man not to do something, but he was rewarded by a flat stare and soon afterwards passed him by, making his way through the curtains, me and Trixie following suit.

At first Sheriff Hemlock didn't seem to really want anything from the girls, at least not in the way that would make somepony one like him tense. He introduced himself formally to the girls as the sheriff of this small town (making me automatically look for a badge on his chest again), and then informed us that his men mentioned our involvement in repelling the goblin attack on the east gate. He also mentioned that something like that was no small feat, especially for unarmed civilians, and that it demanded to be properly rewarded, courtesy of the Sandpoint council, at which point he produced a sizable pouch filled with jingling coins. Of course that promptly led the girls to protest, saying that no reward was necessary and that they were just happy to help and all that stuff heroes are known for. In the end however they accepted, mainly when Twilight realized that refusing a reward may be considered a faux pas in human society. That and when Rarity realized how much they were being offered succumbed to her inner greed. Not that I blame her of course, the vision of receiving 200 golden sails would make even the most self-sacrificing pony think twice. Now that I think about it however, I'm beginning to think this was a way to butter us up for what was coming next.

Having the reward-part of the visit dealt with, Sheriff Hemlock went to what he called 'more pressing matters'. Mentioning that he was doing this reluctantly and that if it wasn't for the fact a large portion of his subordinates was out of commission he wouldn't trouble us with this issue, he nonetheless asked the girls and I if we were up to helping him with a certain matter. Not wanting to go in blind, Twilight asked for details first, an action that seemed to please the sheriff. Clearing his throat, Belor began a recap of what happened.

Apparently on his way to check in on his injured men Sheriff Hemlock ran into a worried-looking Naffer. The priest-slash-gravedigger had been hard at work digging graves for the unfortunate souls that perished during the raid when he noticed something out of place. One of the crypts had its doors slightly ajar, as if someone opened it in a hurry and didn't care to close it properly. He also mentioned that he saw strange lights coming from inside. Worst of all (at least in his opinion), Priest Naffer informed that it wasn't just any old crypt that had been opened, but the crypt housing the mortal remains of the former head priests of the congregation, and only a handful of people had access to it, all of whom were accounted for. That left only one possibility: someone had broken into the crypt for some nefarious reason and whoever it was, he was probably desecrating the bodies of the most honored of Sandpoint's deceased spiritual leaders.

Priest Naffer did the only thing he could in a situation like this. Silently creeping towards the door he slammed it shut and locked it, trapping whoever was inside, and left to go get help. That's where Sheriff Hemlock came in, and by extension we did as well. Whoever was trapped inside the crypt, he was going to have charges of desecrating a gravesite and possible grave robbing placed against him, and as such, he needed to be apprehended by an officer of the law. Belor however was only one man, and he really didn't want to take any chances, so he figured we might be of some help, especially if he would lend us his men's weapons. If everything went smoothly this would be a simple arrest attempt with the girls acting as backup in the off chance the culprit tried anything. Belor never explained what would be the worst case scenario though, which unfortunately didn't help my imagination.

As could be expected of Twilight and the gang, they didn't hesitate for too long. Fluttershy of course didn't want to have anything to do with this and would be perfectly fine with waiting for us in the cathedral with Applejack, but that idea went right out the window when AJ decided she was going with us. Rarity… well, she didn't look too pleased about all this, but nonetheless decided to join us, if not for any other reason than to provide moral support. And then there was me. I really didn't like the sound of all this, and as I said before, my imagination was providing me with images of zombies and other living dead rising from the grave to eat our faces. Actually, now that I think about it…

"T-Twilight?" My voice was far more shaky than I would want it to be. "What if this isn't a grave robber we're dealing with? What if it's something else, like… z-zombies?" I managed to ask, only to receive a flat, unamused look from Twi.

"That's not very likely Spike." She replied easily, standing with the others and waiting for Priest Naffer to open the main entrance to the graveyard. Her words weren't really that assuring.

"Not likely… but possible?" I pressed on, earning a roll of the eyes from Twilight.

"Seriously Spike, you need to cut on the comics. Some of them are just plain ridiculous and serve nothing but to rot your brain. Zombies, pff…" Okay, that was low. My comic book collection has nothing to do with zombies! I'm more into superhero stuff than the gritty trotting dead junk anyway.

"Your friend does rise a fair point though." My angry musings were interrupted by the voice of Priest Naffer, who finally unlocked the gate and let us into the boneyard. "While I wouldn't bet on there being actual zombies there, the one I managed to lock inside the crypt might be associated with necromancers. It wouldn't surprise me if he was trying to steal what remains of the former priests' bodies for some kind of godless experiment."

"Hold up, hold up… You mean to tell us that we might actually be dealing with living dead?!" I think Rainbow Dash voiced my concerns to a tee, and her earlier air of confidence seemed to waver when confronted with the possibility. But she wasn't the only one affected. Twilight looked like she just swallowed a lemon and stared wide-eyed at the priest, her face one of complete disbelief.

Priest Naffer shook his head and flashed us a smile that probably was meant to be reassuring. "I wouldn't worry so much if I were you. It's doubtful it even is a necromancer trapped inside there. And in the off chance that it is, I doubt the one inside the crypt is able to rise any monsters on his own. At most it's just an apprentice on a supply run."

"Apprentice… on a supply run?" Rarity asked slowly, slightly green to her face. "Do you mean by that what I think you mean by that?"

"As I said before –probably trying to steal the remains of our esteemed predecessors." That only served to make Rarity even greener.

By this point our group slowed down almost to a crawl. The revelation of zombies actually existing in these parts, as well as the notion that there might be those that I assume dealt in raising the dead from their graves was a real shocker to all of us, and seemed to knock confidence out of most of our systems. Suddenly the idea of helping out Sheriff Hemlock with this arrest business began to look like a really bad one. And when even your resident daredevil by the name of Rainbow Dash loses her spunk you know you're screwed. Just what did we get ourselves into?

We didn't have too much time to consider our life choices before we arrived at the spot. Surrounded by several gray headstones we found ourselves on a slightly less-packed portion of the cemetery. With the dark, overcast sky over our heads and the cathedral looming just to the side casting its shadow upon us, the place looked like something straight out of a horror novel. Several freshly dug graves only made it worse by filling the air with the smell of upturned soil. And of course there was the crypt itself.

It wasn't a big structure, far smaller in fact than what I expected it to be. It was actually quite modest when I think about it. With hardly any decorations but a small line of text chiseled above the entrance informing who rested inside it was a really plain structure. The most I could say about any 'extravagance' when concerning the crypt was that it was made out of white marble, but even then it was flawed at parts, making it look less like the grand resting place of a lead priest and more like a cheap imitation of one. It didn't make it feel any less creepy unfortunately, and the moment my eyes lied upon it I let out a strangled meep and gulped down hard, knowing that whatever was inside wasn't going to be pleasant.

We were startled by a semi-loud shriek, one that could belong only to Fluttershy. Turning around to face her, we were greeted by the site of the meek pegasus whipping her head around wildly, as if in search of a way out, her knees bent in preparation to bolt in a moment's notice.

"Fluttershy, sweetums, calm down!" Rarity, who was the nearest to 'Shy tried to, well, calm her down. "What happened?"

"S-something slid down the back of my neck." Fluttershy stuttered out, still looking around with her eyes almost bulging out her head. "I-it was c-cold and wet and…"

"Darling, please, take a deep breath and tell us what happened, slowly." Rarity said soothingly placing a reassuring hoof hand on her shoulder. Upon that physical contact Fluttershy seemed to calm down somewhat, and did as she was asked. Yet before she could even start to explain I felt something fall directly on the top of my head. Something cold and wet…

"Wha…?" I looked up, only for the same thing to fall directly into my eye. Blinking rapidly, I realized what that was, and couldn't help but comment on the sheer absurd of the situation. "You have got to be kidding me."

Less than two seconds passed and everypony body realized what had startled poor, meek Fluttershy. It was nothing more than a lucky raindrop that managed to find its way to the small exposed portion of 'Shy's neck, a herald of the downpour that decided it was a great time to shower us with cold, autumn rain. Within moments everybody's clothes started to cling to their bodies, and the girls had an additional weight in the form of wet hair on their heads, a fact that wouldn't go unnoticed by Rarity.

"Great, just great." She muttered darkly, brushing aside a stray lock of hair that stuck to her face. "Can we please get this over and dealt with? I would rather not stay a minute longer than absolutely necessary out in the rain."

"Um… sorry." Fluttershy added, eyes downcast. Even despite the veil she still wore one could see the embarrassed blush covering her face. Nopony seemed to pay her any mind though, expecting a reaction like this, or at least that's how the girls reacted. Trixie was a different story entirely.

"Pathetic." She muttered, shaking her head and looking back at the crypt. I was probably the only one to hear her say that, and I wanted to kick her for that or something so hard I had to physically restrain myself from doing just that. Fortunately I remembered what almost happened in the cathedral not half an hour ago; if not for that, I would've dug myself into a hole so deep I wouldn't be able to see the sun ever again. Man can Trixie be scary…

"Everyone, get ready. I'm opening the door." Sheriff Hemlock warned us over the sound of the rain. The downpour intensified even more in the last couple of seconds, becoming a literal wall of water and soaking us to the bone.

Sheriff Hemlock and Priest Naffer seemed content to wait for us to finish before getting to work. Once our attention was back on topic the disabled cleric handed a simple iron key to the guard captain and stepped back, his work here done. Taking a deep breath and steeling himself for what he was about to do, Belor approached the iron-bound door and placed the key in its keyhole. Looking back at the girls and I, our group forming a semicircle around the entrance, Rainbow and AJ gripping the handles of their borrowed swords and Pinkie, Rarity and myself doing the same thing with shorter variants of that weapon, the sheriff nodded approvingly. Fluttershy at some point managed to hide behind a gravestone and only a small bit of her pink mane was visible from behind it, and Twilight and Trixie seemed content to observe from a distance, both of them leafing through the contents of their books as if in search for any spells that could be useful in this situation. We were as ready as we would ever be.

The sound of the key being turned was barely audible over the ambient noise, yet it still managed to send a chill down my spine. Belor, loosening his own sword in its scabbard raised his free hand and knocked on the wooden door firmly, trying to convey as much authority as he could through this simple action.

"This is the Sandpoint watch force! Step out of the crypt with your hands over your head! I repeat: step out of the crypt with your hands over your head! Failure to comply will result in the use of force!" If the knocking didn't convey his authority than his voice surely did. Sheriff Hemlock was all business right now, and his tone of voice left no room for arguments. Still, the crypt door didn't so much as creek open a tenth of an inch; whoever was inside wasn't intimidated by the guard captain. Muttering silent obscenities, Sheriff Hemlock pulled out his sword and grabbed at the door handle.

"Get ready, this may get ugly." He warned us just before he pulled the door open, weapon at the ready.

For a second we were expecting someone to rush out of the crypt, some sort of drab-clad individual to barrel past the sheriff, trying to make a break for it. That didn't happen though, and the girls and I were left in a nervous silence, the only sound being the constant of rain falling on the ground. We stayed like that, tense, even Pinkie Pie staying as still as she could possibly be, and waited, hoping that whatever was going to happen wouldn't end up in a fight.

Then, after several seconds of silence Sheriff Hemlock emerged back from the crypt, a confused look on his normally stern face. He cast his eyes over our little group and settled on Priest Naffer, who himself looked surprised at the appearance of the sheriff.

"Are you absolutely sure you've locked whoever was in the crypt Vosk?" Sheriff Hemlock asked suspiciously, slowly re-sheathing his sword. Priest Naffer nodded.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure whoever was inside got locked. Why?"

"Well then, either you've been seeing thing, old cripple, and wasting my time, or whoever was inside can turn into mist and just slip away through the cracks in the wall." The guard captain replied with annoyance, stepping from the threshold and folding his arms. "There's nothing in there besides coffins and bones."

"What?!" Naffer looked shocked and started to hobble closer to the sheriff. "That can't be right, I know what I saw! Whoever was inside couldn't just… wait." He suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening a fraction. "Did you say there are bones outside the sarcophagi?"

Belor seemed confused by the question but answered either way. "Yeah, they're littering the floor to put it bluntly. Why?"

Color drained from the priest's face as he looked intently at the guard. He immediately resumed hobbling towards the crypt, almost breaking out into a wobbly run. "Belor, shut the door, now!"

Naffer's warning came a fraction of a second too late though. Before Sheriff Hemlock had the chance to react something slammed into his back, sending him sprawling to the muddy ground, and with unnatural quickness it stepped outside the crypt, letting us see it in all its terrible splendor.


"T-that's impossible!" Was all Twilight managed to say as her eyes threatened to fall out of their sockets when she took in the spindly shape that emerged from the stone crypt. My reaction was, if not quieter than most definitely more expressive, as I stumbled back and fell on my butt, staring with fright at the sight. For there, from the crypt on hallowed ground emerged not one but two creatures defiling life itself.

There were skeletons. Two human-sized, definitely humanoid skeletons, standing on their bony feet and moving without the aid of muscles, animated by some unnatural power that defied explanation. Their bones, yellowed with age were covered in strange markings the meaning of which I couldn't even start to make out, painted on them with a substance so red it looked like fresh blood. But probably the most striking feature of them was the flames covering them whole, seemingly doing them no harm yet burning like if fueled by a flammable liquid. It almost looked like the fire was their actual body, filling them with burning insides and covering them in scorching skin, their smooth heads covered in flaming manes. The whole picture looked like something out of a horror story.

Everypony froze seeing those things emerge from the crypt. No one was expecting something like that to happen, even I only half expected to see an actual living dead here, but the truth on the matter was we were just faced with not one but two monsters that rose from the grave. A quick glance confirmed that Fluttershy was desperately looking for a way out of here and that Rainbow Dash, who I expected to get ready for a fight was just standing there, frozen in spot, with her eyes glued to the flaming creatures. If I didn't know any better I'd say she was terrified out of her mind. Not that I blame her; I was pretty much shaking like an autumn leaf at the site of them.

"Dagnabbit, and Ah were just treated fer burns!" I was brought out of my stupor by Applejack's comment. Unlike Rainbow she didn't seem to have frozen up at the site of flaming skeletons and was actually preparing to face them, tightening her grip on her sword. Taking a page from her book, Pinkie seemed to figure that taunting the skeletons was a good idea.

Seriously, don't ask.

"Hey guys? When was the last time you ate? You're so skinny it almost looks unhealthy. You should go see a doctor about it." She proclaimed, giggling, completely oblivious to the danger.

"Pinkie, please, don't agitate the…" Rarity tried to hush her, but that's about as far as she got before the skeletons turned to face them and not wasting a single second bound towards them.

It was a surreal sight, seeing two flaming skeletons of beings once thought only myths running towards your friends. Their movements, not restricted by tendons and muscles and not needing them in the first place were surprisingly quick and graceful, impossibly so for a living being to recreate. The heat of their surrounding flames was enough for most of the rain to evaporate before it even managed to touch them, enshrouding them in a barely noticeable mist. The two undead creatures raised their skeletal hands, their fingers ready to claw and rend the flesh of the living, their phalanges sharpened to wicked points as if specially made to resemble claws.

There was a moment of commotion as the two undead beings charged. They easily closed the distance between Applejack and themselves, and they both seemed to be determined to claw her face off, ignoring the others. One of them slashed with its claw-like appendages, forcing AJ to block the blow with her weapon. A reasoning clang of bone hitting metal could be heard as Applejack stumbled back, not from the force of the blow but from the near infernal heat emanating from the skeleton. Meanwhile the second undead managed to close its distance and before our farm-oriented friend managed to regain her footing clawed at her as well. She barely managed to avoid being hit, jumping to the side and losing her footing completely, ending up sprawled on the muddy ground a few hoofs from her assailants.

AJ's plight seemed to be what the girls needed to regain their senses, or at least the willingness to fight. After all, one can never say that Pinkie regained her senses the same way other ponies do. Speaking of which, our pink party planner seemed completely unfazed by the brutal assault and still grinning like a madmare pranced over to the nearest skeleton and slashed at it with her short blade. Unfortunately she missed, and her attack seemed to gain the attention of the undead she was trying to hit. But just as it was turning to face her, the fiery creature's skull did a complete 360 when it was hit by the flat of Rarity's sword, the beauty not wasting any more time to engage the monster and dragging off Pinkie who was rendered helpless by her own giggles at the admittedly silly site.

The second skeleton had trouble of its own. After he and his companion attacked Applejack it made the one mistake you do not do if you want your continuous existence assured: it started to advance on the downed mare while within Fluttershy's eyesight. Like in her confrontation with the goblins after they killed that poor dog she picked a number of pebbles from the ground and started to chuck them at the monsters, a slight bluish glow indicating they were filled with her newly discovered magic power. One of the pebbles hit their mark, striking the burning bone pile straight in the temple, shattering it and making a piece of the bone matter fall inside. It would be a deadly blow to a living creature to be sure, but the skeleton was far from living, and so it was only a mild inconvenience, and one that wasn't about to last for long.

It didn't take even a second before something disturbing happened. The red, blood-like markings on the skeleton, the ones on the skull at least seemed to glow a sickly crimson, expanding like an inkblot on paper and reaching for the hole. Once it reached it, the shattered part of its skull seemed to slowly reattach itself to where it belonged, as if a piece of a macabre puzzle was fitting itself to its brethrens. It happened maybe in the span of four or five seconds, but it happened nonetheless, and the broken off piece of the skull seemed to reattach itself, mending with the undamaged part through the spread out red markings and regrow. Before it was even complete though the monster's head turned to regard Fluttershy, the normally meek pegasus both angry and surprised at the being's regenerative properties, and it turned its steps from Applejack towards her.

Have I mentioned the skeleton really sucked at decision-making?

When the flaming amalgamation of bones directed its steps towards her childhood friend, Rainbow Dash seemed to finally snap out of her stupor, at least partially. She positioned herself between the advancing skeleton and Fluttershy, albeit reluctantly, and readied herself to confront the undead if need be. She still looked as if she would gladly be anywhere but here though, a site I would never have associated with her if I didn't see it for myself. Was she… was she scared of the two living dead? Well, whether or not she was afraid didn't matter right now; RD had Fluttershy to protect.

The damaged skeleton didn't even acknowledge Rainbow Dash stood in its way, its hollow eye sockets fixed on Fluttershy and its stride not faltering in the slightest. That fortunately was all the better for Dash. Using the fact the monster didn't seem to even notice her she gripped her sword more tightly and swung it wildly at the undead, aiming for its already damaged temple. Her unfocused state however made her blow inaccurate and she barely scraped the skeleton in the forehead with the tip of her blade, producing a barely noticeable scratch mark that was quickly melded by the crimson markings. In the end all Rainbow managed to accomplish was for the skeleton to notice her, and that was either a good thing or a really bad thing, depending on what way you looked at it.

This was beginning to look worse and worse with each passing second. Not only were the girls competing against the living dead, but whatever fueled their unlife also made sure to repair any damage they sustained, and the sheer heat their flames radiated prevented anypony from getting near enough or stay long enough within range to actually deal any substantial damage to them. As if that wasn't enough, the only local with any substantial combat experience, Sheriff Hemlock to be precise, had problems with getting back on his feet. It seems the armor he was wearing was weighing him down enough for the mud he fell into to suck him in. Even with Priest Naffer helping him up it still would leave us alone to deal with the two skeletons for some time. In other words –we're bucked.

Swallowing down hard, I steeled myself for what I decided I had to do. With Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Dash and Fluttershy already having their hooves hands full and Twilight and Trixie still staring in shock at the unusual show of magic the animated flaming skeletons were I had to do something. Recalling the feeling that accompanied me using my magic I forced it to exit my outstretched right claw hand and form an inverted bowl shape in front of me. It… was easier than I thought it would be to be honest. Maybe I'm getting the hang of this, who knows? Either way I managed to create that transparent shield of mine and did the first thing that came to my mind.

I charged the one advancing at Rarity and Pinkie.

I really should've thought this through first.

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided tackling the flaming skeleton was a good idea. I was probably expecting the magical shield I produced to block off heat as well as physical contact. As it appeared however, the spell didn't work that way. I may have knocked the undead over, yes, and I did it without directly coming into contact with it (which didn't mean I didn't feel the collision in my arm), but in the process I had the dubious pleasure of getting my newly acquired eyebrows singed. Not to mention I'm pretty sure that my hair would catch on fire if it wasn't thoroughly soaked, but I digress. What matters was that I knocked the skeleton on the ground and into the mud, momentarily extinguishing the fire it produced.

"Spike?" Stand straight, chest forward and try to play it cool buddy. Rarity just took notice of your intervention.

"Oh, eee… hey Rarity, you doing fine?" Sometimes even I'm surprised how much like a dork I can behave. Stupid, stupid, stupid…

"I'm… good, thank you darling. Now quickly, before that ghastly excuse for a clothes hanger gets up." She helped me to me feet and momentarily rushed to the downed skeleton, the bony abomination already having its hands full with… trying to get Pinkie Pie off of him?

I saw a lot of disturbing images living with Twilight over the years, most of them her own doing, especially in moments of great stress. But watching Pinkie sit on the back of a walking (now more like lying) skeleton and beating it with its own hand (she obviously pried it off of it earlier with her short sword) definitely took the cake. It was even stranger once I noticed the muddy hand she was using seemed to still act like it was attached to the skeleton and was clawing at the air in a vain attempt to hit her. And then there was Pinkie being, well, Pinkie, which consisted mainly of one thing:

"*smack* Stop hitting yourself! *smack* Stop hitting yourself! *smack* Stop hitting yourself! *smack*" I'll… refrain from commenting on that and just say that despite it being seemingly completely nonsensical it was actually working. The bludgeoning trauma her blows were dealing were at the very least far more significant than whatever cuts the girls' blades were dealing.

Taking a page from Pinkie's book Rarity decided that dealing bludgeoning damage to the skeleton was a better way of taking care of it. Although if circumstances were different I'm sure a sophisticated and beautiful mare like her wouldn't do such a thing, Rarity skidded to a halt in front of the downed undead and began brutally hitting it's exposed spine with the pommel of her short sword, trying to shatter it. Figuring this was as good an idea as any I quickly joined in and tried my best to ensure the bony abomination wouldn't walk again.

We weren't even a few seconds at work when something started to happen. At first it was barely noticeable, like a feeling that there was something we've forgotten about, but that started to rapidly change. Pinkie was the first to truly notice it however, and reacted to it in a manner true to her personality.

"Is it just me or is it getting hot out here?" She asked, using the skeleton hand to scratch her own head. It seemed to have become strangely limp for some reason.

Rarity and I exchanged confused looks. Only after Pinks mentioned it did we actually notice, but it was getting increasingly hot despite the downpour, and…

Uh-oh…

The limp, actually motionless form of the skeleton seemed to radiate an increasing amount of heat with each passing second. The mud that covered the undead started to rapidly dry, encasing it in a thin layer of earth, which started to dry even further and crack like scorched soil. The temperature however didn't show any signs of stopping there, and after a short moment the skeleton seemed like it would burst into flames again at any second. The realization came a second too late however.

"It's gonna blow!" I bellowed, trying to jump off of the undead and gain some distance. Rarity figured that out a second earlier and was already off the monster, making an undignified leap away from it. And then it happened.

I felt it before I heard it; a wave of intense heat washed over me, a concussive blast hitting my hastily oriented shield with enough force to send me flying. Then the loud bang hit my eardrums, muting every other sound and replacing it with high-pitched ringing. Lastly I saw myself being raised into the air, flung away from what once was the skeleton we were bashing, fragments of the living dead's bone structure clinking against my see-through shield. It was in that moment I realized what had happened; the undead flaming skeleton, once damaged enough, was rigged to explode in a fiery blaze.

I didn't have time to ponder the implication of this discovery, nor did I have the time to wonder what happened to Rarity and Pinkie, for I wasn't out of the woods yet. Reality had decided that it really didn't like me and decided that it would be fun if I ended up in an early grave, and that's just what happened to  me. Like literally. I mean the grave part. I mean… ugh… I ended up falling into one of the freshly dug graves that Priest Naffer was working on earlier. And let's just say that packed earth tends to behave like a ceramic bowl when it comes to holding liquids.

Is it weird that I almost drowned in less than two hoofs of water at the bottom of a grave?

Coughing up a storm I managed to get on my feet and take stock of the predicament I found myself in. Human graves were, let's just say, deep. Like twelve hoofs deep, which's twice my new height. And with the constant heavy rain the bottom of the grave was filling up nicely with water at a steady pace. In other words if I don't get out of here I'll probably drown. The only option that I had therefore was to try and climb out. But you know how it is when your normal natural equipment in the form of your claws is taken away from you and you have to try and scale the wet, slippery walls with your bare hands. Let's just say it took me a little while and that I was thankful nopony had seen me fumble.

When I finally managed to get out of the grave, however that may sound, I immediately looked for Rarity and Pinkie Pie, hoping they managed to get out of the explosion's reach in time. Rarity I found without much problem, and I was relieved to find she was okay, if not a little bit ruffled. Figuring the explosion was the last we would see of the skeleton she moved to help Rainbow Dash and Applejack take care of the second one and in doing so protect Fluttershy. Pinkie was alright too, though judging from the state of her clothes she wasn't A-okay a few moments earlier. She was with Priest Naffer, helping the man of faith finally dig out Sheriff Hemlock, and it was obvious that she had been magically healed. Sighing in relief that both of them were good I was about to join the fight with the second undead when I noticed something strange.

By complete chance my eyes fell on what remained of the exploded skeleton. A still steaming pile of bones lie clattered on the ground, darkened from the sudden explosion. It seemed almost like a poetic end for a creature like this, that is until I noticed something. The red markings, the same like the ones responsible for healing whatever damage the second skeleton sustained seemed to glow a faint crimson, immediately sending a chill down my spine. The undead couldn't possibly regenerate from something like this… could it?

I watched in silent terror as my fears were made reality. As the faint red glow intensified with each passing second, the bones making up the skeleton seemed to shift and shake under the fell power. Those that were scattered and broken by the explosion seemed to mend together and roll to the main pile, those that were already there brightened and seemed to fit into place, as if an invisible hand was placing them in the correct order. Finally, when the last of its ribs sprung into place and its skull rolled into place on top of its neck the skeleton stirred and started to rise to its feet, seemingly no worse for wear, once again covering itself in a cloak of flames.

"Oh come on!" I finally managed to utter, frustration overriding my fear. How were we supposed to deal with something like this? You beat it until it explodes and it still regenerates? This was not only looking bleaker and bleaker by the second, but also was so utterly unfair that I wanted nothing more than to tear the guy responsible for this mess a new one. Actually, that feeling might prove useful now that I think about it.

I once again concentrated what little magical power I could in the palm of my hand, this time trying to fill it with what anger I could. Letting my frustration guide me, I managed within seconds to produce a ball of green, seemingly-flaming magic to hover over my palm. Wasting no time I willed it to strike the newly arisen skeleton, hoping to at least slow it down.

It appears that the regeneration magic working on skeletons needs some time to fully kick in after the undead monster reforms itself. When my bolt of magic hit the creature, I was expecting it to annoy it maybe or damage a bone or two if I were lucky. I wasn't prepared for the damn thing to once again explode in a fiery haze. Blinking owlishly at the site that brought forth the attention of a few of the girls I slowly lowered my claw hand and cleared my throat awkwardly.

"Okay, that happened." I muttered to myself, looking at the pile of bones once again lying on the ground. As before it started to glow a faint red and the bones started to shift and shake, making me realize this was nowhere near the end.

Figuring I had a few moments to spare before the skeleton was back in working condition I decided to help out the girls with their own living dead. Once again concentrating on producing a bolt of magic I turned to face them, only to be greeted by a rather amusing site. You see, when the two undead first attacked her, Applejack was outnumbered by them, and her near nonexistent experience with swordplay also put a wrench in her ability to effectively deal with them. But now the tables have turned. With the aid of Rainbow Dash and Rarity (who out of the two was probably there only as a sort of distraction) the skeleton didn't know where to focus and who to concentrate its efforts on, and in doing so left itself open to attacks, a fact Applejack was keen on utilizing to the best of her abilities.

When I turned in their direction Applejack was in the process of smacking the skeleton in its… wait, what's that bone even called? A collarbone? I'm pretty sure ponies don't have that. Then again, these weren't pony skeletons, so yeah. Either way Applejack smacked that with the flat of her sword, shattering it and rendering its left arm useless. For about three to four seconds, which was how long it took for the bone to snap back into position and mend itself with that dark magic or whatever it was that healed it. Fortunately, that was more than enough for Rainbow Dash to give it a smack of her own, her strike shattering two of the monster's ribs, and then jumped away from the heat it radiated. Just as the skeleton was about to turn around and retaliate another hit from AJ reopened the not-entirely mended hole in the side of its skull, jumping away from the infernal heat soon after her swing landed. And it went on like that, neither of the girls managing to damage the undead enough for it to go into overload and explode. And I aimed to change that situation.

I was about to let my magic bolt loose when I spotted from the corner of my eye movement. Against my better judgment I hazarded a peek in the general direction of the commotion, and found something that made me pause, a grin spreading on my face. It seemed my earlier stunt with the exploding skeleton was enough to either snap Twilight out of her awe-induced stupor, or played on her ambition in the right way, for she finally decided to get involved in the fight. Took her long enough; the girls and I could've been seriously injured by now, not to mention… And there I go again. We really need to work on our tempers.

As I was about to say Twilight decided it was a good idea to finally get involved in the fight. I noticed how she was furiously leafing through her book, searching for what I assumed was a fitting spell, and after a few moments found what she was looking for. Wasting little to no time she started to chant an arcane formula that to me seemed like nothing more than gibberish and drew her free hand back, palm open and fingers slightly apart. At first it didn't seem to be working, all Twi did was just make that weird gesture and chant, but after closer inspection I noticed something odd that must've somehow been connected to her spell.

While the rain was still falling as strong as ever, dousing everything as far as the eye could reach with water, Twilight seemed to stand in a dry zone of sorts. No rain was falling on her, and the ground around her seemed to quickly dry out, as if under the baking light of the desert sun. The first part I could understand; Rainbow once left an opening in the sky so that Twilight could eat without getting wet (a 'favor' she wanted to use to get a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala), who says something like that wasn't just happening right now. After a simple glance upwards though I could file this idea between my 'yeah right' folder and my 'nope' folder. Rain was still falling on her, but it just didn't reach her. Curiously enough though it did seem that the water was behaving as if it hit an invisible barrier and… wait. Is it trickling in to Twi's drawn hand? Well color me gray and call me Rocky, it is trickling in like that!

Only when I noticed the rivulets of water trailing to her hand had I noticed what really was happening. Twilight, or rather the spell she was about to cast was drawing all the water from her nearby surroundings and concentrating it into a levitating blob of muddy-brown liquid. The gigantic droplet was already the size of a watermelon and it just kept getting bigger and bigger, and I had no doubt in my mind that it would hurt like hay to get hit by that.

When Twi decided the water bullet was large enough she finally let it loose. Bellowing a loud warning she pushed the sphere of water in the direction of the skeleton, sending it on its way. The gigantic droplet possessed pretty neat acceleration, reaching the speed of several dozen miles per hour within just a second, distorting and elongating itself as it went, still sucking out moisture from its surrounding and still growing as it went. Barely four seconds after Twilight gave the girls the heads up and not a second after the last of them managed to dodge to the side did the now literal spear of water hit the unsuspecting skeleton straight in its center of mass.

The staggering force of the speeding mass of water was enough to send the relatively light undead flying several hoofs back, sprawling on the muddy ground in a heap. The creature looked almost miserable, its flames extinguished by the mass of liquid, its bones dripping with mud as it tried to get back on its feet. It looked even more pathetic after a second spell hit it.

I was so focused on what Twilight was doing that I almost forgot she wasn't the only one with a spellbook in our group. It took me hearing her voice chant a series of unintelligible syllables to remember she was even there. Trixie, who up until now seemed to be content to just watch us deal with the undead on our own decided that she would not be outdone by Twilight. When she noticed her cast a spell she quickly leafed through her own collection of magic, and finding one that seemed to fit her desires she pulled out that star-tipped wand of hers and started to make a series of complex motions with it, ending it with an impressive flourish.

The tip of the wand seemed to glow a faint blue for a second, the star producing a small amount of heavy mist, quickly cleared out by the rain. Then, as if just waiting to be discharged it produced an almost invisible pale-blue ray, one that Rainbow Dash made acquaintance with already. The ray of magical frost closed the distance between Trixie and her target in moments, leaving the skeleton barely any time to react. The undead amalgamation of bones seemed to understand (don't ask me how anything without a brain can think) what this was, and it seemed to actually fear it. It tried to shield itself from the ray with its bony arms, an effort both valiant and completely ridiculous since it would get hit either way. Still it tried to protect itself somehow and ended up getting hit square in the skull for its efforts.

The moment the ray hit the skeleton I knew this was going to be good. The monster was still covered in mud and water, and since the spell was strong enough to leave a sizable patch of frost on a wall in a warm inn it was bound to have dramatic results in these conditions. And let me tell ya –boy was that a result worth witnessing. The skeleton, almost every inch of it, was covered in a thick layer of frost within seconds, freezing in place in its defensive stance, losing its balance and dropping to the ground seconds later. As it hit the muddy earth it shattered into pieces, each bone separate from the other, like if whatever glue was holding them together just disappeared. And then, in a fireworks-like show of coordinated pyrotechnics each bone burst into flames, one after another, each separately. It was truly a magnificent sight to behold.

I'm not sure if that was what Trixie was going for: was she willingly working with Twilight, deciding that her help might be vital to our success, or was it just a vain attempt to show her up and prove she could be as good, if not better than her? That didn't matter. What really mattered was that her little show got rid of the undead, and that despite being a deadweight up until now in this fight she managed to contribute. Now if either she or Twilight could find a way to make the skeletons actually stay down, that would be sweet.

Seeing that the girls had things under control I concentrated again on the second skeleton, or rather on the pile of regenerating and reforming bones. As I expected, the undead was slowly putting itself together from my earlier magical blow. In fact, it was almost done with it and would any second now burst into flames and rise to its feet again. I was however prepared for that, my bolt of green magic (still sounds weird saying that) hovering over my right claw hand, ready to be used in a moment's notice.

Just when I was expecting the undead to reach the point it regained its fighting capability I had been forestalled from letting loose my little ball of frustrations by someone I almost forgot was there with us. It seems that Sheriff Hemlock finally managed to free himself from his miry trap, his armor as well as most of his face covered in a thick layer of mud, and decided he didn't want to be seen as a deadweight. Wonder if Trixie's example had anything to do with that decision… Either way the guard captain charged the reforming skeleton full speed and did something I wasn't quite expecting.

The moment he was within reach of it, Sheriff Hemlock quickly bent down and grabbed at the reforming skeleton's ribcage with his gloved hand. Then, in a show of just how strong he really was the man chucked the whole amalgamation of magically-bound bones several hoofs in the air, in the general direction the one frozen was lying. The skeleton sailed through the air, flailing limply as it went, the few fragments of its structure not yet in place falling from it yet still rolling in its direction, trailing after the main 'body'. But as it hit the ground with a wet splash I couldn't help but wonder what this was supposed to accomplish.

As it would seem, I was about to find out.

"Naffer!" The sheriff shouted urgently over the sound of the downpour. "Now! Do it now!"

Priest Naffer seemed to be waiting just for that. With a well practiced, almost methodical motion he pulled out that small bauble from beneath his garb, the one that now I realized represented his goddess, the Celestia-like Sarenrae. I was confused by that at first. Last time he grabbed that symbol it produced that healing light-thing, the one reminding me of the thing that brought us here in the first place. I couldn't figure what healing magic was supposed to do to a creature that was already dead. My confusion started to dissipate when I heard the chant the man loudly uttered while rising his pendant high over his head, a chant starkly different from the one used when he tried to heal Rarity.

"May the searing light of the Dawnflower cleanse you!" Okay, so it wasn't meant to heal but to hurt this time. Interesting.

Even more interesting was how the magical light emanating from the necklace looked like. Gone was the bright yet soft glow that seemed to have a mind of its own. Gone was the light that reminded me so strongly of the being that was the reason we were here. In its place was a different kind of illumination; a sharper, more blinding type of shine, like a sun glare that actively tried to blind you. It seemed also to be more precise than its healing counterpart, zeroing in directly on the pile of undead bones that were moments from reforming completely. And when the beam of light hit them directly…

It's fascinating how magic, even one that seems so similar to a beneficial effect can in fact be quite the opposite. When you witness light, seemingly a harmless thing in on itself burn deeply into bones, with a power both incredible and terrifying, you can't help but feel respect towards the arcane. As the rays of the admittedly searing light fell on the bones they singed and smoked, a whispery dark vapor lifting from them like smoke from an extinguished campfire. Yet the most prominent feature was that the crimson markings on their surface, the same ones that seemed to control the regenerative properties of the undead flaked off their surface like old scales from a dragon's hide, lifting into the air like sawdust only to evaporate into nothingness. It was truly an incredible site.

The girls and I stayed silent, eyes glued to the smoking pile of bones as the light from Priest Naffer's bauble receded. Twilight had a glint in her eyes, one that I learned to associate with a will to research the hay out of whatever she just witnessed. Was it directed at the unusual show of magic performed by the holy man or rather at the prospect of living dead being real was secondary at best. The rest, and it's safe to assume I too had varying expressions of relief on our faces, especially Rainbow Dash seemed to be thankful this whole mess was over. I even let my magic-ball-wielding hand drop to my side, the magical missile just disappearing into thin air. We stayed like that for a moment, letting it sink in that yes, this really did just happen, and letting ourselves come to terms with the fact we ended up in a world where even the dead could still be dangerous. And then all that was shattered by one, simple phrase.

"Whelp, that was one heck of a bonefire." Pinkie never was one to stay serious for long, but this was ridiculous. She was already her perky self, smiling brightly at her own joke and nosing around the pile of bones that for once looked like they weren't going to come to life again.

Priest Naffer was the first to shake off the effects of her little pun. He approached the steaming pile of human remains and kneeled in front of them, taking out something I couldn't quite make out from my position from his colorful attire.

"Sacrilegious rituals, desecrating the remains of our forefathers… Is there no bounds to what evil men can do?" He said, mostly to himself if his tone of voice was anything to go by.

"Anything you can tell us about the bastards' origins?" Sheriff Hemlock asked approaching the priest. Naffer sent him a cold glare from his kneeling position.

"Show some respect Hemlock, these are the bones of the head priests of our congregation." He reprimanded the guard captain coolly, an action that made Sheriff Hemlock roll his eyes.

"Yeah, and they're the same thing that could have killed the girls here if they didn't prove capable enough to handle them. Your point?" Priest Naffer looked like he wanted to argue, but he couldn't find the right words. Sighing in defeat he looked back at the pile of bones.

"There's not much I can tell. I'm not a necromancer, I don't know even remotely enough about it to hazard any sort of guess about their origins. The most I can tell is that they were some strange variants of a common animated skeleton, and that whoever created them wasn't an amateur."

"Hold up a second." Twilight decided to hop into the conversation, the same curious glint in her eyes still present. "If you don't know enough about whatever magic fueled these creatures, than how were you able to make sure they won't get up again? Surely you must know something." Priest Naffer gave her a scrutinizing look for a second before he answered.

"Truth be told, I'm not sure if they won't regenerate again." He answered sincerely, making Twilight (and the rest of us for that matter) take a cautious step back from the pile. "Channeling positive energy from the godly realm of Sarenrae has a large chance to permanently destroy any type of undead however, and I am willing to take the risk and say they won't be getting up again. But just to be on the safe side…"

Priest Naffer grabbed the object he pulled out earlier again, letting me take a closer look at it. The object seemed to be a small bottle with some sort of shimmery liquid, seemingly shining with an inner glow of itself filling it. The priest uncorked the bottle and carefully poured its content over the bones, allowing it to mix with the rainwater and mud and seemingly disappear.

"There, done." Naffer declared, hiding the empty bottle back from where he pulled it. "If there still was any dark magic fueling these abominations it should be gone."

"I hope you're right Vosk, I wouldn't want them to wake up while in the evidence cellar." Sheriff Hemlock commented, earning himself an immediate glare from the priest.

"You want to take them to the garrison?" He asked sharply, and after he received a nod in confirmation he continued. "You know I can't allow that. They're still the remains of our most esteemed dead, I cannot possibly allow you to take them just like that."

"And I'm not taking them as you put it 'just like that'." Belor replied unfazed by the protest. "Like it or not, the bones are evidence in a case of the praxis of necromancy in Sandpoint, and as such I have to confiscate them and let a professional conduct a magical investigation to figure out who could've done this. And you know I have full authority to do just that."

Priest Naffer fell silent at that, trying to figure out something to say to that and failing. For my part I didn't know what all the fuss was about. Why not just give the sheriff the bones? I mean sure, they were the remains of someone important, but that shouldn't stand in the way of finding out who did this to them, right?

Finally, after several moments of silence Naffer came up with a response, though he said it with a defeated tone of voice.

"You'll need to bring this up with Abstalar. I'm not entitled to make decisions about exhuming anyone on the cemetery."

"This hardly qualifies as an exhumation attempt, but have it your way." The sheriff finally gave in, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'll talk with Zantus about this. In the mean time…" He trailed off and cast his gaze on the girls and I, carefully examining us, as if he was trying to come to some sort of decision. "I'll admit –I was expecting something more from you after the way my men talked about how you helped them out, especially after Caletti put in a good word about you. He's really hard to impress."

Okay, I don't follow. What was he talking about, and why do I have the strange feeling we were just insulted? I wasn't the only one feeling that way though; Rainbow Dash too picked up at the not-so-subtle critique from Sheriff Hemlock.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, immediately getting defensive. The sheriff gave her a pointed look.

"Freezing up during a fight, staring at your opponent in fascination, fleeing from a fight, overall messing around… amateur mistakes at their finest." He counted out on his fingers, looking at each of the girls that could be held accounted of doing those things but in the end settling on Rainbow Dash. Of course, this didn't sit well with her.

"Oh yeah!? Well… at least I didn't get trapped in a puddle of mud like you did! What sort of professional does that?"

"And it didn't once occur to you that I may have refrained from intervening for a reason?" He countered Dash's heated arguments calmly, looking at her coolly. That little confession did warrant a curious look from the girls, and after a second or two Trixie seemed to come up to a surprising conclusion.

"You were evaluating our skills?" She asked, eyeing the guard captain warily. Sheriff Hemlock instead of answering directly turned his attention to the shadowy shape of the cathedral and started:

"The goblin raid from yesterday showed just how green my men really are. With a few exceptions they really can't handle a situation worse than a simple robbery. And then a few of them died. This leaves me in a very bad position as the one responsible for security and upholding the law. I have vacancies, and I need to fill them up as quickly as possible.

"If the situation was any different I would just send for a detachment of guards from Magnimar to help fill up the gap and train a new batch of my own men, but I can't. We're stretched thin as it is. I even had to put out fliers that we're searching for help, and that's one way to let the lowlife scum know we're knee-deep in shit. I'm sure you saw those by now." I was the only one to nod at that, knowing full well what the man was talking about, though I still had no idea where he was going with thi… Wait a moment. Does he…? Is he…?

"This is where you come in. My men told me about how a group of young women managed to help them repel a wave of goblins despite being unarmed and for all they knew just simple civilians. I wanted to see how much of that was true, so I asked for your 'help' when an occasion to do so arose. I decided to let you handle whatever the disturbance was here on yourself, providing only minimal help."

"Wait… so you purposely set us up against those skeletons?" Rainbow asked sharply, glaring at the man accusingly. Applejack didn't look to pleased about this as well, and even Rarity seemed to support RD in this wholeheartedly. Sheriff Hemlock however shook his head at that and explained.

"No, I really didn't know there would be skeletons here, especially flaming, regenerating skeletons. At most I expected a grave robber or a lost goblin or two. As it is however I didn't see the need to intervene directly until the very end. Despite your shortcomings and mistakes you managed to handle the situation admirably, and none of you suffered any serious wounds in the process, a feat quite impressive, especially for people without any sort of armor on. There is potential in you."

"So in other words you used this whole situation to evaluate our performance." Trixie pointed out again, still eying the sheriff warily. "You wanted to know how Trixie and her lack… companions would fare when confronted with typical guard work, but got a show of our prowess when faced with an unexpected assailant. This whole thing was to gauge our skills to see if we would…"

"…if we would be suitable to work as town guards." Twilight finished for Trixie, her eyes widening at the realization. "You want to hire us as town guards!"

"You're intelligent, that's a plus." Sheriff Hemlock said, nodding slightly. "Yes, you're at least partially right. I do want to make you an offer."

"Whaddya mean we're 'partially right'?" Applejack asked, suddenly more invested in the conversation. "What kinda offer ya have for us?"

"For starters, I don't want to hire all of you." He stated bluntly, his dark eyes landing on the shaking, completely bedraggled form of Fluttershy. "I most definitely don't want you in the guard force, but that goes without saying. You're just not cut to be a guard, and no amount of training would change that. And I don't want any casters too; Sandpoint has limited use for magic users, and aside from consultations we don't need spellslinging guards around. Which doesn't mean I'm not willing to cut a deal with you too."

"Yes, well, that is all quite a generous offer but could we perchance talk business somewhere else, preferably with a roof?" Rarity interjected, looking positively miserable in her thoroughly wet condition (man that sounded wrong). "I can already tell I'm going to get a cold."

Sheriff Hemlock didn't see any problem with that and quickly agreed, saying that we could talk more in the cathedral, after he takes care of business with Father Zantus. We were about to go on our way back to the temple when Fluttershy noticed something was wrong.

"Um… girls? Where's Pinkie Pie?" We all stopped at that simple little question. We haven't noticed that before, too preoccupied with what the sheriff wanted from us, but Pinkie really disappear somewhere without us noticing. While most of the time that wouldn't be that big of a deal, we were kind in a hurry, and in a completely alien environment. Who knows in what trouble she would find herself in. So with that in mind we were about to start searching for her, until something piqued our interest.

The iron-bound doors to the crypt were shut, or at least close to being completely shut. But if memory served me right, the doors were thrown open when the skeletons leapt out and stayed that way ever since. I wasn't the only one to notice that however, and soon our group gathered around the entrance, ready for anything. But just when Applejack gathered enough courage to open them up, the doors did that themselves, and we were greeted by… something only one pony could hope to come up with.

"Hey guys, check this out! Who's the greatest juggler around? I am, ha!" As could, and really should be expected, Pinkie Pie decided to amuse herself somehow, and picked the strangest way imaginable to do that. Not to mention creepy.

She was juggling, as she said she did. Only problem is, she juggled the skulls and some of the bones from the skeletons that darn near killed us not five minutes ago. And let's not forget she was inside a crypt vault, effectively desecrating their resting place. I didn't need to see his face to know Priest Naffer was completely aghast by the site.

"Pinkie, darling, what do you think you are doing?" Rarity, who was of course the most appealed by the site stepped inside and, though I can tell it was with great reservations, grabbed one of the bones from the party pony's grasp. "Stop this this instance! That's no way to treat the… *gulp*… dead."

"Aw come on Rarity, don't be such a party pooper!" Pinkie immediately protested, though a grin never left her face. "All I wanted was to have some fun and play, 'is all."

"Fun and play, inside a crypt, playing with bones." Rainbow seemed perturbed by the notion and seemed to pale a bit for some reason. "Pinks, I have no idea how you can put all that into one sentence, but that's just wrong." Pinkie cocked her head to the side at that, and then smiled even more brightly.

"Well that's simple. Let's take for example this bone." She said pulling out one of the long bones and pointing it at RD, to her ever growing chagrin. "This is my favorite kind of bone. And you know why's that? Because it's humorous."

Humorous? How can a bone be humorous… wait a moment. Is that a… pun? Is that bone a…

"Humerus? Really Pinkie, you used that?" Twilight almost facepalmed once she figured that out. And Pinkie was still smiling that overly wide smile of hers.

"Oh come on Twi, the funny bone's a classic." She replied, and soon after that pulled out one of the skulls. "So, who's up for the next riddle? In terms of hints I'll just quote another classic. Ekhm… 'To squee, or not to squee, that is the question'."

I'm fairly sure even Fluttershy at this point gave Pinkie a flat stare. There was just something wrong with this whole situation. Shaking her head, Rarity took the skull from Pinkie's hooves hands and gently placed it on one of the three sarcophagus inside the vault, soon after taking the pink mare by her forearm and leading her forcefully from the crypt.

"Come now Pinkie, this sort of behavior really does not befit a lady."

"Okay!" Surprisingly our resident party planner didn't oppose and followed Rarity without a complaint. She did however mentioned something odd. "Besides, it's not like I managed to pull of what I wanted to. I was one skull and two funny bones short of a world record."

"You were juggling two skulls and four humerus bones Pinkie, I think that's plenty enough." Twilight commented and soon after went back to her attempts at appeasing Priest Naffer, who seemed to be on the verge of moving to blows.

"But that's just it Twilight, that's only two skulls and four funny bones. To beat the record I need three skulls and six funny bones." Pinkie explained patiently, completely oblivious to the silent 'shut up Pinkie' look she was getting from Twi. "I figured there would be an extra skeleton inside one of the stone tomb-thingies, but they were all empty."

"Wait, what did you say?" Suddenly Naffer's demeanor changed from one of complete fury to unspoken dread. He looked probably even worse than when he realized the vault was filled with undead earlier today. He then pushed his way inside the crypt and checked all three sarcophagi, falling to his knees as he did so with the last one. "Holy Sarenrae… Father Tobyn's body is missing." He managed to fearfully breath out.

The girls and I exchanged looks, wondering what that was supposed to mean. Figuring we wouldn't get any answer from Priest Naffer we directed our inquiries towards the only other local in our midst.

At first Sheriff Hemlock didn't seem to even acknowledge our question. He followed the priest silently inside the vault and peered inside the sarcophagus that was supposed to contain the body of this Tobyn fellow. Only once he made sure what Naffer said was true did he finally answer our question with one simple, defeated sentence.

"This means my work just got that much harder."
> Act Three Chapter Five
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 3 of Rova (Presumably 26 of October 1000 SR), Afternoon

"Well you certainly took your sweet time! We've been waiting here for like ages!"

That… was certainly not what I was expecting to be greeted with, though in hindsight I think we deserved as much. That and Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly the most patient pony in the world. Still, was it too much to ask for this to be more civil, like 'hey guys, what took you'?

"Sorry Rainbow, you know how Rarity can get. Once she starts talking about fashion she just can't stop." Twilight tried to calm our resident hothead down. Good luck with that.

"First off: you guys were supposed to be here four hours ago. Do you have any idea how much time is four hours spent in the company of an annoying, self-centered magician?" At the mention of this Trixie, who was ostentatiously standing with her back turned to us huffed and shot Rainbow a glare. "And secondly: it was Rarity who was talking about all that frou-frou nonsense, not you. Couldn't you, I don't know, go out without her or something?"

"That wouldn't be very nice…" Fluttershy tried to point out but was pointedly ignored by Dash, who was too busy giving us the stink eye to bother with a response.

*Sigh*

I suppose I should explain what all this was about. You see, this morning Rarity, in a stroke of genius had decided that we needed to see Rynshinn about finally adjusting out attire. At six in the morning. Yeah, you can imagine the reception her idea had, and not to be mistaken, I too didn't really want to go there first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, Rarity wasn't taking no for an answer, and soon enough she was dragging Twilight, Fluttershy and myself towards the shop, leaving out Trixie, who I'm quite sure she omitted on purpose, as well as Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, who already had arrangements for the morning. The point is however that Rarity dragged us to Rynshinn's and we spent the next eight hours pretending to be mannequins for the local seamstress. By the time she was done I was ready to keel over of boredom.

I probably am exaggerating a bit; not the entirety of our visit was dull to the point of tears. Rynshinn, despite her appearance being almost identical to Rarity's once again proved to be her own person. For starters, not all subjects she was willing to discuss were oriented on fashion (though that still was a large portion of the general conversations; I still can't get over Rarity's ecstatic reaction to the news that Rynshinn had a supply of dyed cashmere). She was perfectly willing to talk about say Sheriff Hemlock, who she described as a generally nice, if not stressed guy that was still trying to get used to his position, or shed a bit of light on his animosity with Priest Naffer (apparently the hobbling priest was once a smuggler but repented after he was saved out of a shipwreck by none other than the guy whose corpse was missing, Father Tobyn if I recall correctly). And the fact she was capable of using magic to aid in her work, just like Rarity, made the whole thing quite a spectacle with all those floating needles, threads and whatnot. It didn't make the whole process any faster, but definitely made it cooler, and reminded me of home.

I miss home.

"Trust me Rainbow, if we had the choice to come here sooner we would've. Thing is, Rarity asked us for help after Rynshinn approached her with a proposition." The moment Twilight uttered the last word of her sentence Rainbow seemed to forget she was angry, her irritation overridden by curiosity.

"Proposition?" Yep, she was definitely intrigued by that last bit. As was Applejack, who up until now had been standing to RD's side and seemed to try and decide what was the best course of action when trying to silence her rant. Seeing the two mares look at her expectantly Twilight sighed and explained.

"Rynshinn's been contracted by a large theatre in a place called Magnimar to provide costumes for an upcoming play, 'The Pauper in Alabaster District' or something like that. Normally she'd had no problem completing it on her own, or at the very least hire other tailors to put together her designs, but recovering from that crossbow bolt in her arm and having most of the other tailors out of town because of the goblin raid left her without many options."

"So lemme guess: she saw that Rares knows her way 'round dem needles and threads an' figured she'd be willin' ta work fer her." Applejack deduced, after which she shook her head. "Knowin' Rarity she wasn't happy with playin' second fiddle."

"Yeah, she probably saw this as an insult or something. Her? Working for somepony else? Propostures!" Rainbow added, adopting an overly dramatic pose and trying her best impression of our fashionista. AJ smirked slightly at that, but neither Twilight nor I saw this as very funny, for completely different reasons I might add.

"It's preposterous Rainbow, not… whatever it was that you said." See? Completely different reasons. "And besides, Rarity wasn't actually all that fussy about this arrangement. She actually took it quite well."

"I don't think talking through gritted teeth for the next quarter hour counts as taking it well Twilight." Surprisingly enough it was Fluttershy who said that, though the moment she realized what she did she quickly added: "I could be wrong though. You're probably right. Sorry."

"…okay." Rainbow drawled that out and gave Twilight a look that plainly spelled 'really'? "So… she took it as dignified as ever, huh?"

"Well, relatively speaking, yes." Twi replied, looking away and blushing slightly. She was thankfully spared from more teasing courtesy of Rainbow by Applejack, who seemed to want to get to the point already.

"Ah take it she agreed in the end?"

"Yes, after Rynshinn mentioned she'd be more than willing to listen to any suggestions Rarity may have she warmed up to the idea. That and she concluded that this would be a great way to get some experience in working with a human-like body type."

"Then you were late because…?" Rainbow seemed to remember why they were talking about all this in the first place and gave Twilight a questioning look, one that Twi was quick to answer to with a steadfast look of her own.

"We spent a good portion of the time ironing out the details with Rynshinn. For all her poise and refinement Rarity didn't trust herself to negotiate on her own, 'less I make a faux pas and ruin this opportunity by having my pride get the best of me' as she put it." Here Twilight gave a little shake of her head and smiled softly. "I'm genuinely surprised she recognized her own vice and actively sought out a way to work around it. I was half expecting her to be ignorant of it."

"Oh come on, Rarity is way better than that." I immediately protested, taking affront on my Lady's behalf. "I'm sure she'd do great even without our help."

"Sure she would loverboy." I get the impression Rainbow was making fun of me, but I hadn't had the chance to ponder that. "So you spent all this time making sure Rares got a job, eh? Good to know we're not the only ones here making sure we're not broke by the end of the month." She added loudly while adjusting the weight on her shoulders, turning her head to glare at Trixie who still seemed determined to ignore us and stand with her back to us.

Now this was a rather new development, one that I was still trying to come to terms with. And no, I'm not talking about Trixie acting like she didn't want to have anything to do with us (which for all I knew she didn't). Rather it was the fact that Rainbow Dash of all ponies, a mare that from what I knew slacked off even in her normal job as weather patrol back in Ponyville was now claiming to be a hard working and productive member of society. Yeah, the irony isn't lost on me, especially considering what job opportunity she actually had chosen.

Yesterday, after our rather unpleasant run-in with the animated skeletons and after Sheriff Hemlock admitted to using the confusion to evaluate our skills he decided to make us an offer. He needed good men (or women as the case may be) in his guard force, and despite seeing quite a bit of things he didn't exactly like in the way we dealt with the situation he was willing to enlist a few of us into the guard. And as he mention earlier, he didn't want any spellcasters permanently on his payroll, claiming he didn't usually have need for them and admitting he wouldn't be able to afford to pay for their higher rates, so that left only a precious few of the girls actually qualified for the position. Three guesses who one of them was.

Rainbow Dash fidgeted impatiently, absentmindedly adjusting the weight of the chainmail shirt she wore on her shoulders, eliciting a small, almost inaudible jingle with the motion. The armor itself was almost identical to the one most in the guard force were wearing, the only difference being the fact it was a bit slimmer, prepared either for a more slender male or actually for a female. Aside from that Rainbow now had a belt strapped around her waist, pulling the chainmail closer to her body in that region and distributing the weight of the metal armor more evenly, and attached to that was the scabbard holding a sword, a crossbow (which I'm fairly certain is the same one Trixie 'secured' during the goblin attack), and a quiver containing several bolts for the weapon. She also wore a pair of leather pants, clearly as a supplement for her main armor, and a pair of hard protective boots. Her image was completed by the short mantle of burnt orange draped on her shoulders. Personally? I found her look hilarious, and I'm sure Rarity would be appealed by it if she ever saw it, but I was smart enough not to laugh in her face.

"Where is Rarity anyways?" Applejack asked, deciding to steer the conversation somewhere safer than towards a confrontation with Trixie. She too wore a set of what I started to assume was the standard Sandpoint guard uniform, complete with crossbow and mantle, but unlike Rainbow she didn't look like a polychromatic scarecrow draped in a chain shirt and actually filled out the armor quite nicely. She could go without her stetson though, it really made her look ridiculous in that outfit. "She ain't with ya, so…?"

"She stayed at Rynshinn's, said she might as well get started and see what she's working with." Twilight filled her in without missing a beat. That however was only half of the truth, or at least I figured it was.

Spending as much time as I had around Rarity the last several months has made me apt at reading her moods, at least to a certain degree. Usually I could tell when she was happy, content, excited, or when she was about to enter 'the zone' as she called it, even if she actively tried to conceal her disposition behind her practiced mask of high society glamour. Likewise I could usually tell when she was hiding her bad mood or when she was concerned about something, and when she told us to go on without her she acted just like that. Shooting Rynshinn sidelong glances and eying the floating tools of her trade with a strange longing in her eyes, I figured what Rarity really wanted even if Twilight and Fluttershy failed to do so. She wanted to ask for Rynshinn's help in channeling her magic to once again be able to manipulate her surroundings with but a thought. That or she really wanted to get started on work.

I was snapped out of my revere by Twilight, who seemed to be looking for something. After a moment of looking around she finally gave up and looked at Applejack and Rainbow Dash in search for answers.

"Speaking of missing ponies: where's Pinkie Pie? Wasn't she supposed to be here with you?"

"Oh, she's here alright. Just decided to help out with setting everything up down in the basement." Rainbow explained offhandedly, once again adjusting the weight on her shoulders. "Frankly: I'm happy she did. I really didn't feel like sitting around Celestia knows how long with a crate full of bones by my side." As she said that she shivered slightly, as if a sudden chill ran down her spine. This was really beginning to seem out of character for her, enough for the other girls to notice I'm sure, but not enough for them to confront Dash about it.

"Are you finished yet? Trixie had about enough of waiting; she has places she'd rather be and things she'd rather do, and you're pointlessly prolonging her stay." We were rudely interrupted by the magician, who finally had enough of waiting and decided to voice her complaints. As to be expected, she was quickly answered by Rainbow Dash in the form of a glare and an evil smirk developing on her face.

"You know, I just realized." She started, the smirk on her face widening considerably. "Since I've been hired in what basically is law enforcement around here,  I think I could find something to charge you with." That seemed to give Trixie pause. She regarded Rainbow carefully, as if trying to determine something, and only after that did she allow herself a smirk of her own.

"Trixie highly doubts somepony the likes of you would be able to come up with a charge plausible enough to warrant Trixie's arrest." She crossed her arms and cocked her eyebrow in challenge. Rainbow was about to bite back, but unfortunately for her Twilight picked that moment to intervene, being the voice of reason that she was.

"Rainbow, stop that. We really don't need to antagonize one another. And besides, acting in self-interest while holding a position in law enforcement is basically a crime in itself."

Hearing that Rainbow scowled and muttered: "Spoilsport.", but didn't press the issue, even if Trixie sent a triumphant smirk her way. That same smirk further widened a few seconds later, when Twilight decided to continue.

"Besides, Trixie is kinda right. We really should get a move on; we kept Mr. Gandethus waiting long enough, and I for one would really like to get a chance to finally meet him." She said, her voice betraying her eagerness to meet up with a fellow academic from another world. She was after all waiting for this opportunity for two days now.

Ever since our fateful first day in Sandpoint Twilight harbored a desire to visit one of the many establishments located in town, the institution in question being of course the Turandarok Academy. Since learning of its existence as well as being told that this was not only the closest thing the town had to a public school but the seat of the local magic specialist as well, Twi couldn't help but gravitate towards it. And now, for the first time since the goblin attack she had an opportunity, if not duty, to pass the threshold of the Academy.

From the outside Turandarok Academy didn't really look like what one would expect from what was essentially a school. The building, erect with the same masonry skills that no doubt went into constructing the cathedral was easily the second largest stone structure in town, not counting the cliffside ruin. Two stories high, topped with yet another small dome the purpose of which was lost on me and with two slightly elevated portions giving the impression of either bell towers or maybe even their defensive cousins, it looked a bit like a miniature fortress. However, despite being built out of thick stonework, the sheer number of large, easily accessible windows made it clear this structure was built more to stand the test of time and less to repel any would-be attacker. The site was completed by two entrances, both made out of heavy reinforced wooden double doors, placed strategically on both the front and back of the building, which come to think of it was pretty odd for a school. Either way, we were at the back entrance, away from most prying eyes, and we were wasting time for the last five or so minutes when we could've already went inside.

"Then what are we waitin' for? Let's do this." I was snapped out of my thoughts by Applejack. She turned to face the doors and approached them in a brisk pace, as if not encumbered by the armor she wore in the slightest, and knocked on them loudly, awaiting for a response. While she was doing that Fluttershy decided to chime in.

"Girls, I was wondering." She started slowly, looking at us unsurely. "Do I really need to go with you? I-I mean… I'd rather not… go anywhere near those… things." She forced the last bit with difficulty, as if struggling to come up with a proper adjective to describe what by now must have rested in the depths of the Academy.

"Are you sure Fluttershy?" Twilight asked with concern, but was answered by a demure nod from our shy friend. That didn't mean she wasn't going to push the subject. "I mean you'd be all alone, everypony will be here, in the Academy. Are you really up to this?"

"Hey, I can stay and keep an eye on 'Shy if you want." Rainbow volunteered almost immediately after Twi voiced her concerns. She seemed uncharacteristically eager to join Fluttershy, even considering their long-standing friendship, which of course draw attention to her. Especially Applejack seemed to notice this, and turning around to look at Dash over her arm and said:

"If Ah recall, Hemlock ordered us ta keep an eye on the bones, not go 'round gallivantin' about." Seeing that RD was about to argue back she continued. "We've joined tha guard force Rainbow Dash, not the weather patrol. Ya can't just loaf 'round doin' nothin' an' hopin' that everything'll be alright. Like it or not, we've got responsibilities now. An' 'sides, are ya suggestin' that Fluttershy here can't take care of herself?"

"N-no, it's not like that!" Dash protested, completely not expecting that argument to come up. If anything, she didn't want to look like she wasn't supportive of her demure friend. Casting a look at Fluttershy, she asked in worry. "You're gonna be alright on your own, right?"

"Of course. You don't have to worry about me." She assured, though she seemed strangely unfocused while doing so. Looking at her questioningly, I noticed that her eyes were focused not on Rainbow, but on something in a nearby stack of crates and rain barrels. Before I was able to ask what she was looking at Fluttershy approached said crates and lightly kneeled down in front of them, reaching out with her hoof hand towards something and intoning softly, as if talking to a small child. "It's okay, you can come out now. I won't hurt you, I just want to take a better look at you."

The girls and I exchanged confused looks, trying to make heads or tails of Fluttershy's sudden weird behavior. In the end, Twilight was the first to do the obvious thing and ask.

"Fluttershy, what are you… eeep!" Twi must have saw what Flutters' was addressing, and whatever it was, it most definitely wasn't anything she found alluring if she literally jumped several hoofs in the air. Wanting to be the judge of the level of creepiness myself I tried to angle myself so that I could see what it was.

"Oh, aren't you just the cutest thing ever!" Fluttershy cooed, slightly wiggling her fingers as a small, berry-sized nose sniffed at them warily. I managed to take a good look at the animal (it's Fluttershy for pony's sake, whatever else could it be?), and I quickly realized why Twilight acted as she did. After all, only 'Shy could ever call a common street rat the size of my forearm as 'cute'.

The rat seemed wary of Fluttershy, undoubtedly unsure of how it should act. It was no doubt the first time in its short life that a being such as Fluttershy had willingly approached it without being intent on harming it. That confusion however quickly changed into curiosity as the rodent sniffed at her outstretched palm and watched her with its beady little eyes. In the meantime Fluttershy reached with her free hand for something in her pocket and produced a handful of dried fruit she must have took with her during breakfast. Bringing it forward to present the rodent with the morsel, she encouraged her new animal friend to take it, which the rat did quite readily, quickly scampering off towards the stack from which it emerged. Moments later it came back, only this time it was accompanied by a second of its kind, and several more seemed to be peering from the protective shadows of their makeshift shelter. Not long after that Fluttershy was surrounded by a ring of rats, the fair-sized rodents seemingly forgetting about their instinctive fear and boldly approaching the animal lover, much to her (and only her) delight. Heck, she even allowed a few of them to climb onto her like if they weren't plague-carrying rats but cute little squirrels or something like that.

"Shouldn't we do something?" I asked uncertainly, unable to tear my gaze away from the strange spectacle. "This probably isn't very hygienic… or safe for that matter."

"I'm not getting anywhere near that." Twilight replied the first, looking anywhere but at her friend. Her face had a slightly green tinge to it and she nervously shifted from leg to leg.

"I'm serious here. What if something happens?" I pressed on, only to be answered by Rainbow, who quite surprisingly seemed to be a fair bit calmer than moments before.

"Spike, this is Fluttershy we're talking about, a mare that literally stared down a raging boar. She'll be fine." She seemed confident about that, though after a quick glance I was able to confirm that she too was a bit unsettled by the site. "After all, rats are just really large mice, right? She dealt with those plenty of times."

I had half the mind to point out how wrong she was about that, but thought better of it. After all she was kinda right: if Fluttershy could handle an enraged boar than a dozen or so rats shouldn't be much of a problem, right?

"Ah… think this can work to her advantage actually." Applejack said slowly, unknowingly mirroring my own sentiment, and looking at Fluttershy with an expression similar to the rest of the girls -green and slightly sick. "Ah reckon nopony will want ta mess with Shy' when she's covered in dem varmints, at least nopony o' the right mind." She explained after we shot her questioning glances of our own. "Shoot, Ah don' wanna get near that, and Ah routinely have ta deal with those pests on tha farm."

"She does have a point." Rainbow nodded in agreement, shaking herself slightly and wrapping an armored arm around Twilight's shoulder, leading her towards the Academy. "C'mon, let's get this over and done with already. Shy'll  be fine, no need to worry about her anymore."

Though she did it slightly begrudgingly, Twilight allowed herself to be led towards the door, her need to meet with a fellow academic and want to get away from the giggling, rat-covered form of Fluttershy overriding whatever concern for the shy pegasus she had. Figuring I wouldn't be able to change their decision even if I tried and deciding that Flutters' really was going to be fine on her own I joined up with them. Soon after Trixie joined us as well, not even trying to conceal her disgust at what she had witnessed and urging AJ to knock at the door again.

Applejack was about to once again rap at it when the sound of a deadbolt being moved came from the other side and the door creaked open a little bit, enough for a young face to appear in the gap. At first I thought it was another one of the smaller human-like creatures, maybe even a member of the species I was now, but I quite quickly concluded that this was not the case. The proportions of his (I'm fairly certain it was a he) face were a bit off, his eyes a bit too large and his nose a bit too small for an adult, which could only mean one thing: this was a child.

The young boy looked at Applejack, who was the closest, with his big, dark eyes wide in wonder, his gaze lingering on her armor. He seemed to be struck with awe, his mouth hanging open and revealing a few missing teeth to all of us. AJ seemed a bit confused by his reaction, or should I rather say by the site of the child itself, because her reaction was one of uncertainty.

"Uh… howdy?" She greeted the boy, cocking her head to the side. The only response she got was a slow blink of the boy's eyes.

"What's going on?" Twilight asked in a hushed tone. Rainbow shook her head and replied.

"That's not the same boy who answered the door before. Too young."

"Wait, so who's supposed to…" I started to ask, but was interrupted by a commotion at the door.

"How many times do I have to repeat myself: you're not allowed on the ground level after classes! Now beat it, scrub!"

I turned back at the door just in time to see the little boy being shoved out of the way by another figure, this one definitely taller than the first. This guy had short, auburn hair and a sharp chin, his face littered with pox-marks and pimples. In short: he was a teenager.

The new guy followed the hasty retreat of the child with his eyes before he turned to face the still confused form of Applejack, a crooked smirk tugging at his lips. "Kids, amiright? Smelly little shits wouldn't know authority even if it came right at their faces and hit 'em." Now that was… coarse. The guy's lucky Rarity wasn't here. She'd no doubt lecture him on how to talk in the presence of ladies, after she was done tearing him a new one for what he already said. Even so I immediately felt a strong dislike towards the guy, and Applejack seemed not too thrilled by his presence either.

"So, those specialists ya were waiting for finally showed up?" The teen asked unceremoniously, eying Twilight and Trixie appraisingly. By his lecherous grin I concluded he liked what he was seeing, making Twi shift self-consciously, which made me in turn dislike him even more. How dare he look at her like that!

"Yes, they're here." Applejack drawled through gritted teeth, clearly annoyed on Twilight's behalf. "Now can we get a move on already? This Gandethus' fellar waited long enough as it is."

The teenager didn't seem to pick up on the hostility in AJ's voice, turning his gaze back towards her and smirking at her mockingly. "Oh, you have no idea…"

> Act Three Chapter Six
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 3 of Rova (Presumably 26 of October 1000 SR), Afternoon

"You sure took your sweet time getting here. You took a detour through Absalom or something? Do you think I have nothing better to do than spend all day in a basement and wait until you two princesses graciously decide to bless us with your presence?" I'm starting to get the impression this was going to be a thing, that with everyp everyone greeting us this way. Seriously, it was starting to get real old real fast.

The delightful individual that gave us that oh so warm welcome just so happened to be the one person Twilight did not want to be on the bad side of. Ilsoari Gandethus, the one responsible for creating and running the Turandarok Academy, Sandpoint's resident scholar and specialist when it came to all things arcane, and at that moment a very angry man. Grumbling and pacing before we arrived and giving us a piece of his mind since the second we stepped down into his domain, Mr. Gandethus was teeming with poorly (if at all) concealed annoyance.

He was a man easily reaching his sixties, or at least I concluded he was, judging by his heavily bleached scalp. Mr. Gandethus' hair seemed to be more salt than pepper, and the short, neatly trimmed goatee he wore was telling the same story. Curiously enough, the man's face was surprisingly devoid of wrinkles, as if belonging to someone a decade or so younger. It didn't mean it was devoid of any blemish, however the ones that I was able to spot were something that from my experience shouldn't find itself on a scholar's face. His left cheek was marked with a jagged scar running almost all the way to his left ear, and a portion of his forehead above the right eye seemed to have suffered from a chemical burn at some point, ridding him of his eyebrow. Those marks, a sign of a past of violence were all the more prominent as the man who wore them was glaring at us, giving his visage a predatory look.

"The only reason I even bothered waiting for you is because that uneducated brute Hemlock claimed you were in contact with the subjects while they still functioned and know a little bit about the Art." Our 'gracious' host continued his rant, turning away from the sheepish form of Twilight and annoyed one of Trixie, his long lab coat billowing behind him like a cape. The piece of garment seemed strangely out of place when compared to what other locals usually wore, like if something taken from a different timeframe and dumped in a less advanced society, and it didn't help that Mr. Gandethus was keeping his coat open, allowing us to see his more casual garment beneath it. It still seemed quite extravagant when compared to what say Rynshinn or Father Zantus wore; a blue doublet with golden highlights and a matching pair of pants seemed more at place on a noble than a scholar, but hey, what do I know, right?

"Do you two even have any credentials? Looking at you I really doubt it; you look like you spent the last fifty years earning money belly dancing…" Mr. Gandethus went on, out of the blue going off on a tangent about how the two former unicorns looked and clearly meaning it as an insult. He most probably would've continued until he ran out of steam (or Trixie didn't decide to smack him, which looking at her expression she was close to doing), but a timely intervention from the keeper of good mood known as Pinkie distracted him from it.

"Permission to speak, sir!" The seriousness in which she uttered those words clashed with the sound of Pinkie's voice, and it truly sounded as silly as Pinks looked in her getup. Being the third magicless one in our midst Sheriff Hemlock hired her too, which in my personal opinion was a show of utter lack of imagination on his part. Either way, belonging to the local law enforcement forces Pinkie was decked in a similar, if not scaled down getup as Rainbow Dash and Applejack, minus the chain shirt. Instead of that Pinkie wore a padded jack (not to be confused with our resident farmer), off white in color and slightly too big for her. My guess was that the guard force just didn't have anything her size and went with the closest fit until proper defensive garment could be made or otherwise acquired. Still she looked hilarious puffing out her chest proudly and trying to maintain a serious and professional expression.

Mr. Gandethus paused hearing Pinkie, an exasperated expression on his face. I feel this wasn't the first time that happened. "Permission granted." He muttered in defeat.

"Sir, scolding my friends as you are right now serves nothing but to lose even more time. It's counterproductive. Also as a side note, you're being an awful mean meanie-pants, sir!"

"You're trying to tell me that attempting to educate those two about the virtues of punctuality is a waste of time? Is that what you're saying?" The old man ignored the last bit.

Pinkie shook her head. "Sir, no, sir! All I'm trying to say is that Twilight usually isn't tardy *snort*, so whatever kept her had to be important. Also, Trixie was here a long time before Twilight was and just waited for her so that you didn't have to bring her up to speed if you decided to start without her. It's unfair to have pretensions towards her because of her tardiness *snort*. Also, their absence gave us ample time to piece together the quote unquote 'subjects', sir!"

"She does have you there, Mr. Gandethus." Guard Titus, who apparently was dispatched with the girls and probably was responsible for showing them the ropes pointed out. The cheeky grin on his face spoke volumes of how much he was enjoying himself. "The hip bone connected to the back bone~♪…"

"Please, for the love of Nethys, stop with that infernal song!" Something tells me Mr. Gandethus here had a fun-filled forenoon courtesy of Pinkie Pie. The tugging at the corner of her lips only reinforced that idea.

Titus didn't seem to have heard the wizard's plea and continued cheerfully with the song, which resulted in a loud groan from the older man. After a minute or two of loud complaints of this being on the level of nursery rhymes and being anatomically incorrect to begin with Mr. Gandethus had finally caved in let out a defeated sigh. "Alright, I get it! If that'll make you stop I'll let those two slide this time. Just… stop, please."

And just like that guard Titus stopped, a satisfied smirk on his lips. He strode past the old man and passed the girls and me, addressing Twilight and Trixie with a quick 'all yours, ladies' before he took his position at the feet of the staircase and adopting a relaxed stance right beside a tense-looking Rainbow.

"…bloody guards, bane of my existence…" I looked back at our host, the man muttering obscenities under his breath and glaring at guard Titus. Taking a deep breath and letting out a prolonged sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose, Mr. Gandethus managed to reign in his irritation and looked at Twilight and Trixie with far less hostility than before. "Let's finally get this started, shall we? Prepare whatever you think you'll need and put on some gloves. If you don't have any I lied a few spare pairs on a table, so feel free to take them."

Hearing the professional tone with which Mr. Gandethus spoke Twilight quickly nodded and started flipping through the contents of her book, Trixie following suit, albeit with less fervor and still giving the local scholar the stink eye. In the meantime the specialist crossed the basement and approached two benches on which undoubtedly rested the 'subjects' we were supposed to examine, both covered by cloth for the time being.

Figuring I had a moment before Twilight needed me to take any notes I allowed myself a better look around the basement we were in. It was a spacious chamber, devoid of any partition walls and encompassing the whole foundations of the Academy. The ceiling was supported here and there by pillars, making sure the large structure didn't collapse on itself like a house of cards, and lighting was provided by several strange, clearly magical torches. Unlike normal torches these didn't really burn but produced a steady, non-flickering illumination not unlike light bulbs. All those features however paled in comparison to what the basement was actually filled with.

Seeing that the girls were to help conduct an investigation into matters of magic down here it was safe to assume that the basement at least partially served the role of an arcane laboratory. With several pieces of equipment the purpose of which I couldn't even begin to guess littering benches and shelves it wasn't really that hard to come to that conclusion. Still, the better part of the actual basement was more a strange collection of unspecified valuables, strange baubles, and odd trophies, like some sort of weird private museum or trophy room. Several pieces of exotic-looking weapons were clearly on display, some in better condition than others; similarly there were several pieces of damaged armor and shields lining the walls. There were also several fetishes and pieces of jewelry in locked display cases, several old-looking maps depicting completely unknown to me lands, at least two dozen bookshelves filled with what I assume were rare treaties and books (that one seemed to distract Twilight quite a bit, for obvious reasons), and at least four large stuffed… creatures is the best way to describe them. I mean come on: a large bear crossed with a gigantic owl? Or a completely eyeless two-legged reptile the size of a grown human with an oversized, tubular mouth? Those things were both strange and creepy, and it made the fact all this was stuffed in the basement of what acted in Sandpoint as a school-slash-orphanage only made it creepier.

"Trixie is ready to begin." I turned my attention back to the two mares I was accompanying. True to her word, Trixie seemed to finish what to her were her preparations and gave Mr. Gandethus a sharp, clearly still annoyed nod. Twilight in the meantime was busy figuring out how to put the protective gloves on (so that's how that's called; I'll have to inform Rarity about that). Finally managing to do just that she gave a nod of her own and looked at me, her intentions clearly broadcasted.

As in most cases Twilight wanted me to keep track of what was going on and making notes while she was busy examining what she had to examine. It was like that since I've became her assistant, and only a few times, when she was working with possibly volatile substances had she insisted on me not participating in her work. I didn't really mind; after all I was her number one assistant, and after a time I've kinda-sorta grew to enjoy the work, even if some things just went over my head. It didn't stop me from complaining from time to time, but I still rather liked being useful. And today seemed like I was going to be useful once more.

Along with Twilight and Trixie I approached what was going to be our workspace, a length of parchment and quill in claw hand. Mr. Gandethus looked us over and nodded his approval before he motioned for the teenager from before to come as well, the guy also having writing materials at the ready. It seems that he wasn't just a doorkeeper but served as an assistant to the older man as well, maybe even as some sort of protégé. Whichever was the case, the teen showed a complete lack of professionalism by keeping his eyes not on his parchment but on Twilight's hindquarters (does it even work like that for humanoids?).

"Alright then, let's begin." Mr. Gandethus said, pulling off the cover from one of the benches and revealing the skeleton beneath it. A whimper-like groan could be heard from the stairs, courtesy of Rainbow Dash, and my teen counterpart seemed to finally snap to attention, his eyes widening at the site of human remains. "Subject: male, 54, human, Varisian descent, identified as Father Heron Keelstrong. Year of death: 4667 AR. Raised as undead skeleton an unspecified amount of time ago. Year of destruction: 4707 AR."

Even though this wasn't Twilight speaking I reasoned she'd want a 'transcript' of this, so I started dotting down everything Mr. Gandethus said. Fortunately for me, over the years I managed to pick up shorthoof (shortclaw? shorthand?) while noting Twi's rapid fire observations, so this wasn't anything too hard to follow. My local counterpart however was visibly having difficulties keeping up with his master, which only served to stroke my ego. Who's the better assistant now, huh?

Mr. Gandethus mentioned for Twilight and Trixie to come nearer, he himself leaning over the once animated skeleton and appraising it critically. "The method with which the skeleton was ultimately laid to rest consisted of physically rendering it unable to contain its structural integrity, is that correct?" He asked.

"No, not exactly…" Twilight shook her head slowly. "For whatever reason the magic that held it together kept repairing all the damage inflicted to it."

"Curious… I take it then it required a more sophisticated method of dealing with it than bashing it's joints until it stopped moving?"

"You'd have to ask Priest Naffer for details Mr. Gandethus. It was him that ultimately laid them to rest."

"Ah, so it required the direct use of positive energy, interesting." He nodded at his aid, the youth understanding the sign and underlining something in his notes. I figured positive energy was the key factor here, so I did so as well. "I was informed that the skeletons were also magically altered in another way. Something about them emitting heat?"

"They were literally on fire." This time it was Trixie who answered, pushing back whatever animosity she felt towards the wizard and adopting a more professional mindset. It still feels weird using the words 'Trixie' and 'professional' in the same sentence. "In fact, Trixie recalls the flames adopting the role of muscle mass and sinew that formed a sort of body in which the bones were encased."

"That would certainly explain the burn marks on some of the bones." Another nod and another part highlighted. That is until Twilight shook her head.

"While they were encased in flames the bones didn't seem to suffer any adverse effects of being on fire. That would include any and all burn marks." That tidbit of information seemed to pique the wizard's interest. He looked at what I assumed was one of the scorched bones and furrowed his brows.

"I see…" He muttered, stroking his goatee. "This may require further investigation. Boy, add investigating the burn marks to the list of tests to run."

"Sure thing boss… I-I mean yes sir, Mr. Gandethus, sir!" The teen assistant lost all of his arrogance once leveled with a glare from the wizard and hurried off to add an entry to what my experienced eyes recognized as a checklist. It seems some things are universal.

In the meantime Trixie took a better look at the singed bones and frowned. Her pupil-dominated eyes traced the soot marking the skeleton as her face took on an expression of concentration, as if she tried to remember something. After a moment she glanced at me for some reason, her eyes narrowing, before she was struck with sudden realization.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie believes she knows the actual origins of some of those marks." She proclaimed, gaining the attention of both Twilight and Mr. Gandethus. I was half expecting her to smirk smugly, but no, her expression was still mostly neutral. Inclining her head in my direction, she spoke: "The concentric mark on the ribcage coincides with the point in which an offensive spell cast by… Spike, was it? In which a spell cast by him hit the skeleton." Well that's a first. Haven't heard her say my name since… Wait, I did that?

"Now that I think about it, I think I did see Spike cast something at it." Twilight confirmed, looking at me with pride, a glimmer of curiosity in her eyes. It took me a moment but I eventually realized they were right -those green, flaming bolts I threw.

"Heh, forgot for a moment I could do that." I admitted, chuckling yet still scribbling diligently on my piece of parchment. "I'm still getting used to the whole magic thing."

"Oh, so you're a fellow practitioner of the Arts?" And suddenly I was the center of attention. Mr. Gandethus was studying me with interest, his assistant was giving me a surprised and a bit frightened look (didn't help I glared at him earlier for openly ogling Twilight), and Trixie… well, she glared. Guess she's still sore that I didn't 'spill the beans' about how I came to use magic. "Pray tell, what's your area of expertise?"

"My what now?" I asked before I could bite my tongue. This was starting to look like I didn't have a clue what was going on, which truth be told I didn't.

Mr. Gandethus' eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Your area of expertise. Most wizards specialize in one of the eight general schools of magic thought, concentrating their studies on subjects such as transmutation, abjuration, or necromancy to name a few. Unless of course you're a universalist." Okay, transmutation I understand and necromancy I guess had to do with rising dead, but what were the two other? What was I supposed to say?

"I… guess I don't really have an area of expertise." I started slowly, weighing my words. I had the impression if I said something wrong this could have repercussions later on. "Magic just… comes to me, I guess. I didn't even study it that extensively, just enough to help out Twilight…"

Mr. Gandethus furrowed his brow, suddenly losing most of his interest in me. "I see. So you're commanding sorcerous powers. I should have realized…" Turning his attention completely from me and focusing on the skeleton once more I couldn't help but feel this was some sort of veiled insult on the wizard's side. The way he said 'sorcerous powers', I could feel he uttered those words with contempt, or at least in a patronizing manner. Wonder what's his problem.

I was prevented from dwelling on this problem when the wizard seemed to notice something on the human remains. "Several burn patterns on the bones seem to form a script. I can't recognize the formulae, the pattern is unique and too heavily damaged to identify. Any of you have any idea what this is?" He asked the girls.

"Yes, Trixie does." I did a double take. Was she holding up on us or something? "The patterns were previously painted onto the bones with some sort of red, fire-resistant substance. They seemed to be tied to the regenerative properties the skeletons possessed, however the exact nature of them eludes Trixie."

"I see. And the language itself?" Trixie shook her head.

"Unfortunately, the language is not something Trixie has ever seen." Oh, that explains it. For a moment there I though she somehow ended up with yet another additional language she spoke, like some of us did. That'd be weird, but not unusual all things considered.

"So the patterns were previously red and supplemented the skeletons with regenerative powers, possibly through manipulation of negative energy." Another nod and his assistant underlined negative energy. Wondering what the deal was with the whole positive-negative energy thing I too highlighted that in my notes. "The best method of making sure as to their actual function would be either recreating the pattern on a undamaged skeleton, or finding an undamaged fragment of the pattern on either of the subjects. Boy, add searching for undamaged portions of the script to the checklist, make it high priority."

"Yes sir!"

"Hey! Not to rush ya or anything but can we get a move on? This is kinda boring." I almost forgot we weren't alone down here. Turning towards the staircase I saw Rainbow looking at us with anxiety written on her face.

"She does have a point. How long do y'all reckon this'll gonna take?" Added AJ. In contrast to Dash she looked more bored than anxious and was trying to keep herself entertained by walking around the basement and examining the odds and ends kept on display like if she was in some sort of museum.

"If you're so bored then why don't you wait outside? It's not like your presence here is any help, featherbrain." Trixie sneered in Rainbow's direction, completely ignoring Applejack in favor of insulting Dash. Should've known she wouldn't be able to keep up her 'professional' facade that long.

RD was about to shoot back at Trixie, but was prevented from it by the timely intervention of guard Titus. "No can do; Belor gave us precise orders and we're not supposed to leave the vicinity of the evidence until we bring it back to the garrison. Letting the three of you wait outside was already a breach in protocol, and if Belor ever finds out we'll be in a pile of shit so deep we'll need shovels to dig ourselves out. I'm not taking any more chances with that."

While these news elicited a disappointed groan from Rainbow, it had an opposite effect on Trixie. The magician smiled nastily, a malignant glint in her eye as she figured this was grade A blackmail material right here and was determined to use it. Ignorant of her scheming, Twilight added a little bit from herself.

"I'm sorry girls, but this may take a little while. Laboratory work has to be conducted with the utmost care if we want to get conclusive results, so you'll just have to be patient."

An even louder groan came from Rainbow, but she nodded none the less. I just wonder how long it'll take for Dash to start climbing up the walls out of boredom.





Two hours twenty three minutes. That's how long it took.

I'll admit, I was genuinely impressed by Rainbow's resilience, especially in light of how mind-numbingly boring and repetitive the last hour was. Mr. Gandethus seemed to be the kind of person that was meticulous to the point of being pedantic, especially when it came to conducting research. He insisted the girls and he inspect each and every bone of the skeleton in search of any clues. And do you know precisely how many bones a human body has? Two hundred and six. So yeah, this was a tedious and time-consuming task, and the sheer number of names of bones and their features I had to dot down made me wish I was anywhere but there. Thankfully, this wasn't a complete waste of time.

First and foremost, Mr. Gandethus took some samples of the sooth covering the bones for further analysis. Scraping the residue off with a silvery dagger he kept on himself onto two Petri dishes, he put them away for the time being, deciding that the experiments could wait until we finished our examination. He also noted that 'the neurocranium is empty' while examining the skull. For a moment there I had a strong urge to say 'duh'; what, did he expect to find a brain there or something? The thing was dead for over forty years now, any nervous tissue was long gone, along with muscles, skin, and other organs. Only after seeing Trixie giving him a questioning look had he elaborated.

"The process of rising an undead, be it a zombie or skeleton, requires the use of an onyx gemstone as a material component, allowing the negative energy needed to fuel the corpse to pierce the planar barrier. Onyx, especially black onyx has a planar resonance naturally in tune with the Negative Energy Plane, and as such is the best conduit for the substance of that dimension to seep into our world. Also, the best and most secure location to place this type of energy source on a skeleton is inside the neurocranium. It is possible that the skeleton here has been raised without the use of onyx in its creation, but that would be very difficult and would suggest that whoever was behind this had more control over the arcane than most practitioners. A better possibility is that the gem just fell out of the skull while being laid to rest, or had fallen out while being transported. Probably nothing to be alarmed, but worth noting."

That did make sense I suppose, though I still didn't know what he meant by negative energy. And the bit with a Plane of Negative Energy? What's up with that? Even Twilight seemed intrigued by that tidbit, giving me a meaningful nod once that was mentioned, so I highlighted that portion as hard as I could.

"Okay, that's all we'll find out from just looking at bones." Mr. Gandethus concluded after a couple of moments, placing the cover back on the skeleton. "Before we move to our second subject let's prepare to do a couple of tests on the samples I took. Does any of you have any experience in alchemy?" He asked, turning to the two mares.

Twilight mouthed the word slowly, as if tasting it, and then frowned. Seems like she didn't like it that much. "I've conducted some research in the field of chemistry. I suppose that qualifies, right?"

"Chemistry you say? Fascinating. Not many specialize in the far more mundane art of physical science, especially those that have touched the esoteric, which is a shame, really. Not many realize how much potential that branch of science possesses." That seemed to take Twi aback. I realized quite quickly that she understood the word 'alchemy' as the ancient ancestor of modern chemistry, chasing after impossibilities and having less to do with hard facts and more with old pony tales. Mr. Gandethus' obviously positive reaction must have contradicted what she expected to hear. Before she had time to come to grips with this unexpected development however the wizard continued. "Nonetheless, you should do perfectly fine. I'll need you to prepare four doses of Heiquen's Multipurpose Philter."

"The who’s what now?" Yeah, what Twi said!

"The list of reagents is on the alchemical table, as well as instructions. The boy here was supposed to learn how to prepare the philter himself, but has proved to be knowledge-resistant." Mr. Gandethus explained calmly, shooting his protégé a quick, frustrated glare. Sighing, he turned back to Twilight. "Either way, with your experience in chemistry you should be able to follow the instructions without much difficulty."

"Alright, I'll try." Twilight nodded and approached the chemical set in the corner of the lab area. Meanwhile Mr. Gandethus uncovered the second skeleton and mentioned Trixie to join him.

"In the meantime let's start with the examination of the second one. Subject: female, 103, half-elf, Kellid descent, identified as Mother Nuriel Star Sapphire. Year of death: 4674 AR. Raised as undead skeleton an unspecified amount of time ago. Year of destruction: 4707 AR."

"So Trixie guesses she died of old age?" The magician muttered, looking over the skeleton critically.

"Hardly. Mother Star Sapphire from what I remember was old, yes, but still in great physical condition, and 103 is hardly that old for a half-elf." Mr. Gandethus revealed with a shake of his head and a faraway look in his eyes. "I remember her when I was still a young adventurer. She hardly could sit in one place; she had to walk, had to explore. She loved hiking, though that's nothing new for a Desnan priestess. Unfortunately, she died during one of her escapades, attacked by a giant spider near Egan's Wood."

"Wait, one hundred and three is not old?" Trixie asked in surprise at the revelation. I could save her the trouble and explain that this was probably because half-elves shared their longevity with full elves (at least that was my reasoning), but then again where would be the fun in doing that, right?

Mr. Gandethus gave her a funny look, as if he was expecting her to be pulling his leg, but answered nonetheless. "For a half-elf it isn't really. Half-elves tend to live over one hundred and fifty if they're careful. Still nothing as long as you can I imagine, but longer than any human."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Confusion gave place to annoyance as Trixie glared accusingly at the old wizard. "You calling Trixie old?"

"Older than I am at least." He replied simply, looking at her in confusion. This little revelation stunned the stage magician into silence, her mouth working but unable to produce even the simplest of sounds. Ignorant to her plight and completely unaware of my (and Rainbow's) growing grins the man continued. "Judging from looks alone I'd wager you're nearing what, your first century? Maybe your nineties, but that'd still be nearly twice my age."

"Pff… Bwahaha! Oh, that's just too rich!" As I mentioned before, Rainbow Dash was grinning from the moment Mr. Gandethus mentioned Trixie being older than he was, and now burst out into uproarious laughter at the expense of the magician. Ignoring the glare she was being sent and Trixie's gritting teeth Rainbow continued. "Guess we'll have to call you 'old timer' from now on, huh? You need us to make you some gruel? Or to fetch you your glasses?"

"Shut your mouth featherbrain, or I swear I'll…"

"Throw your dentures at me? Or maybe beat me up with your cane? Pff…"

"Rainbow Dash!"

"What is it Twilight?" Rainbow wiped a tear from her eye, looking at Twi with amusement. Twilight didn't say a word, only giving her friend a long, pointed look. After a minute or two, and after Twi brushed a bit of her straight hair behind her long, pointy ear the mirth from RD's eyes started to disappear, the speedster putting two and two together. "Oh… yeah, sorry 'bout that." Twilight only narrowed her eyes and turned back to her work, leaving a sheepish Rainbow Dash behind.

"I have the impression I stumbled into something I don't want to be a part of." Mr. Gandethus muttered to himself, shaking his head in exasperation. "Let's continue, alright? I'm not getting any younger here."

Not sure if intentional mischievousness or poor choice of words. Either way the look on Trixie's face was priceless.

All jokes were quickly put aside and Mr. Gandethus continued his examination of the skeleton. He had been interrupted by Twilight a couple of times, my longtime friend asking questions pertaining to her work with the philter, but aside from those distractions the work seemed to go along quite nicely. The second skeleton didn't much deviate from the first one, aside from a slightly leaner structure and obvious anatomical differences deriving from gender and species of course. The biggest find up to date was the discovery of a small piece of onyx that fell with a clatter from the skull once the wizard started to examine it in his hands. Apparently his theory that the onyx shard from the first skeleton just fell out was actually correct.

By the time something started to happen almost everyone participating in this examination, including yours truly, was bored to tears. Applejack started to chat with guard Titus some time ago on Celestia knows what, Rainbow was restlessly wandering around the basement and keeping herself as far away from the two skeletons as possible, and my teenage counterpart was slowly starting to revert to his old habit of ogling Twilight's backside, alternatively Trixie's chest. Hm… I'm starting to wonder if that part of a human body has any significance… Only Mr. Gandethus seemed to be enjoying himself, he and Twilight, and I dare say even Trixie seemed not to be bored or otherwise weary. Well, there was also Pinkie, but…

She was slowly starting to creep me out. It was absolutely unnatural for her to just stand in one place and do nothing, yet she was doing that for the better part of the last three hours. From the moment we descended the stairs to the basement Pinkie was standing near the lab section and keeping her eyes on the skellies. She did of course comment from time to time in her usual cheerful, oblivious manner, and at one point she got into a fierce discussion with Rainbow Dash over the superiority of whoopee cushions over exploding cigars (let's just say that one does not simply win a debate with Pinkie Pie), but it was still just so… so… unnatural to see her so still. Maybe she was just taking her new job like anything Pinkie: in a strongly over-exaggerated manner, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel that there was something off with her. Couldn't put a claw on it though.

"Mr. Gandethus, I think the philters are ready." declared Twilight after several minutes of work. She was beaming proudly at her accomplishment and eagerly looking for further instructions.

"Splendid. Did you split them into doses Miss Sparkle?" Now that he had a chance to see the two of them act as professional as he did the wizard warmed up to them slightly, actually referring to them by name (more or less). After getting a nod from Twilight he continued. "Take two doses and follow me please. Miss Trixie, I trust you can continue for a moment without me?"

"This is but child's play for someone of Trixie's caliber." She replied haughtily, her voice confident. Taking this as a good sign Mr. Gandethus turned to a separate table where the two samples he took earlier rested, motioning for Twilight to join him. Deciding that inspecting bones was going to be rather boring for the time being I followed as well.

"I'll need to draw some arcane diagrams before we can start. Why don't you go on ahead and pour the philter into the dishes." The wizard mentioned to the two sooth-filled Petri dishes while reaching for a piece of strange, sparkly chalk. "Just make sure you stir it enough for the entire samples to mix with the concoction. It's paramount that the entirety of the samples come into contact with Heiquen's Multipurpose Philter, otherwise what I'm about to do may yield incomplete results."

"I understand." Twilight nodded in earnest and set out to work, careful to do exactly as she was told to, smiling all the way. She seemed so happy doing this, I couldn't help but share her enthusiasm.

"Hey, Twilight." I tried to get her attention. Although begrudgingly, she tore her attention from her task and looked at my grinning face. "How's it feel being the assistant for a change?" I couldn't help but ask.

Twilight grinned at me. "You have no idea how much fun this is! I haven't had a chance to help somepony more experienced with an experiment since I graduated Princess Celestia's School. Heck, I rarely had a chance to do something like this with the princess! And don't get me started on the completely new methodology or the fact we're working to uncover the mechanics of a completely new branch of magic! Well, at least new for pony kind. This is heaven."

Looking at the excited blush on her face I had no doubt it was, at least to her.

"Alright, all set." Mr. Gandethus proclaimed after a moment, dusting his glove-covered hands from chalk particles. "Miss Sparkle, are you finished?"

"Of course." Twi nodded eagerly, bringing the two Petri dishes carefully to the older wizard. Our research partner nodded approvingly.

"Now I'll need you to carefully place the samples in the middle of the diagrams. It's important that you don't disrupt their pattern, as well as refrain from using magic to place the dishes on them. Both can interfere with the results, or possibly even cause a more… violent side effect." He warned.

Twilight didn't seem to surrender to the pressure and confidently strolled towards the working place, Petri dishes at the ready. Seizing the opportunity I took a better look at what Mr. Gandethus called 'diagrams', confused by his earlier notion of disrupting them and wanting to see for myself what was up with them.

The table was covered by four fairly large, circular symbols written with chalk. The special kind of chalk used in their creation sparkled brightly in the artificial light of the fireless torches, creating a surreal sight. The symbols were far more however than simple circles on wood. Each and every one of them was crisscrossed by several straight or curved lines, carefully written and forming star-like shapes. The outer rim of the circles also had several symbols written on them, their meaning completely alien to me yet seemingly familiar for some strange reason. All in all, those 'diagrams' looked nothing like what I imagined and at that moment were as much a mystery to me as the magics used to animate dead.

Twilight carefully placed the samples in the very middle of two of the four diagrams Mr. Gandethus had prepared, taking extra care not to disrupt their delicate composition. Backing away from table she gave a nod to the wizard, who nodded right back and reached under his lab coat for what I knew was the silver-like dagger he used before. True to my predictions, the man pulled out the short weapon, the blade shining in the dim light like a star, and he twirled it between his fingers with practiced ease. Just as I was starting to wonder if everyone around here that knew magic also knew how to do tricks with daggers, the weapon glowed radiantly and a shower of sparks erupted from its tip, as if it was a magic wand. The stream of sparks rained on the two closest, Petri dish-holding diagrams, and to my growing surprise initiated a rather sudden and unexpected reaction from the shimmering chalk.

The carefully written symbols came to life, glowing brightly in brilliant viridian sending thin beams of light straight at the ceiling. The multiple lines the diagram was composed of seemed to catch on fire of a similar color, illuminating nothing and burning nothing yet vivid as much as any other flame would be. The phantom-fire did produce a sparkly mist however, as if wisps of supernatural smoke, guided by some invisible force into creating a protective dome around each of the diagrams, its magical nature not obscuring but illuminating the test samples within.

Turning his eyes from the magic he made, Mr. Gandethus looked at the fascinated and flushed with excitement face of Twilight and flabbergasted expression of my own. His eyes, until now dark and analytic now shone with an unnatural light, matching the viridian glow of his magical creation. "It'll take me some time to analyze everything and fish out the important stuff. Why don't you get back to checking for anything unusual on the bones while I work, hm?"

Although she did it with no small amount of demurral, Twilight did as she was asked and joined up with Trixie, followed closely by my humble self. She didn't have any intention to get to work right off the bat though, her eyes still glued to the magical light show. Not that I blamed her; since we first learned that humans here could use magic it continued to surprise us with just how different it looked from the simple unicorn variety we all learned to expect. Even somepony as uninterested in magic as Rainbow Dash seemed impressed; I think I heard her say something along the lines of 'who would've thought that some lame analysis spell-thingy would look so cool'.

"I really wish I knew how to do that." Twilight commented to no pony in particular. "Think of the possibilities! Think of what information it actually provides! This alone could expedite magical research, not to mention open up new vistas for magical theory altogether!"

"Tell me about it. The sheer scope of theoretical applications a spell like that would provide could push magical knowledge forward by several decades." Hold on a second. Did Trixie just… "Not to mention it would most probably encourage several times more unicorns into further studying their magical talents. After all flashy spells sell better to the populace than subtle, unassuming ones." Yeah, that's about right. She would say something like that, wouldn't she? Still…

"Research isn't supposed to be flashy." Twilight commented.

"True, but if it was it'd prompt far more to consider a career in academic fields, and…" Trixie started, but quickly fell silent once she realized what she was doing. Up until now she was mostly looking at Mr. Gandethus' work with a hungry, jealous glint in her eyes, though she also seemed to be enjoying herself with the conversations she was in if the small tugging at her lips was any indication. The moment she realized she was talking with Twilight though she immediately scowled and turned her attention from the wizard and his work to shoot her a quick glare. "Why is Trixie even talking to you, Sparkle?"

"Huh?" Yeah, not gonna lie: Twilight kinda gets airheaded like that when she's drooling over magic. Like I said, eloquence for the win.

Trixie huffed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Can't believe somepony the likes of you got to be Princess Celestia's student. She took pity on you or something?" Oh that smug… "Concentrate on the work, will you? Or do you want Trixie to do all the work, and get all the recognition, because she'll gladly take it." Yeah, like you didn't act the same exact way just moments ago, right?

"Oh, right, the skeleton." Well of course Twilight didn't even notice she's been insulted, why should she? It's not like she couldn't wipe that smug smirk from the magician's lips or something. Ugh… Sometimes I really wish she'd be a little more like Rainbow Dash in that department.

As frustrating and annoying as they were, Trixie's methods did work and Twilight finally managed to snap out of her stupor and concentrate. And let me tell you, once she really gotten into her work she managed to accomplish something that the others involved didn't throughout all this time.

She actually found something.

"Hey, what's this?" That simple phrase immediately caught the interest of everypony everyone present. Ignorant of the fact all eyes were on her, Twilight leaned over the skeletons left… ulna and radius I'm pretty sure the bones were called. She bent over them to take a better look, a small frown appearing on her face.

"What is it Twilight?" I asked, suddenly feeling on edge. Something wasn't right.

I didn't get an answer right away. Twilight, focused on whatever it was she was seeing was silent for a few seconds, analyzing her find and boldly poking the bones with her hoof finger. Only after she did that had she replied, though still indirectly.

"Mr. Gandethus? I have a quick question." The wizard grunted, prompting her to continue while keeping up his own work. "Had by any chance some of the bones seemed to 'stick' to one another while they were being sat down?"

"Of course not, that would imply there still is some magic supporting the remains." The wizard replied easily, after which he realized what Twilight was going at. He immediately turned to face her, a worried expression on his face. "What did you find?"

"Well…" Was all Twilight managed to fit in before all hay broke loose.

A quick, sharp, glaring flash of red light shone from the bones, blinding everypony and everyone looking at it. Before I had to close my eyes I managed to catch a glimpse of Twilight, who in desperation tried to grab the bones and detach them from the rest of the skeleton. After that there was a crash, several shouts of pain, and a slew of curses in a language I didn't know from Mr. Gandethus. By the time I could see again I realized I wouldn't be saying this whole endeavor was boring anymore.

The first thing I noticed was that most of the skeleton ended up on the floor, some of them broken, all thanks to Twilight's quick reaction. She herself, as well as Trixie and most of the others were rubbing their eyes, trying to clear their vision from the sharp glare from before. That however became unimportant once the real danger made itself known.

Trixie, who still was trying to get rid of the spots from her eyes suddenly stumbled back, letting out a surprised and pained scream, quickly turning into a choking gurgle. She flailed her arms in panic, trying desperately to grab at something around her neck, but seemed to be failing to do so. Only after she turned, her eyes wide and scared had I noticed what happened, and it sent a chill down my spine.

There, clinging to her throat like an icy vice and digging its bony claws into her flesh was the severed skeleton arm. Without a connection to the rest of its body it seemed to develop a mind of its own and act like a rabid monster straight from Tartarus. The bones of the hand itself, its sharpened phalanges easily drawing Trixie's blood were connected to the two bones of the forearm, both of them acting in a way they wouldn't be able to if they were still covered in flesh. They flailed wildly, independently from one another, and made sure to painfully slam the magician's hands away if they came too close. Most noticeably however it was covered in crimson writing, not unlike what covered it when it was still a part of the whole skeleton, only far more condensed, like if it the script was attempting to recreate itself on a far smaller surface, and the multiple small bones forming the wrist area had a strange, stylized eye inscribed on them.

By the time we realized what was going on Trixie was on the verge of losing it from fear. Her eyes, now wide as saucers weren't haughty or condescending anymore, but literally begged for help, and for good reason. The vice-like grip of the bones was both cutting deeper and deeper into her neck and as well as preventing her from taking even the smallest of breaths, literally squeezing the life out of her. She was starting to sway on her hooves feet, her flailing getting weaker by the second, but most notably her face was starting to turn pale from lack of oxygen. She had no illusions: if nopony would help her, she would die.

Just as she was starting to sway dangerously and feebly supporting herself against the table Trixie finally got some help. Twilight, who was both the closest and first to finally get a grip of herself sprang into action, letting her instincts guide her. She attempted, much like Trixie had earlier, to grab at the severed appendage and force it open. Of course, the two longer bones immediately tried to prevent her from doing that, flailing and trying to smack her with all their might. Unfortunately for them, Twi was in a far better position to deal with this. Allowing one of them to hit her at her wrist she managed to clamp her hand around the bone and held on to it. Thinking quickly, she positioned it so that she could hold it between her arm and her side, immobilizing it. The second bone of course wasn't going to allow her to keep its brethren trapped and began to persistently clobber at her, but Twilight wasn't going to let up. Using both her hands she managed to grab at the bony fingers strangling the magician and with a grunt of effort started to pull them apart.

The skeleton hand, despite being fueled by some sort of evil magic didn't have enough brute force to resist Twilight and soon enough had been pulled from Trixie's neck. The magician immediately gasped for air, gulping down mouthfuls of oxygen and panting heavily, falling to her knees in the process. She was bleeding from the points where the sharpened phalanges pierced her skin, but the wounds didn’t seem to be too deep and otherwise it didn't seem she'd need too much medical attention. Twilight however found herself in a difficult situation, holding onto a violent, disembodied skeletal hand that desperately tried to free itself from her grasp.

It didn't take long for it to find a way out.

While Twilight was trying her best to hold onto it, the hand saw (don't ask me how that's possible; I blame the painted-on eye) an opportunity to escape. With a surprising burst of speed and strength the bone fingers clamped around one of Twilight's hooves hands, trying to drive its wickedly sharp tips into her flesh. Although the protective gloves she wore took most of the damage, Twi still felt the sting of bone piercing her skin and more surprised than hurt she flung the diminutive monster on the now vacant table.

Although free, the little monster didn't have time to celebrate. By the time it freed herself from Twilight's grasp most of everyone was well aware of their surroundings, and more importantly -of the undead thing that was moments away from strangling one of us. Everypony and everyone was keeping their eyes on the small abomination, waiting for it to move even an inch and preparing to respond. There was practically only two weak links in our lines: Trixie, who was still trying to get a grip of herself, and Mr. Gandethus' assistant, who I'm quite sure let out a girly scream the moment he noticed the hand was alive. Obviously, it was him that the undead chose.

Using four of its five fingers as legs the disembodied hand charged on the table, straight at the nervous teen. Seeing this the guy panicked and shrieked at the top of his lungs, jumping away as quickly as he could. That was apparently the plan, as the skeleton fragment didn't break its stride and managed to fling itself into the air, using its two long bones to spring itself into the air. It was determined to use the self-created opening and flee, and I'd be damned if I’d allowed it to.

Having no time to prepare I did the first thing I could think of. Willing that transparent energy shield of mine into existence, I leapt where the appendage was going to land, trying to knock it off course and hopefully towards somepony that was more prepared than I. My little gambit did pay off, even if only partially; as the hand slammed into my shield spell with a dull thunk it flew through the air towards Mr. Gandethus. It didn't have the momentum to sail within his immediate reach unfortunately, and so it clattered onto the stone floor, quickly righting itself and trying to scurry away.

That's when our host showed that he wasn't just an old wizard with academic background and had earned his scars through hardships and violence, not through laboratory mishaps. Far more experienced in combat against skeletal undead than we, he knew exactly how to proceed. With a quick move of his wrist several of the weapons on display around his basement, primarily those designed to deal bludgeoning damage flew into the air and started to circle the mage. With another move, half of those implements of war flew at high speeds at the scurrying hand, impacting the floor with the clatter of wood and metal on stone. Unfortunately, holding in the air and moving all those weapons took a toll on the man's accuracy, and the quick, erratic movements the hand was capable of made hitting it extremely difficult. By the time most of the weapons already smacked the floor at least once the hand was still intact, and seeing as Gandethus gather them with his magic back for another volley it made a decision only a thing with a working brain could come up with.

It grabbed onto a heavy looking metal mace and hitched a ride towards the wizard.

By the time Mr. Gandethus noticed what was going on it was a little bit too late. The hand, clinging to the mace like if it was wielding it was already within reach of the man, and with a powerful jerk it managed to somehow break his hold on the weapon. Even more surprisingly the undead managed to orient the mace in such a way that it almost seemed it was swinging the weapon at the wizard's head. Having almost no time to react the old man summoned his silvery dagger into his hand and shouted out something I didn't understand, most probably some sort of spell.

There was a bright flash and a dull clang, but no sound of a skull being split open like a melon. Once the light dimmed it was apparent why. Mr. Gandethus, in a feat of extremely quick spellwork managed to encase himself in a transparent, skin-tight field of protective magic, saving himself from the brunt of the blow. It wasn't enough to stop it completely; the wizard had a dazed look on his face and was stumbling a bit, but otherwise was okay. Unfortunately, he lost his magic hold on the levitating weapons, which started to fall to the floor like a rain of iron and steel and proved to be an additional danger. And the hand remained unscathed.

Scurrying to its 'feet' the hand discarded the mace, making a run for it. Its intentions were clear: it wanted to escape the basement, and the only way to do so was by using the stairs. To do that however it had to somehow get past guard Titus, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. Forming a line and with weapons at the ready, the guards, both new and old, prepared to intercept the undead, even if they were ill equipped to stop a skeletal hand. The hand itself seemed to recognize them as a threat, and slowed down as it approached, stopping just outside of their reach.

Applejack was the first to act. She stepped forward with resolve, rising her sword-bearing hand for a strike, and quickly brought it down on the skeleton fragment. The undead dodged however, and launched itself onto its two long bones, using them as makeshift stilts and allowing the fingers to work without any impediments. It didn't make Applejack wait for itself long and quickly snapped into motion, the phalanges working a blur and forming anatomically impossible shapes with its fingers. A portion of the writing on the fingers glowed ominously, the same exact glow replicating itself between the fore and middle fingers, and only thanks to Rainbow's quick thinking had Applejack avoided another visit in the cathedral.

Rainbow Dash, in a stroke of clairvoyance figured out what was going to happen. With a loud "Get down!" she leapt at AJ, knocking her to the ground in the process. It was a good thing too, for in that exact moment the hand finished its spell, and a thirty hoof cone of blazing fire shot out of its skeletal palm, nearly immolating all that was in front of it. Applejack and Rainbow managed to avoid it almost completely, only the ends of their orange mantles smoking a bit, and guard Titus got out of the way safely as well. Only problem is, the stairway was open for the hand to use, and use it it did.

"Stop it! Stop it before it gets out!" Mr. Gandethus shouted, having overcome his stunned state. "If it gets out it can hurt the children!"

School, laboratory, and orphanage. This is the most idiotic arrangement I've ever heard about.

We've started to scramble towards the stairs, everypony one trying to prevent the hand from scaling the steps. Unfortunately, it was as if it heard what Mr. Gandethus said and using its ulna and radius it leaped over the two tangled mares and avoided Titus' swing, landing on the third step and hurrying up into the darkness. And just as we were starting to realize we weren't going to stop it before it was too late something completely out of left field happened.

"Wheee!" A high-pitched squeal came from the top of the stairs, followed by the sound of something (or rather somepony) tumbling down the stone steps, laughing all the way. Several seconds later Pinkie of all ponies emerged from the darkness, landing on her rump with a sizable *splat* and wiggling as if trying to make herself comfortable. In her hooves hands there were the two bones forming the hand's lower arm, held in a firm grip as they tried to get her off of the palm.

"Pinkie?" That was about as much as Dash was able to get out, finally untangling herself from AJ's limbs. The pink party pony hearing her name looked up and shot her a wide (too wide), toothy grin.

"Hiya Dashie! What's up?" Okay, either Pinkie didn't realize she single-hoofedly (handedly?) stopped a dangerous undead by sitting on it, or she just didn't care. I'm not sure which version I prefer.

"But you were… and we didn't saw… and… how?!" Yeah, not gonna lie, I'd probably be as tongue-tied as Rainbow if I were to ask her that. Fortunately, Pinkie was apt at speaking flabbergasted and answered the question without pause.

"How I did it, huh? Well that was easy peasy! When I saw Mr. Hand here was alive I figured he wanted out, so while you were busy trying to catch him I sneaked my way up the stairs and waited. It was starting to get really boring and I was thinking about breaking out my knucklebone set when there was this cool fireburst, and I realized it was time. So I waited some more, and the moment Mr. Hand showed up I grabbed him and… well, the rest you know." She smiled brightly, wiggling her rump some more.

I really don't know what was scarier: a severed skeletal hand coming to life, or Pinkie Pie making sense.

During her explanation Mr. Gandethus managed to make his way towards Pinkie, even though he walked a bit unsteadily. It seemed that he still suffered a bit from that blow to the head earlier, but he was determined not to let something like that slow him down.

"You stopped it? Good. Now hold it down." He ordered once close enough, his silvery dagger still in hand and a Petri dish in his other.

"Wait, you seriously want to take samples off of that!?" I couldn't help but ask, finding the man's priorities skewed. Mr. Gandethus in response shrugged like if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Considering the hand came to life seemingly on its own while down in my laboratory, when it shouldn't be possible for it to do such a thing in the first place: yes, I do want to take samples. There is something really sinister brewing if the dead don't stay dead, and this" here he gestured at Pinkie and the bones "may shed some light on who or what is causing this." Having made his point he turned to Pinkie, who seemed to be treating the trashing ulna and radius like a toy excavator's controls and was making funny noises. After a brief pause to take in the admittedly unusual site Mr. Gandethus continued. "Could you stop moving the subject for a moment? I need to…"

"Take some samples, I heard ya." She replied, immediately freezing. The bones still tried to snap out of her hold, but weren't making any headway. "Scrub away!"

It took a second for Mr. Gandethus to realize what she meant by that, but ultimately the wizard figured it out. Kneeling in front of Pinkie and her captive he was about to take his sample, but a surprised and quite frankly unusually sounding squeal from the mare made him pause.

Pinkie momentarily wiped her usual smile from her face, replacing it with an angry scowl. Without any warning she bounced on her rump, making sure to land extra hard, and in doing so managed to produce a satisfying crunching sound that could belong only to a multitude of phalanges being snapped at the same time.

"Hey, buster! Hands off the merchandise!" She warned the small undead, glaring at the spasming long bones. After a second though her glare lessened, she blinked a couple of times, and then smiled brightly. "Hey, that was a good one. Spike! Make sure to underline that part!" And I have no idea what she meant by… Oh, wait…

Dammit Pinkie Pie!

Having that brief episode out of the way Mr. Gandethus finally managed to get his sample, mainly some of the red scripture covering the bones. Having that accomplished he flicked his dagger once more, muttering a soft spell under his breath, and pointed the weapon's tip at the ensnared skeleton fragment. Air seemed to shimmer in a thin ray all the way from the dagger to the bones, and once it impacted the undead it ceased to move altogether. The scripture, until now radiant crimson in color started to dim, until it was barely even noticeable, and after a second or two the bones clattered to the ground, lacking the fell powers to support them.

"Bring the bones to the table and make sure to sprinkle them with holy water." The wizard ordered after he got back on his feet. "I have a flask or two somewhere in the lab. My assistant, the goddamn coward that he is, knows where it is." He added, glaring at the teenager, who was trying his best to merge with a wall.

Figuring the situation was finally under control I decided to check on Twilight. She hadn't joined Mr. Gandethus when he was securing a sample for further studies, and she wasn't present when he cast a new spell, both of which was highly unusual for her. Furthermore, I didn't see her anywhere, as if she just vanished. Starting to worry, I made my way toward the examining tables in hopes of finding her there. And find her I did, though in a situation I wasn't quite expecting.

I found Twilight kneeling on the ground, just enough to hide behind the tables, and was doing her best to calm down Trixie. The magician, even though some time had passed since she was attacked still seemed to be shell shocked, hyperventilating and staring with wide eyes into the air. At some point she must have started to shiver, the shakes rocking her body with surprising force, and she seemed completely unresponsive. That was apparent by Twilight's continuous attempts at speaking to her, or rather at her. Every attempt she made at soothing her fear fell on deaf ears, or at the very most elicited a strangled 'no' from Trixie.

I found the whole thing… weird to be honest. I mean sure, finding oneself being strangled by a disembodied hand was no laughing matter and had to leave some sort of impact, but this was well beyond the scope of a simple near-death experience. Okay, I'm no specialist when it comes to this type of things, I'm not after all a psychiatrist nor do I have much in regards of experiencing such traumatizing events, but this still felt odd. It was almost like that one time Twilight lost her way in Canterlot Zoo and ended up spending an hour paralyzed with fear in the middle of the reptile house. Her ophidiophobia (you try growing up with a total brainiac mortally afraid of snakes and not pick up the name of the phobia) had her acting in the same exact way for hours after her parents took her from there. Was the same true for Trixie, just relating to the act of being strangled?

"Spike?" I was brought out of my ponderings by Twilight. At some point she noticed I was there and decided to make use of me. "Spike, I want you to do something for me."

"What is it Twi?" I asked, though at some level I suspected I knew what she was going to ask of me.

Twilight looked at Trixie for a moment, the magician letting out another choked out 'no' before she answered. "I want you to take Trixie away from here and take her to the cathedral. Find Father Zantus and ask him for help. Hopefully he'll know what to do."

I nodded, figuring this was no time to hold petty grudges, though I quickly noticed a flaw in Twilight's plan. "How am I to do that? I'm not exactly your size, and she doesn't exactly look like she's capable of walking on her own."

"Right." Seems like she only just realized that. taking a quick look around she stopped at Applejack and Rainbow Dash. "Applejack? Could you help Spike with something?"

I've immediately felt like a weight was lifted from my chest. Out of the two, Applejack was more likely to go through with this without making a hissy fit about having to help Trixie. As loyal as Dash was, she'd undoubtedly make a scene if we were to ask her that.

Twilight didn't lose any time and quickly told AJ what she needed her to do. As expected, Applejack didn't seem to really mind, or be better at hiding her dislike towards the magician then I gave her credit for. She did however seem a tad bit reluctant to leave Twilight, especially in lieu of what happened not five minutes ago.

"Ya sure ya'll be alright Sugarcube?" She asked even as she wrapped her arm around Trixie and hoisted her up to her feet.

Twilight smiled at her reassuringly. "I'll be fine, don't worry. I don't really think anything else is going to happen after this whole mess." AJ seemed unconvinced, but decided against pressing the matter. Nodding, she turn her attention to the unresponsive magician.

"Alright missy, let's get goin'. Spike, get the door." I didn't have to be told twice and bound up the stairs, opening the door to the ground level and waiting for the two mares. I just hoped everything really was going to be fine, for the sake of us all.
> Act Three Chapter Seven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 4 of Rova (Presumably 27 of October 1000 SR), Morning


Bringing Trixie to Father Zantus at the cathedral was far easier than expected. Despite being for the most part unresponsive, the magician hadn't forced Applejack and me to drag her all the way, actually supporting her weight on her hooves feet and letting herself be led. It almost seemed like she was on autopilot, which in light of the situation was a good thing.

We brought the magician to the spiritual center in about fifteen minutes, a good time seeing Turandarok Academy was practically on the opposite side of town. Once there we managed to locate Father Zantus and explain the situation to him. To say he was concerned was an understatement; the news that a previously destroyed undead, or at least a fragment of it, rose from the dead again greatly worried him. Still, he was a man with priorities, and at the moment his biggest concern was the wellbeing of Trixie.

"The damaging of the body is of little consequence." He said, his hand glowing softly as he healed the magician's neck. "With the grace of the gods and the blessings of the Song of the Spheres I can mend such wounds in seconds. It is the damage the soul had suffered that is more concerning. There are precious few spells that can help with those, and all of them are out of my humble reach. The most I can do is help her fall asleep and pray that Desna lifts the burden from her spirit when she sleeps."

I nodded at that, figuring that's the best I could hope for. Taking that as his cue Father Zantus lifted Trixie to her feet (Applejack excused herself earlier, saying that she had a bad feeling about the experiments and that it'd be best if she was there if anything happened) and led her to the parsonage, motioning me to follow.

"It would be best if you were to remain with her, at least until she falls asleep." He started while leading Trixie through the maze-like corridors of his abode. "A soul of a living thing, no matter how powerful on its own, is also one of the most fragile things in the multiverse. The presence of someone familiar should help calm her."

"I… don't really think I'm the best pick then." I tried to dissuade him from that notion. Not that I really had any ill will towards Trixie; she was annoying, a braggart, and downright nasty at times, but not enough for me to want her to suffer. It was just that… I 'knew' her for a grand total of what? Three days? Four? Hardly enough for this to be considered any substantial period of time or level of familiarity.

Unfortunately, I didn't really have much in terms of a choice in the matter.

Father Zantus led us to one of the parsonage's guest rooms and laid Trixie in bed. She didn't oppose much, still too out of it to be able to do so. The priest then presented me with a chair, which all but sealed my fate as the magician's equivalent of a night light, and left to look for something that would make Trixie fall asleep faster.

Looking at Trixie I really couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She really was terrified of what happened; by now she shook on the whole body, as if she had hypothermia, and her silent 'noes' were a constant stream. It seemed like her state was worsening instead of improving with each passing second, and as much as I didn't want to admit it, I missed the bossy, bragging her. It may sound weird, but I really hoped everything would end up alright.

On the other claw I felt incredibly odd, just being here. Like I said, I didn't really know Trixie, and being cooped up with her like this was just plain weird. I had half the mind to just get out before Father Zantus returned and leave her here, but each time I looked at those wide, staring, terrified eyes I couldn't force myself to.

Father Zantus returned not too long after he departed, a small, corked bottle in hand. "A sleeping draught." He explained, uncorking the bottle and approaching Trixie. "It'll help her fall asleep."

Now let me tell you one thing. Trixie may have been compliant, if unresponsive, while she was being led, both by AJ and Father Zantus. But the moment the priest tried to get her to drink his medicine she acted as if somepony was trying to murder her. Flailing her arms around like she did when the hand was strangling her and getting significantly louder with her one syllable protests, it seemed like she was convinced the holy man was trying to finish the job. It was enough to make things difficult for Father Zantus alone, so he enlisted my help.

I didn't exactly know what to do, having never been in a situation quite like this before. I figured the biggest issue at the moment was Trixie flailing her arms around, so without much thought I scrambled onto the bed and seized one of her hands in my grasp.

The effect was almost instantaneous. The moment I touched her exposed skin she practically deflated, both her hands falling limply on either side of her. She also stopped her constant stream of 'noes', falling silent for the first time since she left the basement. I was so taken aback from this sudden one-eighty that I almost didn't notice she managed to clasp one of my hands in her own and was squeezing it with enough force for it to be painful. Still, I kept that to myself, figuring this was at least beneficial to Father Zantus.

The head priest indeed pressed this advantage and managed to make her drink the sleeping draught without protest. Once done with that he assured me the drug would start working in a bit and that I should stay until she falls asleep, before he promptly left, no doubt to attend to whatever a priest attends to. Problem is, he left me in a really awkward position.

I still sat on the verge of the bed, my furry (still weird) feet dangling from the side, and had my hand in an almost vice-like grip courtesy of Trixie. Well, maybe not vice-like. After Father Zantus left her grip lessened to the point where it wasn't painful anymore, allowing blood to once again course through my fingers. It didn't mean she was letting me go however; the moment I tried something like that she immediately pulled me back, as if afraid to break physical contact. It was… weird to say the least. I'm more than sure if she knew what she was doing she'd kick me off the bed herself, but as she was right now Trixie was determined to keep me as close as possible. At least I didn't end up being cuddled to like a teddy bear.

I really didn't want to be there. I mean if it was Rarity who was acting like that, especially refusing to let go of my claw hand I'd undoubtedly be ecstatic. Hey, even if it was Twilight I would be all for it, allowing my brotherly pride at being able to provide some measure of comfort to her to swell in me, but this? Serving as a lifeline and providing comfort to a mare I not only didn't know all that well but didn't even like?

There had to be something going on here, there's no way this was simple trauma affecting Trixie, at least not trauma from simply being strangled. This seemed deeper, a fear engraved in her psyche, like a phobia. Was there even a phobia of being strangled? If there was, than I was sure she had it. The question however wasn't if she had a fear of being unable to breathe, but why she had it in the first place. Twilight was deadly afraid of snakes because of… an incident I don't want to discuss. Was something similar true in Trixie's case? Had she suffered a similar situation while young and never outgrown her fear? And if so then what was the history behind this? Even if she was a braggart and a fraud now didn't necessarily mean she had those traits when she was a filly; I have a hard time imagining somepony actually strangling her like that. What happened?

The fact I focused on those questions let me forget about the awkward position I was in long enough for the draught to take effect. I first noticed Trixie was falling asleep when I felt my hand slipping from her own, released from her grip. Startled by that, I looked at the magician, seeing her eyelids slowly closing, the shaking of her body subsiding. Within moments her breathing evened and entered a steady rhythm. She finally looked peaceful, lost in the depths of the dream realm and thankfully free from nightmares. Lying there peacefully on the bed, with the last rays of the setting sun falling through the window onto her silvery hair, now cascading onto the pillows and tinged a soft golden color, I couldn't help but realize she really did look stunning.

Jumping Luna on a pogo stick, where the hay did that come from?! What is wrong with you brain?! I can kinda-sorta understand the girls, but this is Trixie for crying out loud! Stop it!

I decided to bail as soon as I realized where my traitorous brain was starting to wander. Telling myself that this was starting to get creepy and that looking at somepony while they were sleeping was wrong (wonder why I had to think about that to force myself to move) I slipped completely from Trixie's grip and jumped back on the floor. Not wasting any time I silently made my way to the door and slipped out of the room, but not before taking a last look at the sleeping form of the magician.

Why? Why was this happening? Why did I suddenly start to behave like that? I didn't before we ended up in this place. I only had my eyes for Rarity. Shoot, I was sure I still had a crush on her. But if that's the case than why did I suddenly start seeing the other girls like that as well? First Fluttershy (though she always was a looker, so that wasn't anything new), than Twilight of all ponies (which still is creepy by the way), and then Applejack. And now Trixie? Seriously? Was this some sort of side effect of me turning into this halfling-thing? Maybe it was something like the issue with anger? Whatever it was, I was starting to have enough of it, and hoped I'd be able to reign in those… inappropriate thoughts. I just hope Rarity will never find out about this.

"Spike? What are you doing here darling?" …the universe really hates me, doesn't it?

Letting my legs carry me and lost in my thoughts I didn't even notice when I got out of the parsonage. Even more surprisingly my autopilot led me towards the Rusty Dragon, and as luck would have it Rarity was just about to enter the inn when I came along. Her voice managed to snap me out of my revere, not to mention startled me, and I ended up letting out a surprised cry before I realized what was going on.

"Calm down Spike, I did not intend to scare you." Rarity said soothingly, taking a few steps in my direction. "Is there something troubling you?"

"NO!" I shouted out, immediately realizing how suspicious that sounded. "I-I mean no, nothing's really on my mind. I'm cool." Yeah, cool as an ice cube. If she fell for that I'd grow a pair of wings and join the Wonderbolts.

Giving me a look that plainly meant she didn't really buy my explanation Rarity nonetheless decided against pressing the issue, changing the subject. "Be that as it may dear, you still haven't told me what you are doing here. Were you not supposed to help Twilight with the examination of those horrid skeletons?"

"Yeah, well, about that…" And so I gave her a quick recap of what happened, up to the point Twi asked me to take Trixie to Father Zantus. Hearing my story, especially the bit about the hand coming back to life Rarity let out a gasp and immediately started to worry, showering me with questions like 'was there anypony else hurt' or 'are you perfectly sure that Twilight and the others are alright' to name a few. I did my best to appease her fears and stressed that "…aside from Trixie being grabbed nopony was really hurt. In fact, Trixie was more spooked than really hurt, so there is nothing to worry about."

"Well I do hope you're right Spike." She finally agreed, though her gorgeous sapphire eyes still shone with worry. "Still, I would feel better if I could see Twilight and the others for myself. Not that I don't believe you dear, is just for the peace of my mind. Do you suppose we could gain access to that dingy laboratory and see the girls?" She finished with a question, fluttering her eyebrows at me. Intellectually I realized she was using her feminine wiles to make me take her there. Emotionally however…

"I'm sure you'll be more than welcome to visit them, milady." What can I say: nopony can resist the eye flutters.

I was about to lead Rarity to Turandarok Academy, but in that moment the whole notion of going there became obsolete. From behind the bend of the street came Twilight, a tired and slightly concerned frown on her face, flanked by the rest of the girls plus guard Titus, the four of them carrying bone-filled boxes in teams of two.

The moment Rarity saw the small procession she immediately made her way towards them, concern once again clearly reflected in her voice. "Good Heavens, you girls look simply dreadful! Spike told me about everything. Are you alright? Were there any more incidents? What happened after he left? Wha…" She was interrupted by Twilight rising her hand to ask her to hold her questions for now.

"I'll explain everything as soon as we're done with these bones. Why don't you and Spike wait for us at the inn, we'll be there in about half an hour." Twilight suggested tiredly, letting out a sigh. I was a bit confused by that, but reasoned that after I left she and Mr. Gandethus stepped up their game and started to work far more intensively, draining Twilight's meager reserves of stamina.

Rarity agreed to Twi's suggestion and the two of us quickly made our way inside the Rusty Dragon, the rest going in the direction of the town garrison. Once inside the tavern we quickly found a table large enough to fit us all, found Fluttershy and asked her to join us, and waited. Fortunately with the late afternoon hours the inn had a number of distractions for us to pass the time, the prime example of that being Ameiko herself. Having the kitchen run by her halfling aids for the late meal, she herself was providing music for her patrons, making use of a small stage in one of the corners of the main room, playing an exotic-looking string instrument. Later that night I learned through Twilight it was called a Shamisen or something like that. Point is she provided a distraction until the girls returned.

As Twilight promised, they were back after about half an hour, everypony except Pinkie Pie looking spent. Rainbow Dash eagerly went to her room to change from her chain shirt, complaining that it was a real pain to wear, and Applejack immediately ordered a round of drinks for us (by that I mean everypony except Twilight and I), preparing for a rather long sitting. So, with mugs full of hard cider and the sound of the Shamisen as background noise Twilight started to tell us about what they ultimately found out.

After the whole episode with the hand Mr. Gandethus decided that examining the bones directly was too much of a risk and decided that aside from the already neutralized hand the two skeletons should be placed in the boxes they were brought in, just to be safe. After that the efforts concentrated on analyzing the samples we took and the faint patterns that remained on the destroyed hand. Both experiments yielded some answers, but at the same time made the situation all the more complicated and dangerous.

First came the results of the samples. Aside from one of them being magical residue from my own magical attack (apparently Mr. Gandethus was interested in that even if he didn't really think much of it) the first two samples were of little use. All that he managed to get was that indeed I had sorcerous powers (whatever that meant) and that I was literally a greenhorn, so really nothing substantial. The third sample however, the one taken from the hand was a different story.

The first thing Mr. Gandethus noticed was the composition of the red markings. He deduced that it was a strange mix of wine, copper, red dye, sulfur and curiously enough powdered bloodstone. Now I know what bloodstone is: a mineral, usually black in coloration, with patches of jasper or iron oxide staining it and resembling spots of blood; generally not too tasty, having a metallic tinge to it closely resembling the taste of actual blood. The mixture itself according to Mr. Gandethus was a show of unparalleled skill however; a blend of knowledge in the fields of alchemy and arcane arts that resulted in the creation of a far more powerful type of skeleton without the use of actual blood. Although his surprise and fascination with the notion was troubling for most of the girls (with the exception of Twilight, who was as fascinated as he was), it was nothing in comparison to the second discovery that was made during that examination.

I don't really know how the magic that Mr. Gandethus used worked, but apparently it allowed him to deduce the level of control over arcane powers the creator of those skeletons had. The moment he realized what he had on his hands he immediately sobered, forgetting about his earlier fascination and became worried. Apparently, the one that bewitched the skeletons was not only talented, but experienced. He noted that the spell structure seemed surprisingly complex for what he called a 'relatively low-key type of undead', pointing towards someone that studied the art of necromancy thoroughly. He also came up with two possible leads, both of which in his opinion were really troubling.

The first possibility was that this was the work of a cultist of someone he dared only call the Pallid Princess. Of course that gave me pause: used to the word 'princess' being associated only with Princess Celestia, Cadence, and to an extent Princess Luna, the notion of another one brought forth a rather interesting mental image: an alicorn, easily the size of either of those three, pale all over and surrounded by skeletal ponies. Mr. Gandethus however claimed that if the cult of the Pale One was really involved, than the goblins were the least of our concerns.

The second theory was possibly even worse. While the cult of the Pallid Princess was, as Mr. Gandethus himself said, driven by religious beliefs and highly ritualized, and by that devotion for the art empowered, the only alternative was if possible even more sinister. He called them the Followers of the Whispering Way, and while he mentioned that he didn't really know much about them and their presence in the region was practically nonexistent, what he did know was that their devotion towards solving problems the intellectual way and by applying hard logic, and their strict adherence to inside rules made them a force to be reckoned with. If by any chance this was the work of such an individual that may mean their secret organization was spreading, and if that was the case than this likely wasn't an individualized cell and it may requisition additional help in the event of being pressured. And that meant a possible powerhouse setting its sights on the sleepy town of Sandpoint.

This alone made my head spin. Secret organizations, underground cults, rituals that brought the dead back to life? This was starting to sound more and more like the plot of an adventure novel, like that one Daring Do knockoff that leans more towards fantasy than just literary fiction, what's it called… Ruin Raider and the Curse of the Crimson Goblet. A mediocre read, but with a plotline quite similar to what was going on here.

Just as I was coming to terms with the possibility of this whole thing being a far larger mess than I initially anticipated, Twilight dropped a real bombshell. Apparently while they were examining the markings on the hand (whatever the spell was that Mr. Gandethus cast at it, it didn't really damage it like Priest Naffer's did) he came to realize several things. While the script finally being recognized as a written form of Polyglot, a language he explained was used by natives of a place called the Mwangi Expanse was of little consequence (aside from being indecipherable to the wizard), the patterns in which it was placed on the hand were what really grabbed his attention. After carefully studying and cross-referencing them with several of his books Mr. Gandethus realized something that send him into shock. He explained that the markings were designed to be activated from afar by a conscious effort of whoever placed them, and that the pattern made the hand not only animated, but be completely under the control of the caster and serve as a scrying anchor. Or in terms that the others were able to understand: the hand was literally possessed by someone, and that someone possibly had seen and heard everything that transpired in the laboratory until the hand was destroyed. Simply put: he or she knew about us, and could prepare for us if need be.

I didn't sleep well that night. In fact, I don't think I slept at all. Tossing and turning, my restless mind was constantly sending me images of a nameless human, the power to control dead in his grasp, picking us out one by one and using our bodies as fuel for his growing army. I know, a cliché, but the notion still terrified me, especially since this wasn't a novel but real life. I just couldn't help but worry and hoped that Twilight would quickly come up with some way for us to return home and be done with this madness.

The next day, or rather this morning, I was proven to not be the only one that had trouble sleeping last night. Twilight I knew perfectly well spent most of the night pouring over her (my) notes from the autopsy, so I wasn't surprised by her looking like she just ran a marathon. Fluttershy too seemed to not have had a good night's rest, probably worrying as much as I did, if not more. And then there was Rarity, who tried to hide the shadows under her eyes with some makeup she managed to purchase yesterday. The rest I didn't really see, Applejack dragging a groggy Rainbow Dash and literally sleeping Pinkie Pie off to work first thing in the morning.

I was entertaining the idea of going back to bed and trying to get at least a wink of sleep when something happened that literally made me forget about doing that. As the day was still young and not many people were present in the Dragon, the entrance of each new guest was easily noticeable. So when the doors opened to reveal a richly dressed man all attention was on him.

I immediately recognized the blue doublet with gold trimmings he wore, making identifying the man child's play. It was that noble we helped save a couple of days back, Lord Foxglove or something like that. Even though the whole thing happened three days ago I had the image of him hitting on Rarity still fresh in my mind, so his sudden appearance here was not something I particularly enjoyed. Quite the opposite really, my jaws immediately clenched and I glared at him balefully from the moment he came in, which only intensified once he made a beeline for our table after finding Rarity.

"Miss Rarity, just the person I was looking for! How are you this fine morning?" The man greeted her as soon as he approached the table, immediately bringing her hand to his lips and taking her by surprise. It took Rarity a second to realize what just happened and form a fitting reply.

"Lord Foxglove? What a pleasant surprise. To what do I owe the pleasure?" It might have been just me, but I had the impression that Rarity didn't really know what to do. She was obviously flustered, of that much I was certain, but valiantly attempted to remain polite. It didn't help that the man literally had eyes only on her and completely ignored the presence of Twilight, Fluttershy and I.

Foxglove flashed Rarity a dazzling smile, which had the effect of me wanting to punch his teeth in. "Why there isn't a power on the face of Golarion that would stop me from seeing you, milady. To gaze upon you is to gaze upon perfection." …I'm really going to punch him.

"Lord Foxglove, you flatter me!"

I noticed something while Rarity was saying that. Normally, and I'm talking from experience here, if somepony ever addressed her in this manner Rares would actually be flattered and probably would swoon over the guy, especially if he was a handsome fellow. At the very least she would be enjoying the attention. But here and now Rarity seemed more troubled by the attention she was getting than taking pleasure out of it. It almost seemed as if she was uncomfortable with it.

Deciding that Rarity needed help I cleared my throat loudly to gain the man's attention. "Can we help you with something?" I managed in a relatively civil way.

The lordling reluctantly tore his gaze from Rarity and looked at me as if he just noticed my presence for the first time. I noticed his smile lessened and almost turned into a frown, but the local noble managed to keep his cool.

"I do not have any use for your assistance. Why don't you check if any other patron of this fine establishment needs anything." Wait, did he take me for a servant here?

"I'm not working here." I replied evenly, trying my best to keep my cool for Rare's sake. "I'm with Rarity." Okay, that was delightfully vague of me. Wonder if he'd pick up on the double meaning.

Judging from his momentary lapse in self control and his eyes bulging out for a second I take it he did.

"I'm sorry… who are you again?" He managed to ask after he regained his composure. Choosing that moment to act Rarity launched into a brief explanation and introduced us.

"Lord Foxglove, allow me to introduce you to my friends: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and of course little Spike." For a second there I wanted to protest; I wasn't that little, but the thankful smile Rarity flashed me was enough for me not to mention that. "Girls, Spike: this is Lord Aldern Foxglove, lord at Foxglove Manor and a man we helped rescue during the goblin invasion."

For a second there Foxy didn't know how to respond, taking in the presence of the up until now ignored girls and trying to make sense of what just happened. Finally he managed a curt "Charmed" as a response before he focused on Rarity again. Fortunately Twilight seemed to have picked up on Rarity's unease and attempted to turn his attention from her.

"It's a pleasure making your acquaintance Lord Foxglove." She started, trying to sound neutral. "If I may be so bold as to ask why have you decided to seek out my dear friend Rarity?"

For a second I think I saw an annoyed sneer forming on the man's face, but he reigned his desire to do so in and instead smiled politely at Twilight. "Although it really isn't any of your, shall I put it, business, I will humor your request." Okay, so maybe not that politely. "Fair Rarity here has, without any exaggeration, saved my life a couple days back, and as such I am duty bound to repay her for her heroic actions in any way I can. It is a debt I obviously find very enjoyable, as it allows me to spend time in the presence of such a magnificent specimen of the fairer sex as miss Rarity." Here he once again shot Rarity a brilliant smile, to which my fair lady reacted by discretely looking away, a constrained smile on her lips. "Alas, as is with all good things it cannot last much longer, as there are some issues that arose recently and require my attention. Therefore I will not be able to remain in Sandpoint for much longer, and as I don't believe I shall have the chance to return anytime soon I need to repay my debt as soon as possible."

”Truly now? If I may inquire: what are those issues that need your undivided attention Lord Foxglove?" Rarity asked out of polite interest, or perfectly trying to feign it. The moment the lord mentioned he'll be needed elsewhere she perked up and started to look hopeful.

The question didn't seem to sit well with Foxglove, the noble losing all of his poise as he slumped, his eyes darkening. "Unfortunately I cannot tell. Suffice to say I would rather not take part in what is to come if I could help it, but my… associates are not people that you can just say 'no' to. But enough on this dreary subject; I came here not to bore you with my business commitments!" For a second there I started to wonder if human males could get pregnant, that's how quick the guy's mood did a one eighty. Seriously, he was acting like a pregnant mare. "I believe I have came up with an acceptable way of repaying for your bravery, miss Rarity."

Rarity seemed conflicted for a moment, not sure whether she should be weary of what the man was about to propose, or… wait, propose? Oh dear Celestia! Tell me he's not going to…

"What do you have in mind, your lordship?" Rarity asked carefully, eyeing the eager man with a bit of trepidation.

The slimy bastard Lord Foxglove smiled once more, taking my lady's hand in his and kneeling before her. Please tell me this isn't happening. "Lady Rarity, the most beautiful flower upon Varisian soil, would you do me the honor of…" nononononononono "accompanying me today on my hunting trip?" nonononon… wait, what?!

No, seriously; what the buck just happened? One minute I was sure the guy was going to propose to Rarity, and he pulls something like that?! I was having a heart attack over here, and you mean to tell me he did all this, came here first thing in the morning, dressed like for a ball, just to ask Rarity to go hunting with him? I mean seriously?!

I wasn't the only one dumbfounded by this turn of events. Twilight and Fluttershy saw all this transpire too, and judging from the blushes on their faces they thought the same thing I did, if not as panicky as me. Obviously they both didn't see that one coming and gaped silently at the kneeling noble. Rarity for her part didn't fare much better. When she thought Foxglove was about to propose she started to frantically look for a way out, obviously not a fan of the idea but probably wanting to spare him a humiliating public refusal. Now however all she was capable of was staring blankly at him, her brain failing to compute what she just heard. Only after an awkward silent half a minute and the lordling pointedly clearing his throat had she regained her wits.

"I… ah… I don't really know what to say?" She said uncertainly, looking at the girls for help. Seeing the two of them still stunned she discreetly sighed and looked back at the man. "I mean this is so sudden. What should I…"

"Say yes, milady, and you shall make me the happiest man in the world!" Foxglove promptly declared, bringing Rarity's hoof hand back to his lips. She seemed to try and free herself from him, but the man's grip was too firm for her gentle attempt to yield any result. As a side note: the guy was still doing it; he was still acting like this was more of a proposal than an invitation. Heck, the whole scene brought the attention of what little morning patrons the Rusty Dragon had at the moment.

"I don't really think I can make it." Rarity finally managed, obviously self-conscious about all the looks she was getting. "I had prior arrangements and obligations, and I never even been out hunting before, so…"

"I see." Lord Foxglove interrupted her, his voice dropping and losing all pretense of politeness. He immediately let go of Rarity's hand and rose to his feet, dusting off his knees absentmindedly. "Well then, this certainly was a waste of my time. I have made a fool of myself, in public might I add, by trying to be polite to a woman that clearly has no regards for both the honor and the feelings of a man willing to go out of his way to please her. I can already see the patronizing looks on my fellow nobles' faces once they get wind of what transpired here."

I hate to admit it but the guy was good. I mean sure, his tirade was a low blow, obviously rehearsed and designed to make Rarity feel guilty, but at the same time it was a tactic that almost certainly would yield positive results, at least for him. The combination of guilt-tripping, flaunting his social status, and having a large enough audience for it to register was a potent mix, and Lord Foxglove was using it flawlessly.

Rarity, already self-conscious about the whole situation by this point was downright panicking. When confronted with accusations of having the feelings of others in such low regards, as well as being reminded that she just refused someone of a higher social status (a thing I learned quite early on was something she really didn't ever considered doing) she was at a complete loss. Add to that the looks the patrons of the inn were sending their way, most of them pitying either of the two or annoyed at this interrupting their morning and you had a pressured Rarity about to give in to the man's demands. Practically the only thing that prevented her from doing so earlier was whatever caused her to become wary of Lord Foxglove in the first place, aside from him being a creep. I was starting to wonder if she somehow knew something that painted the lordling in darker colors.

The moment Rarity let out a tired sigh I knew what was about to come. "I suppose I can make adjustments to my plans and accompany you on your trip, Lord Foxglove." Yep, just as I suspected; she gave in.

"I do not need your charity, miss Rarity. I perfectly realize that you do not want to come with me." Okay, I didn't expect that to happen. I thought Foxglove would jump on the occasion, but apparently he had something more in plan.

As was the case with me, Rarity too didn't expect that outcome. Blinking owlishly for a second, the only thing she managed to get through her throat was a short "I beg your pardon?"

"I said that I realize you do not want to be my companion for this day and are willing to refuse me my one chance at repaying my debt of gratitude towards you." He explained in the same humorless voice, giving Rarity a meaningful look. "You either have my person in very low regards, or are willing to use this debt as political leverage at a later point. This wouldn't be the first time someone wanted to use me like that."

"Good Heavens, I would never do such a thing!" Rarity quickly protested, appalled by those accusations. Judging by the quick, smug smirk on Foxglove's face this was precisely what he was aiming for.

"And how do I know that for certain?" He asked, trying and succeeding at keeping his voice accusatory. "For all I know you saved my life only to force me into indirect servitude."

"But I didn't even know who you were back then!" Okay, it was official: Lord Aldern 'The Slimy Bastard' Foxglove managed to break Rarity. Lost were all her good manners and air of high society class, stripped to the bare minimum and showing her most basic reactions. How he managed to do that so easily was beyond me, but I knew one thing for certain: I was going to break him. I don't know when, and I don't know how, but I'm going to snap him like a twig for doing this to Rarity.

It took Rarity a second to form any sort of reply other than what she already shouted out in desperation. She was frantically looking for a way out of this mess, figuratively and literally, but obviously she was coming up with blanks. Having literally no idea how to turn this situation around Rarity tried one last thing, taking the most direct approach she could think of in her state.

"I'll go with you on that hunting trip of yours, out of my own free will. In fact, I want to, no, I need you to take me with you. It'll be my honor to go with you, if you'll allow me that is." She was blurring out agreement after agreement, reiterating her declaration in an increasingly servile way. By the time Lord Bastard finally took pity on Rarity, she was practically begging him to take her with him.

"Marvelous! It's such a relief that you had a change of heart, miss Rarity. I was starting to lose hope you would see reason." Oh that son of a… Change of heart? See reason? You manipulated her into going you sick bastard! You used her nature against her so that she'd do what you told her to! That had about as much in common with free will as slavery! Somepony should kick your sorry excuse of a plot so hard you wouldn't be able to sit on it for a month! In fact, I should do that…

"Well then, I best be going, start the preparations for the day you see. I shall await your arrival at the east gate in three hours milady." Good, good! Run away while you still can coward!

"Lord Foxglove! May I have a small request before you depart?" Rarity? What are you doing? Can't you see the bastard's about to go away? Why do you want to keep him here?

"It all depends on the type of request you have in mind, fair Rarity." Okay, breathe Spike, breathe. Let's see what all this is about and hope Rarity knows what she's doing. Who knows, maybe she had an idea since she managed to calm down a bit.

"I was wondering if my friends could join us in this escapade. It's only fair for them to go as well since in a way they too helped save your life." Oh. Oh! So that's her idea! Have to say, I'm all for that. I'll at least be able to keep an eye on the guy and that way he won't be able to make any sort of move on Rarity. Yes, this is a brilliant plan.

Lord Foxglove didn't seem to share my sentiment, the annoying smile on his face getting smaller by a fraction of an inch. "I… suppose that's acceptable. As you said, they did help you in your heroics."

"Then it's settled! We'll be at the east gate in three hours. Until then!" And with that Rarity ended the conversation, giving the lordling a clear sign that he should get going. Giving a courtly bow to my lady, Lord Foxglove slowly made his way towards the exit, a spring in his step and looking around like he owned the place, looking at the other patrons with an air of superiority easily beating even Trixie's.

Once Lord Bastard disappeared behind the door I heard a prolonged sigh of relief coming from Rarity. Just by looking at her I could tell she was completely spent by what happened just moments ago and was not looking forward to upholding her end of the bargain. In the meantime Fluttershy and Twilight managed to finally find their wits and both were giving Rarity a meaningful look, one that practically yelled 'you need to explain what just happened, now'.

"Today really couldn't go any better, could it?" Rarity commented sarcastically, pinching the bridge of her nose. Twilight took the expression of annoyance as her cue to start.

"Rarity? You do realize that you just took a huge group decision for us, right?" Twilight, her eyebrow quirked, looked questioningly at Rarity.

"I realize that darling, and I'm truly sorry for dragging you into this, but I just didn't know what else to do." She explained, looking at Twi with pleading in her eyes. "I was completely unprepared for what happened here and had to improvise. Also, I didn't want to be alone with Lord Foxglove, not if I can help it."

"Why's that?" This time it was Fluttershy who asked. She still looked a bit confused by what she had witnessed and probably was trying to come to terms with indirectly being invited to go hunting of all things.

"Fluttershy's right; why did you act like that?" Twilight supported the line of questioning. "I think I know you well enough to safely say that this was not how you would normally act in a situation like this. Care to tell us why?"

Rarity didn't explain immediately. Instead she looked around the inn, as if checking if somepony was listening in on them, and only after she decided the coast was clear she launched into a hushed explanation.

"I have a really bad feeling about this whole Lord Foxglove. He's hiding things from us and despite having a great opportunity to come out clean he didn't take it."

"What are you talking about, what could he possibly be hiding from us?" Twilight was understandingly confused, probably not having came up to the same conclusion that I did. It was obvious Rarity somehow got wind of something that discredited the local noble in her eyes.

"After you left Rynshinn's yesterday I got into a discussion with the dear." She started out seemingly randomly. "We have discussed many a topic during our session yesterday, and at some point I may have mentioned Lord Foxglove and his apparent fascination with my person. The response I was given was… less than encouraging.

"Apparently, Lord Foxglove and his whole family has a bit of a reputation in Sandpoint. Aside from rumors usually associated with somepony, or rather someone of his social status, such as about him acquiring his fortune through illegal means or having connections with a criminal group in a city called Magnimar, there are some more troubling tidbits of gossip that admittedly put me on edge."

"Rarity, I don't really think rumors are the best source of information about anypony. They're mostly skewed viewpoints of individuals that have too much free time on their hooves." Twilight tried to reason, obviously not buying a word of what she heard from Rarity. I for myself wouldn't be surprised if at least some of those things really were true, but that may be just my prejudice towards the lordling.

"Trust me Twilight, if anypony should know how rumors operate it should be me, and quite frankly: I don't believe most of what people say about Lord Foxglove." Rarity replied easily, no doubt expecting the conversation to take this turn. "As it may be however I couldn't help but notice that he was reluctant to reveal any details concerning his sudden need to attend to 'business' as he called it, so there may be some merit, of only partial, to some of the information circulating in the rumor mill."

"That really doesn't explain why you acted like you did." Twilight pressed on, still failing to see what the fuss was about. Rarity expected that as well and had a reply prepared just in such a case.

"I know that darling, and you'll be pleased to know that my reasoning goes further than just local gossip." She started her explanation, though judging by her increasingly hushed tone I realized that whatever Rarity was going to disclose to us might as well be a piece of really juicy gossip on its own right. "You see, Lord Aldern Foxglove, despite his best attempts at courting me, and let's be honest here: what he does is precisely that, is on a losing position from the very start. He is a married man, and I for one do not want to gain the fame of a femme fatale."

That piece of information was followed by stunned silence, interrupted only by the sounds of everyday tavern activity. It took us a moment to realize what Rarity just said, but once it did, I couldn't help but react in an expectable manner.

"That son of a manticore."

"Spike! Language!" I was immediately reprimanded by Twilight, though she herself looked at least a little bit angry at the notion. She looked back at Rarity and asked. "Are you sure he really is married?"

"Positive darling, Rynshinn was friends with his bride, Iesha if I remember correctly. The two of them have been married for about eight months now, ample time for Lord Foxglove to reign in his carnal desires and finally settle down with his wife."

"And yet he's hitting on you." I growled, having no sympathy for the obviously cheating bastard. While my reaction wasn't exactly the most subtle, it still went unnoticed by the girls, especially Rarity, for which I was grateful.

"That's… really an awful thing to do." Fluttershy's comment was far more subdued, and in my personal opinion didn't give justice to the severity of what the man actually was doing. I mean even in Equestria, where the marriage laws are among the most liberal, it is still frowned upon for partners to cheat on one another. I don't know how it works in human society, but I imagine not very differently.

"I know dear, and quite frankly I am appealed by the behavior Lord Foxglove is displaying." Rarity assured, however her expression quickly darkened as she continued. "Unfortunately, as much as I wish that was the whole reason as to my reluctance to accept his invitation, it is just the tip of the iceberg. It's not only the fact I'm being pursued by what equates to a married stallion… pardon… man that weights on my mind. There is actually more to this than first meets the eye."

"Oh goodness, what else is there?" 'Shy inquired, having a hard time coming up with anything worse than the simple fact of being faithless towards one's spouse. 

Apparently, there could be something far worse.

"What I am about to tell you girls could be placed between rumors, but keep in mind none of us, especially me, can be sure if they are true or not, and there is much evidence pointing towards this actually being true, at least to a certain degree." Rarity warned us, her voice dropping to a stage whisper soft enough to be lost in the din filling the common room.

After receiving nods indicating we understood Rarity started her explanation. "About three months ago Lord Foxglove left his seaside manor in the region known as the Hinterlands, where he lived with his new wife, and seemingly moved to a nearby city called Magnimar. That in itself was really of no surprise to most people living here: apparently the family seat of the Foxglove line has been for many a year abandoned, falling into a state of disrepair; some even went as far as to claim that Foxglove Manor is in fact a ruin, not to mention haunted."

"Don't be ridiculous Rarity, there are no such things as ghosts." Ever the sceptic Twilight was quick to point out the ridiculousness of the notion of ghosts being a thing. There was however one thing that conflicted with that statement, and despite the situation I couldn't possibly pass up correcting Twilight on something for a change.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Twilight, but doesn't the existence of walking skeletons kinda push the possibility of ghosts into the realm of possibility?"

"No Spike, because those skeletons were physical remains of corporeal beings animated through the use of magic I have yet to study and understand. Ghosts on the other hoof are a figment of imagination; there are no more real than any other incorporeal creature you could think of."

"Like Nightmare Moon in her mist form or Windigos?" I admit to being a smartass there, as evident by the glare Twilight shot me. Still totally worth it.

"May I continue please?" Rarity politely tried to steer the conversation back on track. Of course I immediately apologized and quieted down, as did Twilight. "Thank you. Now as I was saying, Foxglove Manor apparently was in a state of disrepair for the last several years now, despite the valiant efforts of Lord Foxglove to return it to its former glory, until he left it for a second manor in Magnimar those three months I mentioned before that is. One would think that the lord of the household would take his wife with him to their new home, however Rynshinn insists that none of her acquaintances in the city have ever seen Iesha there, not once during those three months. Furthermore, Rynshinn herself has lost all contact with her friend about the same time Lord Foxglove left for the big city, which at the very least is conspicuous enough to beg the question if there wasn't foul play at work here."

Although told in a roundabout way, I realized what Rarity was implying by that about the same time Fluttershy and Twilight came to the same conclusion. Blood immediately drained from my face and a chill ran down my spine, as it did with the others, and my eyes practically bulged out of my sockets at the revelation. Twilight for her part looked like she didn't know what to think, having a hard time comprehending why someone would do such a thing, and as for Fluttershy…

"Y-You don't think t-that Mr. Foxglove would…" She started shakily, unable to finish her own question, instead ending in a terrified squeak.

"I… honestly don't know darling." Rarity admitted after a moment of hesitation. "On one hoof I have a hard time believing that a person such as Lord Foxglove could be capable of such a heinous crime; he seemed so suave, if not a bit insistent and cowardly. Then again I don't pretend to really know what goes on in the mind of somepony willing to kill his own wife. Not that I'm accusing him of it mind you; this is still only a rumor and we cannot be sure if that was what really happened."

That was a weak reason and Rarity knew that. Personally, if I was in her place I would not only boot the guy as soon as he started to make a move on me, but sent the authorities after him on the ground of possibly murdering somepony. But still, murder…

Twilight, up until now silently mulling over the information provided by Rarity finally decided to speak, her inquisitive gaze directed solely on the fashionista. "If you knew, or even suspected that Lord Foxglove may be involved in something like that, then why in the name of Celestia had you accepted his invitation?!"

About half way through her question Twi lost her cool and nearly shouted at Rarity, confusion and worry mixing and forming irrational anger as a byproduct. Still, this was a question that was slowly making its way to the forefront of my mind too, so in all honesty I didn't really feel as much of a need to defend Rarity from the completely undeserved lashing as I thought I would.

It took a second for Rarity to regain her wits after she recoiled from Twi's outburst, but once she did she launched into an explanation that I can safely say sounded good only in her mind. "Well for one I did not in fact want to accompany Lord Foxglove on his hunting trip…" here she shuddered in disgust "…and if you recall I did try to politely decline. Unfortunately, our noble acquaintance is quite skilled in the art of negotiating as it would seem."

"More like knows how to effectively whine." I muttered under my breath, crossing my arms in annoyance at the memory.

"So do you want to tell me that if a serial killer just waltzed into Carousel Boutique and started to pressure you with social backlash if you wouldn't willingly become his hostage you'd agree, is that what you're saying?" Twilight was really on a roll here, having none of Rarity's usual excuses. Her hot-headed accusation was met however with a flat stare from the alabaster mare.

"Twilight, darling, sarcasm does not become you. Of course I would never do such a thing, but as I said, neither I or Rynshinn really know if Lord Foxglove had really killed his wife. Furthermore, as a person of noble descent his word carries much weight, and after he mentioned others of his social status learning of my possible refusal I realized it could have negative repercussions on our own reputation. I simply could not let him possibly slander our good name by blowing this incident out of proportion. Surely as part of high society back in Canterlot and Princess Celestia's personal student you understand how much good reputation is worth."

"Actually I…" Twilight trailed off, not sure how to respond. I knew full well why that was such a difficult topic for her to discuss.

Twilight during her studies under Princess Celestia was considered a political figure, if only by proximity to the ruler of the realm. This of course meant that a fair bit of attention was placed on her at any given time, despite the Princess' best attempts at keeping the snooping nobility as far away from her as possible. Heck, she even dispatched a full squadron of royal guards to keep nobles away from her, and strictly forbade that pansy Prince Blueblood from going anywhere near her in fear he may somehow corrupt her. It didn't help much however, and the fact Twi's (and by proxy my) family, a lesser noble house in Canterlot, was using the situation to their advantage only added onto her already overloaded plate. And to think Twilight only wanted to study.

Seeing that Twi wasn't going to respond anytime soon I decided to step in for her. I admit that doing this was difficult for me; disagreeing with the one my heart longed for was pure torture to me, but family comes first.

"I don't really see the worth in having any sort of reputation around here to begin with. It's not like we'll be staying here long enough for that to matter."

I was expecting Rarity to argue with me on that, probably claiming that no matter how short lived our stay here would be, we should still leave a good impression, if not for our own sake than to make sure we represented Equestria to the best of our abilities. Instead however it was Twilight who replied.

"I wouldn't bet on this being a short stay Spike." I turned my head in her direction so fast I almost gave myself whiplash, and judging by the fact Twilight recoiled once she saw the look on my face it's safe to bet it wasn't a nice sight.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked, maybe a little too harshly.

"Calm down Spike, let's not get worked up over this." Yep, definitely too harshly. Oh well.

"What… do you mean… by that?" I repeated with more emphasis, although deep down I was expecting the answer.

Twilight, by now actually spooked by my behavior, started to explain without delay. "It's going to take some time before I'm able to come up with a suitable spell that could bring us back home. I don't have access to my magic, and…"

"But aren't you already able to use magic Twilight?" Fluttershy asked, confused by the notion no less than I was. Twi in return shook her head.

"Not in the same sense I did back in Equestria. This magic, human magic, is fundamentally different from unicorn magic, and I'm unable to reproduce the same effects with what this body is able to utilize. And yes, I tried, multiple times. It's not even that I don't have my normal magic, but I can't tap into it the way I'm supposed to. It's basically like if I had a completely broken off horn; I have the power, but lack the focus to channel it through."

"So what you're trying to tell us is that you suddenly have two sources of magic? And the one actually useful to get us home is inaccessible?" I managed to somewhat calm down, at least to talk in a civil manner, and asked skeptically.

"It's… difficult to describe. It's not exactly like you imply Spike, but at the same time it is. It's really confusing." And that it really was, if her furrowed brows were anything to go by. Still, I didn't want Twi to go off into her own little world of magical theory and whatnot, so I cleared my throat, bringing her back to reality. "I'm sure I'll be able to find some way of accessing my normal magic, or if that won't work find a suitable spell designed by human spellcasters that will serve this purpose. Considering their advancement in magic theory I wouldn't be surprised if the latter would be the case."

"Be that as it may darling, what time frame are we talking about here?" Rarity asked, having an idea how long creating new magic could take.

"Truth be told, it could take anywhere between a month and several years. Not that the latter is actually going to be the case!" She added quickly once she saw the looks of utter shock on our faces." I'll work as hard as I can to get us home as quickly and as safely as possible, but keep in mind I'm working from scratch, learning as I go. This will take time, as unfortunate as it may sound."

Great, just great. Stranded Celestia knows where, trapped in strange bodies not our own, and on top of that probably going to stay here for an unspecified amount of time. The only thing that could possibly make this whole situation worse is if we ended up getting ourselves involved in some strange shenanigans while here.

Oh, wait.

"Don't worry Twilight, take as much time as you need. We'll make sure to support you in whatever way we can, isn't that right?" Fluttershy declared after a moment, giving Rarity any me a meaningful look. Reluctantly I nodded, still not exactly ecstatic about the whole situation. In the meantime Rarity replied more vocally, and in fashion true to her personality.

"Of course darling, we'll be here for you the whole way. But I do hope you'll be able to find a way to send us back before the end of the year; not only would my, and I do imagine everypony else's families would start to worry, but also it would be a shame for those tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala to go to waste."

Hearing that Twilight gave Rarity a flat stare. "Seriously? You're worried about that?"

"Of course not! I'm just saying that it would be such a wasted opportunity for us to attend such a grand event." She covered quickly, giggling nervously. Seeing that Twilight wasn't convinced she tried a different tactic and simply changed the subject. "So am I to believe that my attempts at defending our good name are justified?"

"Well, in light of what I said and considering how society works, that is if the same principles apply to human society, than I believe that you did do the right thing. Kinda." Twi didn't exactly look convinced of that herself, but didn't want to argue. There was however one issue she couldn't just let slide. "You do realize that you managing to extend Lord Foxglove's invitation applies only to us and not say Rainbow Dash or Applejack, right? The others are currently at work and can’t just join us like that."

"Yes, I do realize that. And as unfortunate as it is, I didn't have much in the manner of choice at the time, so I had to do the best with what I had on hoof so to speak." Rarity explained. It was at that moment however that she realized what she unwittingly did, and she immediately looked at Fluttershy with the most apologetic look she could muster. "I am terribly sorry for dragging you into this Fluttershy. I cannot imagine what you must think of me for forcing something as dreadful as going on a hunting trip upon you. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course I can Rarity, and it's really no problem. I don't mind going." I did a double take at that. Did Fluttershy just say that she didn't mind going hunting?

"Are you sure you understand what this all entails darling?" I wasn't the only one surprised by this turn of events it seems. Fluttershy however smiled reassuringly at Rarity's inquiry.

"Oh, I know, and I realize this will probably entail killing some poor creature for its meat." Personally, I find that doubtful. Fluttershy was way too casual about this. "As much as I may not like this, I realize it's a necessary evil. And after Mister Solaris explained everything when we met him in the woods I've done some thinking on the matter. Humans are predators, and as such they hunt and eat other critters. It's a natural turn of events."

"That's… a surprisingly mature way of looking at things." Twilight admitted after a moment of stunned silence. That was literally the last thing any of us expected to come from Fluttershy, that's for sure. Twi however wasn't finished yet. "What if Lord Foxglove isn't going out hunting for food, but instead for sport? I remember reading that griffons sometime do that, so it's possible humans as omnivores do so as well."

For a second there Fluttershy seemed to be pondering this possibility, her brows furrowed in thought. Ultimately however she looked back at Twilight, a determined gleam I have never seen in her eyes before now sparkling resolutely. "If that's the case than I still want to go. Maybe if I'll be there I'll be able to do something to save some of those poor critters."

Well, while more like classic Fluttershy, I still had a hard time imagining her willingly (or successfully) foiling something for someone. One would think the embodiment of kindness wouldn't be able to do something so quote-unquote 'mean'. Not to mention it caught everypony by surprise. It took a good moment for the girls to find their voices and continue.

"So I can count on you helping me out this situation I found myself girls?" Rarity asked hopefully. Fluttershy quickly nodded, that same resolute look in her eyes still there. Twilight however hesitated for a bit before she gave her own answer.

"I suppose I should go. I mean if Lord Foxglove really is dangerous than you will need all the help you can get. And besides, it'll be a great opportunity to gather some notes on human behavior for my studies."

"You mean you seriously plan on writing about humans once we're back home?" I couldn't help but ask. Deep inside I knew perfectly well the moment she said that those three days back she was serious, but now she just drove it home, especially after she gave me an eager nod. Sighing and shaking my head, I looked back at Rarity and gave what I hoped was a reassuring-slash-charming smile. "Sure, like Twilight said: the more of us there, the less chance that creep will have to do something to you."

"Actually, I wanted you to stay in Sandpoint Spike." …what?

I slowly turned in the direction of the voice that said those most horrible of words, and was unsurprised to come face to face with Twilight. She was looking at me like she always did when she was telling me to stay behind while she went off on adventures. But this time I vowed to myself this was going to be different. I was not going to sit this one out, not if Rarity's life was at stake, and Twi didn't have a library to fall back on.

"No, I'm going with you." I stated as calmly as I could, which may have came out a little bit eerily. I tried to give those words an air of finality, but considering my win-lose ratio when it came to arguing with Twilight I had absolutely no experience in doing so.

As expected, Twi shook her head in refusal. "No, you're not. I have something for you to do while I'll be gone, so…"

"And what could you possibly have me to do here, huh? You don't run a library here, so keeping an eye on it is not an excuse. And Fluttershy doesn't have any critters I should be looking after either." I felt a little dirty for dragging 'Shy into this, but I rather cover all the bases. Crossing my arms I nodded to myself. "I'm going with you guys."

Twilight looked at me inscrutably for a few moments, but I didn't let her intimidate me by that. I was not going to back off on this one, no sir.

"Spike. Our room. Now." Aaaand now I realize how stupid I was thinking this was going to end well for me. Twilight rarely used that tone of voice, her 'you listen here, buster' voice as I dubbed it, but once she did, I knew perfectly well I was going to regret whatever I did. Sighing, I hopped off my stool and made my way towards the our shared room, Twilight following close by after she excused us.

By the time we got to our room I was genuinely nervous. I didn't really know what to expect from Twi, only that I wasn't going to like it, but I still held onto my resolve. I was not going to back out on this one.

"Twilight?" …curse my traitorous throat for squeaking just now! How am I going to convince her to let me go if I sounded like a rubber duck? It didn't really help that Twi wasn't even looking at me, having her back turned towards me and facing the door.

A minute passed, and then another. By this point I was both confused and borderline terrified of what was about to happen. Just what in the hay had she thought up, what sort of evil idea bubbled to the surface of the vast ocean of her intellect? The suspense is killing me!

"Spike, I'm not doing this to spite you." Finally, we're getting somewhere. That made me relax a bit. And I even knew what was about to happen; over the years I started to make a mental list all the methods Twilight used to make me do what she wanted, and this started out like a typical #17. "I really, really need help with this, and you're the only one I trust enough with this type of responsibility." Yep, typical #17. She was really fond of that method, and for good reason.

I'm a sucker for #17.

"I don't know Twilight. I mean you said it yourself: Rarity needs all the help she can…" I started to weakly protest, only to be cut off by the mare I was talking to.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on Lord Foxglove and he'll won't be able to try anything funny with her. I promise." She reassured, finally turning around to face me, and… oh hay no! Anything but that! "Just please, stay in Sandpoint Spike. I need my number one assistant here."

Damn you Twilight! Damn you and your adorable puppy-dog eyes!

Gotta stay strong buddy, don't you dare succumb to that look! She knows full well that's your only weakness and is using it against you. Be a better dragon and take it without flinching! You will not give in to her, you won't…

"What do you need me to do?"

…Et tu, brain?

Twilight immediately brightened up upon hearing me give in to her underhoofed manipulation techniques will, patting me on the head like if I was an obedient dog. Oh well, here's to hoping whatever task she came up with wasn't going to much of a pain.

> Act Three Chapter Eight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 4 of Rova (Presumably 27 of October 1000 SR), Noon


Remember how I hoped Twi's task wasn't going to be a pain? Well, let's just say that I haven't been so disappointed since that time it became clear we weren't going to go to Moondancer's party.

You may ask then: what was it that I was 'the only one Twilight trusted enough to handle the responsibility of', and what made me feel so bitter? The answer to that one is very simple. Twilight, in her infinite wisdom decided that I was the perfect candidate to keep an eye on Trixie.

Seriously, when I learned what I was going to be spending the better part of the day on I nearly flipped. Here Twilight was, asking me to keep tabs on whatever that annoyance Trixie was planning on doing for the next six to ten hours while she was out there with Rarity, doing something actually important like keeping my fair lady from the evil clutches of that sleazy bastard that dared call himself a noble. This was so totally unfair!

It didn't help that Twi had some solid grounds to ask me to do that in the first place. As much as she was generally trusting, Twilight wasn't stupid (or at least I assumed she wasn't), and Trixie's usual behavior and character did point to her not being the most trustworthy pony out there. Most probably, if given the occasion, the magician wouldn't hesitate to skip town and leave us to fend for ourselves, arrogantly and completely groundlessly assuming she was better off without us 'dragging her down' and trying to strike it out in this new world alone, in doing so possibly dooming us to spending the rest of our lives here. Not that Twi put it like that, no. She may have phrased that as 'checking up on Trixie and seeing if she was over that yesterday's incident', but I knew how to read between the lines. *sigh* At least there was some sense in this errand.

After that was all said and done, and my begrudging cooperation was secured, Twi, Flutters and Rarity left to prepare for the day, leaving me to do as I was asked. Dragging my feet and silently cursing my lot in life, I made my way to the cathedral square and waited. Sure, I had a task to complete, but that didn't mean I really wanted to be anywhere near that annoying fraud. Especially in light of what my treacherous brain came up with yesterday. Seriously, I was still weirded out by that. If only I could avoid having to interact with her.

And that, ladies and gentlecolts, is how you come up with a brilliant idea. Why interact with Trixie when you can keep an eye on her from afar? It was the perfect solution! I wouldn't be forced to listen to her constant tirades on how 'great and powerful' she was and avoid her prodding as to how I managed to surpass her in terms of gaining magical abilities, all the while fulfilling Twilight's task. With that in mind I sought out a nice, secluded place and prepared to shadow Trixie as soon as she was going to leave the threshold of the holy house.

I didn't have to wait long. In a manner of minutes the silver-maned magician strutted out the cathedral, casting her violet eyes on the square as if expecting some sort of audience. None of the passersby spared her any of their attention though, which had the comical effect of Trixie visibly deflating, her pompous stride shifting into a more neutral, if not slightly dejected one. Stiffening a chuckle, I proceeded to follow her from what I deemed a safe distance, suddenly far less annoyed than moments before.

That was about four hours ago. Ample time for me to get bored, especially since to my great shock Trixie wasn't as attention-seeking as I initially thought. And yes, I know that sounds like a load of horseapples, so before anyone accuses me of spewing nonsense let me reiterate: Trixie wasn't as attention-seeking as I initially thought, which doesn't mean she didn't bask in the attention some were giving her. It just meant she wasn't actively tooting her own horn for a change. And truth be told, she wasn't the only one getting such attention, but more about that later.

All in all, I was half-expecting Trixie to try something funny during the day, or at least sufficiently suspicious to warrant a reaction. What I got instead was a fairly normal morning following a magician that for once wasn't acting all that infuriating and was simply going about with her life, or at least what constituted for it given the circumstances. A visit at the tavern, where she ate and if I'm not mistaken inquired about our whereabouts; a walk around town, probably in an attempt to memorize the topography; and last but not least: a prolonged practice session with the new magic she wielded now, its entirety taking place in a small, secluded, out of the way part of town. Nothing truly suspicious.

I have spent the vast majority of my life with Twilight, a mare whose interest in magic bordered on obsession. I've seen her conduct research, study for hours on end, and run experiments. Heck, since I was six and knew how to write I was an integral part of the latter, either jotting down her rapid-fire observations or serving as a test subject/dummy. I liked to think of myself therefore as one well versed in the theory behind the study of magic and a Twilight Sparkle behaviorist. As such, watching Trixie of all ponies act in a way similar enough to my lavender companion to remind me of her made me feel slightly unnerved.

The first thing Trixie did was apparently attempt to access her unicorn magic, or at least I assumed it was that. Standing in one place for a few moments with a look of concentration painted on her face, it wasn't that hard to deduce. Especially after she started to ball her hands into fists and clench her eyes shut. Unfortunately, that proved to be nothing more than a waste of her time and effort and only served to unknowingly confirm Twilight's earlier assessment.

Having run into a dead end, Trixie let out an dejected huff and settled to studying her copy of that book from a mysterious 'well wisher', where the similarities to Twilight really started to come in. Just like Twi, Trixie started out by carefully reading whatever were the contents of her spellbook, taking her time and if necessary reading certain passages several times. Only after fifteen to twenty minutes of that did she even consider attempting whatever new magic the book divulged to her, and even that was punctured with consulting the text and/or several dry runs. Seriously, the amount of prep work Trixie was putting into her attempts at spellcasting was very reminiscent of Twilight's work ethic. Probably the most noticeable difference between the two was the fact Twi was known to smile during the whole process, while Trixie allowed herself to smirk only after accomplishing what she set out before herself.

Watching what little magic the silver-maned magician managed to accomplish since the start of this practice session I was beginning to see a pattern. The very first spell she tried was to my knowledge a sort of magical firework shooting out of the tip of her wand. Half an hour later, and she was literally spraying a cone of brilliant, almost blindingly so, colors from it. Several minutes later and a multitude of disembodied balls of light sprout from her star-tipped wand and floated around her like a group of fireflies. So yes, the pattern was easily noticeable: all the spells Trixie practiced had something to do with light, color, or more broadly with flashiness. I really shouldn't be that surprised by that.

I was slowly getting bored by the whole thing. I mean magic is always interesting to watch, there's no denying that, especially since the moment I realized I could do it too, but having to endure several minutes of preparation work only to be rewarded by a single spell would make anypony consider seeking entertainment elsewhere. Unfortunately, I didn't really have anything else to do, and my accursed devotedness towards whatever Twilight told me to do prevented me from just leaving. Slowly getting bored out of my mind I was starting to wish something, anything really, would happen to finally break the monotony.

"What're ya doin' here Spike?" Thank whatever higher power that watched over me, a distraction!

"Oh, you know, nothing much." I replied, turning to face my very much welcome guest. "Just wasting my time on pointless little things that don't benefit anypony whatsoever. How about you AJ?" I sent her a slightly strained smirk.

Applejack, who I realized was going to be my conversation buddy for the time being the moment she opened her mouth didn't look particularly impressed with my poorly veiled sarcasm. She was in her town watch uniform, signifying she was still on duty, but her relaxed body language seemed to point out she wasn't on duty strictly.

"Ya sure you're alright sugarcube? 'Cause from where Ah'm standin' it seems you're sore as a saddle-burnt cowpony after Canterlot State Fair about somethin'." Way to hit the nail on the head there AJ.

"It's a long story." I replied shrugging and stepped away from the corner I used as cover, sitting on a nearby bench and mentioning her to join me. Having nothing to do at the time being she did just that, and sensing an ear willing to hear me out I launched into an abridged version of this morning's events.

By the time I ended, Applejack was giving me a peculiar look. It wasn't one of sympathy to my plight, at least not entirely, but it wasn't an annoyed one, so at the very least I was certain I didn't bore her. Problem is, I couldn't really tell what was it that she was thinking. Fortunately, AJ wasn't one to hide what was troubling her and soon enough voiced her problems.

"So ya mean ta tell me that you've been tailin' Trixie since this morn? Don't ya think that's a bit on the creepy side?"

"It's not like I'm stalking her or something!" I defended myself, maybe a bit too fervently seeing the raised eyebrow on the farmer's face. Seriously though, once she alluded that, I immediately switched into defensive mode. "I'm just keeping an eye on her so she doesn't try anything funny, just like Twilight asked me to."

"But didn't Twi ask ya just ta check up on her?" As the raised eyebrow on AJ's face was joined by a smirk I suddenly realized something. Actually, I realized several somethings, the key one being the reason my face suddenly became a passable imitation of a stove.

"I… I'm not… I mean, I don't even…" Okay, I admit; I spluttered there for a few moments, but who can blame me, right? This came completely out of left field and I was as prepared for this as I was prepared for a mid-June snowstorm. Fortunately, I was spared from having to endure this much longer.

"Calm down there sugarcube, Ah'm just messin' with ya." Applejack chuckled good-naturedly, ruffling my hair (still can't get over the fact I have those) as she did. For a second there I wanted to be annoyed at her for even insinuating something like that, but one look into her deep green eyes made me swallow my words.

I really wish I knew what was going on with me.

"Har har." Was all I managed in response, trying to look irritated and probably failing exceptionally at it if AJ's chuckle was anything to go by. Fortunately, that was the moment the second most prominent something came to my mind, making me scowl in quite real irritation. "You mean to tell me I just wasted the whole morning doing something I really didn't have to do? Well this is just fan-friggin-tastic!"

"Come now Spike, it wasn't that big of a deal. Ya did what ya thought ya oughta be doin', ain’t nopony gonna say ya did wrong."

"Yeah, because what I did wasn't just wrong. It was more like the biggest blunder since the Canterlot Tea Party." I muttered. Seeing the lack of recognition on Applejack's face I elaborated. "Once I accidentally spilled the contents of a sugar bowl and refilled it with salt lick instead of sugar."

"That doesn't really seem all that bad…"

"It was in Canterlot Palace and Princess Celestia was currently receiving a delegation from Saddle Arabia. And let's just say they like their tea sweet." The wince AJ pantomimed told me she understood the gravity of that particular blunder. Suffice to say from that day forward the Saddle Arabian ambassadors always brought their own sugar.

Still though, this was one thing that really annoyed the hay out of me, and like the blabbermouth that I am I couldn't keep my thoughts to myself. "I can't believe I got myself so duped by this! I mean I could've done all this in five minutes and went with the girls, but no, I just had to make up a whole story behind what Twi told me. Can't believe I'm so stupid."

There's no telling how long I would've went on like that if not for Applejack's intervention. The moment she realized what I was doing she stood from her seat and faced me with a rather intimidating look, forcing me momentarily to shut up. Having accomplished that much, AJ used the pause in the torrent of my self-degrading laments and launched a counteroffensive.

"Now don't go telling yourself that Spike, ya ain’t any of that! If anything, Ah would've done the same thing in your horseshoes. Just between the two of us: Ah don' trust that Trixie gal further than Ah can throw 'er."

"But I could've went with Rarity and Twilight and help them out with that creep Foxglove…" I countered weakly, trying I don't know why to cling to my self-pity. Fortunately AJ had an answer to that as well.

"Lemme put it like this: Twi's a sweet gal an' all, but she's a bit on the naïve side. She may have asked ya only ta check up on Trixie, but what ya did was the smart thing." She reasoned. "An' if Ah remember right Twilight said somethin' 'bout needin' her around ta make sure we can repeat whatever magical mumbo-jumbo sent us here in the first place. If lil' miss important over yonder decided ta skip town, we'd be as stuck here as an applecart in the middle of a mudslide. Ya at least made sure that didn' happen. An' Ah could'a picked a better time ta tease ya." She added as an afterthought. That however made me think of something.

"So what you're saying is that I really was supposed to keep an eye on Trixie?" By this point I really wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing, so I rather make sure. And the answer I received was at the very least encouraging.

"Ah recon so. Twi mighta worded it different, an' Ah don't think she had ya sneakin' behind her in mind, but as Ah see it ya were doin' good." She nodded with finality, giving me an encouraging smile I couldn't help but return. Seeing she managed to save the situation Applejack plopped herself back on the bench, the chain shirt she wore letting out a soft jingle.

"Say" I started, only now realizing something about this whole situation "Aren't you supposed to be on duty right now?"

"Eeeyup." She nodded.

"And yet you're hanging out with me." I stated, rising my eyebrow at her.

"Eeeyup." She nodded again and shot me a sideways glance. "Want me ta leave?"

"No, no, it's nothing like that." I assured. "It's just… I was expecting something like this from Rainbow Dash, not you. What's with you being the most dependable of ponies?"

That seemed to get her attention. Applejack, who until now was leaning back in her seat and resting her back on a nearby wall straightened in her seat and readjusted her hat on her head in slight agitation. I'm starting to get the impression that I unknowingly prodded where her where I shouldn't be prodding.

"Ah'm still the dependable one Spike, Ah'm just on break." She made sure I got the point, looking a bit affronted by what I was suggesting. Either that, or she didn't appreciate being compared to Rainbow and her legendary laid-back disposition. However there was still something that didn't seem quite right to me.

"The watch force here gets to have breaks?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Normally nah, but since Ah'm still new to this whole guard-business Ah get to have a break. Mah partner's taken over for the time being." AJ replied simply, leaning back again and covering her eyes with the rim of her Stetson. If she didn't do that however she would've witness how I just came up with a devious idea for payback.

"Your partner, huh?" Seeing her momentarily stiffen at the tone of my voice was precisely what I wanted to see.

It took Applejack a moment to come up with a response. "Ah deserved that one, didn't Ah?" She smirked.

"Oh yeah, totally." I nodded between chuckles and was soon joined by a short one from AJ herself. A moment later however I continued more seriously. "Seriously though, you, Pinks, and RD are being paired up with the locals? Didn't that whole sheriff guy say something about having his forces spread thin or something?"

"Yup, he did. But he can't just give us uniforms an' expect us ta automatically know everythin' 'bout the trade." AJ explained, shifting once more to look at me. "So the first few days we're havin' his men show us the ropes. Ah lucked out and ended up with Titus… ya know, the fellar that was with us yesterday in the lab." She added once she noticed the look I was giving her.

I shook my head hearing this. "Oh, I know who he is. I'm just wondering why you claim to have 'lucked out' with getting him to work with you."

"That's simple Spike: it was either workin' with him, Asper" I remembered the guy from two days back from the Rusty Dragon "or that Ernie fellar. As far as Ah'm concerned Rainbow got the short end o' the stick."

"Really? Who's she working with?"

"Ernie." She replied shortly, the name being said in such a way it was on the verge of being spat out.

"You still don't like him, do ya?"

"Doubt Ah ever will." AJ muttered, a bit of anger spilling into her voice. "Ah mean Ah get it: the guy's a difficult one ta get along with and all 'round a pain for no reason, but after the way he talked 'bout mah Ma an' Pa ah have ta force mahself not ta lay a hurtin' on 'im."

"Yeah, I hear you."  I nodded, imagining myself in her position. I'm really not sure how I would react if somepony one implied my folks were drunk when naming me. Then again, if something like that were to happen the guy would have the whole Royal Guard on his tail, not only just me to deal with. Perks of being given a name by Princess Celestia herself.

"Still, Ah got a few moments ta spare, so Ah decided ta kick back an' look for any of y'all. Happened ta run into ya first." Applejack concluded our earlier topic, letting me know that she didn't want to talk any more about the grump known as Ern. Truth on the matter, I didn't want to continue it either, so the change in the subject was a welcome one.

We chatted like that for a while more, touching upon a multitude of subjects. I brought AJ up to speed for example when it came to our predicted return date, or rather the lack there of. To say Applejack didn't take that well was an understatement of the century. She immediately started to worry about her family and how they were going to manage without her help. Listening to her, I was led to believe that she was the main pillar upon which Sweet Apple Acres stood, and that without her the old family business was doomed to fail. And since this was coming from the Element of Honesty herself, it was quite possible this was truly going to be the case. That, or AJ simply exaggerated her role in the functioning of the farm and everything was going to be fine. Realizing bringing this up was a mistake I quickly steered the conversation somewhere else, hoping to take Applejack's mind off home. Thankfully, I managed to do just that.

The first thing I thought of was the strange behavior of the locals. Truth be told it all started since the day after the goblin raid, or more specifically after guard Asper let it slip that we were involved in stopping the green menace from burning the town to the ground. Many Sandportians since then were staring at us, muttering amongst themselves and generally acting weird in our presence. It even would've been creepy, if not for the nature of those stares and hushed conversations, and what they morphed to over the next two days.

It started out simple enough. The locals started to greet us on the streets, no matter how many of us were present or which of us it was. Some even went as far as to go out of their ways to pass us by and insisted on shaking hands with us. Others took it a step further and straight up congratulated us on our exploits, thanking us for what we did and in many a case grossly exaggerating our contributions. There were also those that decided it was a good idea to shower us with compliments or even in a few cases flirt with the girls (which by the way irritated me to no end). Then again, I wasn't being left out on that front and a few of the smaller folk, either my own 'new' race or Pinkie's acted a similar way around me, and at least one taller woman acted like that too. No, I'm not stroking my ego, what gave you that idea?

There was also a small percentage of those that really were going too far with it by actually giving us gifts. Some we managed to refuse, especially those that seemed to be a bit too expensive to accept, others we weren't even given the chance to refuse, those being pressed into our arms by individuals that hurriedly walked away without giving us a chance to even say anything. Among the assortment of small knick-knacks we ended up with this way there were even some genuinely funny ones, like a small wooden figurine depicting a goblin running around with its head on fire that Pinkie took a liking to. My favorite however were the more edible gifts, especially since my new body was a fair bit skinnier than my normal chubby self and made quite a few women fawn over how malnourished I looked. Even now I still had half a loaf of garlic bread I readily shared with AJ.

Having all that happen to us, the locals acting as if we were some sort of local heroes worthy of praise (we really weren't) made for a quite fun topic to discuss. Especially considering there were times where the locals took it upon themselves to really make us feel special, usually ending in their attempts comically backfiring. Sharing those stories, reminiscing more spectacular ones, sharing personal experiences, or talking about the experiences of others led to a few laughs and successfully distracted Applejack from her worries, at least for a time. Unfortunately, it couldn't last forever, and soon enough we ended up exhausting what little stories we had.

Finding ourselves again without any conversation topic I decided to allow AJ to pick what to talk about next. Sadly for me, that meant listening to Applejack ramble about the proper methods of caring for apple trees. The moment I realized what I had unleashed upon myself I already knew more about dendrology than I care to think about.

Just as Applejack was getting to the juicier parts of the morphology of a recent apple tree crossbreed named Jonagold or something like that I realized I couldn't really take much more of this. I mean come on -how much can one dragon take of tree-talk? Seeking a way out of this that wouldn't seem offensive to AJ I quickly found something that might prove helpful.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I think I should check up on Trixie." I said, silently hoping the second-grade magician really did something I'd need to investigate. Fortunately Applejack was none the wiser and without even the smallest of complaints allowed me to do my thing.

Getting to my corner I once again peered from behind it at the magician. To my chagrin, everything seemed to be perfectly normal. Trixie was still sitting there, nose buried in her book and probably trying to grasp the intricacies of yet another spell. I was about to turn back to Applejack and surrender myself to another onslaught of apple knowledge when I was struck by a sudden realization.

"That's odd." I stated, loud enough for Applejack to catch that.

"What is?" As expected she got interested once I said that. Seeing nothing against sharing what I found I filled AJ in.

"Trixie's still reading." Okay, maybe not exactly fill her in, but that was a start. Too bad Applejack didn't  share my sentiment.

"And what exactly is strange 'bout that?" She asked, joining me at my corner and peering over me to look at the still, reading form of Trixie. "Maybe somethin' interested her, or tickled her fancy another way. That's her version of Twi's magic book, right?"

"Yeah, it is." I nodded. "And it's strange because until now no spell took her longer than half an hour to crack. I'm quite sure I didn't hear her cast anything since you showed up, so that would mean she's been at it for an hour at the very least."

"Maybe whatever she's studyin' ain’t as easy as whatever she tried castin' earlier?" Applejack suggested, now more interested in what I was seeing in this situation.

"Maybe. Or maybe there's something else going on." I mused, an idea forming in my head. It would mean forgoing my peace and interacting with Trixie, but choosing between that and learning the difference between a golden delicious and a lobo, I was weighing my options.

Finally, I decided to risk it. Walking around my protective corner I started making my way towards the magician, leaving a surprised Applejack behind me. As soon as I made myself visible I was expecting Trixie to notice my approach and at the very least scowl in my direction, but she seemed to be completely oblivious to my presence, too engrossed in whatever it was that she was reading. Only after I got close enough to comfortably talk with her had she reacted to my presence, looking up at me and narrowing her eyes, still staying silent.

It was in that moment that I realized I hadn't the slightest clue what I wanted to accomplish by this. I hadn't planned for actually interacting with the magician, too focused on the oddity that I first noticed to really stop and think. I knew I couldn't just straight up ask her what was up: that would no doubt make her realize I've been tailing her, and I doubted she'd take kindly to that little revelation. So instead I did the first thing that came to mind.

"Err…" If you were expecting a brilliant master plan then Twilight's sadly out of town. The greatest height of the noble art of oratory I was capable of at that moment had just been dotted down by yours truly.

Trixie seemed to agree with me on that one and instead of just giving me the stink eye she now was giving me one with her eyebrow arched questioningly. She still didn't bother to say anything, just staring at me in complete silence. It was unnerving to say the least.

Having just about enough of her silent treatment I finally managed to force something out of me that wasn't on par with the vocabulary of a retarded puppy (with apologies to any dogs suffering from retardation): "What? Never had a dragon walk up on you?"

Genius Spike, genius.

I was expecting some sort of smug retort from the magician; actually, I hoped for one. Still, Trixie stayed silent, the only response she gave me being a roll of her eyes and turning her attention back on her book. This infuriated me to no end, and I didn't shy away from making her know just how I felt.

"Will you stop ignoring me for five seconds and say something?! What, you suddenly did a one-eighty and figured silence is golden or something? Or did you figure we're too good for you and you don't dare speak to us? Because if that's the case then I welcome this change."

"Spike! What're ya doin'?!" Applejack finally caught up with what I was doing and was rushing towards me, looking between me and Trixie. It was obvious she didn't know what I was aiming to accomplish by what I said, and truth be told, I didn't know either. All I did know was that I wanted Trixie to react, no matter how, and figured egging her on was my best bet to accomplish just that.

It seems I was wrong.

Even though in any other situation the silver haired magician would've retaliated to what I was saying, either verbally or physically, the most Trixie did was give me a massive, hateful glare. Seriously, not a peep was heard from her, not even the slightest. It was odd enough to confuse even AJ, who stopped once I was in reach of her arms and just looked dumbfounded at the con mare.

"Okay, this' some really freaky horseapples going on." I heard her mutter, eyes still on the magician. As for my part, I focused on the silent form of Trixie, seeing her fuming at me and… wait, something's not right here.

"What the…" I started, eyes glued not to Trixie herself, but to the crate she was sitting on. There was something odd about it, or rather there was something odd about the way it interacted with the mare. At first I couldn't place it, so I instinctively stepped forward to investigate, ignoring the fact I was intruding on Trixie's personal space.

The reaction I got from the magician wasn't exactly what one would expect from such an action. Still silent, Trixie didn't protest or question what I was doing, but instead slipped off of the crate and started to backpedal away from me, the look on her face changing from utter contempt to nervousness quicker than one can blink. The thing is, all that happened in complete silence, with absolutely no sound of either the magician snapping her book shut, the fabric of her clothes rustling, or even her footfalls, which should be audible on the dirt road. In other words, the silence was clearly unnatural, or rather supernatural in its origin, which only served to further fuel my suspicions.

Making a split-second decision I rushed forward, catching 'Trixie' off guard. My goal was simple: check whether or not the mare in front of me was really her or some sort of elaborate trick I almost fell for. Unfortunately, Applejack wasn't on the same page as me, and the moment I rushed forward she must've thought I wanted to somehow attack 'Trixie', which in the end wasn't that far from the truth. Using her superior reach to her advantage, AJ managed to grab me by the back of my shirt and with a surprised 'whoa Nelly' effectively stopped me from tackling the magician. I did manage to reach 'Trixie's' retreating leg with a wild swipe though, and that was all I really needed. It didn't however make this any less weird than it already was.

My hand literally passed through her.

I momentarily stood still, eyes wide in shock. I was half expecting to be wrong, my little theory being nothing more than something a madman would come up with. But in the advent of what just happened, the fact my very own hand passed through 'Trixie' like through air, encountering no resistance whatsoever, it made me question reality. I was literally starting to suspect I lost it when to my great relief Applejack asked, in a tone both confused and slightly scared, a simple question:

"Did your claw just done passed through 'er?"

So I didn't go mad. Good to know.

AJ and I both stared at what we thought was Trixie with uncomprehending looks, confused out of our minds. In the meantime 'Trixie' stopped her retreat mid step, literally freezing in place, her violet eyes staring at us. And then, without any warning her whole frame, from the tips of her pointy ears to the very soles of her feet started to dissolve, like if a mass of colorful gas that until recently was held together by some sort of magic in a likeness of the magician was suddenly released. She literally dissipated in thin air, leaving nothing behind save a quickly vanishing multi-colored mist.

"What… just… happened?" Applejack prodded unsure. In response I shook my head, trying to get my brain to function properly.

"I… think she disappeared into thin air?" My answer was laced with enough doubt to fill a Equestria Games pool.

"Ah noticed. Just… how?"

"I… think she wasn't here to begin with." I started, and once AJ's eyes fell on me asking me to continue I did. "She probably knew I was tailing her and waited for an opportunity to ditch me, and that spellbook of hers must've contained a spell that helped her. What we saw here… it was some kind of illusion, and a darn good one. I literally didn't know it wasn't really Trixie until I noticed the shadows."

"What shadows?" Applejack asked, looking surprised at my unusually insightful explanation. Seriously, even I was surprised I figured it out so fast. Still, her question needed answering.

"The illusion, it didn't really cast any shadow. It might've been darker on one side and lighter on the other, emulating the presence of a source of light, but it didn't actually cast any shadows itself. And then there was the fact it was completely mute, to the point of lacking even the sounds of movement…" I trailed off, looking around.

"Well shoot Spike, Ah didn' take ya fer such a perceptive fellar. Ah didn' notice a darn thing of what ya just described." The praise given to me, although pleasant, wasn't able to distract me from the realization that slowly crept on me. My eyes narrowed and an angry scowl made its way onto my face as I glared around myself. Noticing that, Applejack did the obvious thing.

"What's a matter with ya Spike? Somethin' wrong?"

"Trixie's not here." I stated simply, my words coming out more like a growl. "She tricked me. She tricked me and I don't have the slightest idea where she's at! Damn it all to Tartarus! How am I gonna explain this one to Twilight?!"

I really messed this one up, didn't I? Letting myself be duped so easily. I was slowly starting to wonder how long ago had Trixie slipped away. Probably the moment she realized I was more focused on Applejack than her, which would make it over half an hour. Ample time for her to get a serious head start on me. Only hope I had on ever gaining on her would be if I'd recruit Rainbow Dash, and that's only if she was still as fast on land as she was in the air as a pony. Not to mention I didn't have the slightest idea where Trixie ran off to in the first place. So yeah, there was no way I was going to fix this.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by the sensation of a hoof hand being placed on my shoulder. Looking at its owner, I was greeted by Applejack, giving me a reassuring look.

"Don't ya fret none Spike, Ah'm sure it'll end up fine. Iffin ya want Ah can help ya look, and Ah suppose Ah can convince the guys from the watch ta help out as well." That was a nice gesture, to be sure. Still, I had my doubts about whether or not this would help in any way, but AJ didn't have to know that right now.

"Thanks, I think I'll need it." I replied after a moment, taking a deep, calming breath. If I was going to do this, I needed to approach this calm and collected-like. Having accomplished that, I opened my mouth to suggest we get to work, when something happened that threw a wrench in my plan.

"Stop you thieving scum! Stop I say!" The voice, though distant, was still familiar enough to place with a face, in this case the guard known as Asper. Judging by his words he was in the middle of an intervention, and then judging by the racket we could easily deduce they were coming our way.

Great.

Applejack quickly realized that the situation probably would require her involvement, so, after giving me an apologetic look, she turned in the direction of the ruckus, drawing her sword as she did. Not wanting to leave her on her own however, as well as figuring this was the right thing to do, I pushed the thoughts of the missing magician to the back of my head and joined AJ, attempting to act as support. Without a weapon, with no armor on, and not knowing what I should be expecting, I really doubted I would be of any use.

We didn't have to wait long for the source of the commotion to come into view. Making a sharp turn from a nearby alley, a short (for a human) figure emerged, skidding to a halt upon noticing the two of us. The individual was clad in some loose, colorful clothing, disheveled by all the running he was doing, contrasting with his tan skin and raven black hair. He looked like he'd just passed his teen years and entered into adulthood, with a short, scraggly beard covering his chin like moss just starting to cover a rock.

The supposed thief was scanning the alley frantically, looking for a way to avoid us. His dark eyes darted from one side of the street to the other, searching for an opening, but to his chagrin there wasn't one within reach. The closest exit was right behind AJ and me, and he didn't seem too thrilled with the prospect of having to get past a guard and her midget companion. And judging by the shouting coming from the alley he came from, backtracking wasn't an option.

A short standoff ensued between us and the pilferer, neither wanting to make the first move. Weighing his options, the thief was getting more frantic by the minute, and it was clear he would make a mistake sooner rather than later. All we had to do was wait.

That's when things took a turn to the bizarre.

"Surrender and repent you scoundrel! Your days of evildoing are coming to a swift end!" There was only one voice I knew of that could possibly reach such volume, and it belonged to Pinkie Pie. Momentarily stunned by her sudden entrance into the fray and confused by her unusual phrasing I began searching for the pink mare. The odd thing was that her voice seemed to come from up above rather than from ground level, and…

I immediately looked towards a nearby roof, and sure enough, that's where I found Pinkie. She was standing on the very edge of a one storey building, hands on her hips and the short mantle billowing in a wind I was sure wasn't really there, looking down upon the stunned thief. Her face seemed to radiate conviction and one would be hard pressed to find any of her usual playfulness, which put me slightly on edge. Last time Pinkie wasn't smiling, she was near depressed and Applejack almost accused me of being the reason for it. But the thing that was most noticeable was the tirade she was delivering.

"The long arm of Law and Justice is unavoidable, and I, as its proud agent, shall put an end to your evil ways! Yet, as I am bound by the Laws of peace and amnesty I am required to issue you a final warning: surrender now and turn yourself in peacefully, or suffer the consequences! Remember, you can always change your ways, all you need do is allow it to happen!"

That was… the cheesiest thing that ever came out of Pinkie's mouth, that's for sure. It didn't help that she struck a 'heroic' pose at its end, flashing a brilliant yet mirthless smile down on the young thief. Suffice to say everypony and everybody within hearing distance of the pink party planner ended up completely frozen, giving her incomprehensive looks.

Since the thief, as utterly confused by what just happened as we were, didn't say a thing, Pinkie must have taken this as a refusal. Straightening up and giving the young adult a remorseful look she shook her head in disappointment. "If this is what you have chosen then I cannot but pity you. And remember: you have brought this upon yourself. For Justice!!!" Aaand she leapt off the roof. Why am I not surprised?

"Whoa Nelly!" Applejack immediately reacted to the sight of her falling friend, tossing aside her weapon and speeding towards where she figured Pinkie would land. It didn't help that the jump performed by the pink menace wasn't just your typical leap of faith, but instead an unnecessarily elaborate, highly acrobatic jump, like something straight from a gymnastics show. Not only catching her would be incredibly difficult, but also judging where she was going to fall.

It was a stroke of luck that Applejack managed to end up at the right place at the right time. Just as Pinkie was about to reach the ground, face first might I add, AJ performed an equivalent of a slide tackle and managed to cushion the fall. It did knock the wind out of her, and the two mares ended up in a tangle of limbs, but at least Pinkie was unhurt. Unfortunately, all that served to make an opening for the young thief, one that he was quick to utilize.

Even though he was as confused as anyone else by what just happened, the pilferer didn't lose track of his surroundings. The moment Pinkie and Applejack collided was the moment guard Asper cleared the corner and rushed towards the youth, followed by two beefy individuals that themselves looked like some sort of thugs. That's when the diminutive-looking runner sprung into motion. He nimbly dodged guard Asper, who tried to tackle him, sending him sprawling to the ground, and just as easily got out of the way of the no-necks, sprinting in the direction of the only other way out of the alley.

As could be expected, AJ and Pinkie weren't able to stop him, still trying to untangle themselves. The thief just ran past them, not even bothering to look at them, and sped towards me. Of course, being small for a human meant he was still twice my size, which made his charge all the more menacing in my eyes. He could probably bodily shove me out of the way and get past me without breaking a sweat, but that didn't mean I wasn't going to put up a fight. Once again willing myself to work what little magic I knew, I hastily conjured up the see-through magical shield, positioning it to receive the charge and hoping it was going to be enough.

I stood my ground, trying to determine if and if so then how would the robber adjust his charge to my actions. As expected, he bound to the side, trying to use his long legs to his advantage and gain some distance. I wasn't about to let him do that though and without thinking I jumped in the same direction, hoping I'd manage to catch up to him. It didn't seem that way though, at least at first, and I was starting to acknowledge my failure when something unexpected occurred.

It happened in a blink of an eye. The young man, formerly tall enough to easily tower over me suddenly shrunk, in moments becoming an inch or two shorter than I was. I saw momentary confusion blossoming on his face as he stumbled in shock, almost tripping on his now shorter legs. Admittedly I too was surprised by this turn of events, but I managed to work through the confusion and continued my countercharge. In less than half a second I felt my invisible shield connect with the thief, the shock of the contact traveling up my arm, and he finally tumbled to the ground, scrambling to his legs and trying to get away. I wasn't about to let him though, and trying to recreate my feat from the goblin invasion I jumped onto him, positioning the magic forcefield underneath my feet.

Fate is a curious thing. At times it showers you in its favor, blessing you with good fortune and allowing even the most ludicrous plans to work. Other times it bashes you on the head with a tree branch and shoves you into a snake pit. And guess whose fate has just changed?

For reasons I'm still not entirely sure my shield decided not to cooperate with me, and instead of pinning the thief to the ground it shifted upwards, like an invisible magical umbrella. That of course meant my jump ended up with my feet connecting with the thief's gut, or at least they would if he didn't prove to have reflexes quick enough to roll out of the way. Avoiding the blow, the thug tried to get away, pushing himself onto his feet. I wasn't about to let him get away though, and quickly grabbed him by his colorful shirt, trying to get a hold on him.

The pilferer seemed to have finally gotten over his initial shock and managed to think clearly. Feeling my hold on his shirt he grabbed the front of it and made a ripping motion, buttons flying in every which way as he slipped out of my hold, leaving only his garment in my grasp. Now bare-chested, the thief spun around to face me, pulling a dagger out of seemingly nowhere and slashed at my face.

Thinking quickly, I managed to grab his dagger-wielding arm and move it out of the way, the blade harmlessly sailing above my head. Seeing this the thief tried to yank his hand free, but that was when another surprising development took place. Seemingly out of nowhere a small ball of what I could only describe as pure light materialized, and started to rapidly expand. Seeing this occur I instinctively closed my eyes. Judging by the pained yelp and a torrent of curses in a language I understood only thanks to whatever brought us here, I made a good call.

Risking it, I opened my eyes and was greeted by the sight of the thief blinking rapidly, trying to clear his vision. Seeing this, I decided to pounce on the opportunity. Using one of my legs as leverage and pushing forward with the other, I bodily slammed into him and managed to trip him onto his back. Unfortunately, he managed to grab my shirt with his free hand and pulled me with him, though if that was a good thing or a bad was up to debate.

The impact his back made with the ground managed to knock the wind out of the thief's lungs. Then, once I fell on him and quite accidentally drove my knee in his gut he let out a strangled yelp, trying to curl into a ball. With me on top of him however, that was a difficult endeavor. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed my opponent was still holding onto his dagger, so I decided to remedy that. Using one of my hands to keep the guy in place, I grabbed at the offending limb and started to bash it against the ground. After two or three such slams, the weapon fell out of his grasp and clattered to the ground. Satisfied with my accomplishment, I allowed myself to lose concentration for a split second.

Big mistake.

I didn't even notice when the shrunken pilferer managed to plant his foot against my midsection until it was too late. With as much force as he could muster, the thief pushed me off himself, making me roll right off his frame and a couple of hoofs away from him. Still blinking and squinting his eyes to see, the man, who I only just noticed had a number of what I initially assumed was some sort of elaborate cutie marks (do humans even have those?) on his chest area stumbled onto his feet, blindly trying to get away from me.

A bolt of frost to the face quickly changed his mind for him.

Stumbling back to the ground and moaning in agony, the thief soon found himself surrounded by the watch and those two large thugs I mentioned before. Pinkie even went as far as to plant her hoof foot on the man's torso, pinning him to the ground, and pointing the… ugh… spoon at his throat threateningly. Sensing he lost, the man stopped struggling, only bringing his hands to his eyes and rubbing at them furiously, but even that was soon stopped by a surprisingly gruff and domineering order from Pinks.

"Yield, or taste the wrath of Justice!" And still with the cheese. This was starting to get weird.

I clambered onto my feet, patting myself down in search of any injuries and dusting myself at the same time. Everything seemed to have ended up well, but I couldn't help but wonder what had actually happened. At the very least I was sure those spells i.e., the inexplicable supernatural occurrences that came to my aid were not of my doing. Question is then: who?

"Not so wordy now that you're small, are you?" I glanced at the group surrounding the thief. The man was brought back to his feet and firmly held in place by the two gorilla-like beefcakes while guard Asper was fumbling with something at the pilferer's belt.

"Go plough yourself." The thief barked back, glaring at one of the two towering men. His face was red from the intense cold that slammed into him, and his scraggly beard seemed completely covered in frost.

Taking my eyes off the thief and turning my attention to the men holding him, I just noticed the two giants weren't like any other humans or humanoids as Twilight calls them I have ever seen before. Aside from the obvious unusual tallness of the duo, the two of them had, and I kid you not, a greenish tint to their skin. Their eyes were beady with yellowed 'whites' and seemingly slightly slit pupils; their noses seemed comically small and flat in proportion to their massive jaws, and if I'm not mistaken then actual tusks jutted out from beneath their lips, giving their visage an animalistic, wild appearance. They were also almost identical, the only visible difference being that one of them wore an earring in his short yet pointed earlobe.

My attention was drawn back to guard Asper once he found what he was looking for. Pulling away from the thief, the member of the watch held a money pouch, one that swiftly grew to its normal size once out of touch with the shrunken individual.

"Give that back!" The thief barked at the guardsman, giving him a hateful glare. "You have no right…"

"Shut your trap or I'll shut it for you." He was quickly silenced by one of the big guys roughly jerking his shoulder. "Ya should 'ave thought twice 'for stealing from Mr. Kesk."

"So, bling's all there man, or did the little prick stash away some of it?" Asked the second one.

In response guard Asper shrugged and poured the contents of the pouch onto his hand. "You tell me, I just chased him."

The one that asked the question peered over to look at what now rested on the guard's palm, and I too took the opportunity. What was on it though… In Equestria the contents of his hand would be a small fortune onto itself. Two silver ruby rings, a golden signet, a golden emerald ring with a perfectly cut stone, a silver necklace with a plain pendant, a solid golden neck chain, and several rhinestones cut into imitations of diamonds. With the exception of the last one all of those items would fetch a really high price anywhere back home, especially those made out of gold, for obvious reasons. The gems and their imitations -not nearly as valuable, the market is overflowing with precious stones as it is.

What? You try living off of gemstones without knowing how the market works.

"Get your filthy hands off of that! It's my mum's…" I'm not entirely sure who Shorty there wanted to fool, but it didn't matter. The two muscle men quickly silenced him by growling menacingly at him. Having that taken care of, the one that checked the contents of the pouch nodded.

"Seem aright. 'Least we don't have to pull the bugger's pants off and search…"

"Ah rather y'all don't do it with me around." Applejack muttered. Seems she adapted to the laws of decency of this world far quicker than I gave her credit for. "Anyways, ah get it the vermin stole from y'all?" She added a question, looking at the two jolly green giants.

The two of them exchanged a look. "Huh, didn't know Belor started to allow chicks into the guard." One of them commented, earning an annoyed look from Applejack.

"Nah, the little shit here didn't steal from us." The other ignored his companion and answered the question.

"We're workin' as… uh… what'd tha boss called it again?" The first one turned to his companion for help.

"Hired security specialists or some other garbage. And it's Mr. Kesk, not 'boss'. You remember how prickly he gets if you call him that, right?"

"Ulomur and Kilumur here work at Maver Kesk's jewelry store, they keep an eye out for anyone trying to steal from the man." Guard Asper supplied. "Which frankly is enough for me to lock up anyone they're chasing." He added, glaring at their captive.

"I told you already: I didn't steal anything!" He once again protested. "Those two are trying to rob me and just used their position to frame me…"

"Uhuh. And I'm a half orc. No offence guys." Asper added apologetically to the two green guys, who just shrugged, and in doing so almost dislocated their captive's shoulders. "Either way you're going down to the garrison. Have enough evidence to lock you up for attempted assault, even if by some stroke of fate you really didn't steal those jewels." That seemed to grate on the thief's nerves. He glared at the guard hatefully and through gritted teeth he said:

"My family's going to hear of this, dog. And once they do, you're going to be a dead man."

"And you just added a charge of criminal threats directed at an officer. Congratulations!" The guard mocked the young criminal. "Also thanks for tipping me off. Now I know you're a Sczarni bastard. Oh, Belor's gonna be ecstatic once he hears this!"

"I take it there's going to be a reward for the involvement in capturing this low-life?" Another voice questioned, and I was about to simply dismiss it as an offhand question until I realized who it belonged to.

I whipped around in the direction the voice came from, and couldn't help but stare. There, from behind the same corner I used as cover not too long ago stepped none other than Trixie herself. How she got there, or how long had she been there was a mystery, and I momentarily felt a shiver run down my spine. On the plus side, at least she didn't skip town, so that was a relief.

The magician stepped forward towards our small gathering, her gait confident and her eyes locked on guard Asper. "So, is there a reward or not?" She asked again, stopping not too far from me.

"Possibly, but from what I can tell only the little guy here would get one." He replied, pointing with his chin at me as he poured in the assorted jewelry back into the pouch. "Didn't really see how you contributed to this…"

Trixie scoffed at that, glaring at the guard. "And do you honestly believe the lizard brain over here would manage to stop him if he was still his actual size? Please, don't make Trixie laugh."

At first I wanted to be offended by this, but the combination of relief I felt once it became apparent she didn't ran off and realization that it was actually her that helped me out from the shadows made me stop. Also, I got the answer to a question I had since the day before yesterday: no, Trixie did not bluff and she in fact really did have a shrinking spell in her arsenal now.

Why do I feel like I'm going to get the nickname 'querterling'?

"That would explain where all that magic came from, yes." Surprisingly it was Pinkie Pie who agreed with the magician. "It would be only right if Trixie would get a part of the reward as well. After all she did contribute, even if from the shadows. What do you think?"

"What I think is that you need to reign in the theatrics and not jump from any more roofs." Asper deadpanned, looking at the pink firecracker. In response she gave him a sheepish smile.

"Well, at least I stalled him so you had the chance to catch up to him." She defended.

"Same thing could've been accomplished by letting those two" here he pointed at me and Applejack "block off his path. But seeing as you're still new to this thing I'll let it slide… provided you make it worthwhile for me." He added in what we (as in Applejack, Trixie, and I) thought a suggestive way.

Pinkie's smile on the other hand widened upon hearing that. "A dozen jelly donuts with extra glaze seems fair, don't you think?"

"Seriously?!" I couldn't help but ask out loud. That was like the most stereotypical thing she could suggest to the local equivalent of a police officer period. And the strangest thing was that guard Asper actually seemed to get excited at the prospect, and didn't get why we were looking at him oddly.

"What? Those sweet rings of goodness are literally to die for! I haven't eaten anything so good in all my life!"

Well, technically they were products of Pinkie Pie's uncanny baking abilities, so I guess he did have a point, and… argh! My brain hurts just thinking about this.

"So~?" Pinkie didn't forget what all this was initially about and prodded her partner with her elbow (which by the way reached somewhere around his upper thigh). Rolling his eyes, Asper replied with amusement:

"Yeah, whatever. I guess you count in for a commendation as well." He replied towards Trixie, who still was trying to wrap her head around the absurdity of a donuty bribe. Hearing this however made her snap out of her daze and flash a cocky, self-satisfied smirk. And in the meantime…

"Oi, Kil! You think we'd get a piece o' that reward if we told we helped out too?"

"Nah bro, no way in hell that'll work. We've been chasing the git since it's our job, not like we went out of our ways ta help 'em."

"So… no reward?"

"No reward. Though Mr. Kesk will probably pay us extra for a successful capture and shit."

"Sweet! Haven't been in the Pixie's Kitten in a while, it'd be nice ta relax some with tha girls."

Why do I feel like this whole Pixie's Kitten was such a place that if I went there and Twilight ever found out I'd be the second Equestrian to walk the surface of the Moon?

Everything seemed to be settling down just fine. The thief was caught, Trixie was found, and I didn't need to think up an excuse as to why I lost her for Twilight. All seemed to finally be entering a calm period. That is until I noticed something. Our Sczarni (whatever that means) 'friend' has been suspiciously silent for some time; the most he did since Trixie came into view was glare at her, and alternately at me, as if he wanted to kill us with his eyes. While disturbing to be on the receiving end of such a hate-filled look, I didn't make much of it, until the burglar started to speak that is. And once he spoke, I realized this was only the beginning.

"You two are going to die. Mark my words, I'm not going to sit in the big house for long, and once I'm out, I'm going to personally cut your balls off and feed them to you, you little shit. And as for you, cunt, I'm gonna have my way with you before I round those pointy ears of yours. And once I'm bored with you I'll see if it's true what they say about witch burning being as fun as they make it out to be."

For some reason I felt like those threats were far more sincere than the ones the man directed at guard Asper, not to mention they were far more vulgar than any other. The curious thing was that neither of the others seemed to notice, or rather none of them understood what the guy was saying. It took me some time to realize the guy wasn't talking in whatever was the common tongue around here, nor that dialect I knew he used, but something completely else. It sounded far more guttural, yet at the same time it was far more hissing, and for a reason I didn't understand it felt more… personal. Like a language I knew since I was born, like a home language that I heard for the first time after several years abroad.

I wasn't the only one that found his threats disturbing. Trixie seemed to have understood him as well, and while I couldn't really tell if she was as strongly affected as I was, it was obvious she was quite livid hearing him address her how he did and imply what he implied. Returning his hateful glare with an icy one of her own, she cleared her throat and said:

"You two muscle men may want to tighten up your hold. The shrinking spell's about to wear off." Seeing the grins on the two green guys faces the thief momentarily blanched.

"Thanks for the heads up luv. We'll hold on to 'im real thigh now." One of them replied, after which the two lifted the short man by the arms, interlocked their own with his despite his attempts to squirm from their grip, and squeezed. And by squeezed I mean 'how the hay are his arms still in one piece' squeeze.

"Well, it's all fine and dandy but we need to take this rat downtown. You guys mind giving me a hand in this?" Guard Asper asked the two half orcs (?), completely unnecessarily to be honest. Both held the thug in such a manner and were enjoying themselves so much, it was clear they weren't going to let him go anytime soon. Still, the green duo nodded in response. "Great. Pinks, you take up the rear, I'll go up front. Think of this as an exercise in escorting convicts."

"Yes sir!" Pinkie saluted, immediately taking the designated position and focusing the attention on the thief dangling between the two giants.

"And as for you, uh…" He turned to Applejack but stopped, seemingly having no idea how he should address her. Rolling her eyes, the apple farmer helped him out.

"Applejack. AJ for short. And Ah'm technically on break. Should go an' look for Titus, get the rest o' mah shift over an' done with."

"Fair enough. You do that."

"Trixie supposes it's in her best interest to go as well. She rather receive her reward sooner than later." The magician proclaimed. Seeing that guard Asper didn't seem to mind, she was about to start walking before she stopped. Her eyes narrowing, she called out. "Just one more thing before we go."

And then she hit me upside the head.

"Hey! Why the hey did you do that for!?" I cried, scratching at the place of impact. For a former unicorn she has a mean slap.

"Oh, you know what that's for, half pint." She replied simply and without elaborating started to walk, calling back to the slightly surprised guard: "Come on, Trixie doesn't have all day!"

Shrugging, Asper gave the order to move out and the procession started heading towards the town garrison. Seeing them go however, especially with Trixie joining them, I couldn't help but feel I should be going there as well, if for nothing else than to ensure I didn't screw up Twilight's request again. Although…

"Hey, Pinkie, wait up!" I called out, running after the procession. Pinkie for a second there faltered in her steps, giving me an opportunity to catch up to her, but didn't seem to acknowledge me until I was close enough to hold a hushed conversation.

"Make this quick, okay Spike? I don't want to fail an order that early in my career." I was momentarily surprised by the tone and devotion in the party pony's voice, but brushed it off as one of her many random episodes.

"Listen, can I ask you a favor?" I asked.

"Sure, what do you need?" Nope, still odd.

"Can you keep an eye on Trixie for the rest of the day for me? Twilight's worried she may want to skip town, and I have to agree with her on that."

I didn't get an answer immediately, Pinkie still watching the dangling form of the thief as she marched behind the group. Only after a moment had she decided to grace me with a reply, though not with a look it seems, her eyes still glued to what she was supposed to be doing.

"I think I can manage that. The formalities with her receiving her reward should take some time, and I need to brush up on the paperwork aspect of the job too. Not to mention I'll take your part of the reward for you, it'll be faster that way. And after that I probably will go back on patrol, I could adjust the rout to keep tabs on her. So yes, I can manage that."

"That… sounded suspiciously like a plan." I stated, now seriously weirded out. This was easily the first time I saw the more pragmatic side of Pinkie ever, and I didn't know if I liked it or not. It didn't help that Pinkie nodded once I said that.

"That's because it is one. Now go, I'll take care of Trixie for you." And with that she rushed forward to make up what little distance she lost while walking at my pace, bringing up the rear of the procession once more.

Weird.

"Well, that was one way ta handle things." I nearly jumped out of my skin hearing that. Whipping around I found that Applejack tailed me, her face scrunched up in as much confusion as I felt not five seconds ago. "Dunno if Ah approve o' shiftin' responsibilities like that though."

"Jeez, AJ, don't creep on me like that!" I admonished, trying to bring my heart rate back to normal.

"Sorry sugarcube." She replied, though doing that she looked at me carefully. "You're lookin' more nervous than a sheep 'fore a shearin'. Come ta think of it, ya look like that since that thievin' vermin started ta spout gibberish at Trixie and ya."

"Yeah, that's because I know what he meant by the gibberish." I replied and seeing AJ's curious look I decided I might as well tell her. Because quite frankly, despite the guy being just a simple thief I got the feeling I unknowingly made a powerful enemy.
> Act Three Chapter Nine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandpoint, 4 of Rova (Presumably 27 of October 1000 SR), Afternoon


Sharing my suspicions with Applejack was, at least in my humble opinion, the best I could’ve done in the situation I found myself in. The moniker of 'most dependable of ponies' as far as I'm concerned described her perfectly, and aside from Twilight I trusted her the most out of the girls, sometimes even more than her. So it wasn't a surprise when, once I explained what had happened directly under her nose, she genuinely became concerned for me. And once AJ's concerned, she doesn't just leave things like they are.

As soon as I concluded my short story Applejack asked me to accompany her on her patrol. She explained that for the time being it would be best if I wasn't seen alone and that we should gather some information on who the young thief was, who he was affiliated with, and what could come out of this whole situation. Reasoning that the guard force was probably our best bet at the moment, AJ concluded that her partner Titus would serve this purpose nicely, and set out to look for the man with me in tow.

It didn't take us long to find the guardsman. Titus was patrolling the streets of Sandpoint as duty dictated, projecting an air of order only armed law enforcers could project. Losing no time Applejack and I joined him, myself being greeted with a friendly nod from the much larger man, and without mincing words we proceeded to inform him of what had transpired over the last hour or so.

Once we finished, guard Titus' face lost its smile, adopting instead a thoughtful frown. Still marching and absentmindedly looking around the streets, he stroked his chin and hummed.

"Have to give it to you; trouble's attracted to you guys like cats to catnip." Were his opening words, after which, with a shake of his head Titus launched into an explanation of what he thought would be the implications of what happened to us.

The first thing he made sure of was that we understood what Sczarni actually were. According to our friendly guard, Sczarni was a collective term given to wandering criminal families of Varisian ethnic descent. True, we were in the region that shared the name with them, Varisia being their ancestral home, but that was beside the point. Now as for Varisians themselves, they were a sort of human race, much like pegasi and unicorns were races of ponies, with the exception of the differences being purely cosmetic. They usually had darker, tan skin, black hair, and were a bit shorter than the average person. They also generally had a tradition of being wandering folk, nomads, or downright vagabonds, a trait that the Sczarni embraced to its fullest, remaining mobile most of the time.

The criminal aspect of this loose organization centered around petty crime. Sczarni were primarily thieves, con artists, and confidence schemers. According to their logic, it was a surefire way to amass wealth while avoiding being subjected to higher forms of punishment. They knew perfectly what crime could end up with them being flogged or driven out of town, and what could potentially end up with them spending the rest of their life in prison, if not executed. As a side note, I didn't really know what to think about the fact capital punishment seemed to be a thing around this place, but figured it was a cultural thing and simply rolled with it. Doesn't really help that now I know I could potentially end up with my head lopped off for breaking a law I didn't know even existed…

According to guard Titus, Sczarni weren't known to take part in violent crimes all that much, with maybe the occasional kidnappings, muggings, and the like. Even then they made sure not to draw attention to themselves, trying their best to cover their tracks or shift the blame onto someone else. They also supposedly abided to some sort of 'honor system' (an oxymoron if ever I heard of one) in which they avoided targeting fellow Varisians. On one hand it was a very pragmatic rule, making sure others of their ethnicity didn't see them as scoundrels and making them more willing to help them if need be, but on the other it promoted the image of a Varisian thief and cheat, so much as to create a racial stereotype due to their notoriety.

After that brief explanation Titus informed us that, if the young thief actually were a Sczarni, he was the first one he had ever heard of to have willingly assault another, especially while being seen by the authorities. Normally he would've slipped away once he managed to free himself from my hold on his shirt. For him to actually stick around and try and shiv me went against what he knew about Sczarni. He even went as far as to suggest that the guy may have actually not been one of them and just pose as one to try and intimidate us into letting him free.

And that was another thing that didn't add up. While Titus claimed that not even the best mannered thief would refrain from threatening those that captured him, he also didn't really see a Sczarni spewing out what he did towards Trixie and me. They may be racist, but they also know when a threat stops being a way to express their irritation and starts to be something they could actually answer for. And to promise death and imply rape was exactly one of those things.

That wasn't all in the way of the threats though. Once Applejack mentioned that our captive 'friend' uttered his 'warnings' in a foreign language, Titus became far more interested. He became even more intrigued once we told him only I and supposedly Trixie knew what he was saying, and once I let it slip it felt surprisingly… familiar… he knew this was an important lead. Asking me to repeat what the thief said, only this time without translating it but in the original form, guard Titus made sure to listen closely and at the very least try and identify the dialect.

It took me a moment to recall the whole thing. This language, while familiar for some reason, wasn't really a simple one. I had to concentrate hard to get it right, and it took me some time to adjust to actually speaking a different language, especially one I shouldn't rightfully know, but I finally managed it. Interestingly enough, once I uttered the first word of it, I felt something stir inside of me, like some sort of beast awakening from its years of slumber and roar a mighty roar, a flame starting to burn deep within my gut, just like the dragon fire I was so used to. It nearly made me stumble over my words, but I managed to reign this surprising yet not unwelcome feeling in, delivering the threat in its original form.

"Okay, that's weird." Guard Titus muttered once I finished speaking, starting to stroke his chin anew. "I was half expecting you to speak in Varisian or a dialect of it, not something like… that." He gestured at me with his hand, shaking his head.

"So you don't know what it could mean?" I asked, getting an incomprehensive look from both Titus and Applejack. It took me a second to realize I unknowingly spoke in that language on my own, making me feel a little creeped out. Still, I repeated myself, only this time making sure I spoke in this place's common tongue.

"No, no I don't." Was what I got in response, the guard looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "If anything, I would expect you to know more about it than me, seeing you speak it."

"Yeah, about that…" I started, and gave him a short explanation as to why I didn't know what this was about. After all, it's one thing to learn a language from scratch, and a completely different thing to suddenly discover one knows it without ever hearing it uttered before. Well, I did have my suspicions, the glowing thing that got us here in the first place being a prime suspect, but I didn't tell him about it for obvious reasons.

Hearing my explanation guard Titus nodded slowly, the gears in his head visibly turning, trying to piece together what was going on. It didn't seem however that he was very successful in it and ended up filing those information for later. All he did manage to figure out was that he had heard something familiar before coming from Mr. Gandethus and that if I wanted to know more I should contact him. Aside from that, all that he could say about the situation with the thief and his threats was that this was something unusual and that he'd have to look into this, and that for the time being he would ask the guys to keep an eye on him so he wouldn't try anything funny. It was literally the best I could hope for given the circumstances, so I took it.

Having that issue taken care of, I decided I might as well accompany Applejack and Titus on their patrol. I didn't really have anything better to do, and I rather keep myself busy less I start to worry about the thief or whether Rarity and the girls were fine. Plus, having a guy to talk to, even if he seemed to be a bit enamored with Rares (which still annoyed me slightly) was a welcome change. That, and Applejack at least wasn't able to continue her lecture on the multiple types of apples her family grew.

The rest of the day seemed to pass relatively peacefully. Sandpoint, despite our rather poor first few days here seemed to be a rather nice and generally peaceful town, quite pleasant. The people were nice (or a bit too nice, for reasons I've already stated once before), the weather pleasant, and the company was genuinely fun. It was literally like if Ponyville was transported to a different world and placed on the coast instead of being landlocked. I actually caught myself expecting to see Sugarcube Corner after turning a corner once or twice. All that familiarity however served only to feed my own longing to get back home. Because no matter how familiar this place felt, there were enough differences to remind me this was not home.

It was about two hours after we met up with Titus when we run into something to break the peaceful monotony I was starting to fall into. Turning yet another corner our small group ran into none other than the grumpy guard Ernie. The guardsman seemed to be standing for no apparent reason in front of what looked like a general store, arms crossed on his chest and a smirk I could only describe as malicious hiding underneath his shaggy black beard.

Applejack didn't seem too thrilled to have run into him, her green eyes narrowing as she lowered her Stetson in agitation. Titus however didn't seem that bothered by this turn of events and directed his steps towards his fellow guard, a smirk of his own tugging on his lips.

"Hey Ern, how's it hanging?!" He greeted his older counterpart, provoking the man in question to momentarily lose that smirk and grumble in annoyance.

"Ye call me that one more time lad, and I'll make sure no one will find yer body." He snapped back at Titus, which only earned a chuckle from him.

"Sure you'll do, Ern." He replied cheekily, earning a glare and a muttered curse from Ernie. "So, whatcha doing here anyway? Here to buy some quality grog from Ven, or…?"

"Nay, just… waitin'." Ernie replied, looking back at the front door of the shop, his smirk returning.

"Waitin' for what?" It seemed Applejack was sufficiently intrigued since I doubt she would've normally say anything to the guy. Still, she didn't get any sort of response from the grump, and was about to repeat herself when she noticed something wasn't quite right. "Wait a moment… Where's Rainbow Dash? Shouldn't she be here with ya?"

"Oh, she is." Was all she got in terms of response as guard Ernie was still looking intently at the shop. It seemed however that this was enough for his fellow guard to piece together what was going on.

"You're a bastard, you know that?" Titus commented, shaking his head at Ernie. "You really did that."

"Did what?" I asked, confused. My question unfortunately went unnoticed.

"I didn't do anythin' lad, she went o' 'er own free will." Guard Ernie replied simply, shrugging nonchalantly. After a moment however he added. "Ten sails Ven's goin' ta tan 'er hide."

"No bet." Titus immediately shook his head, confusing both Applejack and me even further. It was actually enough for AJ to get fed up with being so left out of the loop and address the issue directly.

"Can somepony tell me what in tarnation is goin' on?! Where's Rainbow? And what makes y'all say this Ven fellar's gonna lay a hurtin' on her?"

At this point I wasn't necessarily sure what made the two guards shift their attention to Applejack: her raised voice, or the fact she let an Equestrianism slip in there. In the end however it didn't really matter as Titus decided to answer her questions regardless.

"You see, it's like this: Ven's the owner of this here shop, but also a father of two girls. His eldest daughter, Katrine, recently started to see Benny Harker, the owner of the lumber mill. Ven's not really fond of Harker, the two butt heads on occasion, and it drives him mad that his daughter actually accepts his advances. I even think he forbade her from seeing him at some point under threat he's going to disown her if she keeps this up."

"Like 'e's ever goin' to do that. The bloke's too soft fer that." Ernie decided he might as well add his two bits, which in a ironic twist of fate went completely ignored by Applejack. Speaking of her:

"That's nice and all but how does all that have anythin' to do with Rainbow?"

"I was just getting to that." Titus assured. "You see, Ven's so focused on Katrine that he straight up ignores his younger daughter, Shayliss. And I'll just say that Shayliss has a… reputation around Sandpoint."

"The lass' jealous o' 'er sister's luck in the relationship department an' figured becomin' a harlot's going ta help 'er." Ern supplied offhandedly, being as blunt as a cudgel to the head.

"And Ah still don't see what this has ta do with Rainbow?"

"Shayliss' known to fancy both men and women."

"Oh." AJ and I both uttered simultaneously, realizing what the two guys were implying.

Titus nodded at our reaction, crossing his arms on his chest. "Yeah, that's a bit of an issue, 'specially for old Ven. Even though it's her own decision who she fancy's, and the whole town knows about it, Ven's not really happy about that. But since he's the overprotective father type, he got it into his head that it's others that corrupted his baby girl, and add to that his explosive temperament and you have a recipe for disaster."

Upon hearing the explanation I exchanged a quick glance with the Applejack. "So what you're saying is that…"

"Shayliss most likely tricked your friend into coming with her and by now's probably trying to woo her, yes. And if I know how it usually goes, Ven's going to walk on in them." Titus confirmed. "By the way, what method did she use this time?"

"Rats in the basement." Ernie informed, his grin never leaving his face. "I'm actually surprised she didn't jump on the occasion once asked fer help. Gay Parade tried ta get miss Fluttershy involved fer some reason."

"Fluttershy's good with animals, and probably would chew Rainbow out if she ever found out she willingly harmed any… wait, Gay Parade?" I admit, it took me some time to realize what I heard, but once I did I genuinely couldn't help but snort in amusement. I know, sexual orientation is no laughing matter, but the nickname's still amusing.

What little mirth I was feeling quickly dissipated when a muffled scream came from the building in front of us. The cry, obviously a furious male's roar, was quickly followed by another one, this time much more high-pitched. Seconds later sounds of a scuffle started to come from within the shop, several loud thunks sounding from the inside, like if somepony was trying to redecorate the inside using a mace, followed by a series of crashes and yelps that could belong only to Rainbow Dash. Judging purely by sound, she was having the time of her life.

"Shouldn't we try an' help her?" Applejack asked uncertainly, casting a wary glance at the front door of the shop.

Before she was able to take even a step forward Applejack immediately paused, spying something through one of the windows of the building. This thing turned out to be none other than Rainbow Dash, which became quite obvious not a second later when she bodily slammed into the door, forcing it open and stumbling onto the dirt road in a slight daze. She recovered quickly though and, which in my personal opinion seemed horribly out of character, started to crawl-run away from the shop and its angry owner and towards our flabbergasted group. Well flabbergasted except for Ernie, who was in the middle of laughing his flank off.

"Keep him away from me!" Rainbow managed to shout out just as she took shelter behind AJ's back. "That guy's crazy!"

It was in that moment, accompanied by the sounds of a frantic Rainbow Dash and the hysterical laughter of guard Ernie, that the man responsible for the former's panicked reaction showed his face. One glance at the man however made me question why Rainbow was acting like she did and completely understand it at the same time.

Ven Vider was an average-looking man all around. Being a middle aged shop owner, he displayed characteristics of someone used to moderately hard work, especially heavy lifting. His tan skin seemed leathery at places and downright hardened on his hands, a sure sign of a lifetime spent working, providing for his family and running everything by himself. His dark clothes and wide-brimmed dark hat seemed nice enough, pointing out he was relatively well off. All in all, everything really did screamed 'average' while looking at him. Everything but his face.

Shielded from the sun by his hat and covered by a dark, bushy beard, Mr. Vider's face seemed to glow an unnatural, furious red. It was literally the color that could be achieved only by a father defending the honor of his baby girl, ready to brutally murder whomever dared to break her heart, or in this case try and 'deprive' her. His dark, beady, bloodshot with rage eyes immediately focused on Rainbow's form, who was doing her best to hide behind Applejack, and if looks could kill, she'd be the most lively dead I'd ever seen. It didn't help the man was brandishing a really sharp-looking hoe, ready to split her skull with it.

"Get back 'ere you little piece of shit! I'm's not finished with you!" He bellowed furiously, immediately taking his steps towards the cowering speedster. He didn't get far fortunately, as Titus decided he should try and stop the man before he did something he'd later regret.

"Calm down Ven, take it easy. There's no need for this…"

"The Hell there isn't!" Ven spat at that. "That strumpet tried ta seduce me daughter! Hell, she shamed me little Shayliss already!"

"Hey, I didn't even touch your daughter!" Rainbow tried to defend herself, only to duck back behind AJ's back when the man lifted his hoe threateningly.

"You shut your whore mouth! I knows what I saw! You's a deviant!"

"I'm not a deviant!" That one seemed to touch a nerve. Rainbow, upon hearing that insult, sprung from behind Applejack and shook her fist at the raging man. "You call me that one more time punk, and I'm going to make you feel as crap as you look!"

"Rainbow!" AJ, who up until then struggled to get a grip on what the actual buck was going on, seemed to finally snap out of it and hissed at RD. "Ya ain't helpin'."

”Well I don't see you doing anything either." Dash snarked back at the apple mare, after which she glared at her guard partner. "And what are you laughing at? A little help here!"

"Nah, I ain't going ta help ye with this one lass." Ernie replied, getting a hold of his laughter long enough to say that with a straight face. "This doesn't concern me. An' it was ye that decided to go through with it. Ain't my concern what ye do after duty." And with that said he started to walk away, like if nothing had happened here, leaving a completely stunned Rainbow Dash behind.

"What? After duty?" She mumbled for a second to herself, forgetting about the furious shop owner to stare at the back of the guard's head. Finally, she snapped. "Are you kidding me?! We're off duty?! Since when?!"

"An hour or so ago." Ern replied without turning around, after which he gave her a little wave. "Ye have fun now!" And with that he turned a corner, disappearing from site.

"…that bastard!" Was all Rainbow managed to utter before an angry 'Don't you ignore me, pervert!' from Mr. Vider brought her back to the reality of what her life was right now. "All of my hate!"





Ponyville and Sandpoint had a number of things in common. A cozy, homey atmosphere; a generally nice if not sometimes eccentric population; and a number of problems that seemed to crawl from out of the woodwork. But for all similarities the two settlements shared, just as many differences could be noticed if one was just to look around more carefully. With a number of stone structures dotting the townscape and the gigantic ruined lighthouse looming ominously over the port town it was easy enough to deduce as much. But there were several more subtle distinctions that I just recently started to notice. And the one I learned about today was rather… intoxicating, if you catch my drift.

Ponyville didn't really have that much in terms of places to get a drink, not that I knew anything substantial about that. Sure there was at least one restaurant that offered alcoholic beverages to go with their more fancy meals, and there was one night club I heard about that didn't shy away from selling hard cider and actual liquor, but that was about it. Well, maybe the Apple family had a stash of hard cider they broke out for special occasions, but that didn't really count. Here however, oh it was a different world altogether.

Sandpoint had at least two inns, both offering food and drink, sold jointly or separately, depending on their clients' preferences. There were also at least two bars, and a straight up brewery supplying not only the town in several types of alcoholic brews, but also other settlements in the region. It probably came with the fact that Sandpoint, as a port town, had a lot more foreign traffic and through their import and export policies having places to produce and serve drinks was a smart and truth be told lucrative idea.

Let me go back however to the bars I've mentioned. One of them was called the 'Hagfish', mostly due to the owner having an aquarium on display with a strange, ugly, eel-like fish sloshing in slimy water, called just that. Well, the owner affectionately called it Norah or something like that, but for the life of me, I couldn't tell how something that looked like an overgrown leech with a fang-filled maw could possibly translate into that. The establishment itself was definitely one of the more shady ones in town, the air thick with the stench of alcohol and filled with silvery wisps of pipe smoke, all that among the din of excited voices and the sound of rolling dice. I probably forgot to mention the Hagfish was also a gambling site, game tables placed here and there, with excited and/or concentrated players placing their bets and trying to outplay their opponents and win the pot. Either way, the place was lively, even if tension spiked from time to time. And how do I know all that you ask? Well, it should be obvious.

After the fiasco that was trying to calm Ven Vider down, guard Titus decided we needed something to distract us from what happened. Looking at Rainbow Dash, she really needed it, for more reasons than one. Allowing ourselves to be led by the guard, who concluded similarly to Ernie that we were more or less done for the day, we found ourselves in front of the Hagfish in no time. Picking a table for us and ordering a round of drinks, he then proceeded to talk us through what we, especially Rainbow, should do in the situation we found ourselves in.

Apparently this situation was hardly new for him, and as such he had a speech prepared for just this occasion. In the long run it was a smart thing to do, and he even had a special fund prepared for the victims of Shayliss' machinations, mostly for drinks at the Hagfish, should a victim need a couple of stiff ones to get past the whole mess. Titus also promised o try and minimize the fallout that was sure to follow Ven's intervention. Long story short, it's best we try and avoid the store run by that family, and yes, we, as in our whole group, Twilight and Rarity included. It was common knowledge around town we were sort of a team, and Ven would no doubt take issue with anyone even remotely associated with Rainbow. Just goes to show how spiteful the man could really be.

Having talked us through and finishing his drink, guard Titus decided it was time for him to get on with his promised damage control. Bidding us farewell and informing the barkeep, a jolly man, despite him losing a leg, by the name of Jargie, that we were on the 'Ven fund', he left the Hagfish, leaving the three of us to ourselves.

It was an… interesting experience. Up until now I never really were out without Twilight in tow. I mean sure, Donut Joe's was a place I frequented back in Canterlot, even when Twi couldn't come with me, too caught up with her studies, but this was fundamentally different. I mean this was a bar and a casino for starters. And I was in the company of two mares that… nope, not going there. This is not a date, nor a double one.

Why did I even think about that?

Anyways, I guess the experience, if it took place in any other circumstances, would've been a fun one. Unfortunately, with Rainbow Dash looking the most miserable I've seen in my life and dejectedly downing tankard after tankard of foamy ale, this was anything but. It actually got AJ and me concerned when we realized how much and how fast was RD drinking. But just when Applejack decided she should intervene, Dash slammed her fourth tankard onto the wooden table and glared at it with slightly bleary eyes.

"This sucks." She muttered just loud enough for the two of us to hear. The look on her face, despite a slight flush on her cheeks, was one of misery. "This sucks sooo much."

"Eh… Sugarcube?" Applejack said gently, silently judging whether or not Dash was speaking under the influence of alcohol. "Ya know we ain't blamin' ya, right? Ya just did what ya thought was right."

"Well of course I know." Dash replied with a little bit more force than necessary. "I didn't say 'this is all my fault', I just said this whole thing sucks." She finished, letting out a groan and burying her head in her arms.

AJ and I shared a look. For somepony aware of their lack of fault she really didn't act the part.

"Listen Rainbow, Titus already said he's going to take care of this." I said matter-of-factly. "The worst that will happen is we'll be banned from one store, that's all."

"Spike's right sugarcube, this' ain't the end of the world." Applejack added helpfully. Sadly, that didn't seem to do anything for RD's demeanor, her head still buried in her arms.

"I know!" She groaned once more, face still directed at the table and muffled by her hands. "Can you two just drop it already?"

Sharing one more look, Applejack and I decided this called for an intervention.

"We ain't droppin' this until ya tell us what's a matter." My blond companion decided with finality, giving RD a hard look. Sadly, since Dash wasn't looking at us, its potency was lost on the prismatic mare.

"I told you to drop it!" Was all Rainbow managed without lifting herself to look at us.

"Well then, tough luck -we ain't gonna do that."

Rainbow didn't respond to that. She just kept her head buried as it was and decided to ignore us in favor of whatever it was that she was doing. Seriously though, it seemed so out of character for her that it really got the two of us concerned. And to think it was all because of one shop owner, his daughter, and a guard with a mean streak. Then again, since I was there when they tried to calm said shop owner down, I could partially relate.

The whole thing was destined to fail from the start, the attempts at dissuading Ven Vider from enacting his vengeance futile. The man didn't want to listen to reason, and when Rainbow gave her side of the story he almost flew into a berserker rage, accusing her of lying and trying to save her own skin. For the record: Dash thought she was asked to get rid of a few overgrown rats (Rats the size of dogs? Seriously?!) in a basement by some random girl, but ended up being confronted not by giant rodents but by a makeshift cot. Next thing she knows, the same girl that asked her for help is standing there, buck naked, her clothes on the ground, and trying to advance on her. It didn't help that Dash, despite understanding the utilitarian part of wearing clothes, didn't really care for the social aspect of it in humanoid society, so she didn't even think to tell the girl, Shayliss, to put them back on when refuting her attempts. Add to that Ven walking in on them and you have a whole hot mess ready to explode all in your face.

I feel that came out distinctively wrong for some reason.

Long story short, Ven was understandably furious at Rainbow and ignored any of her pleas of innocence, calling her a depraved harlot that dared to put his little angel's purity into question. Didn't help much Shayliss didn't take kindly to being rejected and backed her father up, going as far as to insinuate this was a rape attempt on Rainbow's part. AJ and I knew back then that this had as much in common with truth as a mole had with nuclear physics, but since this whole debacle attracted a sizable crowd of onlookers, Dash's morality has been put into question. In the end, this was a disaster all around, and that's without Ven's parting gift.

"Ah can tell somethin's botherin' ya, and Ah ain't one ta just let it go like that. So either ya start talkin' or Ah'm gonna force it outta ya." I was snapped out of my reminiscence by Applejack's declaration. She seemed to have just about enough of Rainbow's attitude and as such decided to forgo any notion of subtlety and just squeeze it out of her friend.

At first it seemed Rainbow Dash was about to ignore her friend once more, but one quick glance at her hooves hands said otherwise. As soon as the meaning of AJ's words reached her, Rainbow started to clench her fists, so strongly in fact, that they started to shake. It looked almost as if she was about to explode and tell Applejack to get lost or actually punch her (after all, alcohol supposedly made ponies do really stupid things), but in the end it brought a reaction we weren't expecting, at least not at that point.

"You know what? Fine! I'll tell you! I'll tell you what's bucking up!" Dash snapped, her fist colliding with the wooden surface of the table with enough force to rattle the collection of metal tankards in front of her. She then lifted her head and directed her irritated glare at AJ, her right eye burning with anger while her left one remained swollen and purple.

"I've been bucking humiliated by some Celestia-damned shopkeeper and his whore daughter in front of a crowd of onlookers, that's what's up! I've been played like a foal by a guy that was supposed to be showing me what I'm supposed to do as a guard just because he's holding some sort of grudge. I can't even blow off some steam because I'm not a pegasus anymore. And if that wasn't enough, the whole thing will start the bucking rumors again! I don't want to go through all that again!" Rainbow ended in a shout, slamming her fist on the table again and garnering the attention of other patrons. Noticing this but not really caring, she glared at the closest onlooker, huffing from her little outburst in a threatening manner until he looked away.

During all this I admit to have backed away slightly from Rainbow, mainly because I really didn't know what she was about to do. It didn't even have anything to do with the amount of drinks she already had; I genuinely had never seen her behave like that. Well, true, there was that one time in the forest, but compared to this that one was but a little tantrum thrown by a toddler. Was this again a sign of whatever was affecting us that made us that much more irritable, or was it just the lack of inhibition brought upon by an alcoholic haze? Either way, I didn't want to have anything to do with it.

Applejack in the other hoof didn't seem all that fazed, her expression becoming a little harder but otherwise unshifting. She calmly listened to what Rainbow had to say, seemingly not surprised by any of it, and looked like she had an answer already prepared. That is until she understood the last part of it. Cocking her eyebrow questioningly, she couldn't help but ask:

"Whaddya mean by rumors, sugarcube? That this whole Shayliss-gal tricked ya, or that Ven kinda hit ya square in the…" She trailed off, having been met by a one-eyed glare from the former pegasus.

"That's not funny Applejack." She muttered, annoyed. "At this point I don't give a flying feather about having a black eye thanks to that idiot. And I rather the rumors say I've been tricked by that whore than… whatever, you know what I mean." She muttered in the end, refusing to finish the line of thought herself and figuring we knew what she was talking about. The look on AJ's face however said otherwise.

"No Rainbow, Ah don't, an' neither does Spike." She replied after noticing Dash was avoiding eye contact and busying herself by checking if there wasn't anything left in her tankards. "Why won't ya enlighten us?"

"Seriously?! You expect me to believe you never even thought that? That you never just assumed that I was one?"

"Was one what?" Applejack pressed on, making Rainbow squirm uncomfortably. After a moment however Dash decided that she might as well get it out already and have this conversation over with. Squaring her shoulders she looked Applejack square in the eyes and with whatever seriousness she could manage in her state she said:

"That I'm a filly fooler."

A few silent seconds had passed before it was broken by a simple question.

"Aren't you though?"

It took me a second to realize I was the one asking that question. It took me another to realize this was probably a bad thing to say. But it took me less than a millisecond to start regretting opening my mouth.

Before I could even blink I felt something hard, cold, end definitely made out of metal collide with my forehead. The force of this hit, while not particularly strong, at least when compared to what I've been through the last couple of days, was enough to knock me off my chair. Landing in an undignified heap on the decisively dirty wooden floor I decided the best thing I could do given the circumstances was pretend to be unconscious. Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to walk from this one out alive.

"Rainbow! What in tarnation ya think you're doin'?!" I heard Applejack shout in protest, after which she leaned over where I fell, giving me a concerned look. Immediately I started to shake my head, hoping she'd get what I was going at and didn't mention I wasn't really out… Yeah, like that would ever work. With Applejack's abysmal poker face I'd be surprised if she'd been able to trick even a blind pony, far less Rainbow Dash.

True to my expectations and in stark opposition to my will, AJ didn't even try to pretend I was out and lifted me back to my chair with little difficulty. Once seated again I was immediately greeted by a fiery glare and a massive scowl courtesy of Rainbow Dash. Feeling what little bravery I had just said ‘buck this, I’m out’ and left through a window, I immediately started to sweat profusely (which by the way was an odd feeling, considering as a dragon I did not sweat), trying my best to shrink and just slip away.

Where's Trixie when you actually need her?

An awkward silence descended upon us, with RD glaring at me, me trying to disappear, and Applejack looking like she wasn't sure whose side she should be on. I realized my question was most definitely something that ticked Dash off more than anything ever before, and intellectually I knew I should apologize. Problem is, when you're basically a coward facing the wrath of a mare insulted there's virtually nothing that could be said to make things better.

An angry grunt alarmed me that something was going on. Looking back at Rainbow, only just now realizing I was actively avoiding eye contact, I saw her rest her head on her hand, leaning on the table, and looking away from me, still scowling. Before I was able to even think about saying sorry though she spoke up first, a mix of dejection and irritation in her voice.

"Always the same. Wherever I go, it's always the same." She muttered, absently knocking a tankard over and watching it spill what little there was inside it onto the table. "Everypony assumes I'm into mares. All because my mane looks like it does." She sighed, knocking another tankard over. "It's not like I chose to have a mane like this. Heck, my dad, one of the most awesome stallions I know has the same exact mane as I do. And you know what?" Here she looked at me again, her glare slightly less profound but still there. "Ponies labeled him a colt cuddler. Rainbow Blitz, former royal guard, a stallion that went on four tours with his company to Macintosh Hills to man Fort Dragon and defend the border from the Badland dragon raiders; a father and loving husband. And ponies called him a bucking colt cuddler! Just because of the mane he was born with!

"I don't have anything against ponies who are gay or anything, really." Rainbow switched from almost on the verge of raging into mellow in, well, less than ten seconds really, taking me by surprise. "It's their thing. But I'm not one of them, okay? I never was interested in mares, and I don't think I'll ever will. Heck, with how things are going, I think I'll end up single for the rest of my life, because every bucking pony thinks I'm a filly fooler! Do you have any idea how irritating it is when somepony cool starts hitting on you because she thinks you're into mares? Or how hard it is to find a stallion that doesn't think that for that matter? I'm just… sick and tired of this." She finished her tirade, deflating visibly and burying her head in her arms again.

At this point I really wished Rainbow Dash was still furious. I could take a verbal lashing, I'd even endure a more physical punishment if I had to. But this?

I don't think I ever saw Rainbow so emotional before. She never spoke about what she really felt, normally that was too girly for her to even consider doing. But now for whatever reason she decided to uncover what she really was feeling, and hearing all this made me feel like a sack of horseapples. In fact, looking at her like this made me feel even worse than that, and before I knew what I was doing, I was once again flapping my gums, this time hopefully saying something that would solve this situation instead of making it worse.

"Listen, Rainbow." I started, sounding unsure. "I'm sorry I said that, I really am. I just… I said the first thing my stupid brain came up with, and didn't think it through." I ventured forth, earning a nod of approval from Applejack, even if she was looking dumbfounded at Dash's earlier emotional outburst. "I didn't really believe what I said…"

"Yeah, right." I was cut off by Rainbow herself, the prismatic speedster scoffing at the notion as if I was trying to sell her some kind of made up story. Lifting her head to look at me again, she gave me a slight glare. "'It was just a slip of the tongue.' 'I never really meant to say that.' 'You don't have to get so defensive, we all know that's not true.' Been there, done that. I've heard those lines so many times I was starting to think that counting them would make a decent hobby. So you can save yourself the effort and just forget about it, Spike." She finished with a roll of her eyes, her hand grasping at the last standing tankard in front of her and knocking it over mindlessly.

Well, I was officially at a loss. I mean I wanted to apologize, I really did! Only thing is, Rainbow seemed determined not to accept any of this. At some level it gave me insight into how big of a deal this really was for her; I mean if she was actually wounded enough to automatically assume an apology was insincere than this wasn't a recent problem, and also meant she had enough bad experiences to warrant such a defensive reaction in the first place. But right here and right now it mostly meant problems for me. Fortunately, I wasn't alone in this.

"Listen, sugarcube, Ah really don't think Spike's pullin' your leg here." AJ, bless her Stetson, decided I needed some help. No doubt she felt the sincerity of my apology and seeing it rejected so readily by Rainbow prompted her to act. Looking Dash as square in her good eye as she could giving her uninterested gaze she pushed onward regardless. "Sure, he ain't the best with words an' all, an’ ya saw just how big of a hoof he can shove in his mouth, but ya know as well as Ah do he's a decent fella. When he says he's sorry, he gosh darn well means it. Just… give the little guy a chance, will ya?" She asked.

Rainbow stayed silent for a while, her gaze at some point of Applejack's words focusing on the farm mare, and then shifting onto me. For a moment when her gaze was on me I couldn't really tell what she was thinking, her face strangely devoid of any emotion, but that fortunately didn't last very long. Shaking her head and letting out a small groan of defeat Dash slumped her shoulders.

"Okay, fine. I'll cut him some slack." RD decided, but gave me a pointed one-eyed look soon after. "But if you ever say that again so help me Celestia…" And she left the threat hanging, making me instinctively gulp and nod furiously.

"Don't worry, it won't happened again. Promise!"

"Good." She nodded in return, a shadow of a satisfied smirk crossing her lips.

"There's one thin' Ah don't understand though." Applejack interjected, seeing the crisis resolved with no dragon casualties to dot the statistics. "Iffen your mane's that big of a problem Rainbow Dash, then why don't ya, Ah dunno, dye it or somethin'? Ya couldn't be labeled so easily then…"

"No. Just… no." Dash interrupted her almost immediately, lifting her hand in front of the farmpony's face. "Firstly: my name's Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash. That's kinda a joint package, if you know what I mean. Secondly: I like my mane how it is. And if word got out I actually tried to do something as frou-frou as that, my reputation'd be in shambles in no time. Not to mention Rarity would try to get in on that action. Thirdly: this is like one of the major things that I have in common with my dad, and I already said -he's one of the most awesome ponies I know, almost as awesome as the Wonderbolts. And fourthly: even if by some miracle I actually did dye my mane, that wouldn't change much."

"Why's that?" AJ asked. I wanted to ask too to be honest, but seeing I already strained what limited relations I had with Rainbow I decided to play it safe.

Rainbow seemed to have expected the question and just shrugged nonchalantly, or as nonchalantly as she could given the topic. "Apparently the way I act makes some ponies think of me like that. But seriously: I'm a mare that wants to join the best flying squadron in Equestria; an only child raised by former military; and the walking embodiment of awesome. Of course some will be attracted to that… or discouraged…" She trailed off, seemingly getting down again, but shook the gloom off of herself and promptly waved over the innkeep, ordering another ale.

"Eh… Rainbow?" Despite my earlier decision of playing safe from now on I couldn't help but ask. "Don't you think that… well… you had enough?"

"Spike's right sugarcube, this thing has more kick to it than it lets on." AJ agreed, giving her friend a concerned look. "An' 'sides, ya already look like ya had a mite much ta drink."

"No I didn't!" Rainbow immediately tried to protest, waving her arm in a wide arc and in the process knocking AJ's Stetson from her head, earning her a glare from the apple farmer. Having the decency to blush Dash lowered her hand and looked sheepish. "Well, okay. Maybe I am a little bit… um… what was the word again?"

"Tipsy?"

"Yeah, that thing!" Dash nodded at my raised eyebrow. "So, um… Can I at least finished what I ordered? It's not every day you get to drink without paying and all…" she seemed to trail off, looking with her good eye at something Applejack and I couldn't see. Figuring this was the alcohol finally letting itself be known we didn't think much of it, but decided to humor Dash all the same.

"Ya know what? Go for it. But this' the last tankard, ya hear?"

"Yeah, sure thing AJ." Rainbow muttered, following something with her eye still and seemingly sparing us only a part of her attention. This was starting to look a bit odd, but Applejack and I still though this wasn't anything important and let it slide, choosing instead to focus on something else.

"Well, at least now we know why Rainbow was so open about all that." I intoned in a low voice, giving AJ a sideways glance. Picking her hat from the floor and dusting it she replied a bit stiffly.

"True, but she wouldn't have ta be so open iffen ya thought before ya said anythin'."

"Yeah, you're probably right." I nodded, remembering this mess was kinda my fault.

"Trust me; Applejack's definitely right." Pinkie decided to interject. Nodding in agreement, I… wait. Pinkie?

Turning my head to the other side I was greeted by two large, blue orbs staring straight at me from a distance that most definitely was intruding on my personal space. Letting out a startled cry I once again fell from my chair, this time being caught before I hit the ground by the timely intervention of one Applejack. Gulping down a few mouthfuls of air to try and calm my racing heart I stared at the completely unfazed expression of the most partiest pony of them all.

"P-Pinkie Pie?" I managed to utter, still a bit freaked out by her sudden appearance.

"In a sense." She nodded, as if I had actually asked her a question. But what the hay did she mean by that? No matter, I rather not know.

"What are you doin' here sugarcube?" Applejack decided to help me out and asked in my stead, at the same time sitting me back on my chair.

Pinkie smiled at that question, though her grin was relatively subdued compared to most of her usual smiles. "Looking for you guys." She replied, both answering the question and prompting another to be asked.

"Why?"

"For money."

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

Why?

"I'm sorry, what were we talking about?" Pinkie asked, acting as if what happened just moments before was a completely normal occurrence. Well, seeing it was Pinkie, this actually could be considered as normal, at least for her. Shaking our heads Applejack and I shared a look, not really sure how we should respond to that. Finally, I decided to sacrifice myself for the cause.

"Why were you looking for us again?" I asked, half expecting her to go off on a tangent again.

"Oh, right!" Pinkie smiled again, producing a small leather pouch and handing it to me. Unsure of what was going on I nonetheless accepted the small bundle, quickly realizing it was filled with coins. "Your part of the reward for helping catch that robber from earlier. Twenty five sails, half the normal rate. The other half went to Trixie."

"Okay…" I said slowly, pocketing the money for later pooling. This wasn't exactly something I expected to happen; I thought Pinkie would've kept the money and later on pass it to Twilight or Rarity. After all, they were the ones keeping tabs on our expenses. "So… was that all?" I asked.

Pinkie shook her head. "Actually no. You asked me to keep an eye on Trixie, so I decided now would be as good time as any to give you my report." She proclaimed with utmost seriousness, standing at attention as if she was addressing a superior officer, awaiting permission to continue.

"I don't think that will be really necessary." I replied with uncertainty, eyeing her odder-than-usual behavior. "I mean as long as she didn't try to skip town or do anything funny behind our backs I don't really care…"

"Abridged version it is then." Pinkie decided to cut me off before I could finish my sentence. Second time today that happened, that has to be some kind of record…

Before I had time to finish my line of thought, which by the way probably counted as the third instance of being cut off now that I think about it, Pinkie launched into what she said she would do: she started giving me a brief summary of what Trixie was up to for the last couple of hours.

"At about 15:00 subject 'Magician' entered Sandpoint garrison to receive her part of the reward. Formalities took around half an hour, after which the subject left the building. The subject then stopped briefly at the Rusty Dragon; it is believed she dropped off her part of the reward there, as well as ate. At around 16:30 subject exited the inn and proceeded to wander within town limits. At 17:00 subject was stopped by a male civilian in flashy clothing, entering a brief conversation with Magician. The two afterwards proceeded to move together, until at 17:25 they entered the 'Hagfish' establishment, where they remain to this time."

Okay, I admit: I wasn't expecting something like that. If not for the fact I was used to writing down Twilight's rapid-fire observations and knew bits and pieces of military jargon thanks to Shining Armor I no doubt would be at a loss similar to Applejack. The poor apple farmer was looking completely dumbfounded at Pinkie Pie, mouth agape and all. Not to be mistaken though -I wasn't fairing much better myself. It literally took me a couple of moments to realize I was gaping at Pinkie with my jaw unhinged. Snapping my mouth shut I shook my head and gave the party mare a look, trying to ignore the fact she was still standing at attention, unnaturally still I might add.

"I… eh… I guess you did a good job, I think?" I offered, unsure what I was supposed to say to all that. I mean Pinkie even used military time for crying out loud! What's up with that?

Hearing my reply Pinkie assumed the 'at ease' position, nodding at me and giving me a proud smile. "Glad to have been of service. I realized this had to be something important, so I tried my best to accomplish the mission to the full extent of my abilities."

"And you did good." I nodded, the initial shock wearing off little by little. The whole thing still had strange written all over it, but at this point I was past caring about normal. What I did care about however was the fact that I just realized a crucial detail of what Pinkie had just 'reported'. "Did you mention that Trixie is here?"

"Yes." A short nod from Pinkie wasn't exactly what I would call a normal reply from her, but what the hay. "She and an eccentrically-dressed man entered the Hagfish about seven to eight minutes ago."

"Wait up there a spell sugarcube." Applejack, who I think just managed to close her mouth, decided to interject, looking at Pinkie with a mix of apprehension and curiosity. "If what you're sayin' is true then how come Ah didn't see her commin'? Ah'm pretty sure that 'un would'a made a grand entrance or at least get some ponie… er… people (Ah'll never get tha hang of it) ta notice her when commin' inside."

"Dunno how she did it, but she did." Pinkie replied simply, pointing out something or rather someone in another part of the Hagfish. "She's sitting right there if you don't believe me."

Not that I doubted Pinkie's words, but I looked in the direction she pointed out, same as Applejack. Not surprisingly there she was, Trixie, in all her showoffy splendor, sitting at a table with a man in bright, colorful attire. It took me a few moments to realize this was the same man with the hat with a crimson plume from the opening speeches of that disastrous festival. In fact, the same wide-brimmed hat rested on the table easily within the man's reach as he seemed to be in the middle of explaining something to the self-proclaimed most powerful unicorn in Equestria. It also seemed that Rainbow Dash, who stayed away from the conversation, if she even noticed there was one going on under her nose in the first place, knew she was here, the fact she was looking all this time in the direction of the magician being irrefutable proof of that.

"Any idea what what's-his-face wants with Trixie?" I asked, the man's name eluding me at the moment. I know I heard it, I even knew it started with a C, but for the life of me I couldn't place it. The response I got from Pinkie was in the form of a shrug.

"No idea. To maintain a low profile I had to at times be at a distance from the subject, well out of earshot. The most I can tell you is that it was he who initiated contact and that Magician seemed to be at first taken aback with whatever he told her."

"That's not much." I muttered, ignoring the fact Pinkie was still using her made up codename when referring to Trixie. Looking at the pink wonder I came up with a crazy idea. "You feel up to checking out what they're talking about?" I asked.

I was half expecting Pinkie to say yes, or 'yes sir' as it were, considering her odd military fixation. Therefore it was a slight surprise for me when her reply came in the form of shaking her head in the negative.

"No. There's something I have to do, so I can't stay here much longer. That, and I don't really like the idea of listening in on somepony else's private conversation, even if there are reasons to believe said pony can be plotting something behind our backs. Now, if you don't mind, I'll be on my way." And with that she turned from our table abruptly, almost slamming into the barkeep who only just managed to hobble to us with Rainbow's order, and exited the Hagfish in a hurried fashion.

"Hey, was that Pinkie Pie?" Rainbow asked after a second, blinking with her good eye in surprise. "When did she get here?"

I get the impression Rainbow really had a bit much to drink already.

With Pinkie gone (in a manner never before encountered when dealing with the party pony) I was one easy option short of having the mystery of Trixie's conversation solved. Truth be told, I didn't actually realize I wanted to know what she was up to so much until I saw her. Something was just telling me that I should be there and hearing this conversation, if not for any other reason than to have absolute certainty that she wasn't going behind our back.

Seeing that Applejack had her attention diverted towards Rainbow Dash, who still looked confused by Pinkie seemingly warping the time-space continuum by the way, not that this was any different from normal, I slipped from the pair and slowly made my way towards Trixie's table. Making sure to stay out of sight and using my short stature to my advantage, I managed to come close enough to the conversing duo to hear them talk while staying out of the magician's sight. The man I wasn't so much concerned with; I concluded that he probably wouldn't even realize what I was trying to accomplish here, but just to be on the safe side I tried to make myself look as uninterested as I could, half-hiding behind an abandoned game table.

"So, as you can see, Miss Lulamoon, I did not in fact mean to offend you in any manner by the way of comparing you to poor Nualia. The only thing I did mean by that was to point out your uncanny resemblance to her." Were the first words I could make out coming from the artist. He was far less bombastic now than he was during his speech three days ago, but that was probably due to this being a low-key conversation instead of a happening. I was however confused hearing him addressing Trixie as Miss Lulamoon. Was that her actual name? Was Trixie just a stage name or something?

I didn't have much time to ponder that as the mare in question shifted in her seat. With her dark violet eyes no doubt scanning the man carefully, she intertwined her fingers under her chin in a contemplative manner. "I see." She stated simply. After a second or two though she continued, gesturing with her right hoof hand. "This whole Nualia; Trixie's guessing that her story must have been a particularly interesting one, considering it caught the attention of an actor and a playwright."

"Interesting doesn't even begin to describe her story, my dear." The man was quick to assure her. "That word just doesn't give her story justice. A tale of a young aasimar, orphaned at birth and left in the care of a strict head priest who got it into his head to send her to a prestigious convent; a tale of prejudice and alienating one believed to have descended from the angels themselves; a tale of a young woman seeking love where there was naught but jealousy and envy, only to be shamed in the end. Why, her history is material for a dozen of plays, each one having potential to become a masterpiece if directed and played by the proper people."

"Goes to show that life is the author of the best scripts." Trixie agreed, though she seemed to be keeping her inquisitive gaze firmly placed on her interlocutor. "I do have to ask however: aasimar?"

"Yes, true, that is a little hiccup in this plan, but also is one that can easily be adjusted, either by use of illusion or appropriate changes to the script…" Judging by the slight shifting in her seat I was guessing that Trixie wasn't referring to this with her inquiry. She, as well as I at this point, was most likely wondering what an aasimar was in the first place. Seeing thus her question being misinterpreted the magician was about to interrupt the playwright when he cut his explanations short himself, letting out a sheepish chuckle. "Oh dear. Here I am, getting ahead of myself when I haven't even made the proposition official."

"Proposition?" Trixie inquired, and I could practically see her lift her eyebrow inquisitively.

"Yes. You see, from the moment I laid my eyes upon you, Miss Lulamoon, I couldn't stop thinking about you." Okay? This just got weird. "I thought to myself: here she is, the one I have been waiting for so long!" Yep, still weird. And a little bit creepy. "An exotic beauty with an uncanny resemblance, just radiating confidence and personality, and with what my trained eye could only interpret as layers of raw talent waiting to be exposed to the world. A bright star just waiting to for her chance to shine!"

"Oh, please." Despite this being an abrupt (and creepy) confession, Trixie wasn't one to shy away from being praised, as evident by the slight purr to her voice. "Do go on."

"So, as you can imagine, with all those factors I just had to meet you in person and exchange a few words, get a better grasp of who I have set my sights on. And now, after we've talked and I had the chance to actually interact with you, miss, I can safely say one thing." The man paused for dramatic effect, a smile plastered on his face. "You, my dear, are a naturally born actress! A rare breed indeed; one, that is as rare and as elusive as a unicorn, and just as great a treasure as one."

Looking past the most likely unintentional comparison (not to self: tell Twilight that this world apparently does have unicorns), the buttered up magician took this praise in stride, her ego almost visibly inflating. I for myself was starting to wonder if that hat of his wasn't too tight, because from where I'm standing it looks like the guy has brain damage. Then again, I may be biased.

I was half expecting Trixie to ask the man to continue stroking her ego, with how much she was enjoying this and all. Therefore her next words were a bit of a shock to me.

"And if Trixie might ask: how did you come to the conclusion that Trixie is such a raw talent in the field of acting, Mr. Drokkus?" Wait, was she actually putting into question his own praise? Or was this just a way to goad him into praising her even more? Because I was starting to think the second option was actually right here.

Seeing the man, Mr. Drokkus, was it? Strange, I could've sworn his name started with a C. Well, seeing him bow his head and place his right hand over his chest with a mock wince I could tell this was actually the second option. "Oh, you wound me so, Miss Lulamoon. I've been in this business for over twenty years now, and although I realize this is practically a two year internship for elves such as yourself, I do believe I can tell a good actor, or actress as the case may be, when I see one." I had to stop myself from snickering here, imagining Trixie's reaction to her implied age. Old timer indeed…

"The way you act, keeping a tight lid on your emotions during the entirety of our conversation, highlighting only what you wish to show and nothing else; why if that isn't artistry in acting than I don't know what is. I can even go as far as to say that the very way you refer to yourself is a construct of this art form, a persona you've created, like most accomplished actors do when they reach a level of fame and accomplishment. I can only guess that you were well educated in some kind of elven conservatory most other races of Golarion may only dream of, have you not?"

"I won't deny nor confirm that." Trixie replied, and I could hear a shadow of nervousness entering her voice. That made me wonder though: was this whole Drokkus fellow right? I mean I could very well tell that the magician wasn't nearly as good as he claimed she was; after all we were able to push her buttons enough for her to lose her cool and act without thinking so the notion of keeping her emotions in check wasn't all that well grounded, but in a civil conversation who knows, right? But the most important in my opinion was the one about her creating a persona. Just what did the man mean by that?

Unfortunately, as one not really taking part in the conversation I didn't have the time to ponder things as the discussion went on without me. Snapping back to attention I caught the tail-end of what must've been a question asked by Trixie, no doubt in an attempt to direct the conversation away from whatever touchy subject the playwright managed to touch upon.

"…does my talent have to do with this whole Nualia? Are you perchance asking Trixie to perform in a play you're putting together based on her story?"

"Beautiful and sharp, a rare combination." The man complemented, winking at the magician in a flirty manner. "Yes, indeed I am putting such a play together. Until recently though I lacked anyone to play the lead role, but with your help and a few slight adjustments to the script I can put together a spectacle the likes of Sandpoint has never seen before!"

"That is of course if Trixie decides to be a part of your play." I did a double take at that. Did Trixie just elude that she may not be willing to perform in front of an audience?! Did that tankard Rainbow Dash slammed me with hit me harder than I thought? Just what manner of madness was this?

I wasn't the only one taken aback with that declaration. While I was staring at the magician's back incredulously Mr. Drokkus was doing the exact same thing, only straight in her face. "Am I to understand you've decided not to take part in this?" He asked slowly.

To my great if simply mental relief Trixie shook her head. "Trixie didn't say that. All that Trixie said was that she hasn't decided yet. After all, I don't even know the script yet, or how my role would play out. Literally the only thing Trixie can tell at this point is that this will be a drama of sorts, which is good in Trixie's book. Comedy just isn't something I'm interested in taking part of." Having said that, the would-be actress leaned forward, probably giving her companion a challenging look. "So? What can I expect?"

It took the eccentric artist a moment to compose himself before he was able to come up with a response. Wiping his forehead in what could only be described as relief he nodded at Trixie, clearing his throat in the process. "Yes, well. You're only partially right on the part that this play will be a drama. In fact, this will be a tragedy, one deeply rooted in Sandpoint's recent history. I'm sure by now you've heard about the Late Unpleasantness?"

"Trixie heard bits and pieces. It was during that time the old cathedral burned to the ground, wasn't it?" Where did she learn that? I mean I'm quite sure Twilight didn't really know about that tidbit of information. *sigh* Another thing to report to her I guess.

"It was more widespread, but yes -the fire marked the last of the tragedies that transpired during that time period." The artist nodded. "The play itself will be my interpretation of what led to the fire in the first place, as well as social commentary on the problems of acceptance, alienation, and fanatical religiousness. Due to the fact most people I associated with these events are alive and live in Sandpoint, not to mention I was a resident of the town back in that time as well, I decided to place the events in a fictional setting that directly parallels Sandpoint and its inhabitants, as well as change characters as to not offend anyone. I will most likely still offend a fair amount of viewers once they realize what the story really talks about, but I'm not only willing to take that risk, but welcome the controversy. After all, a controversial play at least has free publicity. As for your involvement in this project of mine, Miss Lulamoon, I'll of course pay you the standard I usually save for big stars I manage to secure from Magnimar, plus, if the show happens to be a success, a bonus relative to how well you performed."

Hearing the proposed amount and assuming this was an appropriate pay for the use of her talents Trixie hummed in appreciation, tapping her chin with one of her fingers in contemplation. That gave me time to intellectually grasp just what happened before my very eyes. So Trixie, a mare I was suspecting was going to act as a complete freeloader and like a parasite live off of the girls' hard work was actually going to earn some money herself for a change? That was something I wasn't really expecting, not with her self-centered, better-than-thou attitude. It'd been even better if she was to pool what she earns this way with us, but considering her arrangements with Twilight this wasn't going to happen. Still, I was pleasantly surprised. And worried for the mental state of Mr. Drokkus, but that's beside the point.

"Trixie will need to see the script before she makes her decision final." The magician said after a moment of thinking, returning my attention back to the conversation. "However, with what you had presented thus far, Mr. Drokkus, Trixie can say that she would be interested in partaking in this project. It's fairly interesting, and Trixie would appreciate the chance to perform on a scene again, especially if she will get to play an interesting and complex role."

"Of course Miss Lulamoon, I wouldn't dream of having it any other way." The local artist beamed at the news, unadulterated joy painted on his face. "I'll have a copy of the script delivered to you by tomorrow evening. You're staying at the Rusty Dragon, correct?" He inquired, and after receiving a nod in response clapped his hands together. "Splendid! Then I shall look forward to your final decision and hopefully the next time we'll see each other will be at Sandpoint Theater."

I took that as my cue to leave. I learned all I needed, and I didn't really fancy being caught by either of those two while listening in on them. Remembering just how much of a mean slap Trixie had I didn't want a repeat of that. So, being careful not to make any undue noise that could attract the stage magician I slipped away from the two, making my way towards where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were seated. Or at least that was the plan.

Being so concerned with staying out of Trixie's line of sight I decided to ignore the playwright she was with, which came to bite me in my tail. Just as soon as I started to make my way towards my two companions Mr. Drokkus just had to notice my movement. Up until now it seemed he was content with ignoring my presence, but unfortunately, that was not the case right now.

"It does seem you already have the beginnings of a small fan base, Miss Lulamoon." He stated towards Trixie, yet with his eyes placed on my diminutive form. The silver-maned mare quickly followed his gaze and within moments her large eyes zeroed on me, narrowing slightly and making me freeze mid step. "Either way, I await your response. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to make some final adjustments to the script. Ta-ta!"

And just like that I ended up one on one with a magician that just so happens knows a shrinking spell. I silently vowed to get that man back for this, seeing him stand from their table and directing his steps towards the only exit. Mentally wishing to be in his place, I nonetheless steeled myself for what was about to come.