> A New Day, A New World.
>  by Ditz
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Day l
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Is this real life? Or is this just fantasy?”

The words by Freddie Mercury had never been more appropriate, as I feel myself slowly descending into… Someplace… I really don’t know what’s going on even now. I feel something soft on my grip, but I can’t seem to be able to make it out, this place is just too hypnotic for me to care over some body pillow.

Speaking of place, I guess I should tell you where I am, but the truth, is that I don’t really know. I am still falling - Oh, guess I forgot to mention I have been falling for what could be long, or maybe just a few seconds, in this place, there was no way of knowing.

Who am I? What am I doing here? Is this even real? And who am I even talking to?

Maybe, I should try waking up…


~~~~~


The first thing the man noticed, was that he was extremely comfortable, and such comfort usually meant staying in bed, of course, he realized he’d have to get up in order to go to work.

“Wait, I have a job?” he thought, confused about the words he'd just thought of, but the urgency of the thought seemed to want to keep him out of his comfortable resting place. Realizing that going back to sleep was pointless, he reluctantly opened his eyes.

“What in the hell…?” were his first words as he came to notice he was in a big room, a grand set-up, it brought him memories of pictures he’d seen back in school with castles on them, and this had been a very familiar setting for him in that sense, yet, the fact he was there made him question it.

‘Castles? School?’ he tried racking up his thoughts, but to no avail. As he searched his thoughts, he attempted to remember his name, but to no avail, which frightened him. "What am I doing?" he thought, slapping himself. "First things first... find out where the heck I am."

He slowly got on his feet,  and quietly walked around, he noticed a sports bag hanging from the side of his bed and quicklyi checked its contents; clothes, a lighter, and a folded object that upon further observation, turned out to be a pocket knife were found inside. Deciding that being in a strange environment weaponless wouldn’t do him any good, he pocketed the knife, and made his way to  the door leading outside the relatively safe sleeping area, opening it slightly to check for company, he made his way outside.

“Whoa!” he gazed upon the long hallways with amazement, if he had doubted the place was a castle before, he didn’t doubt it now. Banners with pictures of the sun emblazoned on them adorned its walls, a red carpet ran along the length of the floor, and upon further inspection, he found that banners in the hallway bore similar aesthetic designs.

“Hello?” he called out to strangely empty hallways before covering his mouth at his dumb decision, he tensed up as he heard footsteps from one end of the hall. Senses kicking into overdrive, he ran into the opposite direction, and hid himself in the first intersection he came across, fearing his life, he ran to the end of that hallway, a feat that took him quite some time due to its length.

“Where am I?” he asked himself multiple times looking outside from a couple giant windows into the now visible night skies. Coming to the conclusion that safety was better than questioning his current existence, he continued.

He ran for a few minutes, coming across something that in his mind, simply said "a huge metal door” he stared at it in wonder for a few seconds before moving on, but stopped when the twin doors suddenly opened, revealing what he only described as a “big room”.

‘Clearly, I’m a master of linguistics.’ he thought struggling to find the right words.

“Come, there is much to discuss.”

He turned frantically at the sound of the voice, but found no one in sight, his first impulse told him to ignore it, but for some reason, he felt drawn to it, wanting to follow it. Finding no aggression in the soothing voice.

“Against my better judgment…”  he said, as he made his way into the dark room, finding no human life to be seen. Unfazed, he kept his sight on what appeared to be a throne, he squinted his eyes trying to make out anything in the darkness, but his concentration broke at the sound of the enormous doors closing behind him, not realizing he was already halfway in the room.

Any calmness he felt was now gone at the potential new threat, he reached into his pocket and took out the knife which he quickly unfolded, as terrified as he was, and the fact that the guards there might have had guns, he wasn't going out without a fight.

Of course, he didn’t count on the knife being wrestled from his grip by an unseen force.

“Hey! Give that back!” he called out in anguish. Realizing as his only weapon was now gone, and the fact that he had no escape,  he closed his eyes in panic and chose the best solution for himself at that point.

“Please, don’t hurt me too bad.” he put his hands in the air and stood in place, closing his eyes in panic, waiting for some sort of punishment from his unseen attackers.

The room was silent, but the sound of steps could be heard.

“I will not hurt you, please, open your eyes.” he heard the voice from earlier say.

Timidly, he slowly opened them. He then closed them again before opening them to the same sight; it was now illuminated by chandeliers hanging high from the ceiling, the room itself reminded him a lot of movies he'd seen as a child.

“I used to watch movies?” he thought and scratched his head, caught off guard by the stupidity of his own question, but those thoughts were quickly pushed aside by what sat in the throne itself.

A winged/horned white horse stood majestically, with flowing mane that reminded him of cotton candy, horseshoes that were more fancy that anything he’d ever seen. The sight brought back images of a little girl's fashion statement for horses. "With wings and horns..." he thought.

“Ah… Hello, horsie… I’m not going to hurt you… Now, if you’ll excuse me…” he was about to turn tail and run, but what he saw next brought him to a stop.

“I know you must be confused, and I can understand why, but please, I am not a “horsie” as you just referred to me just now,” the man stared in shock as the mare (whom he realized it was female by voice alone) talked to him, and slowly, began backing away.

"Um, this is weird..." he noticed, gulping in fear.

“Perhaps it might be better if I brought her out. Twilight, please, come on in,” the man just looked around quizzically at the side door that had just opened, but became deadly calm when he saw another horse—or rather, a pony—come out.

“John! You are okay!” the magenta colored pony called, she ran to him and began nuzzling his leg in affection. Confused, 'John' backed away slowly from the purple mare who flinched in surprise. “John? What’s the matter?” she asked, looking slightly hurt at his dismissal. Doing his best to ignore the sad horse, he mulled over the name, feeling a familiarity to it. 

Before he could ponder too long, an influx of memories began assaulting his mind, instantly bringing him up to speed, he groaned at the suddenness of the moment and grabbed his now aching head, trying to nurse it back to health.

“How… do you know my name?” he asked the unicorn who only stared with mouth agape, she turned towards the taller horse who only shook her head and motioned her to go over to him. She slowly trotted towards her but stopped to look back at John who only gave a deadpan look, bringing a sigh from the purple mare.

“My apologies, I have yet to introduce myself; I, am Princess Celestia, and I am the ruler of this land, the purple unicorn you see here is named Twilight Sparkle, and she is my most loyal student. Now, would you like to introduce yourself?” she asked, still talking in a soothing tone, he debated speaking out of term, but decided against it.

He didn't want a kick to the face by a horse that size.

“My name, as, um, Twilight said, is John.  Now if I may be a bit forward, what is going on, and where the hell am I?” he cursed at his lack of tact, but being in what appeared to be a land of talking horses seemed like a good reason to be angry. He looked over at the purple unicorn who just stared at the floor in response, he made a not to ask her when the time was right.

The ruler only stared with soft eyes and got on her hooves, she walked towards the window behind her throne and stared into the moonlight, she stood there for a few uncomfortable minutes, nearly causing John to cough under his breath to regain her attention.

Fortunately for him, she finally seemed to be taking the initiative.

“Twilight, take him to his room. I need to go relieve my sister from her post,  and as you probably know, I must also raise the sun as well, I will be with you both soon enough,” Twilight nodded and gave the royal horse a close approximation of a hug, then nodded to John who returned the nod in turn before following Twilight out.

As soon as they made their way outside, the lone human noticed two new ponies standing at opposite sides of the door they had just exited from, they stared surprised for a moment, but quickly regained their composure, and returned to what he assumed was their job as guards.

They walked silently for a while, and John who at that point had had enough, chose to break the awkward silence.

“Raise the sun?” he asked with curiosity to the silent mare.

“In our world, the sun is raised by Princess Celestia herself. On the other end of the spectrum, is her sister named Luna, whose job is to raise the moon—Just added that in case you wanted to know,” John only stared incredulously at the back of what he now thought was an insane pony, but decided not to question it further.

He was now in a world that apparently housed sentient equines, another incredibly ridiculous thing added to the list certainly wouldn’t hurt.

They walked along the slowly filling hallways at a brisk pace, drawing glances from passerby ponies who stared in amazement at the young human, some approached him curiously, but all backed away almost instantly.

John, ignoring the craziness around him, was submerged deep in thought.

‘What’s going on? How come I am taking this better than I should have?’ he suddenly bumped into Twilight who had stopped, where he noticed the door to the room he woke up in.

“Want to invite me in?” he asked, giving her a playful grin earning him one in return from the strange being.

“Are you sure you don’t remember anything?” 

“Nope”

“Just making sure.”

They entered the room, and John quickly locked the door behind him wanting no interruptions from the random guards or a certain “Sun Princess”.

“Okay Twilight, talk.” he wagged a finger at her, but only got a small giggle from the mare. “WHAT IS SO FUNNY ABOUT THIS!?” he was at the end of his patience, and laughing it off wasn’t going to solve it in his book.

“John,” she began giving him a serious look. “Your mind was affected when we entered something called ‘The Door’. You have what we believe to be short term memory lost, you will probably regain it in a few days, then we c-”

“I don’t care about that! When can you send me back home? I OBVIOUSLY don’t belong here,” he closed his eyes and breathed in, trying to contain the full extent of his contained anger towards Twilight. With effort, he repeated what he wanted in a much calmer manner. “When… can I go back…” he asked again in rasped breaths.

“John, when I arrived in your world, I didn’t know, I’m sorry, I…” she stopped talking and took a quick mouthful of air before resuming her explanation, and reluctantly mouthed out the words. “You can’t go back.”

"W-what?" his heart sank, and his mind became a minefield of emotions, confusiontaking over anything else. His body had gone numb, and he fell back on the floor hitting his head on the shiny floor, he felt the throbbing pain in his head instantly, but ignored it. Twilight was next to him in a flash, mouthing off questions along the lines of whether he was okay or if he needed to talk.

In his mind, neither question would yield a positive answer.

“John, I may not know what you are feeling, and I know this won‘t make it any better, but you have to know that you chose this,” she explained.

“Can you repeat that again?” he asked, while slowly turning his head to face her, giving her a venomous look.

“You chose to come here to my world… with me,” sick thoughts filled his mind at the realization that he might have inadvertently forsaken his life ‘Crappy life, sure, but my life nonetheless’ he began forming thoughts of conspiracy from part of the ponies themselves. ‘What if I was abducted to be forever used as a guinea pig? What if they want to put their weird alien ponies in my stomach!’

Twilight noticed the distraught look John was giving her and recognized it, she had seen the look whenever he had been over thinking things—something she quickly sympathized with— but quickly recalling a certain spell, she focused her magic on her horn, and touched his head, much to John’s increasing terror.


~~~~~


Twilight laid uncomfortably on the wooden floor, not being able to sleep on a bed had kept her in a lousy mood, and she needed to get the attention of the human, but had not been able to wake him from his deep slumber.

‘It must be a human thing.’ she thought amusedly.

“Oh man, I need to stop drin- Oh, wait, I don’t drink,” the now awake human said, following by stepping on Twilight whose breath was quickly thrown out of her body by the weight, she managed a loud enough groan that was not missed by him.

“How the fuck did Michael even manage to put this fucking horse in my house!?” by this time Twilight had gotten on her hooves, and she didn’t take kindly to the misconception the human was presenting, and decided to act against it.

“For your information, I’m not a ‘horse‘, but a pony, I understand we are both part of the equine family, but I consider that rather rude,” she said managing to include the minor tidbit.

The human turned to the sound of her voice and stared flabbergasted at her, unbelieving of what he had just heard.

“I need to start drinking right now,” he muttered keeping his attention away from Twilight, which didn’t bide quite well with her.

“Please, don’t ignore me. Well, now that we have that out of the way, let me introduce myself,” she cleared her throat and began the introductions she had practiced back home. “Greetings! My name, is T-”

The human let out a shriek interrupting Twilight who just rolled her eyes annoyed of the human disregarding her schedule.

‘This is going to be a looong day...” she thought as the human rambled off in panic.


~~~~~


Twilight suddenly broke the magical connection, an act that send her flying to a wall, leaving John gasping for air. He quickly recovered and looked around the room bewildered, until finally coming across Twilight. She watched as he walked towards her at a rushed pace, causing the hurt unicorn to panic, but much to her relief, saw a worried look on his face.

“Twi? Are you okay? I’m sorry for acting like a jerk, please answer me!” he let out words in a blur, causing Twilight to miss most of the intended message, but smiled getting the gist of it.

“Do you remember now, Mr. Grump?” she asked teasingly.

“You tell me,” he enveloped her in a tight hug that left her gasping for air, feeling the danger he was putting his best friend, he loosened his grip and let her rest on his arms.

“So… what now?” asked John, realizing that he had to begin anew.

”Now, you live, of course,” Celestia’s voice echoed in the room, as she manifested in a ball of white light that partially blinded the pair.

John quickly got on his feet and turned to bow while holding Twilight, an act that caused the Princess to raise a brow in surprise and Twilight to squirm in his loosened grip.

“I want to apologize for my early rudeness, your majesty,” she scanned him for a few seconds and gave a soft smile that John quickly returned in kind.

Then the smile faltered, and the Princess spoke in a serious tone.

“I, Celestia, decree that the human known as John, will be allowed to live in Equestria. He will be treated as any other of my little ponies, and he will be expected to follow the rules abided by our land in return. For the time being, he will be on probation, he will be watched over by Twilight Sparkle from Ponyville, and he will be expected to learn about the magic of Friendship by getting to know more ponies, just like my most loyal student has.”

John simply stared in confusion.

"Wait, what?"

Twilight beamed at the praise and clapped her hooves excitedly at the mention of John staying with her, the Princess raised her hoof and she  stopped her motions, returning to full silence while Celestia gave her final thoughts.

“You may leave the castle whenever you wish to. I will make sure a written copy of what I have decreed is send to Town Hall back in Ponyville, there will be a meeting to speak of this in due time, but for now, relax,” she gave the pair one final curt nod, and made a beeline towards the door.

Both human and unicorn let out a sigh, relieved that everything had gone well.

“Oh, and John?” Princess Celestia called him from the door.

“Um, yes, Princess?”

“Welcome to Equestria.”
> Morning Encounters.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

‘Okay. Maybe that hit to the head was worse than I expected…’

John found himself laying in bed once again without any sort of memory of how he had made it there to begin with, a slightly dull ache on the back of his head being the only thing he could feel with great clarity at his waking moments.

“Oh man, what did I do last… night?” he looked outside the room’s window and noticed a bright light, completely blinding him the moment he stared. He rubbed his eyes and nearly cursed the sun... but just nearly—he did not want to anger the Princess in charge of the celestial body. 

He noticed the direction of the sun, and realized something was amiss, what really helped him catch his attention was the fact that the sun was being raised instead of being set.

“D-Did I just sleep for a day?” his stomach growled as if in response, much to his embarrassment. Shrugging it off for the moment, he directed his attention to the bag on the bed and grabbed a change of clothes, and looking further in, he found the knife he had lost the day before. "Guess they didn’t find it too dangerous," he shrugged and was about to put the bag down when something else came to his attention.

“Oh, right, how could I forget?” he inserted his hand deep into the bag and grabbed the lighter he had forgotten the day before, he lighted it up and stared at the fire created for a few seconds before dissipating the flame, and putting it on his pocket. “Better keep it where I can’t lose it," after some fiddling, he made his way out of the room.

He found himself walking around ponies who continued the previous day's looks, or in rare cases, totally avoiding him completely. "The Princess might have had something to do with that…" he guessed.

After uneventfully walking for a long time, he finally stopped in the middle of a hallway and let out his rage at his inability to find his destination. "Wherever the hell that is!" he shouted in a mental note.

“WHERE THE HELL AM I!?” he yelled at nothing in particular, the statues at the side being the only 'ponies' that he could see in the empty hallway. "Oh man… what do I do now?"  he thought exasperated at his bad luck, while his stomach growled as if to simply rub salt on the metaphorical wound.

“Be quiet! I’m trying to find us food you little c-… oh great, now I’m talking to my own stomach,“ he groaned, rubbing it softly. “What’s next?” as in response, his ears caught the sound of a scratching noise.

“Who is there?” he asked, already chalking it up to his mind playing tricks on his hungry self. “I-I have a lighter… It has fire!” he finished lamely, taking out the lighter and putting his finger on the trigger, hoping that its (hopefully) alien nature would scare his (probably) non-existent assailant(s).

“Whoa, whoa! Calm down, sorry to bother you!” John’s ears perked up at the sound of the voice, its pitch slightly infantile, his mind already placing it to a kid. He looked behind him and found something quite unexpected.

An overgrown purple lizard stood right before him.

Fear was the first emotion that rose within him, but his analytical side only chose to study the odd creature: it was definitely purple, slightly lighter than Twilight’s, with what seemed to be emerald green scales on its body instead of a mane. It had a spiky tail that it kept perked up in the end. He also caught its face, which simply stared at him.

What he did not realize was that the lizard was now also talking to him.

“Hellooo? Anypony home?” he called out, bringing John out of his stupor.

“Did… you just talk? For a lizard that sure is an achievement,” John recognized the purple lizard’s smarts.

The purple lizard only gave John a deadpan stare, followed by a face palm and a groan.

“You are definitely Twilight’s friend, she told me a bit about you,“ he fidgeted in place for a few seconds before continuing. “Anyway, I‘m a dragon, and don‘t you forget it!” he breathed a small stream of green flame in demonstration of his status, causing John to flinch and fall back on the floor.

“H- How do you know Twilight? Are you together or something?” John mentioned out loud without thinking, causing a gagging sound to come out of the young dragon.

“Together? Well, if by that you mean living together, then yes, we are,” John’s mind raced to a certain event, memories that didn't belong to him; a vision of a purple dragon helping him put away books, a dragon sleeping calmly on a basket on the floor, and finally, an image of the same dragon being hatched from an egg.

The realization became clear on his face, and he stared at the young dragon in front of him who continued his confused look.

“Is there something on my face? Or do you have another “witty” line for me?” the dragon asked in a derisive tone.

“No, it’s nothing... I'm sorry, Spike,” he apologized, making the dragon's eyes widen in surprise.

“How did you know my name?” John gave Spike a good look, only now realizing it was shaking very slightly. He had to give it credit for not running away in sight 'Then again, here I am myself'.

“Well, certain purple unicorn gladly shared some bits about her assistant,” almost instantly, Spike stopped shaking, giving John a knowing smile.

“Number ONE assistant, thank you very much!” this brought an amusing chuckle from John who only rolled his eyes as a response.

'Odd...' he perked up and began analyzing his conversation with the dragon, he saw the natural -yet timid- flow of it and how well he was keeping up. "Wow... I guess she did teach me some stuff," he thought satisfied at his new found ability.

“Ahem!” he was broken out of his thoughts once again by Spike, who stared with narrowed eyes.

“Oh, yes, Spike?” 

The dragon still stared, but his next words came out in a friendly tone. “I heard you say you were hungry, everyone in the castle did more than likely,“ he muttered under his breath before adding “And I’m  heading to get Twilight right now so we can eat some breakfast. Wanna come with?”

John’s stomach gladly replied for him, bringing a brief laugh from the dragon.

“Guess so. Lead the way!” John stated, eagerly following behind.

He was able to keep up easily, Spike's stubby legs made him a slow walker in comparison to John himself, but he held back his pace, using the opportunity to try to make some small talk with his new acquaintance.

“So, what’s your world like?” John was taken aback by the dragon beating him to the punch, but it was a question he had expected, and was ready with an answer.

“It’s very different. We rely in technology, and magic doesn’t exist, or I’d rather say we just aren’t magical beings, I mean, who knows? Maybe magic is real,” he finished looking to the side in embarrassment, realizing he might no have been as ready as he expected. Spike seemed to mull over his words, trying to understand, but his face twisted oddly, apparently holding something back, a little fact that John brought up to him.

“Well…You are like me, right? Well, sort of…” Spike babbled on while John stared totally lost. Spike closed his eyes and gave a deep breath before continuing. “You control fire, right? At least you said so…” John smiled at this, realizing what the young tyke meant. He took out the lighter from his back pocket and brought it to life, gently protecting the flame from whatever elements that tried to extinguish it while lowering himself to Spike.

“Whoa! Pocket fire?” Spike exclaimed in excitement, rapidly closing into the flame, extinguishing it with the small wind created by his fast movements. s“Where did it go!?” he frowned at the lighter, and reached a claw to touch it, but to his dismay, the lighter was quickly moved out of the way by John, who held it in his hand protectively.

“Hey!” the dragon complained at John’s sudden lack of cooperation, John stared back realizing what he had done, and chose to give Spike an explanation. Or at the very least, something for him to avoid getting added to his future list of things to eat.

“It’s something very important to me, Spike…” he said simply, while putting the lighter back on his pocket. "I'm sorry."

“Oh, okay, it's my fault really..." Spike mumbled, barely able to hide his disappointment, and both simply stood in silent for a few seconds before John broke it.

“Twilight?” John reminded him, and the dragon nodded, the pair resuming their trip towards food.


~~~~~


“…No, I need to put this here…”

Twilight Sparkle mumbled to herself, concentrating on the task at hoof. She was a pony who always tried her best to make sure she caught up to her studies, and she reprimanded herself for her negligence as thoughts of her calculations ran alongside with her thoughts of her lack of effort that had caused her to fall behind on various projects.

“Oh no! I have to hurry! If I don’t finish fast, the princess will be disappointed, then I won’t be able to stay as her student, and then I won’t be able to stay in Ponyville! Which means I will have to stay here in Canterlot… Then magical kindergarden!” she stopped for a second as the realization kicked in.

“NONONONO!”

The worried unicorn repeated the same lines for the thirty-seventh time that day, all while she levitated objects from side to side, multitasking three different things at once. She had been able to keep up her magic flow steady, but as her body and mind became strained, so did her magic, which began to waver in return.

“Hey, Twilight!” 

"Ah!" she yelped at the sudden sound, and at that point, every object around lost its magical grip, dropping like a rock.

Everything suddenly slowed down, and Twilight looked at every object dropping and noticed a flask, one that she didn’t bother to treat with care—one full of a very explosive liquid. Horror was plastered in her face as she realized the error of her absentmindedness.

It was far too late for that, of course.

“No!”


~~~~~


It was a very fine morning, it always was when she was involved. 

I finally got some time alone with Tia, and we decided to have a picnic in the gardens, even if it had taken us a while to get the guards to leave, it had been well worth it, regardless, who would have thought we could even relax like this?

I didn’t, that’s for sure.

I slowly enjoyed an apple fritter while Tia simply basked on an especially warn sun she had raised just for this day. She had been waiting for this and she had “pulled out all the stops“ as I had heard some of the guards say. It was just an off day so we, as sisters, could spend time alone. There were no formalities here—we even chose to take our regalia off, which was something that we nary did nowadays.

"Luna," I was shaken from my peaceful thoughts by Tia's call.

“What is the matter, sister?” I asked, giving her a smile to make sure she didn’t think I was angered by her sudden forcefulness. She sighed before replying, and that sigh could only mean one thing...

“Luna, I need you to go check in on our visitors. I apologize for cutting our time short, but I just found out some last minute appointments and I have no time to check, and I'm afraid to say they might be getting in a bit of trouble,” as she finished, I stared at my sister, confused of her completely unplaced request and said the only thing on my mind at that moment.

“Excuse me?”

The faint sound of an explosion suddenly reached the ears of the mare sleeping soundly, interrupting her well deserved slumber, she groaned slightly at it and nearly chose to ignore the ruckus that was probably taking place.

Almost.

She groggily got on her hooves, then hastily brushed her mane and instinctively reached for her crown that she lazily put on, cursing the old thing and its need to show her royalty before walking down the staircase of her tower as per usual. The long staircase was, as always, empty and devoid of any ponies, after all, with its bare walls and lack of decorations from any sort, it was quite an unwelcome sight, and something that Luna always tried to find the time to fix, but never did.

“Maybe a small table, with a vase… and flowers! Yes, other ponies would enjoy that, but there is not any space… A painting, perhaps?” she mulled over her idea until reaching the end of the staircase and opening the door leading to the main part of the castle, she wasted no time and headed for her sister’s private lab, which according to her sister’s words the day before, was being occupied by Twilight Sparkle doing her usual study catch-up.

“She is a very talented mare, but her own compulsiveness will be her undoing,” she thought as she reached her destination.

Her thoughts backed-up her fitting thought further as shown by the smoke coming from under the door.

"Oh no..." she reached for the handle with her magic and raised a small shield as she entered, protecting herself from the remains of the smoke as she looked inside and found one of the strangest sights: an odd creature stood on its hind legs. There was no hair on its body, but its head wore a small patch of it. It also wore clothing of some sort that seemed to be slightly singed, probably by the explosion that had taken place. "What in the...?" at this point, all analysis was thrown out the window when she noticed the creature shaking the limp body of Twilight Sparkle on its grip. Fearing the worst, she abandoned any sort of  civility. grabbing the strange creature with her magic, and lifting it in the air, forcing a cry of surprise out of him.

“Hey, what are you doing!?” it yelled to the Princess who only duly noted its ability to speak.

“Thou has hurt one of my subjects! And for that, thou shall be punished.” she had preferred to use the newly learned “you” instead of the old speech, but she found it easier to remain threatening when using the archaic talk.

“Huh? What? You got it all wrong!” it seemed to shake on her grip, fear emanating from every muscle in its body. Luna was a pony who disliked bringing fear to other creatures, but the sight of her dear friend had caused that certain care to be thrown out of the window.

“Please! If you would let me explain!” it yelled in desperation, causing the Princess to realize that she may had possibly reacted a bit rash. Reluctantly, she loosened her grip, but kept her stern voice.

“We are listening.”


~~~Ninety-Three Seconds Earlier...~~~


Neither would know what would take place in the next couple of minutes.

John and Spike made their way inside the room, Spike proceeding to call Twilight as she levitated a good dozen different objects around the place.

There was a yelp, and every single floating object came crashing down into the ground, and in the instant it happened, John managed to see Twilight suddenly teleport in front of them, followed by raising what seemed to be a magenta barrier just as the sound of an explosion ringed in his ears. He reached to cover them from the loud explosion, watching as Twilight's barrier suddenly broke apart, sending her flying to the nearest wall. Him and Spike were treated to the same fate, as the not quite subsided explosion finished its chaos.

A ringing sound plagued John’s ears preventing him from listening to the noise around him, he opened his eyes with difficulty, and looked around the mess of a room, finding small fires in some areas, but otherwise, looking intact. He groggily got on his feet and found Spike laying next to him, holding his head in pain.

“Spike, you alright?” 

Spike quickly shook his head at the question, and was glad to hear the dragon speak up. “What do you think…?” he quickly opened his eyes and got on his feet, but his apparent injuries prevented him from moving a single step.

“Argh… check on Twilight…” needing no further incentive, he moved to the (hopefully) unconscious body of his adoptive sister, and he found himself helpless without knowing a way to check for a single sign of life, and instead stared at her, looking for signs of breathing. 

Twilight’s slow moving chest reassured the human of her condition as he placed her in his arms, and began shaking her softly, trying to bring her back to consciousness.

“Twi…?“ he called “Twilight! Please wake up!” he begged, hoping for some sort of response, but he quickly grew impatient, which only made him shake her slightly harder, hoping for at least a weak response. Noticing he wasn’t making any progress, he was about to put Twilight down when the door was suddenly opened, revealing another pony.

‘Maybe he/she knows someone who can help!’ he put Twilight slowly on the ground and looked at the dark pony staring at him, her eyes seemingly showing contempt. His body began trembling at the sight, sensing the danger that the mare obviously was.

Out of nowhere, he felt himself being lifted in the air, a bluish sort of aura surrounding his entire body. He yelped in surprise and gave a shocked stare at the pony who only returned him an angry look.

“Hey, what are you doing!?” he asked the mare lifting him into the air.

“Thou has hurt one of my subjects, and for that, thou shall be punished.” the use of the old English “thou“ caused John to raise a brow in confusion, but decided it best for a later time.

‘Subjects? Wait, could she be… shit!’ he decided to explain himself before further angering the other Princess.

“Huh? What? You got it all wrong!” he told her a bit desperate to get his point across. He racked his brains for a solution, but found there to be none other than to give her the truth.

“Please! I can explain!” ‘Smooth…’ he hoped that would be enough to get on the Princess’ good side, and found the pressure of the magic slowly dissipating, only to be stopped a few inches from the ground, the Princess closing in on him.

One standing and the other floating, they stared at each other face-to-muzzle.

“We are listening."

“Can you call some assistance for Twilight first, though? Please?” the Princess looked past John, noticing the unconscious body of Twilight and nodded.

“Hmm…” her horn glowed a bright blue, and two Pegasus appeared on the spot, looking around surprised at their current teleportation, but quickly perked up at the sight of the Princess.

“Please, take care of the unicorn Twilight Sparkle and make sure she receives medical attention,” she ordered in a serene tone. She looked around and noticed Spike trying to get on his feet as well, but failing miserably. “Please, make sure to take Spike as well, he is also in need of medical assistance.

Both Pegasi nodded and grabbed the pair, quickly taking them out of the room to what John assumed to be the hospital.

“Now talk,” John gulped at the sudden return of her angry tone and hastily recounted the story since his arrival while the Princess herself looked around and found the flask that seemed to be the source of the explosion. After silently examining it for a few seconds, she sighed in relief.

“She is lucky that each of these flasks are protected against each other like this, otherwise we would have had a castle in flames right now,” she threw the flask aside and without asking anything more, dragged John through the castle's hallway. Other ponies stared and talked to each other in hushed voices, as they made it to John’s room, where she deposited him in the bed and said: “Stay here, I have business to attend to. We will speak later."

“Y-yes…” he replied as she closed the door. "Wait..." he thought, remembering something.

“The lighter!” he rummaged throughout his back pocket, finding said lighter surprisingly intact, he rubbed the carving on it and gave a sight of relief, putting it back on his back pocket, then, returning to his bed... Right before remembering Twilight and Spike’s condition. He made a beeline to the door, full well on the mindset to disobey the orders, but was only met with distraught to find out his path was blocked by a guard.

“Hey, let me out!” he demanded to the guard.

“None shall leave this room! According to Her Majesty, you must remain here until she allows it,” he finished his line and returned to saying nothing again. Knowing there was no point in arguing, John closed the door and laid down in bed to try to sleep the worry off, but sleep wouldn’t take him, as his mind replayed the events of the morning. It took him but a few seconds, and after thinking about the guard outside for a few minutes, he finally realized.

“They are keeping me prisoner here… I got to get out of here! Gotta find Twilight!” his fear vanished as the gears in his brain turned,  and he grinned slyly as a plan—a very desperate plan in his case—popped into his mind.

‘I hope I don’t regret this.’


~~~~~


Being a royal guard was a very profitable job, and it had its perks.

Free healthcare, big Hearth’s Warming Eve bonuses, and of course, being the most boring job there could possibly be. The princesses, being the most powerful beings in Equestria. really made the need of guards redundant.

These thoughts crossed the mind of Gleaming Guard as he stood in front of the ‘hue-man’s’ door, knowing Princess Luna herself had given him the task kept him planted on his spot, there was only one enemy to defeat: Boredom itself.

It hadn’t been much of a problem for him, of course, he might have been the new guy, but his talent involved guarding. But while his name emphasized his talent, said name also brought mocking from the other guards, including some shame from Shining Armor himself who laughed at such ‘obvious’ name, especially for someone in the Imperial Guard. He hadn't let the ridicule deter him, however, as he was ready to prove himself as he knew he could. He wanted to show the other guards what he could be capable of, and following the orders of a Princess would be enough to bring some respect to him.

At least in theory.

“Hey, you might wanna let me outta here.” the hue-man called from behind the closed door. Guard simply looked back and sighed; he just needed to focus on his job, but the creature seemed to have other plans.

“I don’t think so, buddy, Her Majesty’s orders,” despite his annoyance, Guard laughed at the creatures’ feeble attempts, but chose to humor him. “What are you gonna do?” he challenged him.

There were a few seconds of silence, and Guard expected him to go back to bed, but was surprised by his next words.

“I’ll burn this castle down; didn’t you know our kind breathed fire?”

Guard flinched at the hue-man’s threat, but quickly marked it as a bluff. “Yeah, right, a-as if, hue-man!” he replied nervously.

Silence took over once again, and the hue-man made no further comments. Guard grinned to himself in victory and returned to his post, but it was shortlived, as a sudden smell filled his nostrils.

“W-what’s that?” he asked, reluctantly reaching for the door.

“I warned you, didn’t I?” the thing said, the obvious smell of smoke intensifying

‘Smoke!’  he ran headlong into the room, immediately coming across a small piece of paper slowly burning on the floor. He didn’t have time to react as he felt a sharp pain in his head, and fell on the floor with only one thought in mind before losing consciousness.

‘Bucking… Dammit..’


~~~~~


"Sorry, dude, nothing personal," John apologized at the unconscious guard on the floor, knowing how much trouble he, along with the guard would get into.

He bolted out the door and ran aimlessly, finding scared ponies on his path. Noting that he would only get lost in the craziness of the royal palace, he stopped and asked the first pony he found.

“Do you know where the hospital area is!?” the fancy-looking stallion only stared in terror as the unknown creature shook him for answers, slowly processing the words, he pointed towards a staircase in the same hallway.

“F-follow the staircase and then, follow the hallway from there, the 3rd door to the right should be the plac- PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!” John released the pony and gave a curt nod in thanks.

The pony meanwhile, fell unconscious at his traumatic experience.

John ran straight to the stairs, being careful not to trip, thanks to the ponies’ lack of hands, nothing had a “handrail” which he needed to move down safely. He looked behind him and found a couple dozen guards following him, what he didn’t expect, was the guards all following him at the same time throughout the staircase.

He stopped at the bottom, amused at the guards lack of hindsight, the group remained stuck in the staircase, struggling to get out of their self-inflicted conundrum. Chuckling at the sight and thanking his luck, he ran along the hallway and made it to the door in question. He quickly reached for the handle, but was unable to turn it, likely due to the fact that two dark pegasi held him in place at that moment.

“Hey, let me go!” he looked around desperately, attempting to find any sort of help from someone, but finding none. With nothing else to go to, he resigned to a desperate plan. “Princess!” he shouted for help, but was disappointed when no one answered. Thankfully for him, it was but a small delay. as the pair of double doors was suddenly opened, causing the young human to beam in relief.

Spike stared confused at the sight, he had bandages on his head and was sitting on the edge of a bed, both Princesses stood alongside him, looking at John with mild surprise (with Luna looking more than a little angry) and finally, a bed that held Twilight, the pony which gave John an incredulous look.

“Eh… Hi, Twilight?” he greeted her sheepishly, causing a certain white colored Princess to chuckle slightly at the display.

“Please, let him go, we will handle this from here,”  Celestia commanded, with the guards dropping him with a thud.

“Ouch! Gee… Thanks…” he walked into the room, doors closing right behind him, causing an involuntary gulp to rise on him. Celestia nodded, and motioned him to move over the bed besides Twilight as the pair of princesses moved to the front to face all in the room. 

She took a deep breath, and began.

“Do you have any idea of the ruckus you’ve caused?” Celestia asked, keeping her face from showing any emotion. Twilight was ready to give a response, but was quieted down by her raised hoof. "Didn't Princess Luna tell you to stay put?"

“Y-yes?” he replied looking down at the floor, he loathed the situation he had been put it, reminders of days when he had been a “bad boy” coming to mind. Doing things without thinking was one of his issues, but he never expected for such things to follow him even here.

“You tricked one of the Imperial guards and knocked him out, left a fire hazard in your room, scared a stallion half to death, ridiculed dozens of our Imperial guards, and disobeyed a direct order from me,” Princess Luna recited the crimes to him, only causing him to shrink in fear at the angry tone she had evoked.

“Sister, let me take care of this,” Celestia spoke, taking over the accusing once more. “Indeed, those have been your crimes, and I will have to bring some punishment for hurting one of my guards... But for now, I will allow you two to catch up," she said mercifully, letting John breathe a sigh of relief. "But John," it was but a single sigh. "Expect your punishment to reach you in a few days time,” he only nodded rapidly to the Princess, who approached him and whispered something in his ear ‘There is only so much I can do, don‘t ruin your chances here.’

John stared at her with a guilty look, but she only shook her head and turned to Twilight.

“Twilight, remember what I told you, but with that, I must return to my duties. Luna here is probably expecting to go back to bed, so if you will excuse us,” human, dragon, and pony nodded as Celestia made her way out. Luna followed closely behind as well, but turned to John who gave her a weak smile, and snorted in return.

“… Great, now I have a Princess as my enemy!” he said, thinking back on the damage he had done. Twilight only gave him a smile, all while Spike laughed, confusing him as to their behavior.

“What’s so funny?” 

“John, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Twilight said looking surprised.

“Yeah! That was amazing!” Spike continued excitedly, but dropped back on the bed as he lost his balance.

“What are you guys talking about?” suspense was one of the things John despised the most, not wanting any further stalling, he urged them to talk.

“The escaping, the running away from Imperial guards, the fire!” Spike explained while John recounted the events on his mind. Coming to the realization, he thought on any of his times back home, even in the darkest moment, the most difficult struggle, he would have never done any of that.

"I couldn't even hurt a fly..."

“Y-you are right… I gotta sit down…” he did so on a nearby chair, bringing a loud roar from his stomach as he did.

“Looks like somepony is hungry.” she took a tray of food from the side and handed it to him.

“Isn’t this yours?”

“No, Spike ordered it for you; he had a hunch you’d be here soon,” she replied giving the pair a look in return. “I almost forgot! Spike? This is John. John? Spike! Although you probably already met each other,” John gave the dragon a grateful look and extended his arm, shaking the young dragon’s claw.

“Of course, Tw- *burp*” a green fire emanated from the dragon’s mouth, with a letter materializing on the spot, and safely landing on Twilight’s bed. 

“What is this?” Twilight picked the letter up and opened it. She read it once, her eyes static at the words on the scroll, with her eyes traveling back and forth from the top to the bottom as she reread it, bringing John to ask the obvious question.

“What the heck was that!? And Spike, you owe me food!” John looked sadly upon the floor where the tray laid with food smeared on its surface, he cursed the suddenly appearing green flame and wished death upon it, but Twilight had a response for him before he could vocalize it.

“Princess Celestia send a letter.”

“What about it?” said Spike. “She tends to do that.”

“No, she apparently send a letter to Mom!” Twilight replied, and Spike’s eyes shined with realization as he rushed to read the letter and then stare at John.

“What’s the matter?” John asked confused.

“Sorry to say this John, but they want to see me," Twilight answered warily.

“I still don‘t follow.”

Twilight facehooved and simplified her response. “My parents want to meet you.”

……

“Oh…”
> Meet the Parents.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Can we put this up to vote?"

"No."

“Well, I still don’t think I should go, what if they don’t like me, Twi?”

“For the hundredth time, it will be fine, my parents are understandable ponies.”

“That’s what all girls say!” replied John with a scowl.

“WILL YOU TWO BE QUIET!? I’M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE!”

The sound of Spike's voice had been enough to reduce the pair’s conversation to a soft whisper before it quickly died down, so in its place, John chose to stare out the carriage’s window to observe the mostly empty streets of Canterlot, not very surprising since only a few rays of  Celestia’s still rising sun peeked over the horizon.

“Remind me again, why do we have to visit them at this ungodly hour?” asked John softly with an annoyed look on his face.

“Because my parents live in the outskirts of Canterlot, and we have to head to Ponyville tomorrow. Not to mention that I want to spend some quality time with my family before we go,” responded Twilight in the same volume without glancing away from a book.

John sighed and looked to his side at Spike who was slumped over on the seat, having fallen asleep face down. Seizing the opportunity, he moved over to Twilight’s side in order to light up the spark of conversation.

“How come you aren’t so nervous about being late anymore, you sure were yesterday, not to mention I heard that you go nuts when you fall behind on your studies or whatnot,” Twilight put the book down and gave the sleeping Spike a knowing glare, Spike's reply was simply a snore.

“Well, if you really want to know, that’s because the Princess told me I’ve been gone for only a day, well, from yesterday. Anyway,  I managed to actually get ahead with... Yesterday's events, and I am a day ahead! And before you ask, yes, it means exactly what you think,” John blinked a few times absorbing the meaning of Twilight’s words and fell back on his seat, realizing the implications.

“Two weeks gone on Earth time, huh?” Twilight gave him a sad smile and laid her head on his shoulder, he responded with an awkward smile that faded as he took a deep breath, and let the worry slip to the back of his mind.

“So, yeah… What are your parents like?” he began, trying to shift the conversation elsewhere. "I could learn a thing or two about her family before meeting them," he thought.

“Oh! Mmm… Well, let’s see, my dad is an astronomer, or rather, was, he retired, but when I was a filly, he used to take me to the observatory where I could use their specialized telescope to look at the stars, even if a bit useless, what with Princess Celestia never being able to keep them in the same place without Luna‘s help, but it was a lot of fun!” she said reminiscing on her filly hood memories. John nodded with some wonder, the fact of  the 'pony with the power to  move stars' still in his mind.

“O-oh, and your mom?” he asked after an awkward silence.

“Mom was more of a stay-at-home pony, but she did her part by writing short stories, she wasn‘t famous or anything, but she should have BEEN!” she finished a little too loud, causing Spike to jump a bit in his sleep. “Sorry, I can‘t seem to get over that quite yet, it seems… I‘ll tell you the story another time,” she said, her cheeks donning a light blush.

“That‘s okay, dummy.” he placed a hand over her mane and ruffled it, gaining an annoyed look from the mare. “Carry on.”

“Ahem. In any case, mom, right. Every time I went to bed, she used to tell me a story, but the great thing was that she used to tell me a different story each time, and I never fell asleep while listening to them… I… guess that defeated the purpose, huh?” she giggled slightly and then clopped her hooves excitedly “Oh, I can’t wait to see them again!”

Nervousness aside, John couldn’t help but be happy for her, if not slightly jealous of her upbringing, but shoving it to the backlog of his mind, he decided upon another change in topic.

“Princess Celestia is the main ruler of this land, correct?”

“Quite a change in topic… but yes, you are correct in saying she is. Along with Luna,” John nodded in understanding,

“So, how come she isn’t a Queen?”

Twilight readied herself to respond, but stopped, her brow furrowed while she put her hoof on her chin, she mulled over the question for a few seconds, but then, dropped her hooves to the ground in defeat and stared at John surprised. The rest of the trip went by quietly and neither spoke, as the topic had broken any chance to recover the conversation.

The silent was short lived, as it was broken by the driver’s voice.

“We have arrived, Ms. Sparkle,” both bolted off their seats at the sudden voice, while Spike remained fast asleep, but was quickly woken by the sudden stop as he fell off the seat.

“Wha! Who! Where!” exclaimed the young dragon in a daze.

“Oh, t-thanks.” answered Twilight a bit startled.

“Wait, I recognize that voice,” John said, quickly hopping off the carriage and looking at the front, he stared at a white pegasus, he wore armor like the pony beside it, but his head was bare, revealing his oddly pink mane, something that the pony seemed to realize as a low growl came out of him when recognition filled his features.

“You!" the stallion said in rage.

"Um... Hi, um..."

"Oh, this should be good,” he began.

“Listen, I’m sorry… Eh, what’s your name again?”

“Gleaming Guard….” he growled

“Yeah, Gleaming Guard, listen, I was a bit paranoid yesterday, and I may have gotten out of hand, and… Look, I’m gonna be punished by the Princess, I’ll get my just desserts! So we are even, right?” he smiled awkwardly and extended his hand to shake his hoof.

“… I don’t see you rotting in prison like you should have been,” he retorted angrily.

“There is no need for that, guard!” Twilight intervened, but John only stared confused.

“Wait, what? Oh come on, it wasn‘t that bad, was it?” John asked perplexed at Guard’s response.

“Being ridiculed by all of the members of the royal guard including Captain Shining Armor isn’t!?” he complained in return, leaving John empty of arguments. “That’s what I thought, and another thi-”

“Well, wasn‘t it your job to keep him in that room? Besides, it's not like you could be ridiculed more than you already are,” everyone turned to the sound of the feminine voice just to see the accompanying pony besides Guard. The brown earth pony only gave an annoyed look to her companion before speaking.

“You were ridiculed because you failed to beat a single hue-man or whatever, who according to the Princess, is as dangerous as a colt,” John resented the words, but remained from commenting as she continued to help him, focusing instead on the stranger's cutie mark.

"Is that a patch of dirt?" John thought confused, tilting his head over the vaguely dirt-like mark.

“And you!” John straightened up as the pony directed her attention to him. “Count yourself lucky that the Princess had compassion on you, what you did counts as assault, and it normally brings a pony thirty days in the dungeon, oh, and trust me, you would not last a single day there,” she finished giving a devilish smile that only brought John to gulp in fear.

Twilight approached the mare and extended her hoof in reluctant gratitude. “Thank you, Miss, I’m sorry if my friend here caused a-” she backed slightly as her hoof was smacked by the strange mare.

“Don’t think I don’t have words for you, Ms. ”Celestia’s favorite”, but I will keep them in check, wouldn’t want you to tell on me,” she finished her words dripping with venom.

Everyone remained silent at the sudden turn of the situation.

“Y-You are not gonna yell at me, are you…?” asked Spike shaking in fear and hiding behind the carriage’s door.

The strange mare only chuckled and gave the dragon a rough pat on his back. “Don’t worry, short stuff, I know how you are worked to the bone by Ms. Sparkle here, besides, I wouldn’t want you to eat me in the future because I insulted you,” she finished and laughed heartily, meanwhile. John fell a slight tingle of dejavu in the back of his mind.

“I-I would never!” Spike answered, horrified at the prospect of eating a pony.

“Heh, I like you already. Alright, Guard, get your flank in gear and let’s get out of here,” she motioned towards the stallion, smacking his plot with a loud smack, Guard yelped at the action and stood ready.

“Who are you, and what is your problem?” asked an irritated Twilight.

“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out. As for my name, I suppose I can tell you,” she took off her helmet revealing a jet black mane, pushing the helmet upon Guard's head, who only cried out in pain at the roughness. “Rough Patch,” she finished, shaking her wild looking mane out of her eyes. She nodded towards Guard and both of them began their trot back to the castle while John, Twilight, and Spike simply stared at the carriage until it finally disappeared from sight.

"Hey, Twilight?" Spike began.

"Y-yeah, Spike?"

"Isn't what Ms. Patch did sexual harassment?"

Twilight didn't reply. John simply stared at the pair

“WHAT AM I DOING WRONG, HERE!?” John yelled in confusion, still staring at the road.


~~~~~


“I hope I’m on time!”

Shining Armor trotted quickly through the halls, he had gotten his assistant to look over the troops as he left, but his worry didn’t come from that, as he had taught him well and knew he could do a good job permanently replacing him in the guard if the need ever arose.

Not that Shining would let him, of course.

He left the main areas of the castle and came across a now familiar empty hallway, he put his hoof on an indentation at the very end of it, and a bright light shone as a door was revealed to him. He trotted along and closed the door behind him, the passage sealing itself as he did, he followed yet another small hallway and found himself in a room, specifically, his and Cadence’s room.

“Shining!” as always, Candence threw herself at him, covering him in a flurry of kisses. While it was something he would be embarrassed of outside, she knew him well enough to know he enjoyed it whenever they did it in private... among “other” things.

“Are you ready yet?” Shining asked her, hopeful that she had prepared before they left, he loved the alicorn, but as any mare, she took her time getting herself ‘beautiful’. He could have argued with her over how she already was, but she would only say otherwise and waste more time.

“Yes, yes Mr. Impatient, wouldn’t want my guard in ‘Shining Armor’ to lose his patience, now would we?” she said giving him puppy eyes.

Shining rolled his eyes at the sentence, the obvious tease not missed, much to his annoyance.

“Alright. ‘Mi Amore, Cadenza’,” he replied back as she stared back at him, puffing her cheeks in mock anger.

“You know I hate my name! Just stick to Cadence and we'll be married longer,” she huffed and turned her back on him, but was quickly turned back by her husband's magic and placed at snouts length.

“You know you love it,” she blushed slightly and gave him a quick peck, he smiled at the “surprise attack” but made not attempt to stop it, as he was ready to deliver proper “punishment”.

That is until his ‘duty clock’ kicked into gear, of course.

“Wait, we are gonna be late!” he rushed to their bed drawer leaving Cadence hanging with her mouth slightly open, she pouted looking at her husband frantically searching for his bowtie. In any other occasion, she would have used her magic and forced him to finish what he had started.

But Twilight would be there, so she could wait. 'Besides, we got allll night.' still, she couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed. '*sigh* And here I thought stallions were the forward ones,' she thought disappointed, and with a shrug went the opposite direction to get the bowtie her husband had forgotten about.


~~~~~


After recovering from the strange event, the group walked across the street, noticing the two floor house that John assumed to be Twilight's, John moved his fingers nervously, not knowing how her parents would react to a creature from another dimension hanging out with their daughter.

“Okay, I’m seriously not helping my own case, stop betraying me, brain!” he stopped his self-inflicted anger as Twilight knocked on the door, freezing him on the spot, and time began slowing down for him,

The handle turned…

“Twilight, I -”

The door began opening.

“- think we should-”

A white colored hoof came into view

“-GO!”

“Twili!”

“God dammit!”

A grey-ish unicorn greeted them at the door, her oddly colored white and purple mane drew his attention, but he quickly averted his gaze as he caught her eye. The obvious mare displayed a big smile at the sight of her daughter, and reached out to give her a hug,

“Mom!” Twilight returned the gesture and both mares hugged. 

“Oh, Spikey-Wikey, how I’ve missed you!” looking behind Twilight, the older mare noticed Spike and reached out to him, giving him what seemed to be a bone crushing hug, based on the purple dragon’s face actually turning slightly darker.

“Ah… Mom? You are crushing Spike,” Twilight warned, and the older mare realized her actions. quickly dropping the dragon to the floor with a thud, leaving ’Spikey Wikey’ gasping mouthfuls of air.

“And…. You must be, er, ‘John’, correct?” she reluctantly raised her hoof and awaited for John to raise his hand in return.

John stared at her hoof looking from Twilight to Spike, to the floor, and back to Twilight again, resisting the urge to run off, he reluctantly raised his own hand in return. Twilight’s mother only stared at it with a raised brow, awaiting any further action from the limb, she shrugged and moved her leg back, bumping John's hand with force.

“Ouch!” he grabbed his hand in pain and stared at a red bump on his palm, he looked back at the mare and saw a look of shock on her face.

“Oh my, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you didn't 'hoofbump' as the kids say nowadays!'” she profusely apologized to John, causing an awkward silence to follow through.

"Mom... You aren't a kid..." Twilight mumbled.

“W-where are my manners! My name is Twilight Velvet!" Velvet began, ignoring her daughter's comment. "And in case you were w-wondering, I am Twili’s mother. P-Please come in!” she hurried the group inside, John followed courteously and bumping his head in the process. After carefully avoiding further injury, he was thankful as she led them to a spacious looking living room, where John sat in a small sofa with Twilight and Spike at his side while Velvet took a seat herself.

None spoke. Each one of them sat simply staring at the floor, all except for John who after scanning the house and finding nearly no differences to any of his world’s houses, gave quick glances at Twilight who only seemed to fidget nervously in place while Spike only sat with a boring look on his face. The silence was finally broken as Velvet started the conversation.

“Would you like something to drink?” she asked, and Spike perked up at the mere mention of beverages and spoke. 

“Would I?” he eagerly answered. Velvet smiled at him and made her way to the kitchen, leaving the trio on their own.

“Twi! You are not helping me here!” John hissed desperate for the pony to pitch in.

“Okay, okay, sorry! I-I got nervous when she hurt your hand!” she took quick breaths trying to calm herself down, she gave John a quick smile and nodded.

“Everything okay, dear?” Velvet called from the kitchen.

“Yes, mom!” she replied with new found confidence.

Velvet reappeared from the kitchen with a tray and four glasses of a reddish liquid. topped with a few cookies on the side. She set the tray down in a table in the middle and motioned all to grab, something which all of the present guests did.

John sniffed the drink a bit, getting a familiar fruity aroma to fill his nostrils, his appreciation of a smell was cut short as Twilight had noticed and he’d been jabbed in the ribs by the mare’s knee. Noticing his rudeness, he took a sip of the drink and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Fruit punch! Finally, something that isn’t made of hay!” he gulped down the rest of the drink in one gulp and let out a satisfied sigh after doing so, receiving yet another elbow to the ribs from his foster sister.

“Where is dad, mom?” Twilight asked Velvet, trying to keep her attention from the pained human.

“He is out doing some errands, dear, he’ll be back later,” the older mare put her hooves on her ‘chin’ and stared at both Twilight and John, eyeing them suspiciously. Realizing that his chance at a first impression was gone, he figured he didn’t have anything to lose.

“Sorry about earlier, ma’am, my name, er, is John. John Pennick. It is, eh, very nice to meet you,” he said bowing awkwardly, something that caused Velvet to giggle silently.

“No need to be so formal, you seem like a nice, eh, stallion. You remind me of my husband a lot, actually. He was much more nervous than you,” confused, John looked to Twilight for answers to the comparison, but only saw the same confused look in her eyes.

“Ah, what do you mean, ma’am?”

“Call me Velvet.”

“Er, okay? Eh… Velvet, what do you mean?” he asked again trying to get a concrete answer.

“Well, when he first met my parents, he was a mess! He was far worse than you!” John cringed at the turn the conversation was taking, and he gulped realizing the nasty dive the topic could take if he didn’t intervene.

“Eh, ma’am, it’s not what you think,” he said, trying to explain without getting Twilight to realize, as her obliviousness had not allowed her to figure out what her own mother had in mind. “She thinks we are together… Crap, crap, crap!”

“Oh, horseapples! I can see you two are very close from the way you talk, you can’t fool me. I don’t know how you, er, stallions do your things, but please, I must ask you that you be careful with my Twilight, she is a fragile filly… I just said that out loud, didn‘t I…?” Velvet finished with a slight blush on her face.

At this point, the room had taken a very awkward mood, even Spike who seemed to have tuned out most of the conversation seemed slightly flustered. John looked at Twilight who surprisingly, still held a quizzical look on her face, but it didn’t last long, as the mare’s mind had finally deciphered what her mother meant.

“M-m-m-m-mom! I-it’s not what you t-t-think! It‘s not like that!” she nearly shouted causing both John and Spike to fall off their seats in surprise.

“O-oh my, it isn’t? I mean, I only thought… Oh dear, I’m so sorry!” she responded, moving her limbs frantically in denial.

“Here! This might help you understand!” Twilight said, making a parchment float out of her sack and levitating it towards her mother.

“What is this?” she opened it with her own magic and began reading, her features showed slight confusion, but the confusion suddenly gave way to a warn smile instead. "Well, that makes a little more sense now, doesn't it?" she said in realization, handing the parchment back to Twilight.

“Spike, can you take this upstairs to my old room?” Twilight asked, giving him her satchel. Spike saluted Twilight rather dramatically and made his way down a hallway.

“Mom, please don’t bring such topics with Spike around,” she asked blushing slightly.

“I shouldn’t have assumed… The Princess’ letter was a surprise, and it only said it was somepony speci-”

“Twilight!” she was interrupted as a male voice came from the front door.

John slowly turned his head to look at the source of the voice, where he noticed a stallion standing with a big smile on his face, a piece of his well kept mane “Or is that hair?” covered one of his eyes, and the blue mane that covered his body was adorned with a cutie mark of a crescent moon inside another crescent moon. 

Choosing to get the initiative this time around, John got on his feet quickly, only to hit his head in the roof once more, causing him to fall back on his seat.

“Uh… What is that thing?” the blue stallion asked pointing at the injured John.

“He is the one from the letter, Night Light!” Velvet replied through hissed teeth. "From last night!"

“O-oh! I’m sorry,” he apologized, picking John in his magic and sitting him down comfortably on the sofa.

“I think it might be better if you two relax, I’ll make breakfast for us all, okay? Spikey, want to help?” Velvet suggested, followed by rapid steps that could be heard from the hallway, leading to Spike showing up with a big grin on his face.

“Of course! I gotta show you my new found cooking skills, mom, besides, John here doesn't like hay, so you might need some help there!” he took an apron seemingly out of nowhere and ran into the kitchen, being quickly followed by Velvet.

“We’ll be in my room for now, dad, expect us down here in a few minutes,” Twilight said, while Night Light only nodded as John was already being dragged behind the unicorn before he could protest. He was taken up some stairs, and the pair made their way into a rather empty room, containing only a bed and Twilight’s satchel on it. She closed the door behind them and released John.

“Well, that went as well as you expected it to,” he began sarcastically.

“I know, I’m sorry,” she said looking down at the floor, her ears dropping.

“It’s alright.” he began putting his hands on her withers. “I’m actually more surprised that you weren’t overly paranoid about this.” 

“About that… I actually was. But the Princess made me promise that I wouldn’t go all… nuts over this,” she said showing her blushing face.

“Did much better than me for sure, good job, Twili,” he said giving her a pat on her head, something that she responded turning her head at him and giving a wide grin, followed by a rather strange squeaking sound.

“What… the heck was that?” he asked looking at Twilight with a confused stare.

“What the heck was what?” 

“Never mind,” he sighed, giving up. There was a pony that moved the sun, so a squeaking pony wasn't much different.

“Still, it seems this is going to be a looooong day…”


~~~~~


“I thought you didn’t want to be late!” Cadence complained, walking down the pony filled road with Shining running quickly behind.

“I know, but I wanted to give the guards a break after yesterday’s drill! Besides, we couldn’t take the guards in the entrance or the Princess’ own escorts. I’ll just go ahead and admit I completely forgot about our ride…” he said, giving her a sheepish smile.

“Well, I don’t mind walking for once, but we are going to be late,” she said giving him a sly smile, to which he responded with a twitch from his eye.

“No, I can’t be late! It’s been ages since I’ve seen Twili!”

“It’s been two weeks, Shining,” Cadence said rolling her eyes. Just as Twilight could be paranoid, she had found out that Shining himself held a paranoid side of his own, but unlike Twilight’s, it was more controlled, only being his inability to be late to anything. It didn't help that his love for his sister wasn't helping his paranoia much either.

“Well, who knows when I’ll see her again? Besides, I want to ask her what she was doing, and maybe she can tell me her experiences in that world the Princess send her to.” Cadence gulped at the mention of “world”, being Captain of the Royal Guard had the merits of allowing him to know secret details about the Princess’ actions.

Unless those actions involved Twilight and her special “somepony“ of course, something that surprisingly, her auntie Celestia had forced Cadence to keep secret. For the moment at least.

“Hey Shining, I have a question. Did you tell your mother we’d be there this early?” Cadence wondered.

“Oh? Not really, why do you ask?” Cadence’s eye twitched but she remained cool. Choosing to learn everything, she asked a follow-up question.

“So, what will we be late to? You never told me why you wanted to go so early,” she asked, keeping her poker face on. If her auntie Celestia had taught her anything, it was to keep a straight face when necessary.

“Breakfast, of course! It’s been years since I’ve had my mother’s coo-” he didn’t get to finish his sentence as he was lifted in the air by the Princess of Love. "-king..."

“…” she only stared at him without saying a word.

“You are mad, aren’t you?”

“…”

“I‘ll take that as a yes…”


~~~~~


“Nice fireworks…” John had been staring outside the window for a few seconds, and he had happened to catch an odd display in some part of the city, oddly enough, the fireworks were clearly visible in the daylight.

“What fireworks?” asked Twilight staring outside but seeing nothing.

“Twilight, you can look outside once dinner is finished,” Velvet reprimanded her daughter. Dinner became a silent treat again, as the group ate quietly. Night Light then suddenly cleared his throat, and all present turned their heads to him.

“So, John, was it?” he said, keeping his eyes aimed at him.

“Ah, y-yes sir!”

“So… I certainly hope you haven’t done anything too… Crazy with my daughter.”

“Oh, Faust…/ Oh God…” Twilight and John groaned in unison respectively, dropping their heads on the plates in front of them.

“Night, they aren’t really together that way, I thought I told you already,” Velvet intervened, looking at her husband disapprovingly.

“I had to make sure, you know, besides, a pony really needs some good p-” SLAM!

The five of them turned their heads to see two ponies make their way in, it was a strange sight for all of them; a pink alicorn that was oddly enough, carrying a slightly charred looking white unicorn in her grip.

“Good morning Ms. Velvet, Mr. Light, sorry for barging in, but where is your nearest bedroom? As you can see, Shining collapsed on the way here and I need to get him to bed,” Night Light silently pointed with his hoof at the hallway leading to Twilight’s room, she nodded and followed the path there.

“Is it just me, or was that Cadence and Big Brother?” Twilight asked. Velvet and Night Light looked at their daughter and simply nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I thought…”

"I bet you he was hoping for your cooking again, dear," Night Light laughed.

Minutes later, Cadence made her way downstairs and headed straight for the kitchen, she hugged all of the ponies including Spike, then, she moved back to the table where she took a seat between Twilight and John.

“Sorry about the unexpected visit, Shining planned it as a surprise, but as you can see, he is a bit out of commission at the moment,” Velvet set down a cup of tea in front of her, and giving her thanks, Cadence brought the cup to her lips.

“Is my brother okay?” asked Twilight with worry.

“He’ll be fine,“ avoiding any more questions, she turned her attention on John. “You must be the hue-man auntie Celestia told me about.” 

“Auntie? Princess Celestia is your aunt?” John replied, his nervous demeanor drowned by his curiosity.

“Yes, and I honestly wanted to meet you. You are the one who kept Twilight safe in that world, correct?” John only nodded in response, getting a smile from the pink alicorn.

“Then it’s my pleasure to meet you! My name is… Cadence, and any friend of Twilight is a friend of mine,” she said, extending her hoof, one which John grabbed between his hands and shook, wanting to avoid another injury.

“Ah, yes. Before we were interrupted, I wanted to ask you two about that.” Night Light said, taking the conversation back. “What is my Twilight to you then? Coming to this world willingly without any prior knowledge of it? There must be a reason as to why,” looking at Twilight, John gave her a smile which she returned, knowing she wouldn’t mind if he were honest.

“Well, sir, I guess I could say I think of Twilight as a sort of adoptive sister.” all present but Velvet gave a surprised gasp at the revelation.

“But Twilight, you’ve been only gone for a day! How is that even possible?” Spike exclaimed in astonishment. 

“A week in his world, actually. But yes, we got quite close in a small amount of time, and honestly, neither of us quite know how it happened,” she answered giving an honest-to-good laugh.

The other three gave her a dubious look, but didn’t question the issue. But slowly, the awkwardness dropped to normalcy, as the group merrily chatted about random topics on each other’s lives, the conversation went by smoothly for over an hour, and everything seemed to be fine for what many would confuse as a real family.

That is, until somepony interrupted.

“So, I take it you are the human,” all turned their heads towards the source of the sound and found the no-longer-charred white unicorn staring at them. He made his way to table greeting all of the ponies present and sitting between John and Cadence.

“How did you know about him, Shining?” asked Cadence surprised.

“I’m captain of the Royal Guard, I think I can find out things involving my sister on my own,” he said giving her a smile, but turned to John, turning his smile into a serious scowl.

“Now, what did you do with my sister in that world of yours?” he asked his voice barely keeping control.

“I didn’t do anything,” John deadpanned, not enjoying what the white unicorn implied.

“Oh, are you certain?” he turned to his satchel and retrieved a parchment from a pocket. Twilight opened her mouth, but Shining responded before she was able to. “Yes, sis. This is your report. And I’d like to read a certain part out loud.”

“I knew I had forgotten to remove something, it was a mistake on my part, I‘m sorry John!” Twilight exclaimed out loud, confusing John.

“Anyway, may I? Ahem!” he begin.

‘On my stay with the subject know as John, I came across different objects from his world, one of them he called a ‘TV’, but upon further inspection, I came to the conclusion that it wouldn’t be safe to come into contact with said item.’

“Is that why you barely watched TV?” John commented, but Shining gave him an angry stare, causing him to gulp in response. “Continue…” Shining cleared his throat once again and resumed reading.

‘I resumed my inspection, and came into contact with what I’d refer to as ‘adult entertainment’ for humans, my knowledge of the human physique was not developed enough, but I quickly deduced the pictures were female. I began copying the positions of the females, at the moment, thinking they were relaxation techniques, but to my surprise, found that I was copying dubious positions, I was not able to regain my composure as the subject made his way back into the room.’

‘With regret, I had displayed myself indecently a-I think I'll stop there." Shining said, rolling the parchment and putting it back on his saddle, which he quickly took off and put on Twilight.

“Wait, so you did things with my daughter then?” Night Light began, getting on his hooves instantly, his face showing his fury at Shining’s reading.

“No, it wasn’t like that!” John began , trying to defend himself.

“So you didn‘t look at my daughter‘s genitals at that point in Twilight‘s report?” Night Light asked with an incredulous look on his face.

“… Okay, maybe it did go like that, but w-” 

“I’ll show you what you get for messing with my sister!” Shining said, grabbing John with his magic.

“No, wait Shining!” Twilight began getting on her hooves.

“Crap!”


A few hours later...


“I think I made more enemies here in two days than I did back on Earth in my entire life…”

The trio made their way into the train's private cabin, getting only minor stares and comments from the passerby ponies which John appreciated, as the day had not gone his way thanks to the morning’s misunderstanding. They were able to escape, only being able to say goodbye to Cadence and Velvet.

“I’ll send dad a letter tomorrow. Although my brother might need some calming down before we can talk…” Twilight made her way to the seat and groaned in annoyance.

“Luckily your sister-in-law was able to get them with… what were those hearts again?” he asked, remembering the event.

“It’s her love magic," she explained vaguely. "Unfortunately, it’s temporary, so I really need to talk to them about it,” John nearly began an argument over how love magic couldn’t be real, but if smiles made squeaking noises, he didn’t have a chance to beat her in Equestrian logic.

“You two are certainly revealing a few things I didn’t expect,” Spike began sitting next to Twilight, who just stared at him.

“… I just remembered, Spike, can you read this part of the report for me?” she said taking out a scroll.

“Oh, sure? Let‘s see…”

‘As I checked for my belongings, I came across a minor inconvenience: my assistant had forgotten to pack food as he had been instructed. A reprimand is in order when I return.’

“Uh… I can explain?” he replied giving the report back to Twilight.

“You are grounded, young dragon,” she said, snickering as she did

“Oh, great,” both human and pony laughed as the train began its trek, moving along the railroad, making its way to John’s new residence: Ponyville.

John looked outside the window, and thoughts came into his head, filling him with many different feelings, but only one thought took over in his mind.

‘It certainly can‘t get any worse… Right…?’
> Ponyville
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun’s bright light began peaking through the horizon, slowly creeping up to reveal its full glory to the creatures of the land who happily accepted its warmth. That is except one human who slept on a moving train, said train moving the quarters in which said human slept to directly position it at direct contact with the sun, shining directly into his eyes, causing him to have a somewhat rude awakening.

“You must do this on purpose, Celestia,” John groaned, rubbing the remaining webs of sleep from his eyes while cursing the sun he now knew was raised by the supposed ancient Alicorn.

“Good morning, sleepy head,” came a cheery greeting from across his seat, where his purple unicorn ‘sister’ of sorts, sat contently reading a book.

“Geez, what time is it?” he asked Twilight, who only raised her brow and her forelegs at the question, instantly causing him to silence himself. “Shuddup… I’m still sleepy…” he looked besides Twilight and found Spike not surprisingly still asleep on the small seat, he chuckled and looked outside only to see rows upon rows of apple trees suddenly appear.

“Well… that’s a lot of apples,” he commented while looking at Twilight. he smiled and moved besides him, in a weird move, she put her foreleg on his shoulder, and made an arc motion with the other as the trees began clearing.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” the trees slowly made way for a farm, which caused John to raise a confused brow. Twilight kept her foreleg up, slightly shaking after just a few seconds of being held in place, though she finally let it down as rows upon rows of medieval looking homes came into view. John just stared in awe, taking his new surroundings in, and was seated as a voice called out.

“We will shortly be arriving in Ponyville, please, return to your seats.” The rest of the ride was spend in silence, the train chugging along until it finally made its stop five minutes later. “Last stop, Ponyville!” a new voice called out from the outside, and the door to the small cabin opened up by itself, giving them all the appropriate wordless 'get out'. Twilight picked Spike up in a magic field and put him on her back, surprised by the sudden movement, the dragon was unable to keep his balance, and fell flat on his behind.

“Aww, he so tired he can’t keep his wittle walance!” Twilight teased, and both her and John laughed, while Spike gave the pair an annoyed glare.

“And I was having such a good dream too…” he said, looking slightly teary eyed.

“Did this dream happen to involve Rarity in some way?” Twilight said with a snide remark.

“No…! Who told you? Was it John!?” Spike asked looking at John with a stare that he easily read as ‘traitor’.

“Spike, he doesn’t even know her yet, and in case you don't remember, you told me that a long time ago,” she sighed as they got off the train and into the station. As expected, John drew stares from all around, causing him to shift uncomfortably in place at the sudden attention.

“H-hi?” there was an awkward silence and then, the surrounding ponies ran away from the place, all except the conductor who chuckled at the sight.

“They always do this, Ponyville folk, but who can blame them? After all the craziness that happens around here it's to be expected. Don’t you worry though, they‘ll grow on ya, they did with Zecora,” he gave John a pat in the back and made his way inside the station’s main building, leaving John confused at his words.

“Craziness? And what the hell is a Zecora?” he asked all at once getting a chuckle out of Spike.

“Yeah, craziness! You should have seen the time a dragon nearly put Ponyville in a state of  eternal darkness!” John stopped in his tracks and dropped his bag.

“D-dragons? You mean, there are more of you?” Spike grinned slyly at John's fear.

“Oh yes, I’m actually the nicest dragon in ALL of Equestria. Now the others though, oh, are they a doozy!” John gulped and shrank behind Twilight who rolled her eyes at her assistant’s words.

“Spike, don’t scare him, he is having a hard time as it is!” she told the dragon whose mouth drooped sadly, he walked towards John and extended his claw.

“Sorry about that… Are we… Cool?” John looked at his claw and took it as a peace sign. John grabbed it and vigorously shook it, shaking the dragon as well.

“Eh… Sorry about that…” he apologized, though Spike looked back at him from the ground with a smile that was enough to appease him. 

“I guess we can call that being even,” he shrugged as he got on his feet, Twilight nodded approvingly and the group resumed its journey. They walked along a few eerily quiet streets, not a single sign of life was visible in the vicinity, though John could easily guess he may have had something to do with that. 

Except when they finally noticed a pony, merrily skipping. John stared amused at the way the pony did so, reminding him of those cartoonish characters from TV; further helping his argument, was a silly umbrella hat resting upon her head.

“Pinki-” Twilight began, and stopped nearly instantaneously when giving ‘Pinki’ a good look, her face draining of color. “TAKE COVER!” John turned to give Spike a quizzical look, but found that the dragon was no longer at his side, he looked to where Twilight had run off to, and noticed both of them hiding under a table outside a restaurant.

"What?" was John's simple question to the event.

“John! Hide!” Twilight shouted, and confusion would be an understatement at the moment, but of course, he didn’t have time to remain confused, as he barely had time to turn his head to see something yellow before everything went dark.


~~~~~


“Can you PLEASE leave the books? At the very least while we eat.”

“But Bon Bon, I just begu-”

The blue/pink maned mare shot out a piercing stare at her partner who sat across the table, holding a book with the help of a greenish aura. The mare holding it sighed and dropped the book on the table with a thud, revealing her mint colored mane and aquamarine coat.

“That’s my Lyra!” the earth pony teased, bringing a sigh of defeat from the unicorn.

It was yet another boring day in Ponyville for the pony named Lyra, she had given herself the day off from lyre playing, to instead get herself a well deserved rest. That had only been an excuse to get herself back to her studies, however.

But her partner Bon Bon would not have it.

Ever since her rude awakening that morning, she had been pushed around by her mare friend who had successfully kept her away from her notes and books by forcing her to do mundane tasks such as shelving her scattered books, or even helping with breakfast. Despite doing her best, when she thought she had gotten away, Bon Bon was there in time to stop her.

“I love that mare, but sometimes she just gets on my nerves,” Lyra thought annoyed. She never mentioned it to her, of course. Death wasn't something she longed for..

“Eat!” Bon Bon finally ordered.

“Yes, ma’am!” Lyra returned to her plate of hay pancakes and quickly dug in, not even properly savoring its delicious chocolatey contents. Thanks to her rush, the pancakes were soon gone, and she was now free to resume her reading.

“Hey, Lyra dear!” Bon Bon called out while washing the dishes used.

Or not. "Yes, dear?" replied Lyra with mock interest.

“Can you go to Sugarcube Corner, please? I need you to buy some sweets for me,” Lyra grinned pleased, she was not going to fall for that one.

“But we just ate, Bon Bon,” she retaliated, causing her partner to flinch, but she quickly come out with a retort.

“Eh… I’m still hungry… Pleeeeease?” she pleaded, nuzzling her side in that one way Lyra enjoyed, and before she knew it, she was out the door with a saddle on her back, well on her way to Sugarcube Corner.

…

“How does she do THAT!?”

Sighing in defeat, she began walking towards Sugarcube Corner. It was a place she knew full well, but one she didn’t go to often, not because she didn’t have a sweet tooth, but more due to the one pony she actually disliked tended to hang around the area. An outsider would have guessed Pinkie Pie, but that was just not the case.

No, she in fact, did not want to come across a certain ‘lavender unicorn’ who usually visited the hyperactive pink mare at Sugarcube Corner. It was a grudge she would keep,  and one that she further deepened as the memory replayed in her head.

“But Twilight! It’s not just a myth, there is proof that they existed in the pa-”

“Lyra, I know you are passionate about this, but we don’t even have any sort of evidence to their existence, and crazier ponies than you have tried to find them!”

“Crazy!? Is this what I’m coming off as…?” Lyra backed away from her ‘friend’ as the words sank in.

“No! Lyra, listen!”

“I’m not gonna work with a pony who thinks I’m a loon for believing something they don’t!” she yelled at Twilight before dashing out of the library.

The memory kept replaying in her mind as Sugarcube Corner came into view, anger building up as she did, but that was soon removed from her thoughts as something else had made its way into her path.

Or rather, nothing, as nopony was in sight.

“Okay, what’s going on?” she didn’t wonder for long, instantly seeing the reason.

"Could it be?" she wondered. She rubbed her eyes with her hooves once, twice, then a third time, and after aptly deciding she wasn’t insane, she said the words out loud.

“It’s… A human…?” she stared at it for a few seconds, at least until her view was soured by the appearance of the lavender mare, and at the other side of the human, a dragon whom she assumed to be Spike.

“No… Please, don’t let it be her,” as if Pony Luck herself was against her, she noticed that the pony besides the human, was no other than Twilight Sparkle, the one pony whom she disliked.

The one who claimed humans weren’t real.

The one who seemed to have custody of the ‘human’.

Raging thoughts filled her mind, and she barely had time to notice Twilight running off and leaving the human alone. She wasted no time, and as soon as the subject of her hate went out of her sight, she took the chance and rushed in, trying to come into contact with the being; questions piled up in her mind with excitement and relief at actually seeing one. he began sweating as she got closer, but was stopped by a very loud scream.

“John! Hide!” she managed to hear as she stopped midway there, she looked up to the sky and managed to see a grey-ish blob coming down at full speed, though she didn’t have time to realize what had happened when the blob crashed with the human, sending both flying forcefully to the side, she cursed to herself for not intervening as she noticed Twilight galloping at full speed towards it.

Without realizing it, Lyra was well on her way home, ready to tell her partner what had just occurred, her mind racing just like she was.

“Finally! I’m not crazy! I knew I was right!”

Such thoughts filled her mind as she increased her speed, nearly tripping a few times due to her own carelessness.


~~~~~


“Pain and I sure have getting to know each other well…”

Even with his eyes closed, he could hear the panic in Twilight’s voice as she came closer, he tried to move, but his body wouldn’t respond, and intense pain shot up from his leg as he strained, causing him to yelp in visible pain, and getting a reaction from Twilight.

“John! Are you okay?

To say that was a bad question was an understatement.

“REALLY!?” John said out loud, pain this time running through his whole body thanks to his efforts. “FUCK!” Twilight recoiled at his tone, but a wide grin showed her relief despite the situation.

“Don’t you worry, we’ll have you fixed up in no time! Come on, Spike,” he felt himself being lifted into the air and going opposite from their original direction, he felt relieved as the pain became barely noticeable, so he had decided not to question it.

"I'm not complaining," he thought.

“Ugh… Where are we going now?” he asked, and grabbed his head as dull signs of a headache begin to build on his forehead.

“The hospital, of course!" Twiilght turned her view to the road and growled. "Grr… I didn’t see who it was, but I swear, when I find the pony who did this to you, I’m gonna give them a piece of my mind!” her sudden anger brought John to silence himself all the way to the hospital.

“Well, I sure wasn’t expecting my first day in the town to turn out this way,” John thought amused.

The hospital looked like a slightly smaller version of a hospital back on Earth, the doctors even wore clothes, which was a very strange occurrence in and of itself, the contrast between the outside houses and the building itself bringing confusion to John. The lobby was devoid of any life, except for a brownish looking mare in the counter who kept her eyes on a book, and a few seconds passed before she finally spoke.

“How may I help y’all,” she greeted the group.

John couldn’t help himself, as soon as he heard the voice, he busted out laughing, pain ran through his leg, but he did not care for it, it was simply too perfect for him to let it go.

“What in holy Celestia is that thing!?” the nurse said in that stereotypical sassy black hospital lady tone John had grown so used to, which only brought another burst of laughter from him, causing the nurse to cringe at the horrendous sight of John’s laughter combined with his pained face.

“Just get the doctor, please! I'll explain later,” Twilight hurried the nurse. She only nodded and galloped to a nearby office where a white mare wearing a nurse cap followed behind the brownish mare, she raised a brow at the sight of the human but quickly recovered and wore a poker face as she approached them.

“Good morning, my name is Redheart, and I will be your nurse today. If you would please follow me,” her voice came out in a rather soothing tone, instantly bringing John down from his giggling fits and back into the pain.

“Damn it!” the nurses’ ears picked up the sound and shifted directions into a room, Twilight following behind while carefully getting John into the room, where he was put into the bed inside as softly as Twilight could possibly muster.

Unfortunately, as soon his body touched the bed, a build-up amount of pain suddenly hit him fully, causing him to twist around, which only brought him more pain. Surprisingly, such pain suddenly began dulling, and soon, found he found himself falling into a deep slumber.

~~~~~

“What’s going on?” 

I woke with a throbbing feeling in my leg, and a sudden chill hit me as I became aware of my surroundings, I looked to the side and found the window open. Not having the strength to move, I decided that I would need to call a doctor. 

Was this all a dream? A game that my mind had played on my head? Well, if it was, it certainly was a very convincing one. I looked around and tried to gather my thoughts, but nothing came to my head as my mind felt like lead, I waited for a few minutes without talking until I heard a sudden noise coming from my side, I turned my head rapidly, and heard a crack as my neck popped, bringing a new jolt of pain to my throbbing body.

“Damn it…” I complained out loud and closed my eyes momentarily, but as soon as I opened them, a pair of yellow eyes came upon the path of my sight.

“WOAH, W-” before I could call out, my mouth had been covered with what I felt to be a hoof, and just like that, the morning’s events came back to my mind.

“Please! Don’t be scared! I’m not gonna hurt you!” a female voiced said. “I’m gonna let you talk, please don’t yell, okay?” I nodded my head in agreement and the hoof was quickly removed, I turned my head to the side and was surprised to see a couple of mismatched eyes staring at me.

“Wha…?”

~~~~~

John could only give a quizzical stare at the mare by his side, she seemed to be a grey Pegasus with a blonde mane, her mismatched eyes being the most prominent thing about her.

“C-could you please stop that? You are weirding me out…” she said, shuffling uncomfortably on her hooves.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” he changed his perspective and stared at the side of the bed, focusing his sight there instead of her.

“So, can I help you? You really scared me there, and honestly, I thought I would be…” ‘raped’ he finished in his mind, but didn’t dare tell that to the shy looking pony. It would be the most extreme thing to come up to someone he had just met.

“You would be what…?” she asked with a curious expression on her face.

“Nothing…” he waved off the question and waited for her to resume, seeing that she hadn’t he decided to break the ice. “Sorry if I have to be rude here, but, who are you, and what are you exactly doing in my room?” she seemed taken aback by the question, but her brows furrowed and she gave out a determined face.

“My name is Der- No... I'm Ditzy, Ditzy Doo, mister…” she introduced herself.

“John, the name is John Pennick, and you‘ll have to pardon me, as my arm can‘t seem to be able to move…” he tried extending his arm, but his body wouldn’t budge.

“That’s fine…" she took a mouthful of air and resumed. "You see, I just came to apologize…”

John raised his brow wondering what a random pony he had never met would apologize for, he looked back on the three  days he had been there, but did not recall a pony like her.

At least not from the group that already hated him, that’s for sure.

He stared back at her and focused on her features, she seemed like a relatively normal looking pony (eyes notwithstanding) he specially stared at her mane, and as it finally clicked, his eyes widened in realization.

“You are the one who crashed into me, aren't you?” he asked, verily holding his anger in check.

“Y-yes… I’m so sorry, please… I didn’t mean to…” she said and her ears drooped and her eyes began tearing up. “I always do this…”

John could not take the sight, and would have probably given the mare a hug, he was glad he couldn’t move, or that would have brought an awkward moment.

“Listen, you are sorry, right? No harm d-… Hey, I’m not dead, am I?” he said laughing at his own grim joke. Surprisingly, Ditzy didn't laugh with him.

“I have to make it up to you.” she said and her head went down to the side of the bed, where she picked up a basket full with what seemed to be sweets.

“This is only a start, but I promise, I’ll help you get better! I’ll even visit you… If you’d like, that is…” she finished awkwardly, bringing a smile to John’s face, but it also brought a question that he imagined he needed to ask.

“Why are you being so accepting of me? No one else has been, I mean, I’m a creature from who knows where, and what if I was dangerous?” she stared at him with an understanding look, she was deep in thought and one of her eyes moved down as she finally got herself ready to respond.

“Well, I guessed that, but I felt horrible for what I had done, and I mean, Twilight was practically in tears when she saw you, I managed to get away in time… But I just couldn’t live with myself if I had hurt somepony…” she was now crying as she finished her short tale, John couldn’t help but be oddly grateful to the strange mare. “Besides, if I managed to break your leg, I don’t think you are fit to be a dangerous creature in my book.” she said giving him a sly smile.

“Wow! How rude!” John replied mockingly, causing the pair to burst into laughter, after some more small talk, Ditzy apologized once again and waved John goodbye, then, made her way out of the window, closing it on her way out, to John’s silent gratitude.

“I see you already made a friend,” John quickly turned his head to find Twilight standing on the other side of the bed.

“T-Twilight! How long have you been standing there?” he asked already coming up for a way to get Twi to forgive Ditzy.

“I’m not mad.”

“Come on! She apo-Waitwhat?” he finished rapidly getting Twilight to chuckle.

“She apologized, and you forgave her, so if you did, I should too, besides, she left you sweets, I enjoy sweets,” she levitated a cupcake from the basket and begin munching on it.

“… That’s mine, you know…”

“Consider it my payment for bringing you to the hospital and…” she grabbed a muffin this time “This for dulling the pain when the accident happened.” 

“Well, that answers that… But wait, what about me falling asleep…” he thought

“The nurse gave you a shot as you were twisting, no easy feat, I must say.” she said, surprising John, she bit into the muffin this time and rejoiced on the sweetness of the treat.

“That answers that too… So, what time is it?” he asked.

"I'll just show you," Twilight laughed and pointed to the outside, where she opened the curtains revealing a slowly darkening Ponyville. 

"Woah... That long, huh?”

“That long,” she moved to him and put a muffin at mouth’s distance, he stared at her confused, and she rolled her eyes amused. “You can’t move, can you? So I’m feeding you,” his stomach growled at the sight of the muffin, and without a word, bit into the tasty treat.

“Where is Spike?” he asked in between bites.

“At the library, I told him to check the place, and that we’d be there by morning,” she said taking a bite from her cupcake.

“Oh… Wait, I can go home tomorrow already?” he asked incredulous.

“Of course! It’s just a broken leg and a few scratches, you’ll be up and about in 3 days,” John turned his head to face the mare.

“Surely, you jest.”

“No. You forget we have magic here,” John opened his mouth in astonishment, revealing a half chewed muffin to the magenta colored mare who cringed at the sight.

Nurse Redheart was heading to the room as Twilight began.

“Eww, John!”

“Things will certainly get slightly more interesting around here,” Nurse Redheart chuckled as she walked towards the pair, ready to scold them for eating outside food.
> Different Perspectives.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn‘t know what was happening, I fell into that hole, and suddenly, I am in an open field, and not even the good kind with daffodils, I mean sunflowers? Yuck.

“So much for discovery and adven-” I stopped myself as I stared into the field closely, and I noticed it.

Or rather, I noticed them.

“Is this a dream?” I ran as fast as my legs would take me, I slowly closed in, what I coveted getting closer with each passing second, I wanted it so much it hurt. “They are everywhere… I’ve done it!” I exclaimed out loud, if a bit over excitedly, stopping and gazing upon my discovery, trembling on my hooves as I absorbed the sights..

I stared into the field, and I saw my price: they frolicked in peace, talking, trotting, and grabbing things with their ‘hands’ I had finally achieved my one dream, I found them, the humans, and I was gonna enjoy it fully.

“Lyra.”

One of them approached me slowly, it stared at me with eyes filled with wonder, its hands began closing in on me, I flinched instinctively, but it did not back off, I stared back nervously and I let it touch me, it began caressing my mane, ruffling it, and then, it slowly closed in its face, and before I knew it, it had kissed me.

“H-hey, what are you…!?” I asked shocked slowly backing away.

“Lyra?”

I was stopped by the human whose hand was slowly massaging my flank, I froze and found myself enjoying the moment, and then all of a sudden, its hand went down, until it finall-

------

“Lyra!”

The green mare jolted off the bed at the sound of the angry voice, she found herself on the floor muzzledown with a bare tingling sensation in her hunches, she recovered quickly and got on her hooves.

“Eh… M-morning Bon Bon.” she greeted her partner with a light blush on her face.

“What’s the matter, Lyra, are you sick? You are all red.” Bon Bon voiced with concern.

“N-no, it’s nothing!” she quickly replied, grabbing the sheets and covering her shame, her face getting a brighter red.

“Are you sure?“ she began approaching Lyra and got to her side of the bed, she looked upon the floor and noticed a certain smell when she got closer, her noise twitching as it caught the smell and recognized it.

“Eh… I can explain…”

“You were having suggestive dreams about humans again, weren’t you?” Bon Bon said with a dull stare, Lyra jumped at the accurate depiction of her dreams and only hanged her head in shame, no words needed to explain the situation.

“Clean yourself up and get your flank downstairs,” she finished irritated, and trotted down to get breakfast.

"Oh, come on! You know it's the hands! I still love y- Ugh..." Lyra sighed in defeat, simply tossing the sheets and heading for the bathroom.

...

Both mares ate silently, the room’s ambient being relatively calm, only the sounds of their chewing hanging in the air as they ate.

“Hey, Bon Bon?” the room’s temperature seemed to drop as the words left Lyra's mouth.

“What is it, Lyra dear?” Bon Bon replied without so much a glance.

“Well, it's about what I was telling you yesterday…” she had told Bon Bon about her not-so-close-encounter with the human, though she had spend most of the time complaining about Twilight having custody of it than anything else, getting Bon Bon annoyed beyond belief. The meeting that the Mayor had conjured to confirm his existence didn't help matters.

“Yes? What about it, Heartstrings?” Lyra froze as Bon Bon emphasized her second name, something she usually reserved when she was about to snap.

“Tread lightly…” she thought and gulped, carefully planning her following words.

“We could go out and take a trot…? Just the two of us…?” she finished more as a question than a statement.

The mood in the room instantly changed, and Bon Bon launched herself at her partner, nuzzling her affectionately, both fell back as Lyra lost her balance and landed on the floor. Bon Bon blushed a bit and got on her hooves, then fixed her mane clumsily. 

“Eh… Yes, I would like that very much!” Lyra gave a sigh of relief and quickly grabbed the now empty plates from the table with her magic, she gave a forced smile and she moved to the sink and began washing dishes, she would enjoy the walk... All while coming up with a plan to break the news to her.


~~~~~


“And that’s why I’m telling you to walk carefully, wouldn’t want another broken foot thanks to your negligence, now would we?”

John sighed exasperated at the doctor and nodded; wanting to keep Ditzy out of the ordeal, he had put the blame to himself as he told the doctor a lie of what had happened, and of course, as any doctor would, he forced reminders of how he should care about his well being and not to overexert himself, not something easy for John who was standing with the help of makeshift crutches.

“The one time I want a pony to be scared of me,” he thought as the doctor repeated the same tired lines.

“Yes sir,” he replied automatically.

“And don’t do anything rash for at least a week.”

“Uh huh.”

“In fact, don’t do anything rash at all!”

“Got it.”

“Your bones aren’t as strong as a Ponies‘ after all.”

“Tru- Hey! I find that offensive!” he remarked getting an amused chuckle from nurse Redheart in the side, the doctor cleared his throat and stopped talking, obviously taken aback by the comment.

“So, where is Twilight again?” John asked as he tried to scratch under his cast, and getting his hand slapped for his efforts. “Ouch!” by a hoof.

“Miss Sparkle will be returning shortly, she said she needed to retrieve your x-rays as well as make copies of notes of our analysis.

“Couldn’t she wait?”

“Calm, er, 'yo'self.”

“Excuse me!?” John said more than a little surprised at the nurse’s use of human lingo.

“Miss Sparkle told me to tell you that in case you got… Antsy… What is that word for anyway? If you don‘t mind me asking.” she asked politely, genuinely interested to John’s chagrin, he cursed himself for using too  much internet talk back home, probably getting some words to stick in Twilight’s mind.

“Eh… It’s human for “please, wait a bit, I’ll be there soon, please have some patience,” the nurse nodded understanding and the group became silent once again.

“Hey John!” he smiled as he saw his favorite unicorn run towards him with a few folded scrolls on her magical.

“About time! You sure know how to keep a gentleman waiting,” the three ponies stared into each other’s faces confused. “Eh, gentle… Colt? ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ were made as the three understood.

“Shall we go then, eh, my good ‘sir’?” she asked standing besides him.

“We shall!” both went on their way, but not before thanking the doctors and a few more warnings from the pair. As they walked, less murmurs could be heard throughout the town, and none of the ponies ran away, their fear now replace by curiosity, as John got a few hellos from the passing ponies, much to his surprise.

“Eh… What’s going on?” he asked as he waved to a greenish mare.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you, but the Princess send the letter yesterday and the Mayor decided upon a meeting, that’s the reason I wasn’t with you in the room when Ditzy arrived.” she explained.

“So, now they like me?” he asked a bit reluctant.

“Eh… Sure!” he raised his brow at the lack of confidence in her statement, but didn’t make an issue of it as they walked through what appeared to be a market, he noticed a few ponies making business and receiving golden coins in return for different foods like apples and carrots.

“Eh… So how much do I owe the hospital…?” he asked as he noticed a yellow Pegasus give a few extra golden coins for a lettuce.

“What do you mean? We have free health care here in Equestria,” John stopped on his tracks as her words sank in.

“This place is awesome,” he said in a low voice and he resumed his awkward walking while absorbing the sights, an activity that he quickly got bored of, as every building looked the same to him, that is until he noticed a building that oddly enough, looked like a gingerbread house, as he did, his stomach growled ferociously.

“I take it you are hungry?” Twilight looked upon the area where John’s eyes had fallen upon and noticed the place, getting a big smile upon her face.

“Uh huh… So, can I eat that house or what?” Twilight stared at him, a look which said either laugh, make fun of, or facehoof. “What? I’m hungry!

“The sad thing is that you aren’t the first one to ask that, come on, lets get you something to eat, I need to introduce you to somepony anyway," Twilight agreed, and John grinned widely, but stopped listening as the words ‘get‘, ‘you‘, ‘something‘, ‘to‘, and especially ‘eat‘, filled his thoughts.

They walked straight into the building, an overwhelming sweet smell filling John’s lungs instantly.

“Oh geez, I think I just got diabetes,” he coughed, the words coming out more like gibberish than anything else.

“You’ll get used to it,” she perceptively assured him.

“Well, if it isn’t Miss Sparkle.” said a chubby looking pony from the counter, giving a forced smile as they approached.

“Good morning Mrs. Cake, and before you ask, this is John, you’ve probably already heard of him.” she said, noticing the nervous glances she gave the human.

“H-hello dear, Cup Cake is the name, it is a pleasure to meet you,” she introduced herself, while John nearly giggled at the name, and his response came out as a cough, as he tried covering his incoming laughter, causing a barely audible growl to come out of the blue mare.

“Er, sorry, I meant to say it’s an honor to meet such a fine mare as yourself,” he said dramatically, causing the slight anger induced blush on her to become a sheepish one.

“Y-you are too nice, dear. Just don’t let my husband hear you, he tends to beat up stallions over it,” she laughed heartily along with Twilight.

“Oh, you are such a charmer!” John forced out the words out of his mouth giving her a fake laugh.

“Ahaha… But seriously, he does, be careful of what you say,” she reiterated,  the smile on his face dropped as he noticed the serious stare she was giving him.

“ANYWAY! Have you seen Pinkie Pie? I wanted to introduce her to John.” Mrs. Cake stopped her staring and turned her head to Twilight.

“As you can see, most of our merchandise is still here sweetie, so no. Pinkie Pie asked for the day off and went Celestia-knows-where.” Twilight looked slightly disappointed but shrugged it off, and instead begin eyeing the goods on the counter, Mrs. Cake shrugged her previous doubts off and wore her business face.

“So, what can I get y- Er…” Twilight looked upon where Mrs. Cake began staring and face hoofed as she noticed John eating a couple of muffins off a counter.

“What? I wold you Ah was hungry!” Twilight glanced from John to Mrs. Cake, giving her a sheepish smile and taking a bag of bits out of her satchel, she eyed John again as he grabbed yet another muffin and dropped the whole bag in Mrs. Cake’s awaiting hoof. "As it turns out, not everything is free in Equestria, John."

------

“This was a wonderful idea!”

“Yeah.”

“We never do this anymore after all!”

“Uh huh…” 

“Lyra?”

“Bon Bon.”

“Can you pay attention?”

Lyra groaned and returned her attention to her cream colored partner giving her the best smile she could muster, she only stared without a trace of emotion on her face.

“What are you doing?” she accused her.

“What do you mean? Can’t I enjoy the sights?” she rebutted, fearing that her plan might be discovered.

“You haven’t been ‘enjoying the sights’ as you say, you have been looking for something, and I think I know what that might be!”  she finished raising her hoof accusingly at Lyra, she sighed as she did and only gave her a sad stare.

“Okay I was, but can you blame me? It‘s sort of my life goal after all…” Bon Bon only shook her head, not knowing how to respond.

“You just don’t get it…” she whispered in a voice so low that Lyra didn’t catch it.

“What?”

“I said fine, go ahead, look for your precious human. I’m not gonna stop you.” she huffed and trotted away without saying another word. Lyra stood there realizing what had happened and cursed, but she quickly reassured herself.

“I-its okay… Everything will be fine, I’ll get the human, a- and then I’ll go talk to Bon Bon. It‘s perfect.” she congratulated herself for her plan, and resumed her trot at a much faster pace, looking for her much wanted price.

Meanwhile, a heartbroken Bon Bon stared from afar as she noticed her mare friend get away from her, resuming her search without so much a glance back. Bon Bon was not longer able to keep her feelings bottled up, and she galloped away, tears leaving a nearly indistinguishable trail on her way home. 

------

“Hey, I told you I was hungry! Besides, I thought it would be LESS expensive…” he said as he took a bite out of a cupcake, giggling as he remembered the mare’s name while doing so, tripping with his own crutch but being caught by Twilight just in time.

“Heh… Cupcake.” he laughed as she picked him up.

“Ahem!”

“Er… Yes?” he asked in the most innocent voiced he could manage.

“You ate somepony else’s order!” 

“That’s besides the point…” he argued weakly.

“Why are you acting so immature all of a sudden?” she asked slightly exasperated of his odd behavior.

“Excitement over a new place? I don’t know! I haven’t had this much excitement in quit- no actually, I have never had this much excitement in my entire life” Twilight stared at him slightly taken aback by his statement.

“I guess this can be exciting for you, but nothing that even genuinely excited you back in your world?”

“The closest would be when I hanged out with Fra-…” he stopped his sentence as his mood darkened,  he stared into the last piece of the cupcake he had been eating, suddenly, it didn’t look too appetizing.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to…” Twilight apologized already knowing what was on his mind and realizing the sudden change of mood.

“No, it’s fine, I kind of brought it to myself.”

“You really miss her, don’t you?” 

“Yeah… I…” he wiped a few tears already brimming in his eyes and continued.  “I guess I feel bad for not visiting her before I came here,” he said, his words filled with remorse.

“But it couldn’t be helped, you know that, John.”

“Maybe…” they walked silently for a few seconds, the conversation having died down by the sudden topic, the murmurs of the ponies passing by, along with a few ‘hi’ and ‘morning’ greetings given by some of the them, but only half-heartedly returned out of respect by John.

Twilight noticed this and decided to intervene.

“Come on,” she tugged softly at John’s pants and changed his direction.

“Where are we going?” he asked weakly.

“Just follow me.”

They walked for a few minutes returning to the market area they had passed earlier that same day, and made their way to a stand, where a slightly bigger than normal red stallion watched over with a bored look on his face.

“Good morning, Big Mac,” Twilight greeted the stallion who just nodded in response.

“Have you seen Applejack?” 

“Eenope.”

“Do you know where she might have gone?”

“Eenope.”

“Thank you, I’ll see you around,” she thanked him a bit frustrated at the lack of information and walked away, leaving John utterly confused on thespot. Big Mac only stared at him with disinterest, not saying a thing.

“So what? No back-handed comment about me? No gasp?” he asked as Big Mac stared at him with the same boring look.

“Nope.” John’s eye twitched as he heard the repeated words come out of his mouth, it had only been said three times, but it had lost all of its meaning in John’s book.

“Why not?” he asked, confident that he would get a different response out of him.

Mac stared at him silently, he looked him up and down for a few seconds then grabbed an apple, he threw one at John who barely had time to catch it with the crutches in hand, and Mac held another. He put the apple between his hooves and crushed it as easily as if it were a grape. Not surprised by his feat, John tried the same, but the apple didn’t budge at all as he tried, he tossed the apple back to Mac and only stared at him.

“Well played…” he groaned, nodding at him before walking away, Twilight waiting for him just a few feet away. “Nice guy, he must be a riot in parties,” Twilight only gave him a quizzical look which John simply ignored, and walked away for ten seconds before returning to Twilight.

“So… Where is the library again?” he smiled awkwardly as he asked.

"Nice to see you return to your clueless selfm," Twilight teased, getting a growl out of John, but smiled, his spirits lifted by the short exchange of words.

------

It was a fine morning in Ponyville, the birds were chirping as always, there hadn’t been a disaster for at least a month, and Ditzy had made a new friend, with a new species no less! It was a relatively good day for the mailmare, as she followed her route, surprisingly, avoiding crashing into a single pony. A rarity that only added to the joy in her day, albeit, not as significantly as the strange creature who had forgiven her easily for her mistake.

A feat even stranger than not crashing into fellow ponies.

“Here you go!” she inserted a few letters into the mail slot in Carousel boutique and checked her bag, only to find one package left over, one that she had saved for the end, she put on her satchel once again and flew back to the post office. 

She didn’t have to fly for long, as it took her a few measly minutes for her to arrive without a cinch.

That is until she crashed through the door, hitting a couple of mail ponies in the way and landing in the locker room where her bag safely landed on its usual hanging spot.

“Derpy, are you okay?” came the sound of a concerned voice behind her.

“Y-yes, I’m fine. Thank you, Courrier.” she thanked the white earth pony mare helping her to her hooves.

“You sure do know how to make an entrance don’t you?” she joked as she looked back at the other ponies who were being given similar help, while others picked up letters that had been thrown about in her path.

“Oh… Whoopsie…” was all she could say before she made her way to help her fellow mail ponies, an apology to all already forming in her mind.

“DERPY!” her coat hairs stood on end when she heard the voice call her, she gulped and turned slowly, only to find the door to her boss’ office open. A mare nearly twice her height stood there, waiting for her to notice her, and then, walking inside and slamming the door shut when she did.

“I guess she wants me in her office, huh?” she asked rhetorically, laughing awkwardly as she did.

“It will be fine, she knows it was an accident, and if not, I’ll back you up, okay?” she assured her before Ditzy turned the knob of the door and made her way inside.

“Please, sit down.” her boss instantly said, and Ditzy wasted no time in doing what just that and let her flank slam on the floor, waiting for the words that were sure to come.

It was always the same words after all.

“You are back early.” 

Ditzy was taken aback by the words, and with her expectations destroyed, she improvised. “Er, yes s- er, ma‘am. I finished quickly today, you see, I ha-”

“I don’t want your life story, Ms. Whooves.” Ditzy silenced herself and waited for her boss’ following words, not prepared for what she was going for next.

“What will I do with you, Ms. Whooves?” 

There it is.

“I will try to do my best, I promise!” Ditzy assured her.

“I know you will, now, since you finished quite early, you will stay for another hour to help the other workers who you happened to get behind on schedule, getting them caught up with their mail,” Ditzy cringed, already knowing there was no point arguing, and nodded.

“Yes, boss… will that be all?” she asked as respectfully as she could.

“Yes, return to work,” the mare replied, going back to some papers on her desk.

Ditzy gave her one last look as she slowly closed the door, sadly looking at the name plate in her desk. Darling Doo, it read as always.

“Love you too, sis.” she thought sarcastically as she closed the door behind her, and headed to the other ponies, ready to get the day over with..

------

“Are we even close?” John asked for the third time in a minute.

“Quit complaining.”

“Is that any way to treat your brother from another mother?” Twilight rolled her eyes and turned to John, giving him an amused smile.

“Sorry, just a bit tired, I guess,” he stopped and moved his arms, getting rid of the stiffness the crutches had brought.

“Well, we would have been there already, but you walk so slow with those crotches,” she replied, getting John to sigh. Twilight looked around the area and found a bench on the side of the street, she made a beeline towards it, and allowed John to sit to rest.

“Phew! Thanks Twilight.” he said grateful, as he let his head rest on the seat and he looked upon the sky, absorbing the sights.

“Huh…”

“What?” Twilight asked.

“The sky.”

“What about it?”

“It’s the same.”

“The same?”

“Yeah… It reminds me of home.”

Twilight smiled and sat next to him, she looked upon the still sky, appreciating the clear weather that Ponyville was scheduled to have that day.

“You know? I don’t really look upon the sky much nowadays, I spend my time studying, researching, or hanging out with my friends… Speaking of, I should give my thanks to Rainbow.”

“Who?” John asked looking at Twilight, she shook her head and turned her attention to him.

“Oh, she is one of my friends. You’ll meet her soon enough,” she responded, and both resumed their sky sighting.

"So… what are you gonna thank her for?” John asked curious after a few seconds.

“Clearing the skies, of course,” John stared at her confused, but he chose to humor her.

“Clearing the skies? What is she? A weather pony?” he laughed at the sheer absurdity of his statement while Twilight eyed him amazed.

“Why, yes! How did you know?” John stared at her with a dumbfounded look, his mouth hanging open.

“… Huh!?” Twilight giggled a bit and tried to explain.

“Well, we need them, clouds don’t move on their own you know?” he only shook his head and gazed back upon the sky and spied a lonely cloud, he stared at it and noticed it. Not a single sign of movement.

“… Your world is freaking weird,” Twilight only smiled and leaned on him, both enjoying their relatively quiet rest.

“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m coming!”

Or so they thought…

“What was that?” John asked, already holding Twilight for dear life. "A pony?"

Both jumped slightly on their seats and looked around, finding a small dot in the sky, slowly getting bigger.

"Did it come from that?” she squinted her eyes but didn’t manage much, John not having much luck either.

“Is that a rainbow…?” John asked tentatively, noticing a multicolored line in the sky. “Don’t tell me rainbows are like animals too! Like, unicorn rainbows or something!” he only held on to her a bit more forcefully, causing Twilight to roll her eyes.

“That’s absurd.” she looked up and noticed it coming along faster. “But this might still be bad… John, get ready.”

“Why?” John asked nervously.

Twilight’s horn began to glow purple.

“This might get ugly…”
> Different Struggles.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

No matter how many times I do it, flying is always the bucking way to go.

I was just having one of my daily flying routines, doing daring tricks, and extremely dangerous nosedives, the wind hitting my face with full force, leaving me to get by, by using my instincts, less I hit the ground and come out with more than just an injury.

You know, the usual stuff.

I stopped halfway through a  loop when my body began emitting a noise, that cruddy noise I had become familiar with throughout my daily—awesome—routine.

“Oh, guess I’m hungry, heh heh…”

I sped downwards without hesitation and flew myself to the one place that could satisfy my hunger: Sugarcube Corner. Also, Pinkie Pie is there, so I might get something free today.

I stopped in the cloud I always left on top of the place to chill, and then slowly glided down to the place. Turns out, I didn’t find Pinkie, but Mrs. Cake on the counter. Bummer.

“Good Afternoon, Ms. Dash,” she greeted me as I approached her.

“Afternoon, Mrs. C, you wouldn’t have happened to see Pinkie?” I asked, grabbing a muffin from the side and giving it a bite.

“Er… No, I haven’t…” she said with a slight annoyed tone that slightly took me aback. Geez, guess somepony is not in a good mood.

“Oh, well that’s no good. Do you  happen to know where she went?” I asked her while eating another muffin, whether she knew or not, my stomach sure was being satisfied either way.

“No. I. DON’T!” she finished by slapping the muffin I had been happily munching on out of my hoof. Somepony must have gotten off the wrong side of the bed, geez.

“Are you planning to buy something, or will you be ruining my customer’s orders some more?” to say I was insulted was an understatement.

“Ah.. What do you me- Oh…” I glanced at the side and saw 5 half-bitten muffins, counting the one she had smacked away was 6, I had forgotten that she wasn’t Pinkie and I had acted out of habit.

“…” her angry glare could give Fluttershy a run for her bits.

“Eh heh heh… I-I’ll pay for this! I promise er…” I began apologizing.

“Oh, you certainly will. Now get out of here,” she ordered me.  “Ugh, you are just as bad as Twilight’s new friend!” she added, catching my attention when she mentioned Twilight.

“New friend?” she only gave me another glare, at which point I Dashed out of the place. That pony could be scary when she wanted to.

Planning to eventually pay her back, I decided to let it go for the moment. I flew to my cloud and decided to take a nap, I fixed the shape a bit and positioned myself in a way that I felt comfortable, I closed my eyelids, and let sleep take over.

But it just wouldn’t come.

As soon as I closed my eyes, I began running through my mind what Mrs. Cake had overreactingly said out loud about Twilight’s 'new friend'. A few different guesses ran through my mind, one specifically sticking out from the others.

“A colt friend?” I said out loud to myself, but burst out laughing instantly at how ridiculous that sounded, that mare is waaaay too busy with her books to find a special somepony, so I decided to let the issue go.

Or I would have if I wasn’t so worried about her.

“Alright, that’s it! I’m solving this issue!” I said to nopony in particular, but still said it loudly enough to grab the attention of  passerby ponies as I flew down at top speed, then rose to the air, where I began my search.

Luckily for me, I didn’t have to look for long, as I saw Twilight, even from the height I was, I could recognize that mane of hers anywhere. What really grabbed my attention was the strange creature she was resting her head on.

“Wait… What if she has been captured! Or maybe even being controlled somehow! I have to save her! Ooh, ooh! Maybe the Wonderbolts will hear of this event! And then, they will have to beg me t-” I slapped myself with a hoof, my attention was slipping to fame and glory, I needed to stop that.

Well, it can be difficult when you are as awesome as me.

I looked down, and decided to warn Twilight, better if she gets out of the way so she doesn’t get hurt.

It also had the added effect of making me look cooler.

“Don’t worry Twilight, I’m coming!” I yelled, and the creature instantly hid behind her, using her as a shield, the coward.

You are gonna get a taste of the Rainbow, buddy!

------

“Is that blob getting faster?”

“Hush!” was all Twilight said, leaving John to silently shake in fear.

“okay…” he responded so quietly that Twilight didn’t catch it.

“Wait for it…” the blob came down faster, not slowing down, the studious mare’s horn, glowing a bit brighter as the blob got closer. John stared, everything seemingly slowing down, until the rainbow finally came close enough, and John found himself covered by Twilight’s purple magic, something which he quickly took note of.

“What…?” 

He looked up and noticed the frame of a blue Pegasus, it seemed to be flying. "No," he thought, it seemed more like it was gliding in place, a purple aura surrounding the three of them. John soon realized what was taking place, as his movements seemed to be slowed down, his mind quickly reacted, but his body would not follow.

The purple aura began shrinking in size, quickly getting John to regain his bearings and nearly falling thanks to his body’s reactions. Twilight stood firm on the ground, focusing her magic on the blue pony, her magic slowly taking her shape, until finally, being put down by Twilight, where she fell back on the ground, her body trying to catch up with her brain.

“D-don’t worry Twi! I-I’ll sav-WHOA!” she lost her balance and fell down on a bush, but she quickly flew out of there, menacingly gliding over us.

“Rainbow. Stop,” Twilight ordered, and the mare called Rainbow hesitated for a moment, but quickly put on a bravado.

“Twilight, don’t let it control you! It’s messing with your brain!” at this point, both human and mare raised an amused brow at Rainbow.

“Rainbow, be honest with yourself here. Do you really think I could be controlled in any way?” she looked back at me as she said this. "By him?" the rainbow colored mare seemed to take what Twilight was saying into consideration.

"Ouch..."

“I guess you raise a valid point,” she responded with nary a second thought, and landed in front of Twilight, who proceeded to give her a hug.

“Whoa, what’s the occasion?” she asked blushing slightly at the physical contact.

“I missed you, of course.”

“You egghead, you were in Canterlot for 3 days!” she casually laughed, obviously thinking it odd to act that way over a few days. 

She didn’t know what had happened after all.

“Yeah… I need to talk to you and the rest of the girls about that…” Twilight said, while looking back at John.

“Oh! I nearly forgot. What is that thing?” she rudely began, pointing at John with her hoof.

“Weren’t you in the meeting yesterday? Everypony was supposed to be there,” Twilight said with narrowed eyes.

“Eh, well, heh heh… I may have blown it to do, er, more important stuff…” Rainbow said, looking down and poking the ground with her hoof.

“What could be more important than a town meeting?” asked Twilight, already knowing the answer to that question.

“Catching a few Zs or course!” Twilight facehooved, but still gave Rainbow a smile.

“I missed you, Rainbow.”

The pair exchanged more small talk, leaving third-wheel-John standing on his crutches while the pair spoke, he tried to keep himself occupied by humming a few tunes and playing with his lighter, but his patience quickly grew thin, and he loudly cleared his throat, getting the attention from both mares.

“Oh, sorry! Rainbow! There is a bit to explain, but to start off, this is John Pennick, he is a being called a human," she explained quickly, then turned. "And John, this is Rainbow Dash, the weather pony I was talking about earlier,” she said introducing John, who extended his hand to shake her hoof. Rainbow stared with a neutral look on her face, she spit on her hoof and shook John’s hand with it, who quickly broke away from the contact.

“Ew! What are you doing…?” he complained, quickly cleaning his hand on his shirt.

“Well, I guess he is a normal female creature, then,” Rainbow laughed getting a glare out of John.

BUCK!

“What was that?”  John said, turning to the pair of mares who quickly looked around as well, but were also unable to find the source of the voice.

“That was odd…” Twilight said, looking around deep in thought, but broken out of it by Rainbow.

“Oh come on, it was probably nothing. Come on, I’m curious to hear your story!” she poked Twilight, impatiently awaiting for her to tell her tale.

“It will have to wait, I planned to tell you all together anyway. First I need to make a stop at the library so John can rest, if you didn’t notice, he has a broken foot,” Twilight said glaring daggers at Rainbow.

“Oh, big deal; I’ve broken bones far more often and you don’t hear me complaining,” she retaliated giving John a scowl, Twilight only raised her brow at the mention of the word ‘complaining’ getting the rainbow colored mare to grin sheepishly, causing that one sound to come out of her.

“What the hell is that noise!?” he thought annoyed, while the mares continued their talk, ignoring his mental questioning.

“Point taken. We’ll go to the library first, and then I’ll look for the guys.”

“Then it’s a plan. Come on John.” the group began their slow walk (and it Rainbow’s case, glide) towards the library, not realizing that there was somepony behind them, watching their every move.

------

“What was that?”

A green colored mare held her snout close and breathed slowly, avoiding any further sounds to come out of it, cold sweat covering every inch of her body as she hid in a bush just a few meters away from the enemies and the human she coveted, who were all looking around searching for the source of the curse.

The source in this case being Lyra herself, who shook in fear of being found, hopefully for her, the fears were unfounded, as the rainbow maned pony stopped the search by starting another bout of conversation, and then finally, they trotted away, heading in the direction that Lyra knew well. She let out a sight of relief as they turned in a corner.

“They are going to the library,” she said to herself barely holding a whisper.

“Who’s going to the library?”

Lyra jumped at the sudden voice, too scared to yell, and landed on the ground, literally frozen in fear at the sudden scare she’d gotten.

“Are you okay, miss?” she moved her eyes and came upon a filly wearing an oversized red bow on her head.

She didn’t respond at first, but after taking a few quick mouthfuls of air, she slowly got on her hooves, and looked at the filly with contempt in her eyes.

“Don’t you know that it is not nice for a filly to scare other ponies?” she said clearing her throat and fixing her frizzled mane.

“Granny said that other ponies get easily scared when they have something to hide,” Lyra flinched at the accurate response but retaliated with a response of her own.

“Didn’t you know that it’s bad to pry into your elders’ business?”

“Didn’t you know that it’s bad to hide in bushes and spy on other ponies?” the young filly replied with an innocent smile plastered on her face. Lyra’s eye twitched at the young earth ponies’ perception. 

“Alright, you got me,” she admitted.

“Ah’ knew it!” she said, beaming with pride.

“Okay, I guess I’ll go home now,” Lyra said, trying to shake her off, ready to return to her quest as soon as they were a good distance from each other.

“But why miss? We want to help!” she turned around and saw two other fillies at her side, one an orange Pegasus riding a scooter, and the other a white unicorn who she quickly recognized as the local tailor’s sister. She gave them all a quick look and realization hit her like a brick at who she was staring at.

“Are you all th-”

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS AT YOUR SERVICE!” the fillies yelled in unison in loud deafening voices.

“Er… Yes,” she shook her head trying to clear out the ringing from her ears and turned her attention to the group.

“We want to see it too!” the earth filly began. “The creature with Twilight!” continued the Pegasus “The hue- hue…” the young white unicorn began, struggling to find the word.

“Human?” Lyra completed, getting an over enthusiastic nod from the filly. “Why would you want to see it?” she asked looking over them all, studying their expressions as they looked at each other with the same grin plastered in their faces.

“We want to get our cutie marks on magical creatures! And we figured we could get them with that hue-man thing that Twilight is taking care of, and you were also following them, so I figured we could work together!” she explained, her eyes never leaving Lyra.

“Oh really…” a sly grin filled the lyre playing mare’s features as her drive kicked back in. “I accept your help, and together, we will work to get to that human and study it,” the fillies all nodded and saluted her in a military fashion.

“So where to, miss?” Scootaloo asked closely following behind on her scooter.

“No need for formalities,” she began and turned her head towards the Crusaders. “Call me Lyra.” 

------

“See you tomorrow, Derpy!”

“Y-yes, I’ll be here!” Ditzy called back as she left the office, sighing as she threw her bag lazily over her body, trying to get the rather hectic day out of her mind. She began her flight back home thinking of how her bed seemed like a nice thing to be able to get to at the moment, though the sun was still  high up in the sky, but the extra delivery work had taken a toll on her.

“I wonder if Carrot made supper,” she asked herself, she savored the non-existent food as she flew, hoping for a warn lunch awaiting her from her roommate, she sped up slightly, instantly losing her balance and flying out of control, yet oddly enough, landing on her flank seemingly undamaged.

“Whoops… I need to be more careful,” she sheepishly began, giggling at her clumsiness, until a package landed in front of her, something that made her  jump in place at the sudden scare. She gave the box a quick check, and realized what it was.

“Sugarcube corner! I forgot!” she yelled, turning a few heads, she shoved the package back into her saddle, and flew away, following the already learned beaten path, and of course, bumping  into a few ponies on the way there.

She finally arrived at the colorful bakery several minutes later.

“Afternoon, everypony!” she greeted all in the place, and slumped down, breathing heavily, trying to recover her breath.

“Miss Hooves! Are you alright?” she looked up from her comfortable spot and found a stallion she easily recognized already helping her get on her hooves.

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you, Mr.Cake.” she thanked the baker, giving him a small grin. She quickly recovered and shoved her hoof into her saddlebag, taking out the  package.

“Delivery for the Cakes!” she called out loud out of instinct, and from what seemed to be the second floor, a couple of cries could be heard.

“Oh no…” he grimly said, he thanked Ditzy taking the package from her hooves, and ran upstairs before she could apologize. Choosing that things could only get worse, she turned and made to leave, but was stopped by a voice.

“Hold on, Ms Hooves!” she instantly recognized the voice as Mrs. Cake’s, she cursed herself for not leaving faster, and turned to meet the baker mare.

“Here you go! That will be eight bits!” she said, handing Ditzy a bag, she raised a confused brow and looked inside, finding six muffins, and warm muffins for that matter.

“What is this?” she asked confused.

“Why, is your order, Miss! I threw a few extra muffins there complementary, you see, we had a few problems with our early batches, and I’ll spare you the details but some ponies can be rather rude.” Ditzy instantly remembered, she had in fact ordered the muffins that same morning before work, hoping to get off early and get the muffins when she delivered that package. A thought that had completely slipped out of her mind until Mrs. Cake had reminded her.

What she didn’t understand was why she had ordered the muffins to begin with.

She searched her head for any sort of plans she had made, until she finally reached the previous day: the crashing, the meeting with the human, and her promise to visit him daily stuck out like a sore hoof, she facehooved at her forgotten business, and fell down, unable to control her own strength and hurting herself, she quickly shook it off and got on her hooves.

“ThankyouMrs.Cakehereisthebitskeepthechangegottago!” she screeched in a way that  even Pinkie Pie would be proud of, and rushed out of the bakery, her hopes for sleep now gone, replaced by her will, she made her way home, getting in the bathroom, ready for a shower before making her way to the public library.

Meanwhile, back at Sugarcube Corner, ten golden coins stopped spinning, falling on the floor with a clunk. Mrs. Cake picked them up with a sigh and swore to make Pinkie Pie work the following day.

“I need a day off.” she said, lazily shoving the bits in the register, and returning to her usual spot.

------

“Do you see something?”

“No.”

“How about now?”

“No…”

…

“Now?”

“No!” 

Lyra pulled her mane in frustration. She had thought that getting the fillies to help would have been a good idea. She had been wrong.

The Crusaders kept talking over each other, and she was not able to get a single command to them, since their excitement for their would-be cutie marks was getting the best of them, and instead, they kept talking about it. She had been lucky enough to get them quiet when they reached the library before Twilight (all thanks to the human’s slowness and Lyra’s knowledge of the Ponyvilled roads) and had told them to wait until they arrived for further instructions.

“How about now?” the three said at the same time, she nearly blew on them, but she was not a cruel pony and she came to the conclusion that it had been her own fault, so another solution came to mind.

“We’ll go in,” she said simply getting to the point.

“What? Why? We’ll get caught!” complained Sweetie Belle.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take the blame for everything, I’ll say I used you to get inside,” she felt a bit of guilt as she said it, as she had indeed planned to use them. Not that she would admit it now.

“Well, if you are sure, Lyra....” the crusaders nodded to each other, and then to Lyra, and the four of them slowly approached the front door.

“Here goes nothing…” Lyra gulped and made to knock on the door.

However, the door slowly opened itself, and only darkness could be seen inside, beads of sweat  begin falling from the group’s foreheads as they ventured inside, not knowing what to expect.

The inside was pitch black, and she got a bad feeling as she got deeper inside.

“Get out of here, girls,” she called out to the fillies, but it was too late, as the door slammed shut, leaving the group in complete and utter darkness.

Lyra groaned and cursed her luck.

“Buck…”

------

“So let me get this straight—you fly using other machines? And faster than an air balloon?” Rainbow asked looking at John with a bit of awe.

“Well, yes. The machines are different, but there are some that can reach incredibly fast speeds,” he explained, while Rainbow’s eyes shined, imagining the things that could actually pose a threat to her speed.

“That is sooo cooo- I mean, those machines could never be as fast as me, I bet!” she added, trying to recover some pride in her amazement of the machines themselves.

“Well, they are only on my world… as far as I know. Who  knows? You ponies have steam engines, so flying machines might not be far off here.” Rainbow grinned defiantly at the statement.

“You don’t think he is so uncool now, huh, Rainbow?” Twilight said walking in the front, hiding a grin.

“Of course not! He isn’t the one flying after all,” she responded with a noticeable blush on her face.

“You ponies can’t seem to be able to hide your blushing very well,” John laughed, looking at Rainbow who crossed her front hooves annoyed at his observation.

“When you recover, you are gonna get it, baldy,” she gave John a glare and walked alongside Twilight, starting a conversation with her.

“Aww, come on, I was enjoying the attention! Besides, I think you are pretty cool yourself,” John admitted, making Dash jump at the praise.

“I’m gonna go ahead.” Dash said, flying at top speed, a feather coming off her wings, it floated in the breeze, and landed safely inside John’s shirt.

“Oh, crap!” he felt the feather travel inside, reaching south, and getting stuck on his jeans.

“Hey Twi, can you he-.. WOAH!” he stop mid-sentence and marveled at what was in front of him.

A tree. 

But not just a tree: a giant tree. It easily outdid any tree in Ponyville that he had seen before, but what really impressed him was what it was used for. There were windows, a visible balcony, and a front door. It wasn’t only a tree, but an abode, a place to live, and from the smile Twilight adorned at that moment:

“My new home…” he fell strangely melancholic as he stared at the giant tree, it seemed odd to him how it still maintained its foliage, even after its death.

Twilight moved to his side and nuzzled his leg, John tried his best to hug the pony, but to no avail.

“Maybe you two should wait until you are inside,” Rainbow teased the pair, grinning like a mad mare at what she was witnessing.

“Of course,” Twilight responded simply, causing Rainbow to groan annoyed at the lack of effect her jests were having, trotting ahead and making her way to the door, opening it to find only darkness inside.

“What’s going on, Twilight?” John asked as they made their way inside, already terrified and holding onto her coat. “I think I‘ve gotten enough scares for a lifetime…” he thought as Rainbow joined in as well, and landed besides the pair, unable to fly in the strangely dark room.

“Spike, this isn’t funny,” as the words left Twilight‘s mouth, the door slammed shut, leaving them wandering in the darkness, indistinguishable whispers could be heard around, but none could figure out what was being said. John trembled in fear, not enjoying the experience, and if the dragon had anything to do with it, he was ready to weed him out.

“Seriously, Spike. If you don’t stop this, I’m going to tell everyo-pony about your crush with what’s-her-n-”

A loud bumping could be heard as he felt an object hit his forehead, and as he felt the hit and lost consciousness for the 3rd time in two days, he repeated the words in his mind that by now had become a custom.

“Why does everything hate me so much…?”
> New Friends(?)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“… the matter with you!?”

“Huh?” from the depths of his subconscious, John managed to hear a voice.

“… but… started…”

Bits of conversation could be heard besides him, and he tried focusing more, but as he did, a throbbing pain hit his head like a brick to the face, which in his current condition, it might as well have been. He had been lucky a bag of ice had been placed on his forehead, lowering his pain considerably, but it was still painful enough. He groaned, yet oddly enough, whoever was around had not been able to hear him, as they focused more on their own conversation.

“Spike, what’s the matter with you? You could have killed him!” finally distinguishing the sound, he managed to hear the voice of Twilight, which sounded quite angry for that matter.

“I-I’m sorry Twilight, I didn’t mean it…” the now familiar voice of Spike apologized, sounding miserable as he did.

“Oh, come on darling, it was a spur of the moment. Who could blame him? Especially when a big secret of Spikey would have been revealed?” a voice using a rather sophisticated tone said, defending him. 

John already disliked this pony.

“I agree. Besides, he should have dodged!” came the sound of a certain tomboyish mare.

“Oh, Rainbow. Of course.” he thought, rolling his eyes under his lids.

“How many times do I have to repeat this. Broken. FOOT!” the emphasis seemed to have made her point, much to John’s delight in the following silence.

“Well, I don’t mean to interrupt the lovely conversation y’all are having, but maybe you can tell us what this creature is?” another voice with an obvious southern accent joined in.

“Yeah!" yet another new voice said. "It’s wearing clothes, which means it probably does important things, but ponies only wear clothes at parties or gatherings… so does that mean it parties all the time? Or may-" her fast talking suddenly stopped, replaced by muffled gibberish.

“Aaaand the hoof goes back in your mouth,” the south accented pony said, pretty much explaining what had happened.

“I thought I told you that it was a human, human!” another pony joined in with an annoyed tone

“.. Is he okay though…? That seems like big bump…” a nearly inaudible—but clearly new—asked. If he hadn’t been paying attention, he could have probably not noticed it.

“Don‘t worry Fluttershy, he’ll be fine. The ice should lower the swelling,” Twilight assured the low-voiced pony who gave a rather loud sigh of relief upon hearing the news.

“Yes, that‘s fine and all, but what are we waiting for? This is our chance! Let’s check it out while it’s unconscious! Let’s study him… I know! Let‘s remove its clothes so we can get a better view of it…” joined in the earlier annoyed mare, her eagerness giving John goosebumps once he absorbed her intents.

“Nope, nope, nope!” John said out loud, having had enough of his sleep pretending and trying to avoid a potential peek show for the ponies in the room.

“You are awake!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly, and quickly engulfed him in a hug.

John returned the hug eagerly, his fears calmed by the touch of his friend. He began checking what surroundings he could see from his position as he did; he noticed he was laying in a couch, his cast leg hanging in the edge. There was something that quickly caught his attention—piled high on shelves, all around, he figured he might have been in Twilight’s home as he taking notice of the absurd amount of books in his midst.

“Nice place."

“Thank you, but that’s not what I wanted you to see,” she moved out of his line of sight to reveal not only Rainbow Dash and Spike, but also four other ponies looking at him with interest (one of them perhaps with a little more  interest than the others).

“Well, howdy pardner!” the pony who happened to be the southern accented mare before greeted him first, graciously tipping her cowboy hat.

“Huzzah, more stereotypes,“ he thought as she approached him eagerly and extended her hoof.

“My name is Applejack, and it’s mighty fine to meet you!” the greeting was mostly ignored, as John held his place, his arm moving rapidly at the mare’s vigorous shaking.

“I-It’s nice to meet you too, Applejack. I‘m John,” he looked at his arm confused. “Why is my arm still moving?” he asked, looking at it and wondering how it moved even after the mare had let go, thankfully, it was stopped by Twilight.

“Heh, thanks,” she nodded and then turned to her friends, awaiting for another one of them to give an introduction.

“Hello!” John nearly fell off the couch, as the moment he had blinked, a pink pony was already standing uncomfortably close to him.

“H-hello there, I’m John…” he greeted the pink pony hesitantly. He stared at her for a good while, noticing her features. It wasn't much of a show, since all of the ponies seemed to share similar features. Almost like they were the same size. After staring at her puffy mane for several seconds, a thought hit him. “Hey! You are that pink pony who was wearing that silly umbrella hat yesterday!” Pinkie nodded vigorously proving his claims. "Yeah, why were you wearing that umbrella anyway?” 

“Well, duh! That’s because my tail was twitching, silly!” she said, as if it had been an indisputable fact.

“That… Doesn’t expla-”

“Oh! And I just realized you are new to Ponyville! Which means that you haven’t gotten a welcome to Ponyville party, which means that I have to go plan one! Oooh! This is gonna be awesome!” she said loudly, streamers popping out seemingly out of nowhere, and she ran out the door, leaving a confused John in the aftermath.

“But… I… What… WHO IS SHE!?”

“My name is Pinkie Pie!” she said, popping out behind the couch, causing John to scream, terrified by her sudden appearance.

“H-Hadn’t she just left?” his mind was in shambles as he mumbled to himself and pointed from Pinkie to the open door.

“I think you should go plan that party, Pinkie. Let him recover for now.” Twilight said, presumably unaffected by her ability to seemingly teleport.

“Okie Dokey Lokey!” she said, and skipped out of the treehouse, the door closing behind her as she left. John laid on the couch, a dumb look on his face, while the other ponies chuckled silently.

“… This is nice and all, but if I may interrupt your laughter, WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?” Twilight put a hoof to his mouth, silencing him.

“She is just being Pinkie, you’ll get used to it, trust me.” John sighed unsure, but nodded in agreement.

“Anypony else?” Twilight asked turning to her friends.

“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for me to be next,” said the white pony who approached him cautiously, wearing a neutral expression on her face.

“Hello mister, my name is Rarity, and I am a pony interested in fashion and all trends that follow it!” she said while putting on a rather gaudy scarf.

“Er… Hello… Name is John, nice to meet you?” he said slightly doubtful of the mare and extended his arm to shake her hoof. She grabbed it and got close to him face to face.

“If you dare to upset my dear Spikey Wikey, you and I are gonna have some problems. Understand?” she said rapidly, but in a surprisingly understandable manner, and quietly enough so that Twilight was not able to hear her as she talked with Spike.

“Ah… Ah… Yes, ma’am!” John replied as respectfully as he could, gulping in fear as the marshmallow colored pony returned to her spot on the group, without a trace of her attitude showing on her features. “Such a charmer…” he thought sarcastically, avoiding her gaze.

The group waited a few seconds, but no other pony moved forward. Rainbow crossed her limbs, waiting for any of them to go ahead, already getting bored. While he waited, John stared at the ponies standing there, looking at him with curiosity, and he might even say, a slight pang of fear?

All of a sudden, Rainbow landed and stomped her hooves on the wooden floor causing the ponies to flinch slightly, Rainbow went to the back of the group, and she begin dragging out another pony who John hadn't identified quite yet, having been hidden behind the others.

“W-wait! I’m not ready!” the yellow pony called as Rainbow pushed her.

“It’s alright Fluttershy, just think of him as one of your critters or something,” Rainbow suggested, getting a reluctant look from the timid pony, and a scowl from John himself.

“O-okay…” she approached him slowly, giving John a small uncertain smile while hiding behind her long mane. John waited patiently for her to give the first move, afraid that he would just scare her off by starting first. Timidly, he returned the smile, which seemed to alleviate some of the tension that seemed to be building up.

John stared at her intently, trying to not make her shy away. Something about her causing to just stare intently.

"Why the hell do I think this shy pony is cute?

“I-I’m Fluttershy. What’s your name?” she said in a voice so low that he barely managed to understand after being wrapped up on his own thoughts.

“I’m John Pennick, nice to meet you,” she nodded silently and stood there, her stare piercing his own, then she moved her eyes towards his foot, making him understand what was going on.

“Are you worried about me?“ she jumped in place after being so suddenly startled, she quickly recovered and nodded. “I’m okay, Fluttershy. Trust me, I'll be fine, it’s just a bump, and the doctor said that I would walk in three days, no biggie!” he assured the pony, but he did not get the response he expected, proved quickly by the disapproving look she was giving him.

“Oh no, mister! You have to be careful, what if it had gotten infected or something worse! You have to be very mindful of your own health!” she went on, causing John to groan internally, while the rest of the ponies giggled, all bringing the nagging doctor reminders back to his mind.

“Er… Yes, Fluttershy. I promise I’ll be careful and try not to take this injury lightly,” he couldn’t bring himself to tell off the pony, as unlike the doctor, her stare showed genuine worry.

“Oh, good. I’m glad to hear that!” she said, giving him a big smile.

“I think I just got diabetes… Again,” he thought, returning her a smile of his own. “You are a kind pony, you know?” he blurted out without thinking, and Fluttershy’s cheeks instantly showed her flustered state, as she hid behind her mane once again.

“N-n-n-n-no, it’s nothing really! Oh my…” she pulled her wings out and she was instantly back in her hiding spot.

“My bad,” John apologized, watching her shake in the corner.

“That‘s Fluttershy for you, she is very shy as you can see, but she is a very brave pony when it comes down to it,” Twilight explained as Rarity spoke with the trembling Pegasus.

John chuckled. "I'll take your word for it."

“And that’s everypony! Since you already know Rainbow and Spike,” Twilight exclaimed excitedly, sitting next to the couch and smiling at John who raised his brow confused, looking past Twilight and staring at the mint colored pony standing in the back.

“What about the green one? Lyra, right?” the now notorious squeaking sound was heard as he pointed in her general direction, causing Twilight to groan annoyed.

“Oh… Her. That’s Lyra Hearthstrings, and she is our local lyre player,” she introduced without even looking at her. “And now she has to g-”

“Oh no! You promised that if he asked, I could talk to him. I waited here long enough without interrupting, and I think I deserve it, I mean, since I’m the one that believed in him to be-”

“For the last time, I told you I was sorry already! I admit it was my mistake, and I shouldn’t have insulted you the way I did… But do you really have to do this now, while he is like this?” she replied, pointing at John, and throwing the words out in a somewhat desperately.

“Do I have a say in thi—” John began, but shut himself as both ponies glared at him.

Lyra looked from John to Twilight and back to John again with a scowl. She nodded in agreement and headed to another room, where she begin talking with previously unheard voices. She soon returned to the room, but this time, followed by three even smaller ponies, who of course, instantly began eyeing John, showing the usual signs of awe with their mouths open, one of them silently saying ‘cool’ or other similar words.

“I’ll be coming to check on him eventually, you hear? Don’t try to hide him,” she told Twilight who sighed and nodded in response without even turning around.

“Yes, I promise I won‘t I'll even let you talk to him.”

“Do you Pinkie Promise?” Lyra reiterated causing Twilight to turn to face her.

“Pinkie what?” John asked, but was simply ignored.

“Ugh… Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” she made a few motions and finished by placing a hoof over her eye, to which Lyra nodded approvingly, while John got his answer.

“Good. Catch you later, human,” she nodded happily and headed for the door, the three small ponies tried to follow her in tow, but their plan was short lived as they were stopped by Rarity.

“And where do you three think you are going?” the fillies all gulped at the same time, and slowly turned towards Rarity.

“What were you all doing with a stranger?” she questioned the fillies who only stared at the floor, a look on their faces that he himself had seen on his own face before. A look of regret and fear of what was sure to come.

“Don’t,” everypony turned toward the door, just to see Lyra still standing there. “I tricked them into helping me, it’s not their fault.” The three fillies looked at her with shock.

“Wait…You expect me to let you see him? When you trick even the small ones?” Twilight joined in, venom dripping in every single one of her words.

“You don’t have to. But I will find a way to see him, it’s not like he is your property,” Twilight’s horn began to glow, John had decided he had seen enough and was about to intervene, but he was beaten to it by the small unicorn.

“She is lying, we chose to come with her on our own,” all present turned to her, and then the yellow pony with a bow joined in. “Yeah, we chose to go with her, don’t punish her!” and finally, the small orange Pegasus finished it off. “Punish us!”

Applejack and Rarity trotted towards the young ponies and stared at them, unable to find the right words to say. 

“Sweetie Belle, go home. We will speak of this later,” she said to the unicorn, while Applejack told the same to ‘Applebloom’ and both responded with the same line. “Yes, big sis…” and they walked out of the house, waving Lyra goodbye.

“And you Scootaloo, I will take you home myself,” said Rarity who began the walk to the door, where she was stopped by Lyra.

“Wait, I’ll do it,” Lyra volunteered, getting a suspicious look from the group.

“I don’t know…” said Twilight, already questioning her motives.

“Let her do it,” all ponies turned to John who had been oddly quiet during the exchange. “She obviously cares if she was going to take the blame for them.” 

Twilight shot him an annoyed glanced, but sighed in defeat, realizing he was right. “Fine. But tell her parents about it, got it?” Lyra nodded and called Scootaloo who soon joined her, leaving an awkward silence for the leftover party.

Using the silence, John decided to ask the obvious question plaguing his mind.

“So, anyone care to explain how I even got this?” he asked, pointing at his ice covered forehead. As in cue, Applejack moved to the side, and grabbed Spike who had been hiding behind her, and pushed him towards John.

“Spike did it when you threatened him,” the culprit stopped a few inches away, poking the floor with his small feet, shuffling in place nervously.

“It’s alright Spike… I just want to know what the heck happened,” John grabbed his temples as he said this, just wanting the events of the day over with.

“Well, truth be told, we were here because of Pinkie,” admitted Applejack.

“Why were the lights off then?” he asked, continuing his line of questioning.

“Well, Pinkie decided to throw you and Twilight a party,” continued Rarity while John and Twilight stared at each other.

“Whatever fo—oh, that’s right…” Twilight finished knowingly, while of course, John continued being confused.

“Hello?” he asked utterly lost.

“Pinkie throws parties.... A LOT of parties. She knew from the meeting that you were here, and so, she was going to throw us a surprise party, which is why the lights were off, but you then threatened Spike, and upon hearing your threat, he instinctively threw a book to quiet you down. Anything I missed?" 

“Ah… My bad, Spike,” John began turning towards the small dragon. “Guess we are even then.\,” Spike nodded relieved, and bumped fists as a sort of mutual understanding.

From then, he spend the following hour with Twilight, explaining her task in John’s world, how she had come to meet him to her friends, and how he had made his decision. John stared at Twilight, smiling as he saw the excitement she showed while talking to them.

“So… how long?” John was startled out of his thoughts as Rainbow hovered over him.

“Eh, what do you mean? And why are you here? Aren't you interesting in her story?” he asked Rainbow who gave him a sly smile.

“I was never one to listen to her overly complicated explanations," she shrugged it off and continued. "But back to the point, don’t act dumb, you know what I mean!” she said poking his arm and whispering to him.

“So… how good is she?” John raised his brow, growing even more confused by the second.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, Rainbow.” 

“Hmm… I think somepony is kee—” she was suddenly interrupted, as the door was suddenly opened by a grey blur smashing through. It sped through the room, hitting a confused Spike who held a tray of tea at the moment. It kept going,  dragging the unknowing dragon along, and crashing on a shelf, causing books to fall on them.

“Spike!” Twilight was the first on the scene, and she quickly used her magic to remove the books off the pair, finding the young dragon on the pile, groaning in pain.

“Are you alright?” she used her levitation and pulled him out, bringing him to her hooves, checking him for any other potential injuries, and engulfing him in a hug when she found none. “Oh, thank Celestia you are alright.” The other ponies joined her, checking up on Spike.

“Wait… Why aren’t they helping her?”

John grabbed his crutches and got on his foot, the ice bag simply fell off his forehead as he slowly walked towards the pile of books and sat down carefully, avoiding Fluttershy’s worried gaze while trying to avoid another potential injury on himself, then began to move books from the spot, in search of the other pony.

“Ditzy, are you alright?” the mare in question slowly crept out of the mess seemingly undamaged, she looked around bewildered at her surroundings and her current situation.

“Oh no! I did it again!” she lamented loudly, and began to pile the books together, only to be stopped by John.

“Hey, what are you do- oh, John!“ as soon as his eyes fell on hers, she turned her back on him “Oh, I’m sorry! Did I hurt you again!” she turned around and checked him quickly before stopping suddenly. “And sorry I was so late, I forgot, but I’m here now, and this is for you!” he stared at the bag she was holding and grabbed it, putting it aside for later.

“Don’t worry about it, I‘m okay. But more importantly, are you alright?” he asked her, to which she responded by just giving him a confused stare.

“Me? But I’m the one wh—” she stopped talking as a hand was placed oh her muzzle.

“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. it was an accident,” he turned to Twilight who was holding Spike protectively at the moment, and only pleaded with his eyes, hoping that Twilight would catch on.

“Yes Derpy, it’s alright,” she replied without a sign of emotion in her voice. She put Spike on the couch and began fixing the mess of books on the floor while John sat with Ditzy.

“I didn’t think you would come, Ditzy,” she turned her head to the side, trying to avoid his gaze, but only found Twilight there, causing her to turn her head back to John’s worried stare.

“Hey Twi, do you have a kitchen?” he asked Twilight, noticing the awkward stares of the others mares in the room.

“Yes.” 

“Er, can we use it?” he reiterated.

“I guess so,” she pointed with her hoof, not even moving from the spot while magically putting books back in their places. “It’s over there, just go through that door and you’ll find it,” he ignored the way she delivered the words and headed there, not bothering to look at the other ponies sitting there, Derpy miserably following him in tow.

------

The streets of Ponyville carried on its usual busy fare, everypony minding their own business, and unaware of each other outside of some minor interaction, and perhaps a minor desire to help others. This was helped by the fact that there was a very welcoming pink pony whose privilege caused her to cheer all ponies up, having the need for others to do this, a bit redundant. So it was surprising how two ponies who seemed down hadn’t been cheered up by a single pony, the obvious sigh of frowns and sighs contrasting with everypony else’s otherwise happy demeanor.

“This sucks…” began Scootaloo, breaking the silence as they headed home.

“I know, and I’m sorry that I got you and your friends involved in this, Scootaloo,” Lyra stopped and apologized to the filly.

“Don’t apologize. We had fun!” she exclaimed excitedly while doing minor tricks on her scooter.

“I can just ignore what Miss Egghead said and not tell your parents, you know?” Scootaloo stopped and placed a hoof on her chin, but quickly removed it with a quick dismissal.

“Nah! It wouldn’t be fair to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom, you know?” this act of friendship brought a smile to the unicorn, who ruffled the young filly’s mane playfully in response.

“Glad to hear that, kid.” 

They proceeded along in silence, just enjoying each other’s company, until Scootaloo broke it with a comment.

“You are pretty cool, Ms. Lyra,” she stopped once again, eyeing the pony with an amused glance.

“How so?”

“Well, you tried to pin the blame on yourself for us—I guess that’s very cool in my book,” she finished, giving her an awkward smile.

“You know? You are pretty cool yourself, even brave for taking some of the blame,” Lyra complimented her, while she beamed in return.

“Well… I’m a bit scared… But I wouldn’t want to leave my friends hanging, you know? I guess I just know that they would be a bit hurt if I wasn’t grounded myself when I also did something dumb…” Lyra stared at the filly, thinking over her rather mature way of viewing things.

“So… what you are saying is that you have to take your friend’s feelings at hoof?” Scootaloo only shrugged in place.

“I don’t know. I guess?” but Lyra was not paying attention anymore, as she delved into her own thoughts, replaying the events that transpired just a few hours before.

“You just don’t get it…”  the voice of Bon Bon replayed the words in her mind.

“Scootaloo!” the young filly flinched a bit at the sudden change in tone in Lyra, but obliged her.

“W-what is it?”

“I really have to go… I trust you to do this, so do you promise to that you will tell your parents about what you did?” Scootaloo looked surprised at her request, but wasted no time in grinning.

“Of course! I’m loyal to my friends!” this brought another smile to Lyra’s face.

“I’ll catch you later, kid.”

“Got it! And let’s play together again, Ms. Lyra!” she hoped her words were caught by the mare, who was already lost among the crowd of ponies.
> Not Everything is Perfect.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Both human and pony made their way into the kitchen, with John awkwardly crouching to head past the somewhat small door, with Derpy following close behind him, and closing the door, with the muffled sound of conversation starting on the other side as soon as she did so.

“M-maybe I should go…” she told John, hearing the hushed voices of the ponies in the next room. "Mayb—" she stopped, jumping as she felt John's hand on her withers, much to her surprise. 

“It’s okay. Come on.” he told her trying to keep a confident smile on his face, it didn‘t last long, as he searched for a seat, but instead found only a rather small chair, which John guessed must have belonged to Spike. “So… Let’s get to the table, shall we?” he led Ditzy, disregarding the lack of seats, John sitting on the floor crosslegged, while Derpy rested on her flank next to him, wincing momentarily as she took her spot, something that didn’t go unnoticed by John, but that he let slide for the time being. 

Neither spoke for a few minutes while John twiddled with his thumbs, meanwhile, Derpy paid attention to the outside; birds singing, ponies going about their daily tasks, anything that allowed her to keep her nervousness in check in front of the human.

“Hey, Ditzy?” at the sudden call, Ditzy’s front legs gave away, making her muzzle fall straight on the table, causing her to fall back on the floor, her hooves on her snout massaging the pain away. “Ditzy!” he called out to her careful not to alert the ponies outside, Ditzy only gave him a dismissive hoof, still holding her muzzle with the other, she got back on her hooves after a few more seconds of massaging, and gave John a wide smile, her snout looking a rather comical red.

“Y-yes? What is it?” she began, ignoring the obvious incident and going back on topic.

“Huh? Oh! Right!” he cleared his throat and continued, trying to ignore the color on Ditzy‘s face. “Are you alright? Does anything hurt? That was a nasty crash you had out there. Among other things.”  he finished for himself.

“Oh… W-well, it’s nothing, I’ve had worse incidents, so it’s okay, really,” she replied, giving him a sweet dismissive smile.

“You don’t have to lie, you know?” Ditzy stared at him with wonder over his statement, but didn’t let it get to her.

“What do you mean? I told you I’m FINE!” she yelped loudly, and brought her hooves to her mouth, mentally cursing herself for it.

“Is everything alright in there?” came the worried voice of Twilight from the other side of the door. Ditzy got on all fours and began heading towards it in an attempt to leave.

“You know, maybe I should go, I nee—” she was stopped by the human’s arm which blocked her path while he replied to Twilight’s worried question.

“Yes Twi, everything is fine,” she replied with a quick okay and the room was silent again, except for the fixed breathing of the pair as Twilight got away from the door.

“I’m going to ask you again,” he began, still staring at the kitchen door. “Are you alright? Or not?” he finished by turning his gaze towards her, causing Derpy to tear her eyes away from him in an attempt to avoid his analyzing stare.

“My leg…” she began miserably.

“Huh?”

“I messed up my leg when I crashed.” she explained, showing him her one of her front legs that exhibited a very noticeable bump on it. His brow furrowed worriedly as he laid his fingers on the bump, getting a soft squeak from the mare as he took out a green shard he had not noticed before..

“How did I not notice?”

“You gotta go to the hospital, Ditzy,” he told her rapidly, getting a dismissive smile from the mail pony.

“John… It’s okay, it’s just a bump. It was my fault anyway," she huffed, letting out a bitter laugh. "Twilight is right, I mean, I hurt Spike even.” she stared back at John’s face and looked into his eyes. “Pity?” she wondered as she searched the truth in his brown colored eyes, but his grimace said something else, the look that only one pony before had given her.

He was actually worried for her.

“It was an accident though,” he said in an attempt to reassure her.

“But still, it was Twilight‘s little pet dragon…” John raised his brow at the word ‘pet’, Ditzy’s view of Spike was not one Twilight would have liked to hear.

“Forget Twilight for now, besides, Spike is fine! He didn’t have any injuries unlike you did.”

“What!?” came Twilight’s voice from the other side of the door, followed by the mare herself slamming the it open.

“Twilight? What are y—” he didn’t manage to finish his sentence when he was levitated off the floor and taken outside the kitchen. He tried squirming in his grip, but found it impossible to move. He traced the magic back to a certain white pony, to which he gave a resentful glare that she only ignored, all while Ditzy was basically thrown into the lobby by Twilight.

“Not hurt!? What do you call that then?“ she fumed at John while pointing at the unconscious Spike. “And you need to apologize to Spike! Who for your information, happens to be family!” Twilight this time turned to Ditzy and wasted no time getting straight to the point, staring daggers at the cross-eyed mare while she only trembled in the spot, muttering silent ‘I’m sorry’s over and over, John searched the place for some other pony to help stop the chaos, but only saw Fluttershy (who was hiding behind the white demon) and Rarity present, and neither would be of much use.

John’s attention went back to Ditzy and Twilight, two thoughts on his mind; he was worried about Ditzy’s injury as well as her own mental health. And he wanted to scream at Twilight for the way she was acting.

“This is NOT the pony I met on Earth!” he tried calling out to her, but his mouth would not open, he turned back to Rarity who only shook her head at him before turning her attention back to the pair.

If John had thought the mare to be unpleasant, he now downright despised her.

“Well?” Twilight asked Ditzy with forced control on her voice, John could only stare at his foster sister, a feeling of uneasiness rising in him.

“I-is her coat catching on fire…?” smoke seeped out of the mare’s coat, seemingly spontaneously as her face was contorted in anger, her eyes glistening as her mind seem to race.

“I’m so sorry…”

“Huh?” John gave an internal sigh of relief as he noticed Twilight’s features soften at Ditzy’s words.

“I-I’m sorry… I’ll make my leave. I am deeply sorry for hurting your baby dragon, and I‘m sorry for hurting John… And, well… I didn‘t know he was family, I also apologize for assuming…” Ditzy began shuffling towards the door, trying her best to hide her own limping while John gave her a pained look, she reached the door and turned to face him one last time before leaving.

As soon as the door was closed, Rarity lowered John to the floor, gently placing him down and levitating his crutches towards him.

“What the hell, Twilight!?” the three ponies jumped at the sudden breaking of silence, while Spike stirred in his sleep. 

“What do you mean ‘what‘? You saw what she did to Spike! She could have killed him, just as she could have killed YOU before!” she stopped to catch her breath and continued “Not to mention she assumed Spike was a’pet’? she cringed as she let the words out, having difficulty using them in a sentence.

John wanted to argue back, but he knew that she raised a good point, he put his palms into fists, and groaned in pain as something stabbed into his left palm, he opened it just to see the green shard he had gotten from Ditzy’s wound.

“I think everything is as good as it‘s going to get, so I will make my leave for now. Twilight dear, please take care of Spikey and yourself, would you?” Twilight responded with a curt nod to Rarity who left without nary a glance to John. He was glad she was gone, but he certainly would need to speak with Twilight over her behavior. 

“I’ll deal with that road when I happen to cross it again,” he figured as Rarity closed the door, visibly relaxing.

“Umm, are you okay, John?” he turned his gaze from the front door and saw Fluttershy giving him a worried stare which he returned, albeit in a depressing manner.

“Yes. I’m okay Fluttershy.” he stared at the shard once more then turned to his attention to the shy pony. “Don’t worry about me, really. I’ll be fine,” he gave her the best smile he could manage at the moment before continuing, “I’m sorry to do this, but can you give Twilight and I a few moments, I need to talk to her.”

Fluttershy seemed stunned for a moment, but she composed herself quickly. “Oh, yes. I need to go anyway, it was a pleasure to meet you, John,” she shook his hand a bit more comfortably than before, and then trotted towards Twilight.

“It’s good to have you back Twilight, maybe you can tell us more about your time in there later, I mean, if you don’t mind.” Twilight smiled kindly and Fluttershy gave her a hug before heading out, leaving the pair alone. Or as alone as they could be with a sleeping dragon in their midst.

John wasted no time and began “Listen Twilight, I know that what Ditzy did was bad, and that she might have hurt Spike, but-”

“It was an accident?” she completed his sentence for him.

“Yes, an accident. So I think you need to cut her some slack,” he knew she had the right to be mad at Ditzy, but he didn’t want Twilight to be too mad at her. He felt conflicted in his thoughts; defending a pony he met less than a day ago over his own best friend? As he delved into his thoughts, he made his way to the bag of muffins on the floor, trying to bend down to pick it up, but finding little success with one leg.

“Crap…” as he was going to leave the crutches, the bag floated easily towards him, surrounded by a purple glow.

“Thank you, Twi,” he walked to the couch where the young tyke snored quietly, seating himself on the floor and holding himself with the couch. He tried to avoid Twilight’s gaze by looking at the still surprising mess of books in the place, he caught a few words in English in a few covers, something that made him grin in the satisfaction of knowing he would have something interesting to read.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Twilight reluctantly approaching him, he moved his arm aside, and let the mare sit next to him.

“Here,” he handed her a muffin which she accepted without a second thought, John took another for himself and dug in, savoring the tasty treat while thinking of the events of the day. “And what a day it was," he thought as he bit into a blueberry muffin.

“Hey John?” Twilight called without keeping her eyes from the muffin on her magic grip.

“Yeah?”

“Why did you forgive Ditzy so fast?” he grimaced at her question, already disliking the way the conversation was heading.

“I know, I know it depends on you Twilight, he is like your brother, right? I should know what is like to worry about a sibling.” Twilight turned to him with a look of mild surprise and giggled a bit before biting into her own muffin. “Did I say something funny?” he asked annoyed at her tone.

“No, not particularly. But you didn’t seem to understand my question,” she responded still smiling.

“Okay, humor me.”

“I was asking why you forgave Ditzy so fast over what she did to YOU.”

The question hadn’t taken him completely by surprise, he had actually expected it at some point, but Twilight’s own perceptive nature had managed to bring it out sooner. Still, he didn’t have an answer to give her; he still hadn’t quite found it himself.

“I…” he opened his hand once again and stared at the shard, its green color seemed alluring enough that he had forgotten to throw it away, he knew he held no need for it anymore, but he couldn’t bring himself to toss it aside. He examined it and noticed the dried blood on it as well as some new joining it, likely his own.

“Well?” Twilight asked.

“She… Reminds me of myself?” he chuckled as he let the question hang in the air, while Twilight could only stare with confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“I guess when I look in her eyes… I see myself in them.” he let the words leave his mouth, not sure where he was going with it, but unable to stop. “You know? Before I met you,” neither spoke as both tried to find the meaning of the words. Twilight seemed to grasp the concept much more easily as she nuzzled John’s face with a warm smile on her face.

“I’m still not apologizing, though,” John chuckled at this but didn’t argue.

“Here.” 

“What is this?” she wondered as she noticed what she had grabbed with her magic.

“If my guess is correct, I’m guessing it’s one of Spike’s scales.” 

“What does that have to do with anythi— oh…” John waited as Twilight noticed the redness smeared across its otherwise beautiful green surface.

“She hurt Spike, I can‘t argue that, but she still tried to save him from a serious injury, right? It may not be much, but I think this deserves some sort of ‘slack‘ and ‘cutting‘ or some other phrase created by those words. Don‘t you think?” Twilight poked his shoulder at the jest, and gave him an understanding nod.

“I guess you a— No, I mean to say you ARE right,” she corrected herself quickly.

“Well, glad to see all this drama has been solved,” both turned towards the source of the voice, just to find Spike laying on the couch with his eyes wide open.

“Oh, hey Spike… How much did you hear?” John asked unable to formulate a better question.

“I heard enough," he turned to face Twilight. “I know I’m not good with mushy stuff, but still, I want to say… Er…”

“Thank you?” John completed, making the dragon glare at him.

“Hey! I’m the one who is gonna say it,” he turned to Twilight ready to come up with a better word, but found himself enveloped in her magic grip where he was directed straight into Twilight’s waiting  hooves.

“Oh, you don’t have to say it, I know what you mean.” she hugged Spike affectionately for several seconds before putting him down.

“Geez… can we stop with the sorry atmosphere around here? It’s cramping my style!” at this both John and Twilight laughed heartily, letting any previous tension behind.

“But we are still going to go talk to her, got it?” John reminded Twilight giving her a serious look before bursting into uncontrollable giggles at her dignified stare.

“Yes, yes, I know. But we are already here, so don’t you think I should give you the grand tour of your new home?” he gave her a disapproving look which she quickly countered with a pout attack.

“Darn your cuteness to hell” he thought in defeat.

“Then it’s settled!” Twilight said, boasting over her small victory which John quickly fanned away.

“I guess…” he painfully got on his foot, looking down at his sorry state, realizing how his life was going so far. “Hey Twi?” 

“Yes?”

“Isn’t it funny how non-perfect everything is around here?” he chuckled as he said this, getting a playful grin from Twilight.

“I never told you it would be, John.”


~~~~~~


Celestia’s sun glaring beams rained upon all ponies alike, giving all the energy and the morale they needed to get work done, all while the fillies used the energy to act rambunctious, something that many adults didn’t appreciate as they went about their business. All alike rushed to get everything done, or in the young, play as much as possible, as the end of the day was quickly approaching.

This was easily ignored by Lyra Hearthstrings who ran in full speed, mouthing non-caring apologies to whatever pony she happened to bump with, all her energy focused on her running, as well in ways to apologize to a certain cream colored pony.

“I was stupid, please, can you forgive me, a pony that doesn‘t deserve you? No, that‘s way too dramatic!”  she thought as she ducked under what it seemed to be a flying turtle in her path avoiding a potential head injury. She did not dwell on the near-incident as she went back to her planning. “I’m sorry Bon Bon, please forgive me. I was a foal… No! Then she’ll think I’m not serious about it! Ugh!” Lyra rattled her brains in search for the perfect apology. 

She of course had not realized that by the decision of the Ponyville housing district, a house was to be build in the area she had just run into, and that house stood there already five years prior to the events of the day, that house being the abode of both Bon Bon and Lyra. Of course, Lyra did not realize this as her head had much more worrisome thoughts that were by now, washed away by her senses telling her that pain was coursing through her body as she had just run into the door, slamming herself against it.

“Buck!” was all she could think of as she fell on her back, holding her muzzle and trying to hold back the tears that were already leaving her eyes. A rather simple giggle could be heard from over her, Lyra’s eyes searched the source of the sound, seeing the window to her room open, her lover Bon Bon sitting on her front hooves and staring down at her.

“What are you doing down there?” she called to her with a slight bemused tone.

“Er… Nothing, just… enjoying the day,” Lyra replied putting her hooves behind her head and laying on them as a pillow in an attempt to look nonchalant.

“Uh huh,” with that, Bpn-Bon headed inside the house, closing the window behind her.

“Gah!” Lyra hit herself for her poor handle of the situation and headed for the door, she tried opening it, but found herself unable to. “It’s locked…”  of course it was locked, she had pretty much betrayed her partner over her obsession, and now she had gotten punished for it. It was what she deserved, she was destined to be alone once again, she w-

“Are you gonna stand there looking sorry for yourself? Or are you coming in?” Lyra looked up only to see the cream mare standing by the door, giving her an annoyed look.

“Huh?”

“I’m closing the door now,” she slowly began closing the door and heading inside.

“Okay, I’m coming!” Lyra swiftly jumped inside, landing on her already pained muzzle, and groaning in ever increasing agony.

“Payback can be quite annoying.” she rubbed her muzzle, nursing it back to the dull pain that would stay for quite a while, Lyra got on her hooves and noticed Bon Bon, who instead of the angry glare she expected, held another facial feature she had not foreseen.

She was frowning.

“Bon Bon? What’s wrong?” despite the obvious reasoning, she could not help but ask the obvious.

“I think you know.“

“If you are talking about earlier today, I know, and please, I am really, REALLY so—“ She was unable to finish her sentence, being kissed tends to have that effect on ponies.

“H-huh? W-what?” Lyra stood there dumbfounded, she didn’t expect any care from the mare, much less such an obvious sign of affection.

“I’m sorry, Lyra,” if Lyra had not been confused before, she was utterly lost now.

“Okay, what’s going on? Did Pinkie Pie set a joke up and you are giving me payback for being a horrible mare friend?” the stare Bon Bon was giving her told her otherwise.

“I’m apologizing because I should have been supporting of you, I know you sort of left me on my own back there, but I didn’t have time to think on what you wanted—I only cared about what I wanted,” she then brought out a book from a drawer and gave it to Lyra. “And this is yours,” Lyra instantly recognized the book and swiped it out of her hooves with her magic.

“Bon Bon! I told you not to let it out!” she stopped herself and took a deep breath, leaving the book on a table for the time being, looking back upon the flinching Bon Bon. “No no! It’s okay, you didn’t damage it! I‘m sorry!” she reached out and reluctantly hugged her, making the trembling mare shiver slightly.

“I-I…” Bon Bon seemed to be in the verge of tears, and was trying her best to hold it in.

“Don’t cry, it wasn’t your fault, it was mine…” she walked away from Bon Bon, making her give her a confused stare.

“What do you mean?” she asked holding back the flood works.

“I shouldn’t have let my obsessiveness get the best of me,  I just lost it when I was so close, and I was… Well, I was afraid that I would lose you, and…” tears began falling down her eyes as she recalled the events from just hours before, regret hitting her full force.

“It’s all that books’s fault!” she thought, giving the dreaded thing a hateful stare, hoping that it would burn, but she didn’t have the heart to do it.

She had devoted too much to just let it go.

She felt herself getting enveloped in a pair of hooves, she looked up and saw the smiling face of her loving partner.

“How about we just let this go for now and do something to… relieve the tension?” Bon Bon began giving Lyra small pecks on her muzzle, while passing a tempting hoof over her flank.

“Oh my… she can be quite dominating when she wants to…” Lyra thought as her tears stopped and her instincts nearly took over, unfortunately for her, the dulling pain took over the good feelings she was having.

“Ugh!” her partner noticed the pained look on her face and giggled shamelessly, getting a grunt out of the mint colored pony.

“You know? Maybe we can take it easy for today. Come on, I think you deserve a good therapy.” 

“What do you have in mind?“ Lyra asked wiping the tears from her smiling face.

“Well… I could do what my mother used to do with me when I was hurting somewhere.“

“And what is that?“ the answer was given when Bon Bon kissed her face, then heading upstairs, leaving a content Lyra behind.

“I think I probably have the best partner ever conceived,” she thought proudly.

“Come on! You are returning the favor, you hear?” Lyra grinned bemused at the upstairs call, and headed to the room, ready to let the day’s worries fall behind.

As Lyra headed to her room, the book stayed on the table, forgotten for the time being by both mares as they headed upstairs, ready to share time with each other and forget their problems.

~~~~~~

Meanwhile, back in Canterlot, Princess Celestia shivered for the first time in months.

She headed towards the stained glass containing the static drawings of the elements of harmony defeating Nightmare Moon. Fittingly enough, Princess Luna walked towards her sister, noticing her odd behavior.

“What is the matter, sister? You seem to be acting rather strange.”

“I’m not sure, Luna, but I feel a new threat is upon us. We must be prepared,” she then turned to Luna giving her a serious stare.

“Twilight’s time to be tested might be closer than we expected,” Celestia turned back to the glass and thought.

“I just hope that he won’t bring too much of a change.”
> Mini Chapter - Dreaming of the Moon.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oh my God, yessss! This feels so good…”

John had been awake for the past ten minutes, just comfortably laying on the bed. He had gone to sleep rather early, and as such, he had woken up in the wee hours of the day the following morning.

“I’m so glad I brought this!”

After three minutes of doing absolutely nothing, he had grabbed his bag and rummaged through its contents, he had easily found a stray pencil, a forgotten item from Earth that had caused melancholic memories to resurface.

He then proceeded to use said pencil as a makeshift scratcher for his cast covered foot.

“Ha! You can’t stop me now, doctor!” John laughed rather maniacally, showing his defiance to the medical pony, who at that moment, was enjoying a warm cup of coffee, unaware of his patient's negligence. John's laughter continued on, that is, until a rather soft item hit his face, causing him to panic at the sudden appearance of the object.

“Ah!” he let out womanly high pitched yelp, dropping what seemed to be a pillow, quickly looking around to find the source of the attack.

“You might be cool and all, but Spike‘s nap time is ‘John shuts up’ time,” John looked to the side, finding the library’s resident dragon Spike glaring at him from his bed, an act further increased by the reddened eyes he held.

“S-sorry Spike,” he apologized, choosing not to argue back, and without another word, Spike fell back on his small bed, instantly falling into a deep slumber, bringing John some peace after the relatively scary moment.

“Geez, you can sure be scary, Spike,”  the young dragon twitched seemingly in response.

“Oh, Rarity…” John smiled at the dragon’s sleep talk (and groaned internally at the mention of the white unicorn) he laid on his side on the bed, watching the young dragon lose himself in his dreams, and soon, he felt himself slip into a dream of his own.

~~~~~

“Oh Leonardo… You can take me anytime…”

I put the pillow over my head, trying to cover the annoying sounds of my dumb sister, she had been staying up quite often rewatching that dumb movie. 

I thought the Titanic was supposed to be a bad thing or something.

“Frankie…” I whispered to her, giving her one of my whines.

“What do you want, runt? Can’t you see I’m having a date with my husband?” I rolled my eyes at the ‘husband’ part, I mean, when did she get a license to marry anyway? I guess when you are fourteen you can do more things.

“Can’t you just do it tomorrow, please?” I instantly came up with a plan, grinning as I spoke “Or I’ll tell mom!”

This got her attention, because she was giving me a very angry stare, odd, I think I could see it in the dark.

“You tell her, and I tell her that you wet the bed.” 

“How did you know!?” I asked her confused, I had never, ever told anyone about that.

“Uhm…” she stuttered, and giggled a bit, confusing me.

“W-what’s so funny?” 

“I was just joking…” she burst out laughing right there, causing me to go hide back in my pillow, I would never get out of here until tomorrow!

Right then, I heard the room’s door open, and I heard mom’s voice along with the gasp from Franny.

“What do you think you are doing up, young lady? You have school tomorrow!”

“Erm… Johnny was up too!”

“Was not!” I suddenly realized I had fallen for her trap.

“See?” she said triumphantly.

“But… I was only up because of her dumb movie! If she weren’t so ugly she wouldn’t have the need of a dumb movie boyfriend!” I stopped talking, realizing what I had said.

“I mean…” mom just stared at me with disbelief, she shook her head wildly getting herself  focused before returning her attention to us.

“Both of you are grounded tomorrow, you John, no TV, and you Frankie, no more Titanic,” I grimaced slightly as she left the room, managing to see Franny’s mouth opening over and over without a sound coming out, she turned to glare at me, then she flopped down in the bed, saying nothing else. Feeling a bit guilty, I did the same and laid back down.

I didn’t know how long it had been, but I stayed awake for some reason, is like sleep wouldn’t find me, and as I waited, I heard Frankie called me from her bed.

“Hey Johnny?” she began.

“What?” I replied instantly

“Did you really mean that?” her question took me by surprise.

“What do you mean?” I questioned her confused.

“Am I really… Ugly?” I think she thought she was hiding it well, but I could hear her sniffing softly.

“Of course not!” I answered without hesitation, Frankie giggled a bit at my comment before turning to face me. “I’m sorry… I was angry.” I apologized getting a bit teary eyed.

“No, you are right…” she admitted to my own surprise.

“But why do you say that?” I asked her curious.

“Because I have to resort to imaginary boyfriends to feel loved…” she replied, making me feel bad.

“Well… I love you, if that counts for something,” I said blushing slightly as the words left my mouth. If I told the guys at school tomorrow, I would never hear the end of it.

“Johnny…” she got off her bed and headed to mine, getting comfy under the blankets as soon as she got in.

“What are you doing?” I asked her as she pushed me farther along the bed.

“I want to sleep on your bed! Can’t I?” I thought about it for a few seconds, but found no reason to deny it.

“Okay.”

“Yay. Now don’t you dare wet the bed while I’m here.” I blushed a bit as she said this, but I quickly found myself getting comfortable, and quickly falling asleep.

“I see.”

I heard the strange voice and quickly got on my feet, what I saw in front of me surprised me; it was a dark colored horse, but what was more apparent on it were the horn and the wings, it was strange, but I wasn’t afraid for some reason.

“Of course you aren’t. I’m surprised you haven’t recognized me yet,” a female voice came from the direction of the horse, but I couldn’t be sure without d-

“It’s Princess Luna, if you must know.” 

“Princess Lu—” a surge of memories filled my brain, and the room became a blur, suddenly, I was standing in what appeared to be the empty streets of Ponyville.

“W-what’s going on? Luna? What are you doing here?” I began wondering, and quickly voiced my concerns to the Princess who held the best poker face I had ever seen.

Outside of Celestia, that is..

“It is a rather strange thing, is it not? Dreams. They give us glimpses of things we could do, things that have influenced us take place here, even memories happen,  as you yourself have witnessed it,” I blinked rapidly as I remembered my dream, quickly blushing as I recalled what had happened.

“Do not be embarrassed, I must admit that it was something quite warm, you must have had a strong bond with your sibling,” I didn’t know what to feel over her praise, she didn’t really know much about me, but then again, if she has had a sister for thousands of years, she must have a good idea of what a strong sibling bond is.

She seemed to smile as she probably read my thoughts again, she shuffled in place awkwardly as she fought to bring some message into the open.

“I came here to… apologize.” she began out of nowhere.

“What for?” I asked curiously.

“Being too harsh on you. I now understand that you do care for Twilight Sparkle, and I forgive what you did back in Canterlot,” I grinned thankful of her forgiveness, this probably meant I could get out of Celestia’s punish-

“However.”

Fuck.

“Your punishment is still being delivered. But do not worry, I will inform Celestia about your injury and will get your punishment send at a later date,” she turned around and began trotting away.

“Princess? How are you doing this?” I voiced my question, growing increasingly more curious by the moment.

“It does not matter, you being lucid was caused by my interference. Besides you will not remember this conversation when you awaken, but you will know of what we have talked of here, if only subconsciously.” with that, she disappeared, leaving only her voice behind.

“And please, try not to interfere with Twilight’s affairs too much.”

~~~~~~

“Luna! Er, I mean… Frankie! Why did I say Luna…?” John woke up with a start, noticing the outside and seeing it just as dark as it had been before, from the looks of it, only a few minutes had passed since his apparent sleep.

“Damn it, I had another embarrassing dream about you, and we argued… again,” John cursed silently as he laid back on the bed. “I don’t wet the bed anymore, you know Frankie?” John pouted to himself a bit forcibly while looking to the roof, his cheeks showed his flustered state as he turned his head towards the young dragon who fortunately, was still asleep.

“Rarity… You can take me anytime you want…” John raised his brow at the comment. “To look for gems…” he sighed in relief as soon as he heard that.

John smiled at the dragon’s innocence, something that he quite lacked it seemed.

“Maybe I have a new partner here in the arguing department...” he closed his eyes content, and sleep quickly took him once again.
> Just a Normal Day.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was yet another day in Ponyville, a mare with a golden coat woke up early as always, ready to go to work and set up her wares. She made herself a quick breakfast that consisted of coffee and some crepes that she had saved up from the previous day, and after quickly loading everything into her cart, she made her way to the front door where she noticed the mailbags of her roommate still on the coat hanger.

“I thought she was supposed to work today…” she said and proceeded to head upstairs to look for her housing partner . “Ditzy!” she called out to her friend as she made her way to the end of the hallway, and as she was about to knock on the door of her room when a faint sound could be heard.

*thud*

“What is that noise?”

*thud* she heard the peculiar sound again, and she put her ear to the door, listening intently for further signs of the noise.

*THUD*  she jumped back surprised at the latest noise, she then put her hoof on the handle and found the door open.

“What’s going on here?” she reluctantly pushed it open, illuminating the otherwise dark room. She looked around and found a grey shape in a corner that she instantly recognized.

“Ditzy?” the pony acted as if she hadn’t heard her, or was probably too invested in her own thoughts as she hit her head against the wall, causing a rather familiar noise to fill the silence.

*thud* 

“Ditzy! Stop that!” the pony jumped in, stopping the mare from further damaging herself.

“Why Carrot…?” Derpy asked the orange mare while still staring into the distance.

“Because you are hitting yourself?” she explained in disbelief. Ditzy only shook her head. “What do you mean no?” Carrot asked not knowing what she meant.

“Why does everything I do always come back to bite me in the flank…?” she turned her face towards Carrot, who after giving her a good look, nearly recoiled at the sight right in front of her.

Ditzy was covered in dry tears, her mane smelled like dirt, amplified by her not having showered, the side of her head held a very noticeable bump, obviously coming from the self-inflicted punishment she was giving herself.

“What happened?” Carrot asked, obviously concerned for her friend.

“I-I nearly killed Twilight’s dragon!” Carrot raised a brow at this and furrowed her brow deep in thought, her face beamed as she realized what Ditzy meant, and giggled. “W-what’s so funny!?” Ditzy raised her voice annoyed.

“You are talking about the librarian, right?” Ditzy simple nodded vigorously in response. “Do you remember that one incident a few months back that you told me about?” Ditzy tilted her head to the side in obvious confusion. “When you dropped the piano? And those other things?” Ditzy scrunched her face in thought, and a few sweat beads began forming on her forehead as she recalled what Carrot meant.

“Er… No…?” she twiddled her front hooves together, focusing on the clip clop sound that they made, as she thought of a way out of the conversation..

“And she was fine, was she not? I think her dragon would have survived whatever you did to him.” Carrot continued, ignoring Ditzy’s obvious discomfort.

“I crashed into him… Hard.”

“… Oh… Is he…” 	Carrot asked reluctantly.

“Y-yes, he is, but I nearly killed him…”

“Did you?”

“Not really, but…”

“But NOTHING, you DIDN’T, okay?” she reassured her.

“B-but I feel so bad, and Twilight was furious with me, a-and…” she took a deep breath and softly released herself of Carrot’s  grip.

~Why does everything I do always turn… Sour?~
~Why does everything I do seem like… A mess?~
~Is it too much to ask… To be loved and tole- OUCH!

She turned around to see Carrot giving her a disapproving stare and slowly lowering her hoof.

“W-what was that for?” Ditzy asked with tears of pain on her face.

“Oh, I think you know what this was ‘for‘,” she replied sounding slightly disappointed.

“B-but…” 

“No. I told you not to sing that song again. It’s the third time this month! Now…” she trotted off leaving the room, she turned around again after leaving the area. “Go take a shower and then eat something, I left breakfast downstairs so you can have some food on your stomach. And don‘t forget to go to work,” she turned around and made her way downstairs, leaving Ditzy massaging the pain in her head away. “And Ditzy?” Carrot yelled from downstairs.

“Y-yes?” she called back.

“I told you to stop calling me Carrot, my name is GOLDEN HARVEST, got it memorized, ‘DERPY‘?” 

“G-got it ma’am!” she replied cringing at the infamous nickname she was mostly known for, it was a name the town had given her after a certain incident, and she was notoriously known as such very soon, the whole town now knew her by that name alone, aside a few ponies who she shared her actual name with.

She waited as the front door opened and closed, signaling Harvest’s leaving. 

“… Thank you, Harvest.” she said to the now gone mare while smiling a bit. Harvest was the only pony who unlike others in town, treated her as she would treat any other. It was something she was thankful for… even if she had a rather unorthodox way of doing it.

“I don’t smell THAT bad though, do I…?” she raised her limbs and smelled her pits, gagging slightly more as the combined stench filled her nostrils.

“Oh Celestia… Right… Shower it is!” as she headed to the bath, a knock to the door was heard, she quickly washed her face and headed downstairs, but as she opened the door, she found nopony there, she looked by her hooves, and found a single card.

“What is this?” it was a pink colored card, adorned with balloons on the side with some text on the back, she tried to focus on the letters as best as she could, but her eyes kept wondering, making her unable to keep up her reading much, bringing the dull pain of the bump back to the forefront of her mind, thanks to the stench she was releasing.

“I can’t read with a dirty head!” she exclaimed irritated, she threw the card on the couch and headed upstairs, giggling at her accidental wordplay as she went.


~~~~~


“I see.”

“It‘s strange really,” John had finished telling his dream to Twilight who listened intently, the conversation had turned slightly one-sided once John had mentioned he called out Luna‘s name as he woke, neither had managed to figure out the reason, or were trying too much as they ate breakfast.

“I’ll look into dreams later, I have a book about that somewhere,” she finished her hay pancakes and took her plate to the sink while John still dug into his own.

“Twi, these are delicious, how do you do this!?” John exclaimed excitedly as he poured more syrup into his breakfast.

“Heh, you may not believe this, but Spike made them,” John looked up from his plate giving Twilight an incredulous stare, however, she only smiled as John realized she wasn’t lying.

“… Don’t tell him I said that….” 

“Wouldn’t count on it, he gets a rather big head when somepony praises him, still don’t know why you wouldn’t want to give him a praise though,” she said as she washed her plate.

“It’s a guy thing, you wouldn’t understand,” John said boldly while Twilight rolled her eyes.

“I’m not even gonna touch that one,” she dried the dish, and put it up on the shelf before turning to John. “By the way, I need you to go take a shower before we go anywhere.”

“But I don’t want to shower…”

“Excuse me?” Twilight gave John a rather harsh glare while he ate his pancakes.

“I mean… It’s a pain in the ass to shower with a cast on, you know?” he poked his pancakes with his fork grabbing the biggest piece he could find, he rather enjoyed the pancakes, and the rather minor argument would not prevent him from enjoying them.

“Curse you Spike, why are your pancakes so delicious?” he thought as he chewed the rather soft food.

“That may be, but frankly, you stink.” John frowned at this particular part. “And if you are gonna live here, I need you to go by some simple ground rules and perhaps something more.” “Oh oh…” he put his fork down and focused intently on Twilight. She took this as a sign and began.

“First: NO grabbing books with dirty hands, it can be rather difficult to get a stain out of the books, you will bathe every day as well.”

“Fair enough,” John agreed, returning to his pancakes and putting a few pieces into his mouth.

“Second,” she stopped for a hesitating second, but quickly continued. “You will help Spike with his chores, that is of course when you aren‘t out looking for a job,” John gave her a rather surprised stare as he analyzed her words.

“Anything else…?” he questioned suspiciously allowing Twilight to continue.

“Yes. You will try to go out and make friends whenever you are not occupied,” he put down the fork once again and held his hands together, putting his chin over them while eyeing Twilight suspiciously.

“Where is it?” he asked.

“Where is what?” she replied with a question of her own.

“The message.”

“I-I didn‘t get a letter,” she stuttered, causing John to get a wide grin plastered from side to side.

“I didn’t say anything about a letter,” John said triumphantly, and Twilight groaned loudly, magicking a parchment into existence.

“Okay, fine! You got me, the Princess send me a letter asking me to tell you to get a job. If it was for me, I would only let you only take care of the library, but the Princess said you needed to socialize to ‘get out of your former life shell‘,” she quoted with her hooves, which looked almost 'finger-like', all while John perused the contents of the letter, unfortunately, the contents were in a different language and he was not able to read it.

“Darn, she probably knew I’d try, I need to ask Twilight to teach me this stuff.”

“I guess you are right,” he said out loud, Twilight smiled, obviously glad he had agreed, but he wasn’t going to yield quite yet.

“First we go see Ditzy though,” her smile was quickly replaced by a grimace which she quickly hid behind her mane as she took John’s dish along with the still numerous stack of pancakes.

“Hey! I’m not done yet!”

“You are on a diet now,” she responded not turning to face the human.

“We are going right now then, you hear?”

She groaned as she put the dishes on the sink and silently washed them. John felt a bit of empty pride as Twilight no longer had a retort to make, the hollow victory didn’t bring him much happiness of course.

“The sooner we do this, the better you’ll be,” he thought while getting on his feet, he put some slight weight on his cast covered leg, feeling no pain, just like Twilight had said, his foot was healing surprisingly quickly, if there was a single drawback, it was perhaps the medicine. “Not even God would give this punishment to us mortals… but perhaps Celestia would…”

“John! Don’t do that!” too busy in his thoughts, it was too late, as John put his foot down, carrying his body’s full weight on his limb.

…

“Huh…”

“A-are you okay, John?”

“It didn’t hurt… at all…” he managed to say from his astonished state.

“Wait, what?” Twilight trotted towards John, and before he could even protest, John was lifted into the air by her purple aura, where soon, Twilight removed the cast by teleporting it off of his foot. John only sighed, allowing her to do her thing.

“I-it’s healed…!” Twilight looked over his foot intently, checking every nook and cranny so to speak.

“Really!?”

“This is amazing!”

“Yeah, I’ll say!”

“I-it must be your bones, they are probably a tad less dense than pony bones, so it healed much faster!”

“Uh huh… Hey Twi-”

“I must send the Princess a letter about this! This is just…”

“Um... Twilight…?” John heard a snicker, he turned towards the sound of the voice just to see Spike barely holding his laughter in.

“Spike! Help me!”

“Sorry buddy, you are on your own here, once she gets like that, nothing can stop her until she is done… Good luck!” and just like that, he went off to continue his chores.

“S-Spike…?” he called out softly in despair, but he received no answer.

“…hen we could help all of pony kind!” Twilight finished some speech she had been reciting while John tried to stop what was sure to come.

“Heeeeeeeelp!” he called out as he was dragged into Twilight’s basement, something that out of context, would have certainly be taken badly.


~~~~~


“… Super-duper-rific party EVER!”

Pinkie Pie finished by jumping in the air, balloons seemingly out of nowhere popping up behind her, this didn’t affect Mrs. Cake of course, living with the hyperactive pony for so long helped her and her husband get accustomed to such moments. She groaned as she tried to get back to her job but Pinkie would not allow her to return, frustrating the baker even further thanks to the previous day’s incidents.

Needless to say, Mrs. Cake was not having a good week.

“Er… Yes Pinkie, but like I said before, we rented the place for a birthday party. And as much as I would like to help you here, I can’t. So, if I ca-”

“But Mrs Caaaaaaaake!” she whined, giving her trademarked pouting.

“Do you want me to cut your pay?” she threatened jokingly.

“Oooooh, I would earn as much as the previous pony!” Pinkie replied, Mrs. Cake looked over Pinkie’s head, imagining the sarcasm flying over Pinkie’s fluffy mane and getting stuck in its mess.

“Dear Celestia…” she laughed, while Pinkie only stood there with a goofy grin, 

“I know what you mean Mrs. Cake, Princess Celestia sure is a dear!” Mrs. Cake nearly face hoofed at her employee’s seeming lack of tact. Still, she had to admit, Pinkie was being rather pushy, even more so than normal, and she did not want to snap, she was like family after all.

“Listen Pinkie… I know this is important for you, but we have a business to run, and I’m sorry to say th-”

“Okey Dokey Lokie!” Pinkie said cheerfully, and skipped outside the bakery, leaving Mrs. Cake stumped at her sudden change of mood.

“… I will never understand that pony,” she shook her head in defeat and headed inside, ready to make the orders she needed for the party.

“Huh… Where could I have that party…?” Pinkie Pie thought as she skipped merrily on the street, she waved hi to any passerby pony, referring to each by name. Something that she was good at, was remembering things, and names was certainly one of the things she enjoyed remembering the most, followed by remembering birthdays, subsequently followed by remembering baking recipes.

What sort of a baker could she be without that knowledge?

“Oh! I know!” she took out a note and quickly wrote something down, she put the note back into her mane and skipped excitedly in place.

“They will be SO surprised! This is going to be AWESOME!” and just like that, the party pony sped off, leaving a cloud of smoke in her shape where she once stood.


~~~~~


“I- I said I was sorry!”

Twilight and John walked the streets of Ponyville, heading towards the house of a certain gray Pegasus, they hadn’t had much luck, seeing as neither of them had any idea of where it could be, it wasn’t easy focusing either with Twilight apologizing every minute behind John, he scoffed as he kept walking, trying to ignore the pony’s apologies.

“J-John?” Twilight staggered closely towards him, affectionately nuzzling his leg, that was all he could take before he turned his attention towards her.

“Look Twi, I already said I forgave you, but I guess you want something else, so here it is,” she grinned slightly and John finally took notice of her shriveled mane, ignoring this, he continued. “We will not speak of what happened down there. At all. Ever,” it was both a request and an order, that coupled with John’s serious tone, gave it more of an impact.

“O-okay,” with that out of the way, they continued to walk along, soon reaching the market John had passed through just the day before, they gazed over the apple stand and found Applejack setting it up.

“Good morning, Applejack!” Twilight called out.

“What’s so good ‘bout it?” she responded rather harshly.

“Geez… What got up your ass?” Twilight hit John with a hoof, keeping a worried stare at Applejack. “OUCH!” John complained and then hissed in pain, but was easily ignored by his pony sibling.

“What’s the matter, Applejack? You can tell me,” she asked worriedly.

“It’s really nothing, or maybe it is… ah’ guess y’all could say it’s related to Apple Bloom, but honestly, ah’ don’t want to talk about it,” she finished giving the pair a look of remorse at her request.

“It’s okay Applejack, we won‘t pry, I hope you can resolve it, and if you need my help, I‘m here.”

“Thanks Twi, don’t you worry, ah’ll be fine soon enough,” she said giving vague hints of a smile.

“Sorry about my comment…” John apologized.

“Don’t you worry big guy, ah’ was being a jerk mahself, so let’s call it even and move on, shall we?”

“Got it. See ya later, Applejack, he waved the farmer goodbye while Twilight did the same.

“Later Twi, later John. Stay outta trouble, yah hear?” she chuckled weakly at her comment and returned to her stand.

“I hope she feels better soon,” Twilight said worriedly once they were out of earshot.

“She probably got in a fight with Apple Bloom,” John said instantly getting a confused stare from Twilight.

“And how would YOU know that?” she questioned him.

“Had them all the time with Frankie, call it a hunch,” Twilight’s look of curiosity became one of distraught as John mentioned the name, he quickly intervened before she became too worried. “Are you gonna have that reaction every time I mention her?“ he asked her slightly more irritated than he should have been, taking Twilight by surprise.

“Well, it’s just that she was your sister, and the most important person in your life, and you usually got all sad whe—“ John quieted her down by placing a finger on her snout.

“Right now, you are the most important person/pony in my life, and I want said pony to apologize to another pony, so don’t you worry about that. Okay?“ she smiled understandingly and nodded in response, John proceeded to ruffle her mane, getting an annoyed gruff from the mare, and the pair continued their search checking the stands, and after asking a few sales ponies, they came up with no answers.

“We are never gonna find her John, can’t we just call it a day?” Twilight asked groaning in annoyance.

“Not until you apologize to Ditzy.”

“Did you say Ditzy?” the pair turned their heads towards a stand where a curly maned mare had a great array of vegetables set up for business.

“Yes, we did; do you know her Miss?” Twilight asked approaching the stand.

“Of course I do! We live together.” 

“Oh well good for Ditzy! Having a partner,” the mare raised a brow confused.

“Partner? You mean roommate, right Mr. John?” she asked eyeing him suspiciously.

“Er… Yes, I did! Ahaha…” the conversation was taking a sudden awkward turn, something that he quickly remedied. “Wait… How did you know my name?” John asked the grinning mare.

“News travel fast on a small community such as this, but where are my manners! My name is—”

“Carrot something I bet!” John guessed, having met quite a few ponies by now had him guessing that the name they had shared their talent, or rather visibly, their cutie mark, of course, the orange mare didn’t see to agree as her hoof shook violently in what seemed to be anger, she seemed to try her best to calm herself down, but the stand itself shaking didn’t give the pair much confidence of that happening.

“Perhaps we should come back another ti—” Twilight began, but was stopped by the mare who jumped out of the stand, and somehow, grabbed John by the collar of his shirt.

“You think you are so funny, huh? Well you are not, and I want you to remember something right now.
My name is GOLDEN HARVEST! G-O-L-D-E-N-SPACE-H-A-R-V-E-S-T! GOT. IT. ME-MO-RIZED!?” she was lifted off John by an angered Twilight who simply held her in place.

“Listen, Ms. Harvest was it? I don’t know what your problem is, but John didn’t know that, and I do not appreciate the way you are treating my friend for a simple mistake, even if it was quite pertinent of him,” she gave him a quick look and then turned back to Harvest. “Now if you don’t mind, we‘ll look somewhere else.” she then proceeded to put her into the ground, causing Harvest to stagger as she landed thanks to the force with which she was put down.

Harvest seemed horrified as she regained her balance, ponies were whispering around as they watched the rather short-lived struggle that had just taken place, she turned towards the already moving pair and called out.

“Wait!” they stopped in their tracks and whispered something towards each other, they then turned around and walked back towards her.

“Yes...?” John asked a bit forcibly, Harvest ignored the tone and proceeded.

“I’m so sorry, I just happen to have something against… that name.” she finished whispering before resuming.  “But I know where Ditzy is, here,” she hoofed John a small note with an address that Twilight quickly read, she nodded to John, and then turned to Harvest.

“You are lucky John already forgave you, and you are lucky I’m not the violent type, or I would have slammed you into the ground,” Harvest gulped at the consequences of angering the strongest Unicorn in all of Equestria, and shook her head, taking out the grim possibilities from her mind.

“Y-yes, I understand! Can we start again? Please?” she extended her hoof in an act of peace, and John hesitantly reached out to it and shook it, the other passerby ponies noticed this and continued on their business, quickly forgetting the scuffle.

“Ms. Sparkle?”

“What is it?” she replied coldly.

“I-is there a way we can forget this happened? I feel bad enough as it is,” she pleaded to the purple mare.

“I’m not sure about forgetting, but if John forgave you, then you are okay in my book.”

“Thank you Ms. Sparkle, t-thank you, John,” she thanked the human who did not reply back. “Hello? W-why is he not replying?”

“To be honest… He is terrified of you right now… It took all of his willpower to come back here,” she turned to John and poked him slightly, shaking him out of his stupor. “That Ditzy better be home,” she re-read the note again and turned to Harvest. “Anyway, if you will excuse us; we have a pony to meet.” and with that final note, the pair walked away from Harvest, eager to get the meeting over with.


~~~~~


“That shower hit the spot!” Ditzy headed out of the bathroom with a towel over her mane and another one over her midsection, it was an unnecessary extra, but one that she did out of habit. Her mom had been very strict on her teachings.

“A lady must always leave the bath covering their dignity,” Ditzy mimicked for no reason as she trotted into her bedroom, she grunted as she entered the place, a rather unpleasant smell filling the place.

“I really need to clean this up…” suddenly, her stomach growled. “…But first some food!” she said ignoring the mess in the room, and soon after, completely forgetting it as she took off the towels and tossed them in her bed before heading downstairs.

“I wonder what Harvest left me to ea—” she stopped as she eyed the table, she noticed a plate and headed towards it, only finding a half-eaten crepe and a note from Harvest.

“Sorry, I was a bit more hungry than I thought. Have a great day, Ditzy! "

Ditzy groaned slightly annoyed, but let it slide for the time being—she had a pastry to eat.

“Okay then, down the hatch you go.” she put the rest of the treat into her mouth and savored it, grinning at the deliciousness, she looked back at the plate and her ears flattened in sadness after finding nothing else there.

“Maybe I’ll buy something else later, and Harvest gets nothing! That would show her,” she left the kitchen with a grin in her face, and caught sight of the front door, where she saw her mailbags and quickly remembered.

“Oh no… I forgot to go to work!” she checked the clock and noticed the time, her shift had ended minutes ago, she groaned and quickly headed to the door, she stopped when she noticed the card she had received earlier that day and picked it up, once again taking notice of the balloon pattern engraved.

“You are cordially invited to the party of John the hue-man, anything is welcome, and maybe a few presents are okay, invite as many ponies as you’d like, everypony is welcome!

Oh! And we will have snacks and games for everypony!

This will be the greatest party EVER!

Please be there!

It’ll be fun!”

-Pinkie Pie

Ditzy read the invite with a grin, she had been invited to Pinkie’s parties before, but she had never attended one herself. Meeting ponies who usually disliked her held her back. She turned the card around to check the location and her eyes widened as she read the note.

“…This is dumb, but it might work…” she stuffed the card on her mailbags and headed out. “But first, I need to talk to Darling and may—” her reciting was cut short by something hitting her in the face with force, and she fell back confused, surprised, and most importantly, hurt.

“Ditzy!? Oh geez, I’m sorry! Are you okay?” she heard the voice that sounded rather familiar to her, she struggled slightly, but she managed to open her eyes to notice who was talking to her.

The previous day’s memories came flooding back as for both her fortune and misfortune, standing in front of her were John, and Twilight Sparkle.


~~~~~


Things in Canterlot Castle were going rather calmly, and as such, Celestia had decided to cancel any sort of meetings she might have had at the time, it was something she hadn’t done in a century, but it had to be done, after all, she had made a recent discovery and it was something she had to share with her sister in private. She had been patiently waiting in her room, as Luna was asleep at this time, she disliked bothering her, but it simply could not wait.

After a few minutes, Luna appeared inside the room enveloped in a flash of light, she trotted towards Celestia, and quickly moved to the point.

“Very well, sister. What is it you want to tell me.” 

Celestia was deeply in thought as she heard the question, she put her thoughts coherently together, choosing how to properly answer her, after a few minutes, she finally spoke.

“The book has been found,” she said with a hint of worry.

“You are not going to say that you found the book that used to belong to that old spoony bard?” Celestia smiled at her sister’s remark, it was a nickname she had not heard in ages, specially when referring to a pony such as him in that manner.

After all, basically all of Equestria respected the now gone Unicorn.

“Indeed I do, Lulu,” Luna seemed taken aback by her sister’s statement, obviously not expecting that to be the answer.

“But I thought that book had been destroyed along with him? How can this be?” she stared at Celestia incredulously, unable to believe what she heard.

“Alas, not even I know the answer to that, but I have found the book, and I plan to retrieve it,” she informed Luna.

“That would be best. But tell me sister, where does this book reside at this time?” she looked at Celestia with curiosity, awaiting her response.

“Where else, Luna? The place where every single major event seems to occur nowadays, one you are rather familiar with,” she tilted her head sideways, waiting for Luna’s response.

“You honestly cannot mean it.”

“Oh, but I do. The book is in Ponyville of all places.”

“Coincidence seems to have a thing for that small town,” Luna observed.

“Coincidence? I think fate would be a more appropriate word. Now, I must prepare to visit the pony currently possessing it,” Luna was once again taken aback by her sister’s response, a rarity by any means.

“A pony actually found the book? Who?” Celestia stared at her sister for a bit longer before revealing the name.

“A lyre player with a human obsession.”
> Unexpected Outcomes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ditzy didn’t know what to do next.

She stared at John and Twilight for what seemed to be a very long time, mulling over the options of either running away, or actually say something—neither seemed like a good plan to her. Her eyes shifted from John to Twilight and back, she was torn as to what to do, and began breathing erratically. What was she to do? Was Twilight there to reprimand her? Maybe even take her away! Could she even do that?

“Ditzy!” she snapped back to her situation when her named was called, she looked up and saw John with a worried look, noticing his helping arm.

“T-thanks, I’m okay.” she raised her foreleg and allowed John to pick her up, his fingers closing on her hoof awkwardly as he helped her up. The three stared at each other for a while, but neither spoke, until finally, Twilight groaned and pushed past John to stand face-to-face with the mare.

“Ditzy.” she began, Ditzy gulped as Twilight stared intently into her eyes. She took and deep breath, and said: “I came here to apologize for my behavior back at the library, I know it was an accident, I know you didn’t mean it, I know you wanted to save Spike, and I know about your injury,” she grabbed Ditzy’s leg and brought it to her attention, a small bump was still visible where Spike’s scale had been stuck.

“W-what?” Ditzy hid her hoof, confused about the unicorn's change of heart. She had apologized for her attitude, something that she didn’t expect from Twilight.

“I’m apologizing! I feel really bad for what I said to you, it may have been justified, but I went a bit overboard. I probably made you feel awful too…” she finished looking down on the floor and her ears flattening against her head in apparent shame. Ditzy stared with wonder at the pony apologizing and smiled, a huge load off of her withers.

“I accept your apology, even though I shouldn’t have to. It was my fault after all,” she said quietly, but still loud enough for Twilight to hear. “Sorry, Ms. Sparkle.” she finished and  bowed slightly (“bowed?” John thought as he saw the pony do the odd action) Twilight raised a brow at the motion, but soon had a cheerful grin on her face again.

“Call me Twilight, I’m guessing  you might as well. Any friend of John’s is a friend of mine,” she extended her hoof and Ditzy did the same, they bumped them together and smiled at each other for a bit before John interrupted.

“Good to see this issue solved, now, maybe we can go back h-”

“Oh no you don’t, mister. We are making you meet some ponies before the sun sets.”

“B-but… Ugh.” John complained, getting a giggle out of both mares.

“It’ll be fun,” at this, John stuck out his tongue, an act that Twilight mimicked before turning back to Ditzy. “Alright Ditzy, we should go. No hard feelings, alright?” 

Ditzy nodded and blinked as a sudden reminder popped into her mind. “Oh yeah! See you at the party,” she whispered loud enough so she could hear.

“What party?” Twilight asked confused, Ditzy reached into her mailbags and grabbed Pinkie’s invitation, she hoofed it to Twilight who quickly read its contents and giggled as she finished it. “I guess I’ll see you there then?” 

“Of course, wouldn’t want to miss it, but first I have to take care of a few things before I do, so if you don’t mind er… Twilight, I have to go for now,” she closed the door behind her and opened her wings. “See you later then?”

“You got it, Ditzy.” the mail mare grinned and sloppily, took up to the air, flying in an odd zigzag pattern before quickly losing control and flying straight into the clouds. 


~~~~~


John stared as both mares exchanged mild chatter, he smiled as they bumped hooves together.

“Good to see this issue solved, now, maybe we can go back h-” he began, but was quickly interrupted by Twilight.

“Oh no you don’t, mister. We are making you meet some ponies before the sun sets.” 

“Crap.”

“B-but… Ugh.” John complained, getting a giggle out of both mares, he tried to think of a retort, but quickly gave up, now being ignored by the mares who had returned to talking again leaving John to his own thoughts..

“Today is gonna suck… But maybe it won’t be so bad. As long as Twi is there... Buying me some lunch,” he was shaken out of his thoughts as noticed Ditzy take off into the air, she seemed to fly out of control, doing odd moves before disappearing into the clouds.

“Uh… Do you think she’ll be okay?” John asked, realizing she was no longer in sight.

“I think she’ll be fine,” Twilight assured him, not really sure of it herself..

“Come on, let’s head home, I think I’ll let you off the hook for today,” John loudly sighed in relief after taking the words in, glad that he would be able to avoid meeting the ponies for another day.

They walked the streets in relative silence, barely meeting anypony on the way back, a few ponies waved while others just ignored the pair, the clopping sound of Twilight’s hooves was the only thing that could be heard, and it was what John focused on while he asked the mare a question.

“Did you really mean all those things you said to Ditzy back there?” she turned to him with a pokerface that would rival Celestia’s, then grimaced as she realized it was a serious question.

“Of course I did. After you told me about it, I felt awful,” she said, turning her attention back to the road.

“Well, I noticed you weren’t too sure about meeting her.”

“That’s because I didn’t know how to apologize. I was afraid that I would say the wrong thing, and yet, all that I said came out easily, surprisingly,” she confessed getting a light blush that was barely visible through her obscure coat, but one that John noticed easily after seeing it so often.

“I’m proud of you,” he exclaimed, ruffling her mane once again.

“When are you gonna stop doing that? In case you didn‘t notice, I like my mane to STAY brushed, thank you very much,” Twilight complained while fixing it with her magic.

“That depends, when will you stop thinking it’s annoying?” this earned a shove from the pony which nearly made him lose his balance as they approached the treehouse. “You know? I still think this is a fire hazard waiting to happen,” Twilight rolled her eyes and opened the door.

“Previously injured humans first,” she offered, John gave Twilight a quizzical look, but shrugged and made his way in, closely followed by Twilight who quickly closed the door behind her, John turned around at the sound of the door slamming and glared at Twilight.

“Geez! Twilight, you scared the shit outta m-”

“SURPRISE!”

John seemed to freeze as the sound of numerous different voices came from behind him, it took all of his willpower to turn around, as he hoped the voices had come from his own over reactive imagination, but his heart sunk as his eyes took upon the sights.

Ponies. 

There were ponies everywhere, the sheer amount of colors hurt his eyes, each popping out on their own, it seemed most of the ponies he had met even partially were there, surprisingly, Rarity as well, albeit, staying far in the distance. The place was adorned with balloons, with some other decorations strewn around.

“W-what is this…?” John asked more to himself than at the ponies present, but he got an answer either way.

“It’s a party, silly!” he looked down and found the pink pony from the previous day, he fell back on his behind at the sudden appearance of the pink bright equine. He gulped as he stared at her, her big eyes scanning him with joy.

“Oooh! You already healed!” she went straight for his foot and stared at it with wonder. “You are faster than me! But not in the sense of speed as in going fast, because nopony can go faster than Dashie!” a muffled ‘yeah’ could be heard from the crowd of ponies, John had a bet that cry would have come from a certain rainbow maned Pegasus. “But in the healing way.” she finished.

John was at a loss as to what to do, different emotions ran through his mind; anger at Twilight for tricking him, surprise at the ponies in the room, and most importantly; fear of the pink pony in front of him. He gulped as he stared at her, she was a walking logic destroying nightmare, she could obviously bend the laws of physics as he had noticed her appear in a completely different place at times, people on Earth would argue that magic was illogical, but even that followed certain logic for it to work.

The pony in front of him did not, and that frightened him.


~~~~~


“Hurry up, Lyra,” called out an annoyed Bon Bon, she had been impatiently waiting for her 'friend' to finish taking a bath. She had taken longer than usual after she noticed her lyre and saw breadcrumbs all over it , neither pony had known who had done that, but in the end, Lyra spend the good part of an hour taking the sticky remains off her instrument.

It would be much later that she would be bonked by Bon Bon after not realizing that she could have easily cleaned it up with magic.

“We are gonna be late!” Bon Bon complained, they had gotten the invite from Pinkie as Lyra was busying herself with her instrument, of course, she had not stopped, and now the pair was running late. “You know what? I’ll see you at the party, meet me there,” Bon Bon groaned, finally at the end of her wits, leaving the house. Lyra quickly came out of the shower with a clumsily put towel in her mane, she tripped a few times as she made her way downstairs, only to find that Bon Bon had already left.

“Oh, horse apples!” she cursed, quickly getting on her hooves, she moved to the mirror and began brushing her mane, making quick work of it, she put the brush down and grabbed the package that housed the human’s present, something that he might just enjoy.

“Well, at least I think he'll enjoy it,” she turned to the side and found the object that had caused her irritation beyond belief throughout the day.

‘The Book’, it was a simple name, but one that she found appropriate, not really knowing what else to refer it as, considering it was just that.

“You again?” she asked it, nearly hoping for an answer. The book had caused her obsession with humans, in fact, adding the word itself to her vocabulary, she had planned to get rid of it, but something seemed to stop her each time, almost as if the book itself kept her from doing so. “Don’t you think I can’t do that… I can get rid of you whenever I want… I just don‘t feel like it!” she complained. She approached the book and poked it, then she hit it slightly, until finally, she pushed it off the table, landing with a louder thud than she thought possible.

And then, another thud.

“Woah! What the b-” 

A thud that was in fact a knock from her front door.

“Oh… Heh heh heh…” she laughed sheepishly, glad nopony had seen her. She headed for the door and opened it expecting to see Bon Bon standing there.

“I knew you’d be back, I mean, who can resist my charm?”

Except it wasn’t Bon Bon.

“Well, I must say this is the most interesting greeting I’ve received in a while,” a voice with a rather regal tone could be heard instead of the usual whiny sound of her beloved partner. Lyra looked up and noticed who was in front of her; a hooded Princess Celestia.

She had just basically flirted with the Princess of a whole country.

“Oh oh…”

~~~~~

“So, what do you think? Is it great? Or is it super DUPER great?” asked the pink spawn of Satan.

I turned to Twilight who held a rather flat look on her face, then back to the pink pony in front of me, and my options were clear; accept the physics bender, or piss off my dear pony sibling for rejecting one of her friends.

…

I think the answer was rather obvious.

“It’s both of those things at once?” he answered, and she grinned with an unnaturally big smile and jumped in the air.

“Great! I’m glad you like it so much! Come on!” she SOMEHOW grabbed my arm and dragged me across the house, I turned back to Twilight who held a small smile on her face. I knew I would have to get her back for this somehow.

The opportunity came when I noticed it; Twilight’s scrolls that rested upon a shelf. I passed by them and grabbed the first one I could, I put it in my back pocket as I was being dragged, and despite my situation, a smile popped into my lips as I thought about her reaction later.

We made our way through a flurry of multicolored ponies (I was surprised how easy they could fit in the treehouse) we then finally came to a stop by a table that held what seemed to be punch, she grabbed a cup, again, I don’t know how, and han- er, hoofed it to me.

“Here you go! Drink!” ignoring the crowded space of ponies constantly bumping into me, I observed the red liquid with suspicion, but I found nothing that could drug me or even potentially kill me in plain sight, not that she would get away with it either way—at least that’s what I told myself. I put the cup to my lips, and poured the drink, savoring its odd flavor. It was rather strange, it had a slight feeling of kool-aid, but it tasted slightly sweeter, I doubted this world would have that kind of manufactured products, so I didn’t question it.

“Good?” she asked me as I put the glass down, and I had to be honest.

“Yeah, it was pretty good,” I said without showing any emotion, wouldn’t want the hellish thing to catch me off guard.

“Oh, well that’s good!” she seemed to frown slightly as she moved me to the table holding the treats, there were cakes, muffins, and even cupcakes, and I felt a toothache coming at the amount of sugary goods. I set my sight on the cupcakes and picked one up, holding it in my hand for a few seconds, imagining what this nature defying creature could do with it; maybe she lured ponies to her house where she chopped them to pieces and then turn them into cupcakes which she later served for her friends.

…

“Jesus, that’s stupid,” I admitted out loud, causing Pinkie to turn to me, surprisingly confused. Ignoring her, I took a bite out of the pastry, instantly cherishing its taste.

“This is quite good.” I said while withholding much of my appreciation, and avoiding to mention her name. I felt that even mentioning it would curse me or something, I turned to her just to notice her staring at me with a serious face. I realized she was getting suspicious, and I had to look for something to get her off my case, anything.

“Here you go.” said distraction came in the shape of a hastily wrapped box forcibly shoved into my hands, my eyes fell upon its giver, which surprisingly enough, turned out to be the marshmallow pony herself; (I found the term rather appropriate) Rarity.

“Um, thanks,” I said with effort, still mildly surprised.

“Don‘t. In any case there are a few things in there, I managed to get your measures when you were knocked out yesterday and made you some extra clothes based upon your original, that way you don’t stink up Twilight’s place wearing the same rags everyday, not to mention I gave them a touch of my own. They are MUCH better than those rags you call clothes,” I could have retaliated, but I couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth… Or was it pony? I looked inside the box and saw a flower pattern in one of the shirts. 

“God dammit.“

My questioning at her dislike of me for no apparent reason had to wait, I wasn’t going to deal with her when I have Ms. Pinkie here, but I could at least try to show some appreciation… Ugh.

“Well, I still do, thank you Rari-” thankfully, I was so ’gracefully’ interrupted before I could finish that sentence.

“Oh my, I’m sorry sir, a-are you alright?” I turned to the sound of the voice, just to see a pony with a dark mane and wearing a bow scrutinizing me with a worried look, I eyed her look slightly, but, I didn’t have time to analyze her any further when I felt a cold spot on my side, I looked down, a growing stain of punch on my shirt, that against my luck, it was completely white.

“I’ll clean that up for you!” she offered, but I kindly refused.

“That’s okay, er…“

“Octavia. And again, I‘m so sorry…” she apologized once more.

“Nice to meet you, Ms. Octavia, and don’t worry about it,“ I turned to Pinkie and quickly excused myself. “I… gotta go change,  be right back,” I moved clumsily through the crowd of equines, it was a rather difficult task, even with my height factoring in, regardless of my now ruined shirt. I thanked my good luck, and headed upstairs. A quick change later, I beelined for the bathroom, and locked the door. “Okay, calm down John, if you do, you can avoid any problems.” I stared in the bathroom mirror and looked at myself; I noticed all of my features, my mouth, my nose, my eyes, the beauty mark near my mouth. I nearly lost my concentration as I inadvertently compared it to a cutie mark. I hadn’t changed at all. Of course, that’s to be expected, seeing as I’ve been in Equestria for only 5 days… “Has it really been only 5 days? Sure has felt like longer…” I said to myself.

I shook my head clearing out my melancholic thoughts, I was quickly derailing the problem at hand.

“Okay, just play it cool until the party is over, then you don’t have to socialize with her any longer… I hope.” I stared into the mirror once again, imagining Twilight beside me, and how she would certainly think I was being too harsh on Pinkie, and frankly, I probably was. Still, I could not stay calm, she just scared me beyond belief, and I didn’t understand it. It might have something to do with my own beliefs (which quickly flew out of the window when I discovered Twilight anyway), still, all I knew was that I saw her as a threat, and there was nothing I could do to change that, I would have to deal with that fear at some point, but it was not going to be now. I left the bathroom, and breathed deeply as I prepared myself mentally to go back downstairs. “Geez, I just want this stupid party to be over with. Stupid pink pony,” as soon as I finished saying that, I heard the sound of something drop. I turned to the side and noticed it; Pinkie Pie was staring at me, she quickly closed the distance between the both of us, making me fall back, she stared at me without so much a trace of emotion, her following words coming out just as neutral.

“I’m sorry that my party wasn’t to your liking,” and without another word, she made her way downstairs, as she did, I could hear the voices there come to a stop.

Apparently not ones to waste time, I heard hoof steps coming up, I hoped that it could have been another pony, even Rarity would have been a very welc-

“John, what happened?” Twilight began as soon as she reached the top.

It's never going my way, is it?

“Why did Pinkie leave? She would never leave a party like that, especially not one she threw,” I kept my sight on the floor as she waited for an answer, I heard her hoof steps and she came upon my line of sight, looking up to my face from her position once she reached me, I cursed my choice of place, mentally cursing the fact that I was taller than she was.

“John. Answer me,” she ordered me in what appeared to be a calm facade.

“I… Called Pinkie and her party stupid,” ignoring the sudden chill I got at the mention of her name, I kept my gaze on. Twilight who seemed to be controlling different emotions at once, until she finally reached what seemed to be calm.

Next thing I knew, I was being kicked in the stomach by Twilight.

“…I deserved that…” I kneeled in the ground, gasping for the air that had been so violently knocked out of me.

“Go. Find her now,” if it wasn’t clear before, Twilight was furious at me, and who could blame her?

“Okay…” I quickly accepted, then limped past her, but I suddenly felt myself being lifted to the air and put back on the earlier spot by Twilight‘s magic.

“What are you doing, Twilight?” I asked her confused.

“Go through the window,” she commanded me.

“But, we are in the second floor!” I said giving my very valid complaint.

“Your point?”

“I could get hurt?” I asked rhetorically. wondering if she had gone insane.

“I know that, but would you rather deal with Rainbow Dash and Applejack then? I don‘t normally use violence like I just did, instead, I would have used my magic, and that would not have been any better. I don‘t think they would restrain themselves the way I did,” I closed my eyes and began thinking, the different outcomes coming to mind… None of them were favorable for me.

“Point taken, but why didn‘t you just say that?” I asked her honestly confused.

“I think we have established I’m furious,“ even if she was, she sure was keeping a very straight face throughout.

“Right…“ without another word, I made my way to the balcony and gulped as I looked down, it looked much higher than I imagined it would be. I looked back inside just to find Twilight already gone from the spot, I sighed and put my foot on the ledge, praying to whatever Gods of this world, I began my climb down… Instantly losing my footing, thanks my lack of fitness, and I saw the world slow down as I fell to my doom…

… Or I would have if I hadn’t landed on a bush.

Shocked at my luck, I slowly got on my feet, then quickly dusting myself off and being thankful that I hadn’t DIED, I began my search for the pink pony.

…

“Where the fuck do I even begin…?” realizing that Twilight would not forgive me until I had found Pinkie, I set off in a random direction, hoping to stumble across Pinkie Pie by luck alone.

~~~~~

“P-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p…”  

“Worry not, I was not angered by your greeting," she looked outside quickly and then turned her attention to Lyra "… I believe it would be better if we continued this inside, if you don’t mind,” Lyra moved out of the way, allowing the royal guest in, her mouth was having difficulty with the name, but her mind was certainly having the opposite effect.

“PrincessCelestiaPrincessCelestiaPrincessCelestiaPrincessCelestia.”

“Are you well, my little pony?” Lyra gulped at the addressing, and quickly straightened up, saluting the Princess of the sun, and closing the door with her hind legs.

“Y-y-yes sir! Ma’am!” she responded, her old habits resurfacing once more.

“I see that you were part of the Unicorn Corps, but please, be at ease,” Lyra sighed loudly and let herself relax. Or as relaxed as she would be with a goddess standing in her house.

“Princess Celestia, it’s an honor to have you visiting my home, h-how may I help you?” she was having a hard time keeping a straight face, trying to make the Princess feel as comfortable as possible.

“Oh, I think you know why I’m here,” she looked down upon the book on the floor, Lyra picked it up with her magic and stared at it, eyeing the minor details in it, such as the stars on the covers, it was a simple looking book by any means.

“You mean this, right?” she grabbed the book with her hooves and moved towards the Princess, she grabbed the book with both hoofs and presented it to her, and using her magic, Celestia took it.

Or rather tried, as Lyra was not letting go.

“It’s alright, you can let it go,” the Princess told the mare, noticing her odd behavior.

“I-I know, and I’m giving it to you…” she responded, not keeping a straight eye on the Princess.

“Is something the matter?” 

“Well… I…”

“Go on, it’s alright.”

“I don’t want to part with it, honestly…” Celestia eyed her with the slightest hint of emotion in her features, that quickly disappeared into her usual emotionless stare.

“I believe there is a story here, but I will not pry. Unfortunately though, I need this book,” Lyra flinched slightly and let the book go, nearly reaching out for it once again, but kept out of her reach by the Princess.

“It’s how I met her…”

“Met who?”

“Bon Bon… It was right when I moved to Ponyville, when I arrived, the first thing I did was visit the outskirts of the Everfree Forest; I know, it was dumb of me, but I wanted to see the dangerous forest lots of ponies mentioned myself, and I that’s when I found it… The book in the river… There was a glint, a light coming from it, I edged closer, and I jumped in the water.”

She looked up just to see the Princess, focusing her attention on her, she nodded, a sign for Lyra to continue.

“Well, I was not expecting the current to be so strong, I would have tried to quickly get out, but the book… It seemed to be calling me. It’s strange, I know, but I kept going until I grabbed it, that’s when the current took me, I thought I was a goner, and then… I passed out.”

“I will assume that Bon Bon rescued you?” Lyra looked up from her spot smiling.

“Yes, actually. We have been together ever since.” 

“I am glad this book helped you meet, but know that even if you hadn’t found it, you would have met her anyway, friendship always finds a way.

“Friendship? Don’t you mean lov-“ she stopped as she suddenly blushed, realizing her own openness. 

“One could say that love is a stronger form of friendship,“ she trotted towards Lyra and kneeled, looking at her directly. “And what you told me about the book calling you? I’ll tell you that the book WAS in fact calling after you,” Lyra blinked several times, staring at the Princess in disbelief. 

“H-how?”

“I cannot tell you much, but I will say that this book, is rather special. As you probably noticed, it was not damaged after it had been in the river.

“O-oh, well… I suppose not,” Lyra blushed immensely, noticing she had not realized that fact before.

“It’s alright. I thank you for giving me the book, but I must now go. I don’t think I need to tell you to keep the book a secret. Specially from Twilight Sparkle,” Lyra held her own at the mention of the unicorn, she didn't need to question her reasons, she looked up at the Alicorn ruler and nodded.

“As you wish, Princess,” satisfied, the Princess nodded back and left a bag on the floor.

“W-what is this?” Lyra wondered, looking at the large sack on her floor.

“You could say it’s thanks for keeping the book safe,” Lyra looked into the bag and nearly flinched at its contents, there was bits, but not just a handful; the bag contained what anypony would refer to as "a small fortune".

“I… I don’t know what to say… except thank you, your majesty,” Lyra bowed and the Princess held a smile on her face, she bowed in return, shocking the mint colored mare even further.

“No. Thank you for taking such good care of the book. Now, I must really make my leave, I really need to return to my duties, I do not think Luna will appreciate that I left her in charge while she should be sleeping,” she laughed a bit, thinking of the reaction and turned back to Lyra one more time. “Goodbye,” and with a flash of light, she was instantly gone. 

Lyra only stared dumbfounded at the spot where the Princess stood seconds before, she rubbed her eyes and then turned to the bag of bits. It was still there.

“… I need a vacation…” her eyes grew wider, appreciating the bag more as her face took a satisfied grin. “Don’t mind if I do!” she giggled and put the bag somewhere safe, then headed out, ready to have fun with her partner, already thinking of a way to give her the news.

~~~~~

The sun was quickly setting, twilight was apparent in the horizon, and most ponies were already packing up, there was nary a soul outside, as most ponies had gone inside, any sort of noticeable activity was non-existent, for the exception of a human who was still running around searching for a certain pony.

“Damn it!” John yelled to the skies, getting a few odd looks from the few passerby ponies, but  being pretty much ignored, he looked ahead and found that he had reached the end of the town… Again.

“Crap, this is the 3rd time,” he held himself by grabbing his knees, taking a much needed breather, his feet felt like lead, and he wished nothing more than to sit down. “Gotcha…” he walked a bit farther than the times before, officially leaving the town for the first time on his own (to his own amusement), he had managed to notice a tree, deciding that it was a good place as any, he headed there ready for a good rest. “Maybe I can come up with an excuse for Twi… Ugh…” walking sloppily, he made it to the tree, falling on his behind unceremoniously hard, getting a hiss out of the him.

As he shamelessly rubbed his behind, he thought: “I can’t believe I searched for her for hours…” he looked up and noticed the night sky slowly coming up, he looked upon the few stars in the sky, noticing the odd way they popped. He kept his eyes on vast darkness, noticing the stars follow a simple path, his eyes finally stopped when he noticed a rather tall tower in the distance. “Canterlot,“ Twilight had mentioned the general direction of the regal city before, it hadn’t taken John much effort to realize that it was one of the Princesses doing her thing. “It must be Princess Luna, it's odd, but I must admit though, it lo-”

“Looks beautiful?” John jumped off his grassy seat as he heard the voice, he turned his attention to the sound and noticed the pink pony he had been frantically searching for all day, she had apparently been seating by the tree and eating a sandwich, the odd thing about her was that her mane was not its usual fluffy self, but instead, flowing free with the gentle breeze, a noticeable contrast from her usual hyperactive self.

“Is it you…?” John edged closer to her, Pinkie gave him a passive look as he slowly took upon her appearance, she was Pinkie Pie alright, the balloons on her flank was enough of a telling sign. He had not seen the mare’s cutie mark before, but the balloons were a good sign to use for a pony whose talent basically said “party animal” as Twilight had told him on Earth.

“Yes, it’s ‘me‘,” she replied calmly doing quoting marks with her hooves (something that John couldn‘t grasp quite yet), surprising the human and stopping him on his tracks. “You don’t have to act so surprised, it’s still me,” she took a bite out of her sandwich and turned back to him. “Would you like to join me?”

“Um… Sure…” he reluctantly approached the tree and took a seat next to Pinkie, she looked up to the sky, seemingly admiring the stars, just like he had been doing himself. “Are you okay? You aren’t acting like yourself…” the pony turned to him, giving him a rather cold stare.

“So, a stranger who just met me yesterday knows how I’m supposed to act?” she raised an eyebrow while John fought with his own words, unable to come up with the correct response.

“I… Guess you raise a fair point,” he finally admitted, getting a small laugh out of her.

“I was only kidding,” she finished her sandwich in one more bite and turned to him again. “You know? Only a few other ponies have seen me like this.” 

“Well. what is ‘this’, exactly?” he asked looking at Pinkie from top to bottom.

“You could say it’s the way I relax," as she noticed the confused look John gave her, she continued. "What? Did you think I was the hyperactive, physics destroying pony all day? That requires a lot of energy, you know? Even I need to sit down and relax once in a while,” John’s eyes grew wide at the realization of Pinkie’s rather valid reasoning.

“I see… Sorry for assuming,” Pinkie only nodded silently while John admired her from his spot.

“I’m sorry, John,” he blinked a few times, surprised at her sudden apology. He racked his brains, but was unable to understand the reasoning behind it, quickly noticing this, Pinkie explained further: “I’m sorry that the party I threw wasn’t to your liking, it was the first party I threw for a creature from another dimension, I assumed everything would have turned out fine, but I suppose I shouldn’t have assumed. Right? So no hard feelings?”

John stared dumbfounded, he processed the words and quickly realized what she had said, rubbing his temples at an incoming headache that had begun building up, he turned to Pinkie once more.

“Don’t apologize,” Pinkie turned her head to the side in confusion.

“Why not? I threw a bad party and I’m apologizing for it, that’s how it should be,” with every word coming out of her mouth, the worse his headache became.

“No, that’s not it, I meant tha-”

“I was not being pushy? I believe I was, since I was not being understanding of your own customs, why else would you call me ‘stupid’?” she looked down on the floor as she said it, looking legitimately sad at her seemingly ‘bad’ behavior.

“Er… Liste-”

“I’ll be sure to avoid bothering you from no-”

“PINKIE!” she froze in place, surprised by John's raised voice, then giving John a small smile seconds later.

“That’s the first time that you refer to me by name,” she burst into laughter, but John kept his gaze serious as the mare continued in hysterics, after a few minutes, she finally stopped, allowing John to continue.

“As I was saying, don’t be sorry… It was my fault,” he slumped his shoulders and looked down at the floor, too ashamed to keep a straight eye on her. “I was… Scared of you, I guess I was scared of what you were capable of! It wa- it IS still weird… But you know… I think I can look past that… I guess I learned tha-”

“You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover?” he looked up from the floor just to see Pinkie somehow back to her puffy maned self.

“Heh… Yes. You need to stop finishing my sentences, Pinkie,” the pink pony gave him a frown that quickly turned into a big grin.

“But that’s just not fun, silly!” John couldn’t help it, he instantly burst into laughter, he laughed away, not really knowing why, after grabbing his now aching sides, he turned to Pinkie once more. “I guess I just learned a lesson here, huh?” she quickly nodded.

“I think somepony needs to write a letter to the Princess!” he looked at her with confusion but she just rolled her eyes. “Nevermind. Muffin!?” she brought out a muffin seemingly out of nowhere, John's mental alarm nearly kicked in, but he resisted the urge and took the sweet.

“Geez… Thank you Pinkie Pie, I was hungry,” he took a bite and spoke again. “Again, I’m really so-” a hoof went into his mouth, preventing him from speaking any further. Pinkie held a big smile on her face and shook her head, and getting the hint, John nodded and tried to get the taste out of his mouth after she removed it, instead of the muddy taste of the floor, he had tasted something else entirely. “Um… Are your hooves made of cotton c-” he stopped himself and laughed the question off.

“It’s just Pinkie Pie, don’t question it.” Twilight’s words came to mind. “I guess I should learn that phrase by heart, huh?”

“Wanna stargaze with me!” she began, getting him out of his wondering thoughts.

“I think I shou-" he stopped to toy with the idea, but it was mere seconds before his mind had been made. "Ah, fuck it. Sure, Pinkie,” he let himself fall on the grass, Pinkie laying down next to him, and the pair silently watched the sky as night finally came, no words were said to ruin the otherwise calm moment the pair shared.


~~~~~


“Another morning, more paperwork… Ugh.” Celestia went through her usual hearing assignments and certain bills that she had received, her nephew Blueblood had been the one using much of the castle’s fortune to buy anything and everything, every clerk in Canterlot had allowed him to get it for free because he had been the Princess’ nephew, but Celestia herself would not allow that, and she payed everything in full.

She soon came to regret that decision, however.

Still, it was a morning like any other, one that could be indistinguishable from others. That was at least what she thought as one of her guards made his way into the throne room rather forcibly.

“News from Northern Equestria… Erm… Your Highness…” he finished awkwardly after nearly forgetting his manners.

“Yes…?” Celestia’s curiosity was piqued, there were quite a few ponies who lived there who would call for an emergency for a number of reasons such as famine, natural disasters, or what she liked to refer to simply as ‘It has ret-

“… Princess?.” Celestia shook her head, getting out of her thoughts and turned her attention back to the pink maned pony in front of her.

“Right… Ahem. I was simply told to tell you that… It has returned,” at this, Celestia gasped loudly, then turned to the guard at her side.

“Find Princess Cadence and Shining Armor,” the guard nodded and ran out of the room, she made the other ponies to leave as well and took out a scroll as soon as the door closed.

“My dearest Twilight, you must come to Canterlot at once…” she began, and she wrote the letter as fast as she could and sent it on its way, she closed her eyes and opened the ‘contact‘, as she liked to call it.

“Ugh… What is it you want, sister. We are trying to sleep,” responded the grumpy voice of Luna inside her head.

Despite the situation, Celestia couldn't help but crack a smile. “I apologize sister, but it seems that we have a problem… He has returned,” there was some silence and then a light snore could be heard from the other side, Celestia sighed in disbelief, but she couldn’t blame her, she had kept her up most of the previous day, so she could be lenient… Enough.

“LUNA!”

“Ah! I apologize… What were you saying?” Celestia rolled her eyes and relied her message.

“Oh, it’s nothing. The Crystal Empire just returned, but it’s okay, you may go back to bed if that’s what you want,” sarcasm wasn’t one of her much enjoyed forms of speech, but she was good at using it when she had to.

“… I will be there shortly,” and with that she cut the communications, leaving Celestia on her own once again.

“Was bringing him along a good idea?,” she closed her eyes, mulling over the thought. “Ever since he appeared, things have not come to be as I had predicted them, and something could very well happen... unfortunately, this is a gamble I must take,” she opened her eyes and kept a fierce look on her face.

“I know you won't disappoint me, Twilight.”
> A Day Like Any Other.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hrrg…”

Sunlight entered through the window in the room, the human groaned and turned to his side, hoping to find the comfortable fluffiness that was his pillow next to him.

“… Where is it… Come here, pillow, pillow, pillow….” he said in what was a rough translation of his groan. Still half-asleep, he reached further and was rewarded with the edge of the bed, one which he quickly fell off from after losing his balance. “Argh! What the fu-” he quickly stood up and looked around rapidly, he was in a room, but it was not his room. It was somebody else’s.

“Where the hell…?” his nose quickly picked up a familiar smell, one that he had whiffed just a few days before, and in fact, just the night before. A rather sweet and intoxicating one at that.

“Oh, right…” he looked around and noticed the things around the room; balloons, pink decorations strewn in different spots, a cannon (“Not going to question that”) in the corner next to the bed.

“Yep, this is Pinkie Pie’s room alright,” he thought, quickly realizing what he was looking for.

“Speaking of… Where did Pinkie go anyway?” he looked around and noticed the bed again, more memories flooding back, ones that brought upon a very noticeable blush on his face after recalling the events of the previous night.

“Damn it Twi, this is your fault!” he hissed angrily, the memories replaying in his mind.


~~~~~


“Fun time, huh?”

“Not really, but it was relaxing for sure!” Pinkie exclaimed causing John to frown.

“Well, I had fun…” he replied, grimacing at her response.

“Wow, you must have never had real fun thenl” she responded, looking at him with a big smile on her face, causing John to flinch, seeing how close she hit the nail on the head.

“Ouch… My pride,” Pinkie giggled softly as they reached the library.

“You‘ll get over it,“ Pinkie replied, causing John to shrug in return.

“Well, thanks for walking me home, I would have gotten lost again. I really need to learn how to get around town if I‘m to live here,” he said looking to the side sheepishly. 

“Oh, oh! I can give you the tour!“ Pinkie exclaimed cheerfully.

“Heh, of course, Pinkie,” he reached for the door and turned the handle.

“What the…”

It would not open.

“Oh, look, it’s a note!” Pinkie said looking at the door where said note hanged without seemingly any support.

“W-what?” he noticed the piece of paper hanging from the door, he hesitantly grabbed it and began reading it.

“What does it say, Johnny?” 

“Well, I would tell you if I c- Wait… Did you call me Johnny? How did you know that nickname?” she seemed to think deeply for a few seconds and then turned her attention back to John shrugging, unable to come up with an answer herself. “I‘m trying my best, Pinkie, I really am…”

“What does it say?” she repeated, ignoring John’s confusion.

“Er… Well. I don’t know.” he said turning the note sideways while Pinkie gave him a questioning look.

“Can’t you read?” she asked looking worried.

“Not ‘Equestrian‘, or whatever this is,” Pinkie swiped the note from his hand and stared at its contents intently, her eyes growing bright at the message.

“Oooh! Unicorn dialect! My granny taught me this back at the farm!” John looked at Pinkie with wonder, surprised how many, well, surprises the pony had up her ‘'sleeves‘.

“Well, read away,” Pinkie nodded and commenced reading, her eyes growing in excitement at the contents of the letter, causing John to grow uneasy at each of her expressions when reaching certain parts of the letter.

“So… what does it say?” Pinkie stuffed the letter into his pocket and answered.

“Oh, it just says that Twilight is very, very angry with you, and that she won’t let you come inside as a punishment for today!” John was at a loss, he opened his mouth, unable to comprehend. He understood the reasoning behind Twilight’s anger, he deserved it after all. What he didn’t understand was something else entirely.

“Why are you so cheery about it!?” he asked her, voicing his obvious discomfort.

“Well, because you can stay at my house! Or rather Mr and Mrs. Cakes! But specifically, you can stay in my room, which technically is part of their house, but it‘s still mine!” John gulped at her idea, but Twilight could be hard-headed at times. She would not yield.

“I guess I don’t have a choice, huh?”

“Nope!” she replied. 

“Simple and to the point… Alright. Let’s go Pinkie,” they began their walk, John following the now skipping Pinkie Pie across the empty streets of Ponyville, he looked back upon the library, specifically the balcony, where he managed to see the door close and the curtains being drawn to prevent anyone from looking inside. Including him.

John sighed wistfully and turned towards Pinkie, who was already further ahead, leaving John to his lonesome.

“Hey, wait!” he set himself into a quick run, quickly catching up to the pink pony. 

Pinkie skipped while John tried his best to follow her, she skipped too quickly for him to keep up by walking, and he had to settle himself to a short jog to keep up to her pace.

“Are… We… There yet…” he panted, visibly tired after the short run.

“Yep!” 

“W-what? Where?” he noticed the building, realizing where they were.

“Is this… Sugarcube Corner?”

“You know it already? Aww… I wanted to give you the grand tour…” Pinkie pouted after opening the door.

“I think I’d rather,” he interrupted himself as a big yawn left his mouth. “Hit the sack,” Pinkie stared at him, a look of mock sadness,  but instantaneously reverted herself to her usual cheery self soon after.

“Okie Dokey Lokey then!” she closed the door behind them, and the pair made their way inside the dark store, the place seemed eerily different in the little night light that entered the windows, contrasting against the cheery looking place days before.

“Um… Where to now?” John asked, feeling slightly nervous as they went through the empty bakery.

“My room of course. Duh!” she pulled a cord that was hanging from the air and a ladder came down to meet them, an extremely sweet and familiar aroma hit John in the face, causing him to realize something; the overbearing sugary smell was coming from Pinkie’s room.

“Oh God…” he covered his nose with his hands, trying to keep the smell out, but to no avail.

“Oh come on! This smells delicious!” she sniffed the air, taking in all of the sweetness, getting John to stare at her with wide eyes. “What?” Pinkie asked with genuine confusion.

“Never mind…” he responded, and they made their way upstairs, finally reaching the door. Pinkie busted in, the great brunt of smells leaving it causing him to gag.

“Welcome to the Pinkie room!” she moved to the side, allowing him full view of the room, it was a lighter shade of pink than Pinkie’s coat, it resonated with life, it somehow brought upon him a smile, smell notwithstanding.

“Nice room, Pink-” he felt something on his arm as he gazed into the room, he looked to the side, and found the source.

A small green alligator had just bitten down on his arm.

“Oh, it’s an alligator… A-” before he could let out more than a single vowel, his mouth was already silenced by a big pink hoof.

“Don’t make noise, you’ll wake the babies!” she hissed through gritted teeth.

John’s eyes showed his fear, tears dripping from his eyes, Pinkie rolled her eyes and got off John as he breathed in exaggerated motions, he quickly stopped his hyperventilating and looked to the side to find the same alligator still in his hand, an odd attempt at chewing in progress.

“Why… Doesn’t this hurt?” he picked up his hand and stared at the small lizard, it creepily closed one eye after the other, its eyes staring into Johns as if it were reading his deepest thoughts.

“Because it’s Gummy!” she pulled on Gummy, getting him to let go of John’s arm, she hugged it affectionately, its eyes creepily bulging out of its sockets like it was nothing, she then set it down, it then made its way behind Pinkie Pie and bit on her tail, staying there as she picked it up in the air. “See? Isn’t he the cutest?” 

“Well… It is a special gator for sure,” John hesitantly added as Gummy let go of Pinkie and dragged himself to another part of the room, he cleaned the spit on his shirt and returned his attention to his host. “Anyway, sorry for intruding, Pinkie. Don‘t know what I would have done without you.” John said while looking around the room once more.

Pinkie nodded and was instantly to his side. “No problem! So… What do you wanna do?” she asked shuffling in place awaiting his response.

“Er… Well…” he tried to come up with a nice way of saying it. “As I said, I’d like to go to bed.” 

Pinkie’s smile reached unimaginable levels of size after hearing his request, she moved to the bed and patted the empty spot next to her. “Come on!” she called out to him, the human was unable to respond, a light blush on his face doing it for him, not really knowing what the pony was thinking.

“Does she… Want me to sleep with her…?” John shook his head and laughed off the idea. “That’s just stupid. A pony and a human? Ridiculous!” doing his best to remove the unwanted dirty thoughts currently floating in his head, he hesitantly made his way towards the bed, but instead of laying down with her, he rested himself on the floor, using a blanket  as a pillow.

“Goodnight, Pinkie,” he waited for a bit, but Pinkie didn’t reply, bringing thoughts of some apparent offense to Pinkie.

“Actually, I wanted to ask you something,” jumping at the sudden topic starter, John turned his head to see a serious look on Pinkie’s face, poking her head from the bed..

“What’s the matter, Pinkie?”

“Why was Twilight mad at you? The note said nothing about it… And I want to throw her a stop-being-a-grumpy-pants-and-feel-better-party party for it!” she said rapidly.

“Well,” John thought about it for some time, but didn’t find a reason to keep the truth to himself. “I told Twilight what I said about you, and she kept me out as a punishment… at least I think that was the reason, seeing how this is the first time I’ve seen her angry with me,” Pinkie giggled a bit after listening to his retelling, something that John didn’t quite enjoy.

“Oh, she isn’t angry with you. You should see her when she is angry! Her coat and mane go like whoosh! Or, or like swish! It was like fiery or something! It was a little scary,” Pinkie finished by disappearing into her bed, John smiled, thankful she wasn’t going to bring the issue back.

“Woah, like a Ponyta!” John laughed, reprimanding himself for referencing something Pinkie Pie would-

“Oh, oh, or a Rapidash!” Pinkie Pie completed.

“W-wait, did you just say Rapidash?” Pinkie nodded while John sighed, feeling the randomness and the day‘s problems drain his will to stay up. “Well, I’m really tired Pinkie, so I’m going to sleep now if that’s alright with you.” Pinkie poked her head from the bed again and nodded.

“Aww, alright. Goodnight, John.”

“Goodnight, Pinkie,” he settled himself into the most comfortable position he could get himself into, and began falling into a deep sleep.

“Hey, John?”

Make that ‘tried’.

“What is it, Pinkie?” he responded trying to hide his annoyance to his host.

“Can you get on the bed?” the request was enough to bring him to his senses.

“What? I’m comfortable here.”

“No you aren’t. Besides, what kind of host lets their guests sleep on the floor! A bad one that is!” he didn’t have time to react as he was being carried off the floor by Pinkie.

“Jesus, what monstrous strength!” he was then set on the bed and found himself enveloped in the pony’s limbs.

“Er… Pinkie? Can you let me go?” 

“Nope!”

“And pray tell, why not?”

“Go to sleep, mister,” she ordered him, lowering her voice to barely a whisper, and instantly closing her eyes and beginning to softly snore.

“You can’t be seri—” he was interrupted by the serene look in the pony’s face, followed by her mane deflating itself and covering Pinkie’s face “Peculiar…“ he noted, but found himself  unwilling to wake her up again. “Nevermind then…” trying his best to ignore the pink pony breathing softly close to him, and cursing himself for not turning the other way, he closed his eyes and got as comfortable as he could.

“Damn, this is pretty comfy.” his thoughts became slurred as he eased into a sound sleep.


~~~~~


John let out a heavy sigh as he sat down on the bed, the memory replaying in his mind, as soon as his bum touched the bed, he felt something under him.

“Huh? What?” he got on his feet again and found a small note, he picked it up and found it to be the same note Twilight had written for him the night before, with a displeased grunt, he allowed the note to fall to the floor, he watched as it slowly fell, turning in the air, allowing a very noticeable bunch of pink colored letters to stick out.

“Wait, that wasn’t there before,” he reached down to pick up the note again.

He didn’t expect what happened next.

Gummy landed in front of him, grabbing the note with its toothless mouth and ‘chewing’ it, he gagged slightly and threw a piece of the note up, a single line could be noticed; ‘Pinkie Pie‘. John groaned annoyed and knelt down to be closer to Gummy.

“Do you hate me?” Gummy only blinked unevenly, almost making it seem like a mocking motion. “I don’t like you…” John told the alligator while squinting his eyes in an attempt to intimidate the small creature… Without any results.

“Fuc-” the door suddenly slammed open, revealing a rather tall yellow stallion with a broom in hoof. “Um hello?” the stallion trembled slightly at the sight of John, he needed to explain everything fast. “… I can expl-”

“AAH!”

“Or maybe n-” a broom to the head was all it took to interrupt him, and instead, drive him back into dream town.



~~~~~



“Ugh! Where did I put that stupid quill!”

Objects flew aimlessly in the air, sometimes landing into the mess that the floor already was, such was the anxiety of Twilight Sparkle, who eagerly tried to find her materials, her tidy library now a fine mess. Meanwhile, her beloved friends stood in the sidelines, watching the purple pony run about like a maniac.

*THUD*

“Darn it!”  Twilight nursed her leg after she had hit herself with the side of a table, but quickly continued her mad dash, Spike closely following behind. 

Her friends kept their gaze on Twilight, but none more than Pinkie Pie, who had been waiting for a good time to talk to her, she was getting antsy, so she chose to give it a shot.

“Hey, Twilight? I needed to tell you something about John, h-” Twilight turned around and gave Pinkie Pie an undeserving glare, something that did not go unnoticed by the other ponies.

“Whoa now, what the hay was that for, Twilight?” Applejack began. “You’ve been acting all weird since yesterday,” she sighed before continuing. “Look, I know you are nervous, but it‘s just a simple test. Okay?  No need to get angry at Pinkie!” Applejack continued, while Pinkie Pie shrank away, much in the same manner Fluttershy was at that moment.

Twilight was already fuming at Applejack’s response. “Applejack, you don’t know what you are talking about. And did just say it was only a test? JUST A TEST!? The Princess is trying to give me some kind of BIG exam and you think it’s just a simple test!?”

“Well, of course, darling,” Rarity responded. “We all do,” the ponies all nodded in agreement, even Spike did so along with them, Twilight’s ears seemed to steam, much like the trains arriving in Ponyville in that same moment.

“I think we s-should hide now…” Fluttershy wisely suggested.


~~~~~


Meanwhile, at Ponyville’s train station, the happy couple of Lyra and Bon Bon were in the process of getting into a train headed to Manehattan, their first destination in an already planned trip around the nation, Bon Bon turned towards the town one more time, and gave it a good look.

“We probably won’t see this place for a while, huh? I‘ll miss it,” Bon Bon asked a struggling Lyra, who carried five suitcases with her magic, sweating from the incredible strain she was being forced unto, she was only able to grunt in response as she got on the train.

“BOOM!”

Bon Bon quickly turned her head to the source of the noise, and she quickly noticed even from the distance, it was a tree, it was in the air no more than a few seconds, but she easily recognized it as Golden Oaks, she chuckled at the sight and made her way to the train.

“Okay, maybe not TOO much,” she thought, shaking her head amused before making her way in, the door closing behind her, all the passengers already fixed into their seats, all while Lyra unceremoniously puked in a bag while awkwardly sitting in her own seat, arriving at the scene, Bon Bon gave her a playful, yet honest look of disgust. “Oh, don’t be such a baby,” Lyra managed a glare from her bag, but quickly lost it again and let the rest of her breakfast go into it, despite the disgust she could have been feeling, Bon Bon couldn’t help but giggle in return as the train left the station.


~~~~~


An apology, an icepack, a scolding, and more apologies later, John had finally made it out of Sugarcube Corner, after wasting thirty minutes trying to explain what he was doing in the room of their apparent surrogate daughter, he had managed to get Mr. Cake to believe him, and he’d managed to get Mrs. Cake to stop poking him with a broomstick the entire time, in the end, he had managed to leave with some muffins at hand for his troubles.

“Well, at least I don’t have to worry about finding breakfast,” he sighed while eating the food, trying to get the positives to bring his rather sour mood up, but to no avail. He walked the streets, subconsciously following the path he had walked before, it wasn’t long until he reached the market, he grinned as he entered it, noticing a grayish mare he recognized as Ditzy and… Golden Harvest aka “Don’t call me Carrot” there as well.

*Gulp* “It’s okay, John. She said she was sorry, there is no need to be scared of her… Besides, Ditzy is there too!

His resolve set, he began the walk to the stand, where he was quickly noticed, the Pegasus quickly flew in the air and landed on him, pushing him to the ground in a bone breaking hug.

“John! You are okay! Oh thank Celestia! Are you hurt? Can you see? HOW MANY HOOVES AND I HOLDING!?” John stared dumbfounded, registering the questions in his mind.

“Um… Yes. She didn’t really help. I am not. I can, and fially, Ditzy, you are holding up two hooves,” he finished, holding back a choked chuckle, brought by the pain the hug was bringing him.

“Where were you!? I thought something had happened to you!” she asked with a hint of tears in her eyes.

“Is this a bad time to say that you owe me ten bits, Ditzy?” Harvest chimed in from her stand, Ditzy turned her head and gave the pony a glare, one which Harvest took to heart, as she haphazardly returned to her vegetables on the table.

“Okay, ignoring this Bit business of yours, I can tell you that I had to take care of some business, but I’m alright,” he loosely explained, not wanting to give her the whole story.

“I see,, wwhere are you headed to now?” she asked looking confused. “Twilight’s home isn’t that way, so I‘m a little confused.” she astutely pointed out, causing John to groan.

“It’s a long story, Ditzy, and one I’d much rather not explain. At least not until I talk to Twilight.”

“Oh… Well, you might have a hard time talking to her.” 

“What? Why?” John asked curious and somewhat wary.

“I was wondering why you weren't with her, but I saw her leave with two Pegasi, and from the looks of it, they were part of the royal guard, so I guess she was heading to Canterlot.” 

John stared wide eyed at Ditzy, in the short time he had known her, he had realized she wasn’t one to lie, but still, it was crazy, she wouldn’t just up an leave without him, right?

Not even if she is mad at you? his subconscious told him, causing his short term delusion to end.

“I need to go, Ditzy. Sorry! We’ll hang out later,” he set himself into a run, nearly reaching the crowd of ponies trotting by.

“John!” Ditzy called out.

“What!? Sorry to say, but I’m in sort of a hurry!” he replied looking annoyed.

“Her house is that way…” Ditzy responded in a low voice, barely pointing to the opposite direction with her hoof, John gave a weak laugh and set himself in the right direction.

After a run that brought two cuts, a bruise, and singular ‘fuck’ out of John, he finally managed to arrive at Twilight’s house. He tried to make his way in, but he had no such luck, as the door was still locked.

“Damn it!” he slumped over by the door, tired and defeated. He felt something on his shoulder and looked to his side, where he found a piece of paper neatly set by his shoulder. “A note?” he grabbed it and read (to his fortune) its contents.

“John! Hurry! Or we are leaving you behind. We are at the train station!

…
…
…
Why are you still reading!? RUN!”

The pink letters allowed him to realize who the note was coming from: Pinkie Pie. He quickly got on his feet once more and set himself into another unwelcome run, instantly falling at the first step.

“Damn it, I‘m way too out of shape,” he put his hand in a fist and tried to get up, he managed to do so, his body being wobbly as he did, but instantly lost his balance and began falling back to the ground.

Or he would have, but he was stopped by a very familiar looking pony.

“Ditzy?” he asked surprised, staring at the serious looking figure that was the pony.

“Where to?” she quickly asked.

“Huh? What do you me-”

“WHERE TO? Aren’t you in a hurry?” he flinched at the rather demanding tone she had acquired, but a smile filled his face as he realized her plan.

“Train station. But how exactly do you plan o-” she nodded, and crouched slightly before taking into the air, ignoring the man’s question, the smile in John’s face disappearing as he quickly held for dear life onto her slender pony figure.

“HOLY SHIT!” John held the pony around her waist as she flew, surprised at how easily she could carry him, of course, it didn't though, ashe was too busy holding onto the pony. His grip was quickly faltering, but Ditzy quickly put her front legs to use and grabbed each of his arms, how she had managed to do so was irrelevant to John.

“I don’t care. As long as I‘m not a corpse splattered on the ground, I can live with it.“

He managed to get a glance of the town under him, most ponies were unable to notice him in the air, but the few who did pointed upwards, the strange sign of a human hanging from a pony wasn’t something these ponies would see any day, or for that matter, at all.

After a few minutes of flying while Ditzy still managed to hold his arms somehow, the train station came into view, the train he had arrived to Ponyville in at first in his line of sight.

“We are here! Wooh!” he yelled, knowing the pony carrying him wouldn’t be able to hear much thanks to the morning's strong winds.

“Um, about that… John?” the surprisingly clear voice of Ditzy cut through the wind buzzing in his ears, choosing to ignore yet another strange feat, he decided to respond in kind.

“What is it?”

“Long story short? We are in for a very rough landing, even by my standards!.”

“Wait, wh-”

“I suggest you hold on!” he gulped as they got closer and closer, descending at a normal speed, but wobbling awkwardly, he looked ahead and noticed the reason for the warning; the station’s wall.

“Oh shit… Wait!” he exclaimed out loud, a plan quickly forming in his head. “I have an idea!”

“How about you tell me already!” she looked ahead, the wall ominously growing in size, ponies around were already scrambling from the place, knowing the disaster SHE would cause. Despite the situation, this made Ditzy sadder than the crash itself would.

“Right… Descend! Let’s reach the ground fast, before we crash,” choosing not to question him, she tried her best to do as she was told, not wanting to do the alternative of crashing into the wall. She might have been able to get out of it unscathed, but John didn’t have the structure of a Pegasus, and if the crash days before had only broken his leg, an aerial crash like that might just…

“No! I won’t let that happen! Alright, John. I trust you!”

“Okay, when I tell you, close your wings!”

“Okay, scratch that. What!? Are you n-”

“NOW!”

Growling, Ditzy did as she was told, her wings quickly snapping shut, she didn’t have time to notice as John pulled her down into his arms in a “huggy” sort of way according to her own mind. To her own embarrassment, she found herself blushing at the situation.

Meanwhile, John growled as he realized the fall was higher than he had expected it to be, but doing his best of putting Ditzy in his arms and hoping for the best, his feet touched the ground. During the split second he fell the shock of pain throughout his body, he was thankful he didn’t feel the now uncomfortably familiar pain of a bone breaking apart in different places, but his mind quickly raced back as he arched himself forward, rolling sideways to the ground. He instantly let go of Ditzy, tossing her in the opposite direction where she landed softly, he kept rolling for a bit longer, until he finally came to a stop close to the wall that threatened to hurt the pair mere seconds before.

“Ha… Not this time… You cunt…” he breathed heavily, mocking the inanimate structure..

“John!” he looked to the side where he found Ditzy’s mismatched eyes already staring at him, but the look she gave him was not of worry. “Are you crazy!? You could have hurt yourself!” she huffed, clearly out of air.

“And you could have crashed into a wall,” he retorted. “So can we please leave this behind while you check if the girls are there? I don’t think I can get up right now,” he huffed rapidly, the action of getting oxygen into his lungs in his top priorities at the moment.

“Touché,” letting a half-smile show, she flew away, leaving him in the midst of a few dozen ponies staring at him, talking excitedly with each other.

“What?” he asked, cutting the ponies‘ chatter short. “Have you not ever seen a human do a dare-devilish stunt before? Oh, wait. Scratch that, of course you haven’t… Hmm… Ta daaah…?” he finished while the other ponies gave him a quizzical look.

“Oh. just leave me alone,” he whined, but he wasn’t going to worry too much about that, he had just survived what could have been a catastrophic crash, he was going to whine all he wanted. 

“John!” he turned his head to the sound of the voice and noticed six ponies slowly approaching him, at the front was Fluttershy, her yellowish coat looking even more pale after noticing him on the ground. “Hey girls, I guess I made it in time, huh?”

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy was quickly by his side, instantly checking his body for any injuries. “What happened?” she asked after only finding a few scratches on him. He looked towards Ditzy who only fidgeted in place, he sighed in understanding, she had only been trying to help him after all.

“Well, I just flew for the first time from Albuquerque, and boy, are my arms tired,” the reactions were instantaneous; Fluttershy tilted her head to the side, obviously wondering how a creature without wings could fly, meanwhile, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash facehooved and groaned at the same time, a reaction that John found much funnier than his ‘joke‘.

And finally, Pinkie Pie approached him slowly while shaking her head.

“That was terrible, John,” she started, barely holding her laughter.

“Not all can be gold, still, got a smile out of you,” he turned his gaze towards Fluttershy, who now seemed to be sporting a nurse cap for some reason, checking his body for a second time. “In any case, it doesn’t matter, I’m okay, and I’m here in time,” he sluggishly got on his feet and cleaned the dirt in his clothes. He ignored the glare Fluttershy had on her face, a lecture was sure to come from that. “But I’m confused, I thought you guys would be gone by now.”

“Actually John, the train doesn’t leave for ‘nother 30 minutes.” informed Applejack.

“Yeah, you could have just walked here, you know? Although I must admit that stunt was pretty co-  Er, alright, by my own standards,” responded Rainbow Dash, looking flushed due to the ‘praise’ she had given.

“That was a praise? Eh, I suppose I’ll take them when I can get th- Wait, how did you know?” 

“I was outside flying when it happened. Did you think I would stay on the ground just waiting? Boooooring!” Fluttershy’s eyes grew in size as she listened, and approached Rainbow.

“What happened, Rainbow?” she asked, but John quickly intervened, not wanting her to worry more than she had to.

“Look Fluttershy, it doesn’t matter, I‘m okay. What I want to know is why Pinkie wrote a note that told me to hurry up here if it wouldn’t leave for a while?” Pinkie smiled and moved towards Rarity, who had been quiet while the whole thing took place.

“Oh! Rarity told me! She said this would get you here faster, and it did!” John groaned, eyeing the marshmallow pony with curiosity, her face a mask without a single emotion.

“Alright now, it doesn’t matter y’all, let’s get going, we’ll wait inside, John, don‘t take too long,” she turned towards Ditzy standing next to him. “And thank ya kindly, Derpy,” she told the mail pony, tipping her hat in appreciation, after that, the ponies all followed Applejack, leaving John and Ditzy by themselves.

“Of course, it had to be a misunderstanding. And here I thought I helped,” Ditzy quickly began.

“Hey now,” John attempted to help, noticing the sudden change in her mood. “You DID help, you got me here fast, besides, there was no way either of us could know, right?” he asked hopeful that she would understand.

“Well, I could have helped better… I could have given you the idea to board the next train, maybe,” John flinched at that, realizing he could have done just that and avoided the chaos.

“Well… I-it doesn’t matter! You tried your best, and that’s what matters, right?” this brought a small smile to Ditzy’s face, she turned to him, her eyes momentarily keeping a straight path to his face.

“Um… Something on me?” 

“No, just realizing something,” John gave her a questioning look, but she shook her head. “Can't tell you—it’s a secret!”

“Oh, come on! Please!” he begged, curiosity fueling his desire to know.

Suddenly, the sound of a train whistle reached their ears.

“All aboard to Canterlot!” followed the voice of the conductor in tow.

“No time! You gotta go!” she began, pushing John towards the station.

“Really? But I thought public transportation was supposed to be late or something!” he complained.

“No buts!” countered Ditzy. “Go! Have a safe trip, and I hope everything goes alright with Twilight!”

“Fine. But again, thank you for the help! As I said, we’ll hang out when I come back, okay?” he finished, waving goodbye to the pony and disappearing into the station.

“Of course, goodbye John,” despite knowing he was returning, Derpy couldn’t help but feel sad at this departure, she flew to the roof of the station, hovering in place without touching it; nopony enjoyed a random Pegasus standing on their roof after all. 

She watched as John and the Elements entered the train, smiling as they headed right in. As the door closed behind them, the conductor pulled its whistle one more time, and the train took off, into what Ditzy already knew to be the royal town of Canterlot.

“That you are my friend…” she said the words out loud to herself, watching the tracks even after the train disappeared into the horizon.
> To Canterlot and Beyond.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 “… after all… maybe… be fine…”

John sighed, trying to tune out the conversation that the mares were having in the booth. He tried to go back to his thoughts, ones which stayed in relatively the same topic during the trip.

Himself.

“Was it the right decision?”  he thought for the 7th time. After getting to his seat, mountains of thoughts began flooding his mind, for the first time since he had arrived, he had fully come to grasp the current situation: he was in a place with no sort of human interaction, where talking equines ruled the world, and he had caused his (relatively new) surrogate sister to be mad to boot.

The realization caused him to groan audibly, ever since he’d arrived in Equestria, he had been involved in incident after incident, the one with Pinkie not being the only one, still, this wasn’t the cause of his anger.

He was angry for a different reason, one that not even he knew of.

“Hey, John. You alright?” barely glancing to the side, he noticed Applejack intently looking at him with a frown in her face.

“Oh, AJ, er, I mean, Applej-”

“AJ is fine, John, what’s the matter? You seen more worried than a dog without a bone,” John raised his brow at the analogy, but otherwise shook it off.

“Thanks. And I’m okay, AJ, it’s just that I’ve been thinking about things. Haven’t had time to do that, you know?” he responded, giving a tired laugh.

“Ah, guess it HAS been sort of chaotic for you, huh?” she noted, chuckling.

“What’s so funny about that?” John asked bemused at her reaction.

“Well, let’s just say that this is nothing in comparison to what we get involved in, trust me,“ she returned to her seat and put a hoof around Rainbow’s neck. “Once you hang with us, you’ll see that things can certainly get worse.”

“Oh yeah! Like the time we defeated Nightmare Moon! Trying to trick us, that old hag!” Rainbow said, getting out Applejack’s gentle hold and into the air.

“Not to interrupt, dear, but isn’t this ‘old hag’ Princess Luna?” Rarity cut in, giving Rainbow a disapproving stare.

“Oh… Yeah…” Rainbow returned to her seat, looking flustered at her own outburst. “My bad, um, please don’t tell the Princess…”

“…I can’t wait,” John sarcastically sighed, while the conversation began once more with the mares, he turned his head to the window and noticed something looming in the distance; Canterlot, where the tower where he had first awoken after arriving there was visible. ‘Has it only really been seven days?” John wondered as he absorbed the sights, stopping after realizing it. ‘What am I complaining about?’ he began, trying his best to find a reason. ‘Besides the few accidents, I’ve been relatively okay…”

“Um… John?” his thoughts interrupted once more, he turned his head in time to notice the face of Fluttershy dangerously close to his own.

“Whoa!”

“Eep!” Fluttershy jumped slightly into the air, her wings clamping shut before landing on her back, her limbs stiff in the air..

“Oh my God!” John kneeled on the floor, unable to realize what had happened.

“It’s alright, John, you just startled her,” Applejack informed, smiling a bit to the pony on the floor.

“D-does this happen often?” he asked, not entirely convinced.

“More than you’d think,” she laughed.

“Well, excuse me for worrying, either way, I need to get her some water,” he kneeled to the floor and attempted to pick her up, finding it surprisingly easy to do. “We’ll be right back.”

“Be careful with her! She is very sensitive,” recognizing Rarity’s voice, and only nodding in response, he opened the door to the hall with one hand and left. After a quick asking around, getting a few odd looks, considering that he was a human carrying a passed out pony, he found himself in the break room. He was graciously surprised when finding a coffee maker in the room, after preparing some much needed coffee for himself, he grabbed another cup, and poured some water from the faucet for Fluttershy.

“How do I even give it to- oh, well, never mind,” he returned to the sight of the now conscious yellow mare.

“O-oh, is that for me?” looking down at the cup, he handed it to her, the yellow pony eagerly taking it with her hooves and drinking from it. “Thank you,” she set the cup down and turned her attention to John. “So, um… I was wondering…” she began, looking dejected at whatever was on her mind.

“Yes? What’s the matter?”


“I-I just wanted to know what was wrong,” she said in a barely audible voice.

"Wait a minute, did you do that fainting thing on purpose to get me outside?” John half-joked, to which Fluttershy only responded by hiding behind her mane.

“Oh, um, well, it worked, for all that matters,” he sat down next to her and put his hands together, rubbing his knuckles as he delved into his thoughts once more. "I'm sorry! It's just that you didn't seem too comfortable talking with everypony else around! You can tell me, I’m all ears, to any creature that needs it,” she said, smiling warmly.

“Heh. Well, what can I say?” he began, looking embarrassed. “I actually don’t know,” Fluttershy tilted her head confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I know that something is bothering me, but I can’t really assert as to what has me worried, if that makes any sense…”

“Oh! Well, just know that we are all here, you are welcome to at least talk to me if something is wrong, please, and don’t feel uncomfortable doing so, I- I mean, WE, er, I mean, I, just want to help, but the others might be willing to help you too.”

“Thank you… And no, I don’t feel uncomfortable talking to y-…" He stopped as he absorbed his own words. "Un-comfort-” Fluttershy finished her water and began trotting away, not before turning one more time and giving John a smile before heading back, leaving him on his own.

“I‘m not uncomfortable…” he said in a low voice, watching her trot away, “It’s the opposite actually,” he got to his feet and stared outside, noticing the city looming closer.

‘I… I actually feel good when I‘m with them, almost as if I bel-…' he shook his head, getting the thoughts out of his head. “All that matters right now is that I gotta apologize to Twilight,” pushing his doubts aside, and determined on finishing his self-appointed task, he returned to the booth, where he hoped no more questions would be asked the rest of the way.


~~~~~


The sun was directly above Canterlot as the train finally arrived at the station, the group made its way outside, finding a rather unexpected surprise.

“Twilight!” Applejack called, it was Twilight alright, but outside her cutie mark and the noticeably highlighted purple streak in her mane, she was unrecognizable; her coat was off in places, pieces of it just sticking out like numerous sore thumbs, even her usual magenta colored eyes were an extremely bloodshot red, his scrutinizing was cut short by Applejack approaching her and quickly giving her a friendly pat in the back. “Did you pass?” John only stared, confused by the question, he was then promptly pushed out of the way by a cannon, seemingly out of nowhere.

“Are we going to celebrate your (obvious) awesomeness with Princess Celestia!?” asked Pinkie, firing the cannon, which released various streamers to the air.

“Um, not quite, Pinkie Pie,” Twilight chimed in, all the streamers somehow getting back in the cannon automatically.

“You gotta teach me how to do that,” John whispered to Pinkie, who only gave him a… Hoof up?

“AHEM!” Twilight interrupted the pair, getting back their attention. “Anyway, we are ALL going to the Crystal Empire…” she said unenthusiastic-ally, everypony and human looking confused at the mere mention of it.

“Well, that’s cool and all, but I have one question,” John began.

“Oh, oh! Do you have to go to the bathroom?” guessed Pinkie.

“Um, no. Actually, I was go—”

“It’s okay Johnny! We all gotta go when we go—”

“Pinkie!” he called loudly, causing the pink pony to stop and fall on her plot, giving him a comically sheepish smile, after waiting for any further interruptions to come, he continued. “Okay… Ahem. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE!?” the partial shock of his scream ignored, the ponies all turned to Twilight, giving her a curious look.

“Yes, Twilight. You’ve been acting strange all day, and you even left John behind, who I’d like to remind you, wasn’t even home when we got there, which is strange, seeing how you care for him,” Rarity explained, summarizing the events rather swiftly.

“All of us are curious ‘bout that, Twi, and I'm not one to get into somepony else's business, but it's rather worrisome,” affirmed Applejack, squinting at Twilight suspiciously, getting a groan out of the mare.

“Applejack, as much as I would like to explain—which I don’t—we have more pressing matters to attend to,” she whisked past the group and towards John, whom with she held a glare with for a second before moving again. “We need to prepare. We have a long trip ahead of us, so meet me here again in an hour after you guys are done,” she finished, quickly trotting away towards the castle once more with Spike in tow, leaving them on their own again.

“So…” began Applejack, breaking the uncomfortable silence left in Twilight’s wake. “What happened between you two?” John sighed and looked towards the group, locking eyes with Pinkie who only nodded, taking this as an incentive, he let it out.

“Well, I sort of insulted Pinkie by basically saying her, and her party were stupid, Twilight was stoically furious for this, and she kicked me out of the house for the night. Now,” he began, then followed by laying down on the floor. “Please, I beg you to avoid hitting my tender parts as you murder me.”

“I make no promises,” growled Rarity, but was stopped by a pink hoof.

“Don’t you hurt him, you bully!” Pinkie began, causing Rarity to back off.

“I was not going to hurt him…“ she said looking mockingly hurt. “Maybe give him a kick or two! But not much, I mean, both Applejack and Rainbow by themselves would do enough damage,” Pinkie looked to the side to see both ponies taking threatening stances.

“He apologized and I forgave him!” Pinkie explained quickly, wanting to avoid any more stress. “We made super-nightly-duper-fantastic-sleepover-of-forgiveness at my house! So it’s okay,” she finished, getting a quizzical look from Rainbow.

“Um, why was he at your house?” the rainbow pony, practically growled.

“I didn’t have a place to sleep, and she kindly offered to let me stay at her home,” John explained, already back on his feet, warily eyeing Rainbow. “Why?” he followed up.

“Because, er, I still don’t trust him that much!” to John’s dismay, all of the ponies outside Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded in agreement.

“Honestly? She’s right, John. As much as Twi trusted you, I was sort of wary of you,” John cringed at the sound of her untrusting voice. “But…” at this, he turned his gaze to the farm pony. “If Pinkie also says it’s okay, Ah think I just might have enough incentive to do the trusting now,” she grinned, extending her hoof to him.

“You just want to annoy me, don’t you?” John groaned annoyed before reaching for her hoof and shaking it.

“Just some payback for getting Twilight angry, it could have gone much worse, you know?”

“So I’ve heard,” John exclaimed weakly, remembering Twilight’s words the day before.

“So, are we going to stand here? Or are we getting ready?” Rainbow Dash interrupted, bringing the group back to the business at hoof.

“A lady is always ready for any situation, so I can easily say that I am,” Rarity said, looking smug.

“Rarity, packing more than you can take ISN’T prepared, Ah told you already,” Applejack said annoyed. 

“Well girls, I will be back, I’m going to go get ready now, okay?” John informed them, and awaiting no response, he walked away. “Okay,” he sighed as soon as he was out of earshot, glad to have avoided the bickering that was sure to start.

After getting away from the ponies, he grinned in relief as he arrived at the shopping district right outside the station, having been there before, he looked around, hoping to recognize some of the stores. He walked around, eyeing the different knickknacks placed around on the open, in the hopes of potential buyers. He kept walking for a few minutes longer, avoiding the gaze of the rich ponies who threw him looks of confusion, some even disgust, but outside of that, none bothered with him, which he was thankful for..

“Hey, you.”

At least until now.

“Huh?” he turned to the sound of the voice, seeing a small donkey on a stand, he grinned at the sight, and approached it, his curiosity getting the best of him.

“Well, you are certainly a strange one,” the female Donkey began after examining him.

“That’s a good first impression,” John groaned in response.

“I’m old, respect your elders,” she began looking annoyed. “But you seem like a nice kid, so how about I offer my services to you?”

“Uh huh… What sort of services would those be?” John asked her, raising a brow suspiciously.

“Why, fortune telling, of course! Or if you’d rather, hoof reading, so I can see your future!” John’s ears quickly picked up the last part.

“Really now? Well, how much would that cost?”

“I’ll do it for free.”

“Well, I can’t argue with that, I don‘t think I‘ll lose anything,” he extended his hand allowing the old fortune teller to look at his palm.

“Oh ho… Um, yes… This is very interesting!” she began, looking amazed.

“W-what?” 

“You will find a beautiful mare, and you will marry her, you both will have three healthy fillies!” John fell back on his behind at this.

“T-t-that can’t be true! What part of my hand says that!?” John asked with urgency, some ponies passing by laughing as they went by him.

“I don’t know,” this simply reply confused John more than anything.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW!?” he asked loudly grabbing the table set between the two of them with force, creaking under his weight.

“Well, because I don’t read ‘hands’ as you call them,” she replied casually, scratching her sides, looking amused.

“You!… Dammit, I can’t be angry, I fell right into that one,” John admitted, looking disappointed.

“Now, now, I CAN read your future, you know? And I’ll do it for real this time, and for free too, just for the amusement you brought to this old donkey,” she replied, barely holding a smile.

“Uh huh, not going to fall for that one again,” he turned to leave, but a cold touch stopped him in his tracks.

“I insist.” came the voice of the teller, the cold feeling suddenly going away.

“Fine, I guess,” John reluctantly agreed, turning his attention back to the stand, he looked at the table where now bones were strewn everywhere.

“So you are going to read my fortune with... bones? Isn’t that a bit looked down upon? Being herbivores and whatnot?” John asked curiously.

“Are you going to let me do my job? Or not?”

“I might as well,” he turned his attention to the table, where the donkey put the bones in a container, she began shaking it around, the rattling  of the bones a calm rhythmic sound in John’s ears.

“And yet, why does that sound give me a chill?” he shook slightly as the teller threw the bones on the table, one of them falling off.

“Huh… You missed one.”

“No, I didn’t,” she reached under it and looked at it, seemingly surprised. “Interesting…”

“What?” John asked nervously.

“According to the bones, you will meet somepony important… No, wait. It says you already met that somepony… This doesn’t make any sense, well, it says other things, but this is the strangest one.”

“Right, well, you know, I think that—” John began before a familiar voice called out to him.

“John!”

“Huh?” he turned around only to find Fluttershy glaring at him.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were going?” she begin at an attempt in being accusing, holding her front limbs on her ‘hips’ while menacingly floating over him, or as menacingly as an overly adorable yellow Pegasus could be.

“Um… I can explain?”

“No time mister, we have to go, Twilight is back and she was looking for you,” she grabbed his arm and pulled on him, dragging him away, not before turning and mouthing a quick apology, leaving the donkey fortune teller to herself.

“Hmm, John... Strange times ahead for that one, it seems.”



~~~~~



“I don’t understand, why do you say that?”

Celestia asked her sister, the pair having a talk in the throne room by themselves.

“I’ve grown to be able to find the smallest details in ponies, sister, her mane was shriveled, and she seemed like she hadn’t slept; I’m surprised you didn’t notice,” Luna said mockingly.

“Well, excuse me for having an off day, in any case, she will be fine,” Celestia retorted in return.

The pair of semi-Goddesses conversed, talking about Twilight Sparkle, who had been there just hours before in order to learn about a certain test that the Princess of the Sun had given her, Luna had not wanted to let her go attempt it after seeing her in her condition, but upon Celestia's request, she allowed her to do so.

“Well, your powers of foresight are usually… Actually, those are always right, so I will trust you,” Luna had managed to look directly at the Princess of the Sun, who right at that instant, had trembled the smallest bit, unfortunately for Celestia, Luna had actually paid attention.

“Sister, is there something you are not telling u- Er, me?” she began, slowly approaching Celestia.

“No,” the answer had been quick, and gave no room for argument which Luna found suspicious.

“Sister, I will not let you get off easy, what is wrong?” Celestia turned to her sister with a look of defeat planted on her features, any attempt to hide her worry out of the window.

“Lulu, I apologize for this, but I seem to have lost my powers of foresight. As such, I do not know what will happen at the Crystal Empire.”

It was instantaneous, Luna quickly flew to the door, ready to leave without looking back, but the door closed before she could head out, a yellowish glow stopping it.

“Celestia, let us go,” she began, fuming with very apparent anger.

“I shall, but listen to me before you do!” Luna trembled slightly, and her anger instantly subsided as if it hadn’t been there.

“Very well, but hurry, I must make haste,” she said, tapping her hoof in annoyance.

“You cannot intervene with what Twilight Sparkle must do, I may not know what will come of it, but this is something she must deal with on her own terms,” Luna was instantly flabbergasted, readying a quick response.

“You CANNOT be se— ugh, what am I saying? Of course you are, I know you, perhaps too well.”

“Thank you. I know that this may not seem fair to you, but I hope you understand,” Celestia finished, giving Luna a sad smile.

“Very well, I will not directly intervene then, she will not know that I was there,” the doors opened instantly, and Luna trotted slowly outside, then stopped and turned towards Celestia once again. “That being said, I expect  you to tell me what has happened upon my return.”

“It shall be so, dear sister.”

With a curt nod, Luna took into the air, magically opening a window in her path and flying to the air, where she quickly disappeared into the distance.


~~~~~


“So basically, this is a test, that is ACTUALLY a mission that may mean something for the security of the country…? Against an enemy that may or may have not returned.”

“Er, yes, John, that is exactly what Ah‘ just finished explaining to you,” Applejack replied, looking slightly drained.

“And that doesn’t sound extremely moronic to you because…”

“We trust the Princess, she knows what she is doing, she always does,” countered Twilight who sat in the corner looking out the window at nothing but mountains upon mountains in the surrounding areas.

After a quick retrieval of John, the group had reconvened at the station, where Twilight waited impatiently, John had been thankful that her appearance had been taken care of, and he was thankful now that she was at least easier on the eyes.

“Fair enough. I’m guessing this is a good time as any,” he thought and walked towards Twilight. “And we need to talk.”

“That will have to wait, I need to go talk to the conductor right now,” and without another word, Twilight left the room, John sighed in frustration as he watched her close the door.

“Dammit, why won’t she listen? I’m trying to apologize after all.”

“Well, she IS the element of Magic,” Fluttershy said, causing John to turn towards her.

“Yeah… I remember she told me about her and you girls, how you were some sort of power an-”

“We are,” cut in Rarity getting on her hooves. “We each hold a different element in us, for example, I AM Generosity,” she proudly said while posing.

“Funny, I would have never fathomed a guess,” John thought sarcastically.

“And since she brought it up, Ah’m Honesty, Pinkie Pie is Laughter, Fluttershy is Kindness, and Rainbow is Loyalty… When it really matters, at least.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” growled Rainbow in response.

“Um, I still don’t get what that has to do with anything,” John exclaimed, looking back at Fluttershy.

“Well, from what I heard, Magic is what holds everything together, and according to Princess Celestia ‘Friendship is Magic’.” 

“Uh huh, where are you going with this?” John asked, but she only trembled as she was being put on the spot.

“W-well, in a way, Friendship could be said to be her element… So maybe she dislikes the fact that you insulted one of  her friends, which probably hurt more since it was done by somepony who was special to her,” John blinked a few times taking what she said in, her confusing explanation made some sort of sense; he had betrayed Twilight’s trust by not accepting her friend.

“Wow, I think I understand what you mean. Thank you, Fluttershy."

“Oh, you don’t have to thank me, it was my pleasure,” she said, blushing at his gratitude.

”But I still think she should give me a chance to apologize,” he groaned.

“Oh, oh! Look guys! Snow! It’s Winter all over again!” Pinkie called out, pushing her face against the train's window.

“Whoa!“ John ran to the window, noticing the slowly increasing amount of snow outside. “I had never seen snow falling where I lived,“ the other ponies joined in, noticing the snowflakes fall, both Pinkie and John admiring it with wonder in their eyes, until something else caught John’s attention as the train kept moving; a towering monolith in the distance.

“It’s that… A tower?”

The rest of the ponies all huddled up over him, pushing him against the glass as they all took notice.

“Oh my… Could this be…”

“The Crystal Empire? That it is,” ponies and human turned around to see Twilight entering the room. “Get ready girls, we don’t know what’s out there.”

“Wait, the train doesn‘t reach the city?” John complained, to which Twilight replied without much of a glance.

“It would, but the magic corps are out of energy to make the track long enough to reach the city.”

“Wait, you mean this track wasn’t here before?” John said surprised.

“Of course not, nopony has known about this place for ages, we had to let the corps insert the tracks as we went, but they will soon run out of magic and we'll have to go on hoof.”

“So, anyone of you know the way there?” John asked, nervously glancing towards the other ponies.

“It’s alright, both Princess Cadence and my brother will be there,” John froze in place at the mention of ‘brother’, echoing in his mind, she only had one that she would call that, and she had never called him or Spike as such.

Memories of a family dinner gone awry returned to him as the train slowed down and came to a stop in the middle of nowhere.
> Mini Chapter - Cheerilee's Dilemma.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, in Ponyville, Equestria.

“Good morning!”

“Oh, good morning children!”

“Hello!”

“Oh yes, hello there!”

“Top of the morning to you, Ms. Cheerilee.”

“Yes, good morning Mr. Cake,” the magenta pony by the name of Cheerilee greeted the numerous ponies who gave her a quick salute, it was something that happened often, given the nature of her job. Her job being teaching the youth of Ponyville, all in the hopes of giving them a chance in the world.

“Ah, what a perfect day to return due books to the library!” Cheerilee skipped slightly through the busying streets of Ponyville, it was her day off, so she allowed herself a leisure trot to Golden Oaks. “Might as well hit two parasprites with one spell, I say,” she told herself satisfied as she neared the now too familiar tree, not that she paid too much attention to it outside, but she sure knew the inside well.

More specifically, the bookshelves in which the numerous amount of books were held.

The previous librarian had books before, but unlike their current one, she never bothered to update the stock with the newest kind information. Twilight Sparkle was a kindred spirit in book loving, and despite her sometimes bossy and arrogant attitude, she respected a fellow bookworm.

With her usual greeting already on her lips, she gently pushed the door to make her way in. She instinctively kept going, crashing upon what was obviously, a closed door.

“W-what? How can this be? The library is supposed to only be closed on Sundays! And it‘s Monday! And it’s not a holiday, and there wasn’t a notice! Oh no! I’m going to be…” she stopped for a second, breathing heavily before speaking again. “OVERDUE!” she swooned dramatically, only to realize what she was doing, and promptly composing herself. "Ahem..." taking the books out of her saddle, she eyed the door, and an idea came to her mind. “It’s okay Cheerilee, you can just leave them at the door! Then, she will know that I returned them, but couldn’t find her. It’s perfect!” she dropped them by the foot of the door and began trotting away, but not ten seconds later, she was back.

“But wait! What if somepony steals them! The newspaper said that crime had increased 0.00000089%! I just can’t risks those odds, and most importantly, a strike on my record!” she breathed heavily as ideas popped into her head, her own panic causing her thoughts to be a pile of incoherent disaster. She took a few minutes to finally calm down, but her ideas became downright silly in the process. “Maybe leave them in the bushes? No, she wouldn’t find them, and then what if she waters them? I can’t allow that to happen, or maybe put a spell on the books and stick them to the door? No, wait, I forgot I’m not an unicorn, gah!” she growled in desperation, until it finally clicked in her head, the only way possible for her to get in.

“I gotta break in,” she looked upon the ground, finding a sizable rock on the floor, she eyed a window and her messed up thinking got the best of her, choosing to pick up a rock, and toss it at the nearby window.

Or more like tried, as she had been stopped by somepony holding her hoof before she was able to release the object.

“Hey, let me go!”

“Ah’ don’t think you want to do that, Miss,” taken by the deep voice, she turned around to find the looming figure of a certain apple farming pony; Big Macintosh in the flesh. “Ah’ don’t rightly know what yer’ thinking, nor do Ah’ want to know, but the question must be asked; what do you think you’re doing?” Cheerilee fell the sweat fall from her mane, realizing she had been caught, she would go to prison for breaking and entering, her teaching license would be revoked, and most importantly: she would never be able to return the books in time.

“Please, PLEASE Big Mac, don’t tell the authorities about this! I just wanted to return this book to the library, was that too much to ask? To return a book before it's due! What is a teacher to d- hey, what are you doing?” she fell the books in her saddle being taken by Big Mac, he approached the door and lightly raised a small metallic opening on the door, dropping the books one by one inside the library, to both the shock and amazement of the teacher pony.

“H-how long has that been there?” Cheerilee asked with confusion. “It wasn’t there before!”

“Ah’ put it here at Ms. Sparkle’s request, just so ponies could return the books in case she was not home, Ah’ installed it mahself,” Cheerilee’s eyes became dots at Mac’s words.

“Um, Ms. Cheerilee, are y’all okay?” asked Applebloom who had been there the whole time, apparently unnoticed by her in her desperation.

“I… I… Um… Aha… I-I think I have to go… -cough- Er, well… see you in school tomorrow, Applebloom! Make sure to always return your books on time!” she said in a rush, then ran away from the place, books being the last thing on her mind.

“Um… What just happened?” asked Applebloom to her big brother.

“Honestly Applebloom, Ah have no idea, but let’s just say that you do as she says.”

“Okay. So, um… Can we go…”

“Oh, alright, let’s go get you that ice cream, before your sister comes back,” the smile in Applebloom’s face reflected her happiness as the siblings went on their way.

Meanwhile, Cheerilee finally reached her house, throwing her satchel on a chair and quickly getting into her bath, ready to wash the early day away from her mind for good.

As the stressed mare took a bath, a lone book slipped its way out of the satchel, landing unknowingly with a soft thud under by a dresser, opening itself, “due Monday” clearly written on the back-cover.
> The Empire of Crystal -  Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: I apologize if some of this seems too familiar, I've tried to change enough to make it stand out on its own from the actual episode, either way, thank you, I will be attempting to make it its own thing in further chapters, but do try to bear with me on this one.

The train finally came to a stop several minutes later.

"Anyone else feeling the cold out here? No? Just me?" John said as he took the first step outside, the other ponies looking at him un-amused from behind. "I'm just saying..." ignoring him, the group passed by him, setting hoof in the snow filled floor.

"Ha! And you all thought that there would be no use to my many scarves!" Rarity coyly boasted, while Spike came right behind her carrying a few suitcases.

"She got you there"

“Shut up,” John groaned to Spike, who looked at John oddly for a second before replying.

“I didn’t say a word… Whoa!” Spike yelled, falling into the snow, the suitcases falling as well and opening on the floor, multiple scarves flew into the wind, a rushing Spike desperately following after them.

"That's great that you have scarves… So… Wanna share some with us?" John asked, Rarity turned to him, but only grinned in response and resumed her trot, leaving him behind on his own. “So was that a yes!?”

The group gazed upon the area outside, a white vastness of nothingness as far as the eye could see, all but what seemed to be a looming monolith in the distance. They stood in silent, waiting for the escort that Twilight had spoken of, and as if on cue, a figure peered from the snowstorm.

"Twili!" the looming figure called, taking off a pair of goggles on their head, revealing Shining Armor under the protecting gear.

"Shining Armor?" Twilight called back, and the both of them nuzzled in an open show of affection that did not last, as Shining took upon the sight of John shivering not far from them.

"Oh. You." 

"T-the feeling is mutual, pal," John responded while hugging himself, hoping for some self-given body warmth.

“So… Where is Cadence?” Twilight quickly intervened. “I was expecting the both of you to welcome us here,” Shining seemed to considerate the question, but allowed himself a reply.

“Let’s just say that things haven’t been going well, and that’s why Cadence had to stay behind.”

“What? C-couldn’t handle it yourself?” John cut in, stuttering thanks to the cold.

“Wait, what?” Shining looked at John with rage in his eyes, but quickly shook it off, turning his attention to all. “There is no time for this, we have to get out of here, we don‘t want to stay here too long… There are things we don‘t want to run into,” Shining Armor finished ominously.

“W-what sort of things?” Fluttershy timidly asked.

“Well? Let’s just say that the Crystal Empire isn’t the only thing that’s returned. Come on, let‘s get a move on.”

Needing no further indication, the group began their trek, slowly going through the heavy blizzard that had just intensified, they made a steady trip, but two of them lagged behind; Spike, who was carrying Rarity’s suitcases, and John, who was quickly losing any body heat he had before getting off the train.

“Psst… S-Spike?” John whispered to the young dragon.

“What?”

“C-c-can I have one of those scarves please?” John pleaded the dragon, who only gave him a raised brow.

“No can do, Rarity specifically said that I was not to give you one!” John made his best puppy dog face, but the dragon would not yield.

“W-why?” John said tearing up slightly.

“She said because you should have brought a jacket.”

“I DIDN’T KNOW WE WERE GOING TO GO THROUGH A FUCKING BLIZZARD!”

“Hey, back there, hurry up! We need to get into the city,” came the voice of Shining Armor.

“W-what do you think I’m trying to do you third-rate guard!” John retorted, but was inaudible thanks to his low voice.

“So, what’s happening here? Why exactly do we need to hurry up?” asked Rainbow, approaching Shining to strike a conversation.

“There is something that wants to get into the Crystal Empire, we think it’s the evil unicorn king who originally placed a curse in the place, so I want to return as fast as possible to make sure Cadence is okay," explained, looking around worriedly. "Not to mention we are sitting ducks ourselves out here.”

“You mean King Sombra?” Twilight joined in looking confused. “But the Princess send me in order to find a way to protect the Empire, if there is something preventing him from getting in, then it must already be pro-”

HOWL

“W-what was that?” both John and Fluttershy asked at the same time, John running ahead to get closer to the group.

“That’s our cue to run. NOW!” as Shining finished his sentence, a shadowy cloud emerged from behind them, sinister looking green eyes that appeared to be smoking glaring at them all, the threatening look itself caused them all to freeze in fear, but that quickly broke as Shining called again. “I said run!” wasting no time, they began their mad dash, John quickly forgetting of the cold after his own survival instinct kicked in, and Spike being dragged away by Shining and dropping the suitcases in his haste.

“Not my scarves!”

“Don’t start, Rarity!” reprimanded Applejack in a rush..

“Just run!”

“I am, you don’t have to tell me twice, Twi!”

“Big giant shadow thingie!” yelled Pinkie Pie out of nowhere, ending the discussion instantly.

The group ran as fast as their hooves (and legs in the case of two of them) could take them, trying to keep the distance between them and the giant shadow quickly gaining upon them. Spike could barely keep up with the group, noticing this, Twilight picked up the now tired Spike and put him on her back.

“Hey, ’Mr. Untrustworthy’, care to lend a hoof with this thing?” the human asked while running, Shining instantly picked up on his tone and growled.

“Oh, I’m sorry, how about you do something yourself, care to give us some help ‘Mr. Peeping Tom’?” the unicorn retorted and grinned as the insult caused the human to glare at him.

“Hey,! *huff* I already told you *huff* that was an accident, and at least I APOLOGIZED!” the unicorn glared back, and was readying himself to shoot an insult involving the human’s hands, but was interrupted by Twilight's voice cutting through.

“Hey! You know, I bet you two are enjoying  your *huff* ‘old couple’ banter, but you guys could, I mean if it’s not too much trouble *huff*, WAIT UNTIL WE ARE NOT BEING CHASED BY A MONSTER!?”

At that moment, the shadow pounced into the air, ready to strike the angry unicorn. Reacting before his brain had the chance to intervene, John who had been by her side, sidestepped and pushed her out of the way, making the shadow catch nothing but snow. Not one to give up, it quickly changed targets and made to hit John instead, but was moved out of the way just in time by Twilight’s magic. Meanwhile, John yelled in terror as a part of the shadow nearly hit him full on.

“OH MY GOD!” his mind screamed, his throat unable to find the words.

“Guys! We are almost there!” Rainbow called out to the group, causing them to look ahead and notice the giant crystal tower and its base. The group ran even faster, leaving John falling behind as he ran out of breath, realizing this, he tried to bite the bullet and run faster, but only managed to trip and fall with a grunt for his efforts.

“Damn it! Shit, shit shit!” he quickly tried to get on his feet, but the shadow was upon him before he could do anything else.

Twilight turned around at the sound of John’s voice, and her eyes widened in horror when she realized what was happening. She stopped on her tracks and began rushing to his side, but she had been too far away to use her magic. Quickly growing desperate, she only managed a blood curling scream.

“JOHN!”

Out of nowhere, a purple looking streak of magic grabbed onto him, pulling him out at the last moment, John sighed audibly and turned to thank his rescuer.

“Thank you so much, Twil—wait,” he stopped as he noticed the white stallion next to him. “S-Shining?”

“Just keep running, the both of you!” he replied. Twilight nodded, quickly realizing what had happened and resumed her run. John noticed the other ponies quickly approaching what appeared to be an immense pink bubble, and knowing that safety was soon coming, he gave an internal sigh. 

As this happened, he noticed Shining falling behind. “What are you doing!?”

“It’s catching up, just keep going!” he called, shooting from his horn what seemed to be lasers into the cloud, which it quickly dodged without effort, then proceeded to pounce at Shining who was once again charging another attack.

“Like hell!” John quickly turned back and managed to grab a hold of him, to both of their surprises, pulling him, both avoiding a full hit, but still being thrown aside by the aftershock. “Aargh!” John felt a sharp pain in his forehead as he (along with Shining) was thrown into the air. After mere moments, the cold completely dissipated, and instead, he felt a comfortable warmth in his skin, followed by a rough landing in what felt like grass. “Ghh..”

As the pain slowly subsided, he opened his eyes, and the events from the previous minutes returned to him, cold sweat running down his forehead, his heart at his throat, his thoughts ran wild as he looked upon the strangely clear skies over him.

“Holy shit… What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck!?? Is… Is this what they do on a regular basis!?”

John instantly got on his feet, ready to give his thoughts to Twilight.

“ARE YOU SERI-” he stopped suddenly when he noticed it. There was nopony in sight, John scratched his head in confusion, looking frantically about for a sight of the other ponies, stopping as his eyes fell upon the place; from houses, to every road, the place sparkled beautifully under the sun, the most noticeable thing being the huge monolith of a tower in the middle. “How did I…?”


~~~~~


“John? JOHN!”

“Oh dear… Where could he be…” said Fluttershy, flying around the area.

“He was holding onto me as we were send through the air, but he let go sometime after that… Ugh,” grunted Shining, grabbing his aching head, barely passing his hoof over his horn that now adorned some sort of dark crystal on it.

“Don’t touch it! It looks like some sort of dark magic… Can you do magic of your own?” Twilight wondered.

“Let me check… Ugh!” he held his head once more, a few sparks coming out from his horn at his attempt.

“I’ll take that as a no…” Twilight concluded.

“Twilight!” the unicorn looked up from her brother towards Rainbow, who landed in front of her, looking worse for wear.

“Did you find him?”

“Not around the area, I‘m not even sure if he is here at all.”

“He made it in. I saw him flying along with Shining, I’m confused as to why he isn’t here either,” Rarity joined the conversation, putting a comforting hoof over Twilight.

“Great, just great!” Twilight began, shaking uncontrollably. “I-I… I feel terrible! Here we all are, we are SAFE, and he is… CELESTIA knows where! Alone, in danger maybe… A\and I didn’t even give him a chance to talk when he wanted to before, he tried to apologize, a-and…” another hoof joined Rarity’s on her back, she looked to the side to find Shining giving her a weak smile.

“He’ll be fine,” he said without looking away.

“How do you know that…? He is probably scared out of his mind right now! I… shouldn’t have let him come!” Twilight exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes.

“He was scared alright, but if somepony who risks their life regardless to save somepony else’s despite that fear and succeed, well, I think that kind of being can survive. Right?” Twilight returned Shining a weak smile, wiping her eyes, then looking ahead, where her friends stood there with worried faces, waiting for her.

“Come on Twilight, you know we can’t hold this group without ya’, so how ‘bout you get your flank off the ground and get ready to go?” Twilight nodded at Applejack‘s remark, giggling slightly, stopping instantly as she noticed the sight of the empire shining brightly under the sun.

“Sparkle-rific! Right, Twilight?” asked Pinkie, jumping in front of her as she got on her hooves.

“Yes Pinkie, it sure is,” despite her improved mood, Twilight frowned, worry over the human filling her thoughts.

“We’ll find him. You’ll see," Shining assured her. "Now, care to give me a hoof? I’m a little weak at the moment…” he huffed, laying on the grass, unable to stand by himself.

“Heh heh, of course BBBFF,” she went to his side and helped him up, and the group began their trip towards the tower.

~~~~~

MEANWHILE, IN THE OUTSKIRTS OF THE CRYSTAL EMPIRE…

“Sister, I thought you said they wouldn’t be in any immediate danger.”

“Forgive me, but I did not expect him to acquire the ability to become a threat so quickly. Despite all that, I insist that you do not intervene more than you have to.”

“I only intervened to save the human and Shining Armor, but it seems they did not notice as I pulled them from danger. unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough, and Shining’s magic seems to be out of commission for the moment, and the human could've died as one of the protruding pieces of the empire nearly skewered him! Fortunately, I managed to teleport him, but I accidentally sent him to the other side of the empire.”

“I see… Perhaps you should keep a closer eye on them; at the very least on John. Make sure he doesn’t get hurt, as unlike the others, he is not used to these kinds of situations, much less considering he is on his own at the moment."

“Yes, I know, sister,” Luna said irritated as she came out from behind a rock, looking upon the group of ponies heading to the palace in the distance. “I will now attempt to catch up to the human, but I will not be able to communicate while doing so.” 

“I understand, take care, Luna.”

“I will, Celestia.”


~~~~~


“Did I make it inside?” John thought as he tried to get on his feet, quickly losing balance as his head began to throb. “Dammit… My head.”

“Need some help?” John looked up, only to notice an obscure figure of a pony offering their hoof to him.

“A-aren’t you scared of me?”  was the first thing that came out of his mouth as it pulled on him the way only ponies could, getting him on his feet in no time.

“Rather strange way to start a conversation, but to answer it, no, we have seen more things that we could be scared of here—you are not even close,”

“That’s a rather blunt way to put it… and we?” avoiding the need to ask any unnecessary questions, he thanked the helpful pony. “Thanks anyway, Ms…” he began as he noticed more of what he realized was a mare; she had a whitecoat, with a mane colored silver on her head, her cutie mark had the shape of a cloud with a few strange letters in the side, her face was a mask without any emotion.

“Dream Chaser, it’s a… pleasure to make your acquaintance,” she finished clumsily.

“John, and likewise,” they stood silent for a few seconds before Chaser cut it short.

“I don’t think you are from around here, are you lost by any chance?” she asked, patiently awaiting for the answer.

“Well… none of my pony frien- I cannot believe I actually said that with a straight face… Friends are not around, so I’m guessing that I am,” he finished, giving her a sheepish smile. “How that happened is anyone’s guess”.

“I see”.

“Stupid question, but are you from around here?” John asked hopeful.

“I am not, but I know this place well enough. I was one of the few traveling ponies who reached this place at, well, let‘s just say a bad time,” she shook her head and continued. “In any case, I assume you would like some help finding your friends?” 

“Yes!” John replied eagerly..

“Very well then, follow me, and I will do my best to assist you on your quest,” she began trotting away, John setting into a quick jog to catch up to the mare.

“Um… Can you please not leave me behind?” John asked with a  squeak in his voice.

“What’s the matter? Are you afraid?” she asked uncaringly, catching John off guard.

“Um, no! Er, I mean… Yes, I’m very afraid, I mean, how could I not! My pony sibling brought me to such a dangerous place!” he began, letting his frustrated thoughts out. “Heck, SHE came to a place like this! WE were all nearly killed!” the mare kept on, apparently not listening to him at all, so he didn’t expect it when she suddenly stopped and turned to him with a scowl on her face.

“Tell me, is this the first time Twilight has been in danger?” she asked looking at him, her face showing some hints of emotion he quickly identified as irritation.

“Um…” he stopped to think for a few moments, bringing to mind the few memories Twilight had shared with him, one specifically coming on top.

“Well, no. She once fought a lion with wings,” then another. “Or when she along with the others attempted to get rid of a… Dragon!?” he stood in mere shock at the memories he was recalling, unable to comprehend how Twilight had been able to overcome those challenges. As if reading his mind, Dream Chaser continued.

“That’s because that pony is stronger than you give her credit for. Maybe you shouldn’t insult her with your worries,” she turned back to the front and continued as if nothing had happened.

“I guess you have a point…” he said to himself in a low voice, he caught up and walked alongside her as they made their way into what appeared to be a housing district.

“Um, can I ask you a question?”

“That may very well depend on what that is.”

“Is it just me? Or is this place a ghost town?”


~~~~~


“So wait, none of the ponies here have talked?”

“Again, no Rainbow, how many times do I have to tell you?” Shining explained, becoming increasingly irritated at her.

“Rainbow, please, he already explained what he knew, no need to keep bothering him about it!” Twilight cut in, causing Rainbow to back away.

“Fine, sorry!” she apologized and flew off with crossed legs.

“So, where are these famous Crystal Ponies anyway?” asked Applejack to Shining, who welcomed the different question openly.

“Well, they are all home, and as I previously mentioned, I wasn’t able to get them to talk, they seemed out of it… Ah, here we are!” the ponies stared ahead at what appeared to be the central square, the already huge tower was more apparent from the short distance, along with its literal brilliance.

“It’s gorgeous! Absolutely gorgeous!” Rarity began, her praising quickly derailing into random fanmareish babbling, ogling the structure without remorse. “There are NO words!”

“Focus Rarity," Applejack cut her celebration short. "We are here to help Twilight, and no offense, but she really needs the help right about now,” Rarity instantly made an undignified face. 

“Besides, what’s so impressive about this place, it’s just like any old castle,” Rainbow Dash joined in.

“Agreed. Canterlot Castle looks much better,” at this point, Rarity seemed to have trouble grasping the words to respond with.

“Have you lost your minds!? This place is amazing! Gorgeous! Nothing EVEN compares to the magnificence of this pla- Wait, who said that?” the ponies quickly turned their heads in the direction of the voice, quickly finding its source being John, standing with a grin on his face.

“John!” Twilight yelled, letting go of Shining who fell to the ground with a huff, growling lowly as he hit the ground. Meanwhile, she reached John and enveloped him in a hug. “John! You are okay! Oh thank Celestia that you are okay!” John seemed taken aback by his surrogate sister’s reaction, and blushed a bit at the great amount of affection she showed.

“Geez Twilight, you are embarrassing me. Besides… Weren‘t you angry?”

“Stop complaining, you liked this when we were on your home, and the keyword is ‘was‘,” she replied playfully, wiping her tears on his shirt.

“That’s because we were, I don’t know… alone?” he got close to her ear and whispered. “And thank you, I still feel bad thought,“he ruffled Twilight’s mane, causing the pony to groan in annoyance.

“Oh, just drop it, it’s fine!” she poked his rib forcefully, causing John to stumble back in pain.

“Okay, okay, geez… Don’t hurt me!” he joked, still grabbing his pained body.

“How did you make it here anyway!? I thought you were lost!” Twilight asked him, eager to hear his tale.

“Well, actually, I had some he-” he turned to his side to introduce the mare that had helped him, but found nopony by his side. “Odd, she was actually right he-”

“Ahem,” Shining cleared his throat loudly, causing the pair to turn quickly towards the group, blushing at the same time at the giggles coming from the ponies. "If we could please? My wife is waiting.”

“Um, yeah, right,” Twilight cleared her throat.

“Guess we should go in then," John agreed, walking ahead.

“You are not leaving my side, mister,” Twilight said and began her trot, John walking by her side, the group made their way to the entrance in the middle.

“Where did she go….? I guess I’ll tell them later,” John wondered of Dream Chaser as they went into the building, all except for Rarity who held her mouth open.

“… The nerve of some! Not accepting the brilliance of this place!” she huffed before making her way inside the tower, following the rest of the group.

After making their way through the empty palace, they found their way into what appeared to be a throne room, where Twilight instantly perked up and left John’s side, setting into a small run after noticing a pony sitting in the throne itself looking miserable.

“Cadence!”

The pink pony in the throne perked up at the sound of the voice, relief, and a hint of happiness noticeable lifting whatever sour mood she had been in.

“Twilight!” she got on her hooves and trotted towards Twilight, the both approaching each other quickly and stopping inches from each other.

“Um… What are they waiting for?” John asked.

“Oh, you’ll see,” groaned Shining, his tongue sticking out in fake disgust.

“Sunshine, sunshine, lady bugs awake! Clap your hooves, and do a little shake!” they finished what appeared to be a dance by lifting their flanks into the air, like they didn’t care.

“Well, that wasn’t inappropriate at all… Ouch! Hey!” he glared at Pinkie who held a scrutinizing look.

“Hey, it’s cute! Don’t mock it just cause YOU don’t have a super secret flank move!” she replied looking smug.

“Ugh!” Cadence whined, John noticing the bubble flickering in the distance. “One of these days we need to get together when the fate of Equestria ISN’T hanging in the balance,” she sighed, looking defeated.

“Um… Are you okay, Mrs?” John asked, approaching her with Shining trotting ahead of him, reaching his wife instantly and nuzzling her affectionately. 

“Oh, hey John, it’s good to see you again. Sorry if the circumstances for this meeting weren’t proper either,” she mumbled something in a low voice and turned to John again. “And please, just call me Cadence, ‘Mrs’ makes me feel old.”

“Will do,” John humored her.

“Not to interrupt, but… Are you okay?” Twilight asked, looking at her fatigued ex-babysitter, to which Shining obliged an answer.

“Cadence’s been able to use her magic to spread love and light, that seems to be protecting the kingdom, but… She hasn’t slept, or eaten much, and I want to help her, but as you can see, my magic has been blocked by King Sombra.”

“How convenient,” John thought, not wanting to face the wrath of a fatigued/probably annoyed Princess.

“Shining, it’s alright. I’m fine,” she tried to assure him.

“Cadence, you are NOT fine,” he corrected her, then turned to Twilight. “She can’t go on like this forever, and if her magic were to fade, well… Let’s just say a magic blocker would be the least of our worries.”

“Is this the part where we volunteer to help! Oh, cause I wanna help!” Pinkie jumped in, getting in between John and Twilight.

“Oh yeah! I’m ready for anything!” proclaimed Spike.

“Yeah!” the other ponies responded in kind.

“She can take care of herself… I know that much… But I just can’t let her do this on her own,“ John thought, he sighed and turned to Cadence with a look of determination. “I will do what I can as well.”

“Well, that would be great actually, what with Cadence using her magic constantly, and me keeping an eye for trouble in the arctic, we haven’t been able to gather much Intel from the Crystal Ponies.”

“Crystal Ponies!” exclaimed Rarity out loud, holding her mane in an excited fashion.

“But Rarity, didn’t we just talk about them on our way here?” asked Fluttershy eyeing her warily.

“Well sure, but I mean, the mere mention of them! It just makes me so giddy! Eeeek!” she squeaked, jumping in excitement.

“Geez, don’t let your excitement drip on the floor, we are in a palace,” the ponies all turned to John with flustered looks on their faces, Rarity herself more apparent than the rest, Spike being the only one giving him a confused look.

“Um… What does that mean J-” began a curious Spike before being cut off.

“I’ll tell you when you are older,” said John sheepishly.

“Um… Shining, what was that about the Crystal Ponies?” resumed Twilight, trying to derail the conversation from its current awkwardness.

“Say what now?” he asked, his face a bright red. “Ouch!” he turned to look at his wife with a scowl on her face. “Um, yeah, well, you see, we want to believe that one of them know of a way to protect the empire outside Cadence’s magic,” he explained, while Twilight stood thinking over his words.

“A research paper…”

“Um, excuse me?”

“A research paper! Of course! It must be part of my test!”

John eyed her incredulously. “You can’t really mean th-” 

“Of course I do! Don’t you see? It’s part of my test! To gather information from the crystal ponies and deliver it to Shining!” she skipped giddily in place. “I mean, I love research papers!”

“Oh really, that’s news to me,” began Rainbow while smirking.

“Oh come on Dashie, we all know she loves them, youJohnRarityFluttershySpikeApplejackShiningArmorPrincessCadencePinkiePie, oh wait, that’s me! Of course I know!”

“As you can see, my friends can vouch for me, so no worries, okay?” Twilight assured him.

Shining grinned content and nodded. “Then, I leave it to you guys, we are counting on you,” he saluted them and turned away, taking Cadence who could barely stand on her own back to the throne. The group made their way outside and regrouped in the middle of the open plaza.

“Okay girls, here is the plan, Spike, John, and I will go north, you guys take the other streets visible from here,” the ponies nodded at the instructions and began agreeing into what places they would look in.

“She doesn’t trust you, what the heck is her problem, keeping you by her side?” clearing his head from the odd thought, he turned to Twilight, who now held what appeared to be a badly drawn map.

“A map?”

“Not just any map, a rememme-map!”

“Say what now?”

“It’s my own creation; it allows the pony who touches it to have a birds eye view of the area they’ve been in drawn, all based upon any details picked both subconsciously by the brain and otherwise,” she explained, but John cut in before she began her complete monologue.

“Only half is there, thought.”

“Well, put your hand, I made sure it worked for you too,” Twilight urged him, and finding no reason to refuse, he put his hand on the odd paper, and seconds later, he felt a tingling sensation as the magic ran through his body. As the feeling passed, the top half of the map filled up. “And now we have a full map,” she finished smugly.

“Wow… That‘s pretty cool!” John exclaimed excitedly.

“Oh, it‘s nothing,” she replied looking embarrassed. “Anyway, ready to go?” John let the question hang for a moment before replying.

“Oh, well, I actually wanted to tell you about that,” the other ponies stopped their own talk and turned to the pair.

“What is it?”

“Um… Wouldn‘t it be more efficient if I went on my own?” asked John, twiddling his fingers nervously, Twilight eyed him and bit her lip as she seemed to think of something.

“I’m not gonna fight, but the answer is no,” she replied calmly. 

John sighed. “And pray tell, why not?“

“Well, I think it might be best if you were to stay with me…”

“What!? But I would just be extra luggage with Spike going with you as well!” he argued.

“Well, you are not going alone,” she responded, seemingly firm on her own plan on the matter.

“He can be my luggage!” cut in Pinkie, hanging on to his shoulder in a friendly manner, Twilight sighed in defeat, already knowing that arguing with the pink pony would be wasted effort.

“Alright, he can go with you, but be on your guard, this goes to all of you. Report here back in an hour regardless of the outcome. Good luck,” the ponies nodded once more and went on their separate ways, when they were out of earshot, John finally began talking to Pinkie.

“Thank you, Pinkie, geez, first she avoids me, and now she doesn’t want to keep her eyes off me.”

“She was worried about you, but she tends to overreact over the smallest thing- Oh, look!” Pinkie Pie dashed forward and stood in front of a bench.

“Um… It’s a bench…”

“It’s a 1,000 year old bench to be exact!” Pinkie corrected.

“Thank you for the irrelevant information. So anyway, what’s the plan?” Pinkie pulled out her umbrella hat and put it on, getting deep in thought, it wasn’t long before an unnatural grin filled her face.

“I know! Put this on!” she brought out what appeared to be a suit, it was completely black.

“What is this…?” he picked it up and noticed how seemingly familiar it looked to…“A gimp suit…” he dropped it without remorse and grinned nervously. “… So, is it too late to get Fluttershy or Rainbow as my partners?”


~~~~~


Shining looked down at the group, he stood in the balcony from the throne room, noticing John trying to run away, only to be dragged back by the pink pony, he sighed as he watched them trot away.

“What’s the matter, dear?” came the barely audible whisper from the palace, the echoing of the otherwise empty room helping him listen.

“Oh, it’s nothing, really. And how are you feeling?” he worriedly asked her, making his way back to her side. Looking at her tired face, it tore him inside seeing her in that state, but there was nothing he could do for her but be there and just be strong for the two of them.

There wasn’t much for him to do to help his own sister either.

“It’s not like she even needs me anymore,” he nuzzled his wife, who gave him a weak smile, it was all he needed to help him forget his family worries for the moment.

“What’s the matter, Shining?” she asked, cutting him from his thoughts.

“It’s nothing, Cadence, just focus on the kingdom, okay?”

“You are still her brother, you can’t be forgetting that,” Cadance said, closing her eyes, allowing herself to concentrate once more, missing her husband’s face of shock. 

“Right... of course, Cadance…”

“Still, easy for you to say. It sure doesn‘t feel that way lately.”
> Mini Chapter - "I'm Telling on Me!"
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Two days prior…

“And let’s play together again, Ms. Lyra!”

I watch as Ms. Lyra disappears into the lots of ponies trotting by, I had hoped she caught my words, but she probably didn’t. I turn and begin riding home, as I ride closer, I remember what I was tasked to do; come clean over my attempts at breaking into a house.

It’s not like the door was locked, or anything…

“What if they get very mad over what we did…?” I didn’t realize it, but I was already home. I slowly reached for the handle and turned it, as always, the door opened, the smell of something delicious being cooked filling my nostrils, causing me to forget whatever I was thinking about. “Mom, I’m home!” I cover my mouth right away, I didn’t want mom to hear me, what had I done!?

I trem- I mean, I shake, slightly nervous of mom, she wasn’t much of an angry pony, but she could be scary when it actually happened, even I could admit to that.

She is VERY scary…

“Welcome back, Scoots, did you have fun with your friends?” this is it, it my chance to come clean, to tell her what I had done, and I will do it…

“It was fun, mom, I’m gonna go rest ok? I’m a bit tired,” after I go to the bathroom first of course, I’m not really afraid, Rainbow would think it’s just uncool.

I make my way into my room, passing that one step that’s broken on my way upstairs, dad really needs to get to fixing that before I fall, I guess the idea of stairs just slips out of his mind when somepony has wings, I could probably get Apple Bloom to do it though, she is very hoofy with tools.

I finally reach my room and close the door behind me, I quickly go into the restroom, letting the “panic leave my body”, I never understood what Fluttershy meant by it, but it worked, I felt whatever tension on me leave me as I left the place.

“Scootaloo, it’s time for dinner!”

And now it’s back! 

I ran through different ideas in my head, but none of them made any sense, Apple Bloom was the idea pony, I was more of an action pony, I don’t have time to think! I sit in my bed for a bit to calm down, the different Wonderbolts posters usually help me do just that, but not this time, it feels as if I’m about to cr- Erm, sweat, sweat from my own nervousness, but I have no idea how to tell her… Maybe I could wait till tomorrow.

“Are you a chicken?”

I bolt upright and look around the room, there was nopony in there besides me, who even said that when my parents always knocked on my door before coming in?

“Over here, squirt!” I turn to the side to find one of my most prized possessions, a picture of Rainbow Dash and me, I had gotten this taken after we heard her cutie mark story… I still get goose bumps from that, it was just SO cool!

“Um, hello? I’m talking to you,” I stare at the picture for a bit longer and notice Rainbow, she was… Moving! “What do you think you are doing?” 

I look at the portrait confused before finally asking: “What do you mean?”

“You are not telling your mom about what you did? I thought you would accept the blame?” she asked me, her hooves crossed in disappointment.

“B-but I was! I was just waiting for… The right time! That’s it!”

“Are you sure about that?” the glare she was giving me was unsettling, she wasn’t only disappointed—she seemed outright ashamed of me.

“I…”

“Listen, Scoots, I know it’s hard, but you gotta learn to own up to your mistakes, besides, would you leave your friends to take the blame alone? That’s not a very loyal thing to do, you know?” her words stung, as I knew she was right.

“Y-you are right, Rainbow Dash, I-” I look back at the picture, just to find it back to how it was before, I rub my eyes, trying to understand what had just happened.

“Scootaloo, get down here this instant, young lady! I said dinner is ready!” I instantly begin my climb downstairs, quickly forgetting the weird happening, maybe I should stop sleeping in after midnight. I reach the bottom surprisingly out of breath, mom looks at me oddly as I try to recover.

“You look tired, what were you up to?” she asks me curiously.

“I was, um… Dancing!” I said, I mean, I can't just tell her I was talking to my photo of Rainbow Dash, I don’t think she would be very nice about it after the last time I did that… Not to mention she’ll think I’m crazy.

“You really need to show your friends that, you are really good!” I feel my face turn red right away.

“Mom! I don’t really like dancing much, it’s just to pass the time, besides, you know I want to fly!” I reply with pride, flying is where is at after all, feeling the wind in your face, the thrills as you reach higher speeds… Or so says Rainbow.

“Fine, fine. Come on, it’s dinner time, I made your favorite; tomato soup!” you don’t have to tell me twice!

We sit eating calmly in the table, making small talk, I like doing this, but it’s not the same without dad. “Did dad stay at the factory again?” I ask mom.

“Yes dear, he had to finish those reports on the week’s weather,” she doesn’t say much more, I knew that already, but it’s just habit to ask at this point. “So, what’s the matter Scoots? You seem a bit agitated today,” I was caught, this is it, game over, game over ponies!

“Well…” I fail to bring words, the nervousness quickly making me stop.

“That not a very loyal thing to do, you know?”

“I broke into Twilight’s house! We were trying to find some weird creature to study so I could get my cutie mark on something new and different, I’m so sorry mom!” I did it, I had said it. And now the trouble came.

Wait… Why is she smiling?

“I know, I saw you entering the library along with your other friends,” if my jaw could do it, it would have dropped to the floor right then. “I actually know it wasn’t your fault either, it was that lyre playing mare Lyra,” oh oh…

“But we wanted to as well! It wasn’t all of her fault!” 

“Of course, that mare, trying to make my little Scootaloo into a delinquent! How daring! If only she’d come…” okay, this is not good.

“Mom!” 

“Yes, dear?” 

“It’s my fault, okay? I did it too, so I should be grounded for it,” if the ponies at school heard me saying that, they would be giving me dumb remarks over it.

“Oh, Scoots, I’m so proud of you, being such an honest pony!” she hugged me tight out of nowhere, picking me off my seat.

“Aren’t you going to ground me? I want to be fair with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle!” okay, now if the others in class heard me, they would call me insane.

“Nonsense, we both know it was on that Lyra! Now come on, finish your soup.”

“But!”

“No buts! Finish your soup,” there was no way I could change her mind, she is very persistent when she wants something, I sigh in defeat and look upon my soup.

“Well… I tried,”  I dig into my soup a little guilty... but I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little relieved.
> "The Sparkly Kingdom! Wheeee!" - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Grrr, why did he have to go with her?”

Rainbow Dash growled as she flew through the streets of the Empire, she passed the few ponies on the street, but ignored all of them, flying completely by instinct, as she talked to herself, her mission neglected by her own annoyed mood.

“Eeep!” the voice had been enough to snap Dash out of her thoughts, but she found herself unable to stop in time.

“What the? Oh, whoa!” the crash came, and Rainbow found herself over something soft, she opened her eyes and looked upon the trembling figure on the ground, a very familiar yellow coat in sight.

“Dash?” recognizing the voice, Rainbow quickly got off, finding herself looking at her timid Pegasus friend; Fluttershy.

“R-Rainbow? What are you doing here, I thought you were going to search the other side of the city,” she questioned her, while Dash racked her brains for an excuse.

“I-I well… I didn’t find anypony, so… I decided to come help you! Yes, that’s it!” she lied, trying to avoid an awkward conversation with her, she landed by her side and gave the command. “Let’s go then!”

“O-okay…” with that settled, the pair began their search, it wasn’t long before they managed to find a couple of the famous Crystal Ponies, unfortunately for them, they weren’t much help, this only served to frustrate Dash further.

“These ponies are infuriating!” she plummeted on a nearby bench, looking exhausted despite the short time that had passed, Fluttershy cautiously sat down beside her, silence filling the air outside Rainbow’s occasional muttering to herself.

“Um, Dash, I’m not stupid, you know?” Dash turned to her usually shy friend, surprised at her choice of words, a stern look welcoming her instantly. “We’ve known each other since we were little fillies, don’t try to hide it, something is bothering you,” the look quickly turned into a frown as she realized her attitude. “Oh, I’m sorry Dashie, I shouldn’t have reacted like that, I mean, it’s not like you need to tell me or anything…”

“No, no! It’s not that I don’t want to tell you! It’s just that I‘d like to keep hidden, for now!” she looked at her friend with a smile on her face, memories of times past replaying in her head. “But, umm… Thank you, it’s good to see that I can still count on you, even if we aren’t as close as we used to be,” she felt regretful as she let the words out.

“Well… Maybe you could come over for a cup of tea in my tree, you are always welcome and we could just talk.  How about Thursday?” she smiled warmly at her friend, getting a smirk out of the rainbow maned Pegasus.

“What about Rarity? Isn’t that Spa day?” she asked, knowing of the pair’s weekly spa meetings.

“Um, well… I honestly would want to take a break from those, and not to be rude, she can be a bit overbearing when there… Please don’t tell her I said that!” she practically begged, whimpering at the end.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake you-know-where,” she finished doing the motions as she said it.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”

“Nah, thank YOU Fluttershy, you really helped me,” she got off the seat and glided next to Fluttershy. “And if anypony asks, this conversation never happened.”

Fluttershy giggled and nodded. “What conversation, Dash?” reassured, Rainbow smiled.

“Come on! We got some ponies to talk to!” she flew ahead, instantly locking eyes with the first pony in sight.

“Right behind you, Dashie!” Fluttershy said cheerfully, catching up with her fast friend.


~~~~~


“I-I’m not sure about this, Pinkie…”

“I know you can do it!”

“B-but come on… I‘ve never done this before!”

“Don’t worry, Johnny, I’ll be with you every step of the way!”

“Alright…”

“Careful… Woah! Too fast, silly!” Pinkie giggled surprised.

“Oh! My bad!”

“Fiiine, I guess I’ll do all the work, huh?” 

“Um, I‘m not sure if that‘s a good idea…”

“Oh, don’t feel bad! It happens to the best of us! So… Are you ready?”

“No…”

“Go!” he felt a small push, and he went over the edge.

“AAAAAAH!”

John had no time to react, as he was soon dropping off the tall building both him and Pinkie had been on, despite knowing he’d be safe (or fooling himself into thinking that), his fear of heights quickly overtook him, and he finally came to a stop inches from the ground, a call too close for his liking.

“WHY DID I AGREE TO DO THIS AGAIN!?” called John in obvious anger.

“Because Twilight said to be careful! Duh! She said to keep our guard up, and what better way to do that than with some good spy work!” she answered, making it sound like the most logical conclusion.

“Oh, right! Because there wasn’t any other way, and this is the most careful! Right!?” he replied, the sarcasm dripping from his words, he looked around and found nopony in sight.

“Fantastic…”

“Hey, you agreed!” she countered.

“Ugh… I guess you have a point.”

“I’m glad you understand! Whee!” she jumped off the roof much in the same fashion John had, landing in the spot right next to him. “I knew that outfit would fit you!”

“Ugh…” John groaned, he had donned what he had thought was a gimp suit before, but  he’d quickly realized it was in fact, just a leather suit of sorts, reminding him of Sam Fisher himself, a fact that Pinkie had let him know, something that he acknowledged with a single ‘okay’.

“Logic? Pffft, what even is that?” he had thought, completely giving up on the concept whenever the pink pony spoke.

“So… How do we get down again…?” John asked as he looked upon his bound legs.

“Well, just reach to the rope and untie it!” Pinkie told him, giggling loudly to his apparent silliness.

“If you were somepony else, I would have thought you were making fun of me,” he trembled as he said ‘somepony’, he had realized that he would need to get accustomed to the ponies’ lingo, but doing so had been easier thought than done.

“Oooh, the blood is going to my head now! Like a sugar rush!” she replied, giggling so hard that she snorted occasionally, bringing a few chuckles from John despite the situation.

“Well, I can’t reach, why don’t you put those hooves to some good use?” John asked her, to which he got a blank stare from the no longer giggling mare.

“I can’t untie it.”

“Excuse you?” the question had come up more accusatory that he had wanted.

“Well, I can’t, you see, I have hooves!” she showed him her rather flat hooves, no fingers nor markings that could help untie a knot apparent, to show her point.

“Oh, of course! Silly me! Of course that has to be an issue!”

“Yep! We are going to have to wait for help!” John opened his mouth in silence shock, spewing soundless words at her cheery behavior, the empty streets of the city were not helping his mood. “So, want to play a game while we wait for help?”

“…”

His voice reverberated through the whole city as he let out a cry of frustration.


~~~~~


“Well, Ah‘m not sure, but Ah‘ may have possibly gone too far.“

Applejack surveyed the area as she found herself back in the fields outside the city, having no luck with the ponies in town, all of them not able to remember anything useful. They had in fact reacted oddly whenever Sombra had been brought up, and she had come to the conclusion that the ponies were under some kind of ‘mass amnesia’ curse.

“Well, just look at this place, can’t believe this has been trapped for 1,000 years. Sure doesn't look like it,” she took a deep breath, getting some of the clear air into her lungs, as she did, she spotted something moving in the distance, her better judgment stopping her from checking it out further, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. “Oh, what the hay! Ah’ll check it out real fast,” she thought, pushing her better judgment aside, she set into a paced trot, slowly picking up speed, and soon, she found herself galloping at full speed towards the moving creature. “Yeehaw! Dang, this feels good,” she reached the spot in record time, finding not a single pony is sight, but instead, finding a couple of  tiny sheep.

“Well, I’ll be, hey there you cute little critters! You didn’t happen to see a couple of crystallized ponies around here, did ya?” all she managed to get in return were blank stares from the small animals. “Ah’ didn’t think so…”

AARGH!

“What in Celestia’s name was that!?” the ground began trembling, and she had to stay still to keep her balance, the sheep predictably, began scrambling over the place, running around in aimless panic.

“Okay y’all! Calm down!” she stomped the ground and the sheep stopped moving, forming in a line in front of the farm pony. “That’s better, now, I better get back or-” 

The ground shook harder this time, and all but one sheep left the area.

“What’s going on here!?” suddenly, without a warning, a crystallized spike came out from the ground just a couple of meters away, followed by another, and another, she quickly noticed the path it was taking and her irises shrank in realization; the sheep stood in its path, too terrified to even move.

“No, watch out!” it was too late, the sheep was unable to react, as it was decimated in front of Applejack, as one of the spikes hit it head on, Applejack snapped out of it as a drop of blood landed on her snout, and she came to terms to what had happened.

“Aaaah!” her cry of fear followed her all the way back to the city, the normally brave pony galloped for her life, not looking back at all in fear of tripping, the sight of the sheep and the small drop still on her snout replaying in her mind as she finally came to a stop in the main plaza where she had started. “Ahh!” she quickly rubbed her hoof over her snout, desperately trying to clear the blood from it, disgusted by the feeling from it, she took a deep breath and tried to collect her thoughts.

“T-that poor sheep… No critter deserved that…” she took off her hat and put it close to her beating heart that still pounded heavily, a thought just as suddenly making her way into her head.

Her friends could very well suffer that same fate.

Wasting no time, she donned her hat once more, and set herself into another desperate run, hoping that she would find the others before something that she would regret would happen.


~~~~~


“Did  you hear that, Spike?” Twilight asked the young dragon by her side, he groaned as he readied his answer.

“No, Twilight, I didn't. Can you please stop asking me this question every 30 seconds?” Twilight smiled sheepishly at the dragon and sighed.

“Sorry Spike, I’m just worried about John, what if he gets lost again…?”

“Twilight, just listen to yourself! You are foaling a creature that appears to be MUCH older than me!” Spike said amusedly, Twilight rolled her eyes, but understood his point.

“Well, yes, but he can’t do much, you saw how easy his leg broke! He is even more sensitive than you!”

“Disregarding that comment, you mean the creature whose leg healed in two days? That doesn’t sound too bad, you know?”

“Well, I suppose you are right, but that doesn‘t mean I can‘t be worried!” she suddenly smirked and looked back at the young creature. “Spike the dragon, are you jealous?”

“What? Of course not!” he groaned as Twilight quickly nuzzled his head, getting a light blush of embarrassment in his cheeks.

“Woah there, not in public! I got an image to keep!” Twilight rolled her eyes in mocking amusement, feeling slightly relieved.

“Horse apples! Hurry up, legs!” the pair heard the curse in the distance, they looked ahead, just to see Applejack running towards them, stopping when she took notice of both, gasping for much needed air.

“Applejack? What’s the matter? Did you find something?” Twilight asked excitedly. Applejack, still trying her best to recover, raised her head and gave Twilight a solemn look, one which she already knew. “What happened?” she asked, now sporting a serious look herself.

“Well, let’s just say that this King Sombra is more dangerous than we thought, come on, Ah‘ll tell you as we run, we need to find the others quickly,” sensing the strain in her voice, she followed, putting Spike on her back to save time.


~~~~~


“65 buckets of oats on the wall! 65 buckets of oats! You take one down! Pass it around! 64 buckets of oats on the wall! 64 buckets of o-” 

As Pinkie continued her increasingly louder singing, John’s eye twitched in annoyance.

“Please kill me…”

“Oh, come on John! It’s your turn, use that voice! 63 buckets of oats on the wall!” she continued her singing without allowing a word in.

“Won’t someone be my angel!” John called to the heavens, what he received as an answer was unexpected to him.

“I believe you are in need of my assistance here,” the legs of a pony appeared in his facedown sight, he beamed, recognizing the female voice.

“D-Dream Chaser!” 

“That is my name, how may I help you?” John groaned, listening not to the now surprisingly quiet Pinkie, but instead to the snickering pony in front of him.

“Um… YES? Please!” he felt himself being lifted into the air by the already familiar feeling of magic enveloping him, the ropes were untied, and the magical tingling feeling suddenly stopped.

“What the fu-” he fell to the ground with a thud, thankfully for him, being flipped before landing on his head. “Ouch!” ignoring him, Chaser continued to free Pinkie, and gently, lowering her to the ground.

“Thank you miss! Hey Johnny! What are you doing down there?” muttering to himself, he got on his feet and sighed.

“Thanks…” 

“You are quite welcome.”

“Pleasantries aside, this has been a colossal waste of time, we haven’t found a single Crystal pony, not to mention we have to go back by now… Dammit…” he kicked a nearby rock, which to his dismay, managed to hit a window on its path. “Dammit!” Dream Chaser smirked, seemingly amused by his reaction, she poked John on the shoulder, getting his attention..

“Not necessarily,” she reached into her satchel, taking out a book that she magically gave to John, who only stared at it in confusion. It was thick, letters on the top and bottom of the cover in a different language, the image of a few crystals engraved into the middle.

“What is this?”

“My personal copy of a history book on the Crystal Empire, I believe it might be useful for what you might need,” she said, opening it and turning the pages easily with her magic.

“Oh, cool, er… I’ll read it later!” he quickly said, stuffing it under his armpit. “I’ll give it back later!” Chaser gave him a quick look of disgust, but reversed to her usual mask just as quickly.

“Um… Keep it, from the way I see it you might need it. In any case, I wish you luck on your endeavors,” she turned to leave, but was stopped by John’s hand suddenly touching her flank.

“Wait! We could use your help!” what happened next, happened too quickly for John to even realize it.

Dream Chaser had raised her leg in protest, realizing this quickly, Pinkie moved John out of the way as her leg hit the spot where John’s stomach had been just milliseconds before.

“Grr… No! I-I have things to do!” with a noticeable flush on her face, she ran off, leaving the pair on their own.

“What the heck!? What was that all about?” he turned to Pinkie with a quizzical look, but she only had a scowl to give. “What!?”

“That was not very gentlestallionly!” she said with what was a hint of disappointment. “We should go, the hour is almost up,” she trotted off, leaving a very confused John behind.

“WOME-Erm… Females! No matter where they are, I‘ll never get them!” he complained, then ran, attempting to catch up to Pinkie who was already far ahead of him.


~~~~~


“I see… We may be in deeper than we have ever been before,” commented Rarity, holding her hoof over her chin, absorbing the information that Applejack had fed the rest, she held another hoof over Fluttershy, ruffling her mane, consoling her occasionally while she cried silently after hearing the news.

“T-that poor s-sheep,” she kept saying every few minutes.

“Well, we shouldn’t show any weaknesses! Let’s go all out and find him before he gets to us!” suggested Rainbow Dash, snorting loudly in anger, the news having affected her just as much.

“No, we can’t be rash, we need to think this through, and to all of you, you heard Applejack, he is really powerful. Now, before we continue, there is something else,” her friends looked at Twilight eagerly awaiting for her response. “You CANNOT tell John! He was terrified enough with what happened before, I don’t think we need to worry him anymore than we have to,” the ponies and dragon all nodded in agreement, Fluttershy got on her hooves wiping her tears, a few of them mumbling over her over protective attitude towards John, but didn’t comment any further. "Come on, let's look for them," ordered Twilight.

“HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT!?” came the shout from John from behind the group.

"Found them,” said Rainbow, recognizing the voice. 

“Remember, not a word!” warned Twilight once more.

“Little ponies raise their hooves when they want to know something,” countered Pinkie with a satisfied smile on her face.

“I just can’t win, can I?”

The group rejoined, and after some quick greetings, they began exchanging stories, retelling what they had found in their search, Twilight sighed as she got nothing from her friends.

“Well, Fluttershy and I did hear about a library…” said Rainbow, Twilight instantly glowed in excitement, but it was instantly replaced with a frustrated look.

“A library!” Twilight facehooved. “Why didn’t I actually think of that!?” she wondered loudly, unable to understand her oversight. “You should have said so earlier!”

“I thought I already had…” said a shrinking Rainbow Dash.

“Maybe we don‘t have to go, I got this, think it might help?” said John, showing the ponies the book he had on him, the disappointed look in Twilight’s face was replaced by a look of curiosity as she was handed the book, which she quickly glanced over, the pages turning one by one at incredible speeds thanks to her magic, John watched in amazement as her eyes glowed, a spark that usually meant something had clicked in her brain.

“That’s it! I know what we have to do!”


~~~~~


“A Crystal Fair?”

Shining Armor and Cadence looked at Twilight with interest as she explained what she had found, her friends all standing behind, awaiting for their responses.

“Yes. It was established by their first Queen, in short, it was to use the ponies’ love to give the Empire protection!” she said with a satisfied smile.

“I’m still confused over your ruler’s tittles,” added John looking outside, he noticed the shield flicker once more as Cadence nearly fell on her flank.

“We might want to speed this up, Twily,” hurried Shining.

“Um, yeah, so what do you say big brother?”

“I say go for it, it’s our only lead.”

“Don’t you worry, I won’t disappoint you, come on girls, come on Spike,” after getting Spike on her back, she began trotting along the others towards a separate room.

“Wait, what about me?” John asked confused.

“Um… You will stay here for now, with Shining and Cadence.”

“What!?” both John and Shining replied, looking conflicted. “Why?” they repeated once more. “Stop copying me!” they both did so once more, getting some laughs out of the mares.

“Please, you gotta… Help Shining keep Cadence up, would you? Please?” Twilight begged.

“She only wants you out of her way,”  John shook his head, clearing the negative thought out of his head, the thoughts had plagued his mind since earlier that day, and worry as his usual view of his sister was tarnished by his own spontaneous thoughts was present on him.

“Fine, whatever. Good luck,” he gave her a short-lived hug, then waved the others goodbye as they exited the room, leaving the two ponies and human on their own.

As soon as the door closed, silence filled the room, the awkwardness each of them felt keeping them at bay, the glare that the Princess of Love was showing not helping their efforts any.

“Don‘t you all talk at once now,” said Cadence, shaking her head in disappointment.

“Um… Hi, Miss Ca- Er… Cadence,” he corrected himself after receiving a glare directly aimed at him.

“Good human.”

“So, I’m basically reduced to foalsitting. Fantastic,” grunted Shining, getting on his hooves and trotting inside the palace.

“Is there anything wrong with foal sitting?” Cadence asked, looking annoyed.

“Um… No… At least when they are young it isn’t,” he replied, glaring at John.

“Hey! I thought we were good enough! You saved my life! And I saved yours!” John reminded him, Shining only smiled smugly.

“I was going to make you repay the favor, YOU saving me, I honestly didn’t expect it,” he admitted, as they exchanged words, they unknowingly began circling each other.

“Hey, what’s your problem!?” John asked, unable to hold himself back, he glared back at the stallion, keeping his distance.

“Shining! Watch what you say!” Cadence called, already feeling the tension in the room growing, but Shining ignored her.

“YOU are the problem, you come to our world, basically house yourself with MY sister in her home, like a bum,” he literally fumed from his nose, whatever anger he had been holding back now showing.

“Hey! She offered! And I was going to get a job! But things happened…” he sighed, reminding himself of the chaotic days he’d had.

“Why did she offer thought? She was never good with strangers! You housed her for a week, sure, but she already thinks of you as a brother! What exactly did you do to cause that effect on her? That’s a bond that doesn’t come easily, much less a week!” John took the words in, not knowing how to respond to the conflicted stallion.

He had asked himself that numerous times, after all.

“Enough!” Cadence’s voice boomed in the palace, nearby windows cracking at the mere sound of it.

“B-but… I don’t know…” John said in a low voice, falling to his knees in defeat, Cadence sighed frustrated, and turned towards both of them.

“John, Shining, there is a reason why that happened,” their heads jerked instantly, their full attention now on the Princess.

“How can there be a reason?/How would you know that?” both asked.

“It’s complicated. You see, Twilight told me when she returned; she said, that when she arrived in your world, she remembered everything… However, she had lost sight of who she was.”

The question marks could have been visible in their heads at that moment.

“Okay, honey, what?”

“Well, imagine having memories, but not your own; that’s how she felt according to her. She had the memories, but she felt as if those didn’t belong. She said she was scared, but since it was such a short time, there was no need to worry, and the same thing happened to you too, John, but to a harsher extent if I‘m correct,” his mind recalled the day he arrived in Equestria, bringing back his memory issues.

“So… Me losing my memory… And me barely feeling any actual attachments to family…” Cadence seemed reluctant to reply, but forced herself to.

“…Yes, that’s exactly it.”

“So, my loneliness, combined with her own feelings of not belonging anywhere caused her to become attached to me, huh?"

"According to her, yes."

"So, that’s why I haven’t felt depressed when I remember my sis… Funny, this reveal has gotten me the most depressed since I got here,” he let out a hollow laugh, then sighed, and got on his feet. “Thanks anyway.”

“For what?”

“For telling me this, it… actually answers a lot that I would have been bothered with, but I’m going to have to have a serious conversation with Twilight over this when we are home… Whether you like it or not, pony boy,” he turned to glare at Shining, who now held a hint of sadness on his stare.

“Do what you want.”

The rest of the day seemed to pass quickly, they each took turns holding conversations with Cadence, John had given her his own stories of things events on Earth, while she told him stories about foal sitting Twilight in her younger days, this had allowed him to get his mood back up, as well as learning more of his pony sister, but time quickly passed, a quick look outside caused him to expect darkness, only to find the sky as clear and bright as it had been hours before.

“How come it isn’t nightfall yet?” John had asked at one point.

“The light created here is made by my own magic, it’s inconvenient when trying to sleep, but, as you see, I can’t really complain much,” she said, smiling sadly, John inopportunely yawning at that point.

“My bad!” he apologized regretfully.

“No, that’s alright, you can go to sleep, Shining will take over now," Cadence said groggily. "Besides, Twilight and the others should be back soon, the preparations should be finished by now.

“Okay, if you say so… Sorry…” 

"Stop apologizing and get your flank to sleep," she ordered, and smiling gratefully, he retired himself to a side of the throne room, letting his head rest on the wall where he fell asleep instantly.

“Finally,” Shining settled himself next to Cadence, she pushing him away. “Really? Look I k-”

“Can’t you understand what he gave up? That must have been a tough decision for him,” Shining rolled his eyes in annoyance, something he had done quite a bit through the day.

“Are we done here?” Cadence could only sigh, but she nodded.

“All I want you to know is that he isn’t trying to replace you, he's just... Been through a lot,” she turned to the side, looking at the human on the far wall, snoring quietly, Shining closed his eyes, his unspoken response in his mind.

“I know, Cadence, I know.”
> Not-So-Mini Chapter - Grounded
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 DAYS PRIOR

Waiting can be soooooooooooo boring!

I had been sitting in my bed for the last couple of hours, Applejack hadn’t bothered to show up, if I was going to be grounded, why wasn’t she here yet?

…

Just listen to me, wanting to be grounded, Scootaloo would probably laugh her flank off if she heard me, but she was probably being grounded at this point too. I looked to the side of my bed, finding my drawer half-open, I had left it open in my rush to leave the house, we had planned to get our cutie marks in “archology” or whatever and we were pretty excited! At least until we found Ms. Lyra.

I got out of my thoughts when I heard the door open downstairs, I’d recon it’s my sis, since I had learned how to identify the way their hooves hit against the door, so I recognized it instantly as my sis coming back from Twilight’s place, hopefully having forgotten about what happened earli-

“Applebloom!”

Or maybe not…

“A-Ah’m here sis!” I had learned better than to not reply, otherwise she would have thought I was ignoring her, or even that I was asleep, I tried that once, but that just had ended up with me being pushed off, mattress and all.

What kind of sister does that!?

She finally made her way upstairs, and without knocking, made her way inside the room, I would have thought it had been rude, but I was used to it by now.

“You have some explaining to do, young lady,” she says in a kept tone, holding back any emotion to keep me off guard, it wouldn’t be the first time. Still, I hated it.

“Ah’ know, and Ah’m sorry Applejack…” I replied, showing her one of my many practiced puppy faces. I really didn’t mean it, but it usually helped keep me away from any big punishment, we hadn‘t really done anything bad, it was a library for Faust‘s sake! What could I steal from a library? Books! That‘s the funniest thing I’ve thought all day!

“Ah’ don’t think you really understand, you broke into my friend’s house! That’s no simple thing for me, if you really wanted to meet that odd creature you could have waited too, you know?” she had a point, but my own ‘being a library’ point was just as good! “Ah’m sorry to do this, but you are grounded for the week,” she let out a sigh, making it seem as if she was the one suffering, I was the one who’d been grounded! Not her!

“That’s not fair!” I couldn’t accept this, that was far too long!

“Well, too bad, you should have thought about it before you did it,” with this, she turned around and made to leave, but I wasn’t going down without a fight.

“Who do you think you are! You ain’t my mom!” she stopped and turned suddenly, the look on her face caught me off guard and I fell back on the bed.

“Well, Ah’m all you got! Mom isn’t here nomore, so you better deal wit- Oh my Faust, what am Ah’ saying,” I didn't let her continue, I pushed her out of the room, she had crossed the line, buck her, buck her to Tartarus!

“No, Applebloom, wa-” I didn’t let her finish, I kicked her out, I hate her, I hate her! I want her to die!

“Applebloom!” she calls through the closed door, knocking hard.

“Go away! I hate you! Ah’ wish you weren’t mah sister!” at this, she stopped knocking on the door, and I heard her hoof steps going away, I just couldn’t take it anymore and I cried into my pillow, this had just turned into the worst day of my life!

~~~~~

“Why? Why do you have to go!?”

“I-I’m sorry… But I have to… It’s the only way to further my talent…”

“But why didn‘t you tell me!? You waited until the last minute! How could you…!”

“Applebloom, I…”

“Fine, go! Ah’ don’t need you! Ah’ have new friends anyway!”

“Bu-”

“I don‘t want to hear it!”

“Applebloom!”
~~~~~

I woke up feeling just as tired as I had been the day before, I look outside my window and a smile fills my face, it was Sunday, and I had crusading to d- Oh, wait…

“Ah’m grounded…” I slammed my hoof on the mattress, angry and frustrated, the rage I had felt towards Applejack coming back… Along with the dream I’d just woken up from.

“Ah’ already had a terrible day, why do Ah’ have to remember another…” with drooped hunches, I made my bed and headed downstairs, ready to get some breakfast, at least that can’t go wrong, right?

…

I didn’t say it out loud, so it doesn’t count.

I made my way to the table where Applejack had already served breakfast; Apple pie with sweet glaze on top… My favorite, I looked towards Big Mac and Granny Smith who already sat on their respective chairs, looking at each other nervously. 

I’m young, not stupid.

“Good morning, Applebloom! Here you go!” she greeted me, leaving a slice of the pie by me, I grabbed the plate, and headed upstairs to eat, I wasn’t going to eat with that horrible ‘sister’ around.

I heard a groan and Applejack’s voice before I made it to my room.

“Buck this, gimme that cart, Ah’m gonna go make some bits. Ah’ll see you all later!” and I heard the door slam shut, I would be lying if I said I didn’t get some sort of satisfaction out of it.

I spend the rest of the day locked up in my room, I looked at the roof, each time thinking of both ma and pa… I miss them… I miss them a lot. At the same time, I thought of her, I missed her, but I also hated her—it was conflicting for sure. She had left me, and if it hadn’t been for Scoots and Sweetie, I would have probably been alone for the rest of my life.

A knock interrupted my lone thoughts, and I wiped what I knew were tears from my face, didn’t need to show myself to her like that. I looked outside, realizing I’d just wasted an entire day in my room, as the sun was now setting. What a waste.

“Come in.”

“Hmm, hey, Apple Bloom,” I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit happy when I saw Big Mac coming in.

“Oh, hey Big Mac!” 

“Can we talk?” I sighed, I knew where this was going, but I agreed, he was Big Mac after all, the most talkative of ponies! Heh heh, I made a joke.

“Look, I’m not really good at this, but you should know that Appleja-”

“She didn’t mean it, Ah’ know that’s what you are gonna say, but she went too far!” I crossed my hooves, showing him how mad I still am.

“That‘s because she didn‘t, she hasn‘t had a lot of fun with this, you know?,” I look at him with confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“She’s tried to do her best to raise you, Granny Smith hasn’t been able to due to her age and usually frail nature, and Ah’m not really the most talkative of them at times, she is still dealing with their death too, you know?” he says, a sad tone in his words.

“Well… Ah’ guess…”

“Did you know that she never finished school?” I look at him with shock.

“It couldn't have been that bad...?” he only stares as calmly as Big Macintosh always does.

"Remember why she was never good at mathematics?"

"You can't mean..."

"Eeyup."

"But, why?" I ask, wondering why she'd leave her education like that.

“Because she began working on the farm as soon as they died, helping me. Ah' tried to tell her otherwise, but she never listened to me, you know how stubborn your sis is,” despite the mood of our conversation, we both smiled, thinking how hotheaded sis can be. “She has gone through some rough patches, Apple Bloom, she lost her childhood too, you know?” I look at him and sigh, understanding. "And she has tried to give you the one she never got."

“Yeah… Ah’ know.”

“Ah’ hope you can see how this can be hard for her, and now, I think Ah’ll be heading off, need to get up in the morning," he looks at me, scratching his neck and talks again. "And since there is no school tomorrow, maybe I can take you for some ice cream, what do you say?” 

I smile excitedly. “What do you think Ah’ think! Oh, wait, but Ah‘m grounded,” I say with a hint of sadness.

“Don’t you worry about that,” I only smile and nod, while he face hoofs out of nowhere.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah’ nearly forgot, here, this letter came for you,” he hoofs me a letter and kisses me on the forehead, then he wishes me goodnight and leaves my room, leaving me staring at the letter confused.

“Trottingham, huh… Wonder wh-?” I turn the letter and find myself looking at the seal, which made me gasp instantly; a candy cane.

“… Twist?” despite the anger boiling inside, I allow myself to open the letter and read its contents.

“Dear Applebloom,

It’s me, Twist! I know you might still be angry-

“You can say that again…”

-but please, read me out!

I’m sorry for not warning you that I was leaving in time, I kept pushing it back because I was too nervous of your reaction, and honestly, it was even worse when I did tell you, as you remember. Trust me, I WANTED to stay, but aunt Bon Bon kept telling me that this place was the best to better my talents on, and my mom was so happy and… well, I’m here, learning all about sweets. It’s strange! I didn’t know so much thought was given to candy making, now I appreciate every piece I eat myself… But I’m rambling now.

“You did always enjoy it…” I sigh melancholi-... What was the word again? Dang it, that's going to bother me now.

I just wanted to tell you that I think of you everyday. I miss you, and I wish we could be together again, but I don’t know how long I’ll be here, and so, after forcing myself to write this, I decided that being pen pals was the best way to do so… If you reply, I would take it as a yes, but…. Well, if not, it was nice being your friend.

Your friend whatever your decision may be, Twist.”

I reread the letter, absorbing every word until I had learned it by heart, I was still a bit angry, but… I was also relieved by it, she really was sorry.

“It’s like a weight lifting from my withers…” I got off the bed and headed for the drawer, I grabbed my pen and some paper, and set myself to work.

~~~~~

“Where did sis go?”

“She left in a hurry, she said needed to go see Twilight, saves me the trouble of creating an excuse,” he says, looking relieved, to which I chuckle a bit.

“Ah’ wanted to talk to her,” I said honestly. 

"Going to apologize?"

"Maybe..." I say trying to cover up.

"You are just as bad at lying as she is," he laughs, but I don't find it too funny.

"Oh hush..."

“Well, Ah’m not sure how long she’ll be gone for, but you can do it when she comes back,” I sigh, maybe I can hold this one weight a little bit longer. “Ready for that ice cream?”

“Sure! But can we make a stop at the post office first?” he looks at me with interest.

“Is it about that letter from last night? Who was it?” I only smile and look at him.

“Just… A good friend.”
> The Crystal Empire - Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, this is Norspark, I just changed my name! Enjoy the chapter!


“John?”

“5 more minutes…” he replied instinctively.

“Hurry up, or you are going to be late for school, the bus will be here in ten, and if you don’t get up, you are leaving without breakfast!” at this point, John got up to meet his caller, he looked over his shoulder, only to find a horrifying sight.

“What’s the matter, dear?” John’s face was stuck in the same horrified expression after noticing the person talking to him, its face, having no facial features at all, no mouth, no eyes, no nose. Nothing to identify it. He fell off the bed and ran to a corner, the door to the room opening as he did.

“What’s the matter, mom?” another person asked, holding the same faceless ‘look’ on its head.

“W-who are you!?” he asked them, the figures looked (or so he imagined) with confusion. “Stay away!” he yelled out loud, cowering in the corner.

“John!”

“No! Leave me alone! Twilight! Help me!”

“John! Please! I’m here! Wake up!”


~~~~~


John found himself staring at six magenta colored ponies that all seemed to look like Twilight.

“Oh… You guys… Hey!” all Twilights returned the greeting with a glare.

“What do you mean ‘hey’”? one said in a tone that combined both irritation and worry, one that she managed pretty convincingly. “You were turning and shouting in your sleep! I thought something had happened!”

“W-whatI?“ John held his forehead tiredly and gave the room another look, he found himself only staring at Twilight, with no sight of the others but Shining and Cadence who seemed to be nuzzling each other in the background.

“Geez, eyesight, you are making me see sixtuple now?”

“What happened? You seemed to be having a nightmare,” Twilight asked, cutting his thoughts short, eyeing John warily while he recovered his bearings.

“Yeah… I’m not even sure what I was dreaming. It was odd, I dreamed of…” he racked his brains trying to remember, but was unable to come up with anything. “Dammit, I can’t seem to remember…”

“I suppose it doesn’t matter at the moment, but are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so…” he replied, while rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Say, where are the girls?” he looked around but found none, as his senses began to function, his ears picked up the sound of muffled voices outside. “What the?” he got on his feet and walked towards the open door leading to an outdoor balcony, as he took his first step outside, he was met by a sudden trumpet noise, hitting his ear full force.

“BAD FLUGGLEHORN!” a voice shouted in anger, and while now completely dazed, vision partially blurry, and hearing mostly gone,  John looked towards the source of the initial noise to find a sheepish looking Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to do that, I was practicing out here with my Flugglehorn! It’s just so fun, and the word flugglehorn sounds funny as it’s a word made of two words, fluggle, and horn! Although I don’t know what fluggle means because I’m not a smartypants like Twilight an-” her mouth was stopped by Twilight’s hoof who had just made it outside.

“That’s enough of that Pinkie. John, are you okay?” she asked turning to the sorry looking human on the floor.

“What?” John yelled, unable to hear Twilight’s voice in the slightest.

“Oh Faust…” Twilight facehooved, then gave Pinkie a glare which she returned in kind, it wasn’t too long until both mares started laughing.

“How do you do that?” Twilight asked her, still giggling.

“It’s a gift!” Pinkie responded without any humility. She moved towards John who only stared at the pair in confusion, and after offering a helping hoof, pointed him towards the edge of the balcony.

“Woah…” he looked upon the view that he had in front of him; the entirety of the empire laid before him, homes appearing smaller, the beautiful green prairie in the far ends, as well as the shield that flickered slightly once in a while, he peeked over the edge to busy himself from the sight and found himself surprised when he noticed a great number of ponies on one spot by the main plaza, all hanging around tents that seemed to be in charge of the others who quickly switched from spot to spot in order to keep up with the vast amount of ponies.

“Well, that answers my question… Wait… Why are those ponies shiny?” he asked after noticing the radiance the coats of a few of the ponies were emitting.

“Well, that’s what the ponies here actually look like regularly, pretty fascinating, isn’t it? I wonder if there is some sort of magic invo-” John groaned, partially wishing the ringing in his ears would have stayed.

“Twi,” Pinkie said simply, looking at her with a raised brow. “You don’t have to be a smarty-pants 24-7 you now?” Twilight coughed at an attempt to shift the conversation, and looked Pinkie in the eye with an irritated stare.

“Shouldn’t you be helping down there, Pinkie?” she managed in practiced calm, Pinkie gasped and then saluted her, making her way inside the castle, seconds later, the smoke trail that was Pinkie Pie could be seen by the plaza, already attending to the other ponies… With flugglehorn in hoof.

“Maybe I should go down there too, they seem to have a lot to do, maybe I could help lessen the workload,” John observed, just in time to catch Rarity tripping as she moved from one of the tents to the other, getting up instantly and rapidly turning her head side to side to check if anypony had seen it, then after quickly checking her mane, she trotted away in a dignified manner, John couldn’t help but snicker, but felt bad instantly, wanting to help them out.

“I’m not sure… You shouldn’t be going alone out there, and I’m staying here to read more of the book you gave me to check for the way to activate the Crystal Heart.”

“Crystal-what-now?” John asked confused, Twilight directed him to the balcony once more, where he looked over, noticing Rainbow Dash carrying something under a blanket and then being carefully set into a hole in the middle.

“I made it myself,” Twilight said proudly.

“Duly noted. Still, I think I could be hel-”

“No, I’m not letting you go alone, and that‘s that,” John groaned annoyed at Twilight’s sudden over protecting nature as of late, it had been apparent before, but now it was too obvious for his liking.

“What if I go with him?” came a voice from inside the castle, Shining Armor trotting outside with his wife right beside him.

“I don’t know…” said Twilight right away, not wanting the pair to get into a fight if they went together, having been told by Cadence trough letter of Shining‘s thoughts on the human.

“It’s okay Twilight, they’ll be fine,” Cadence assured her, yawning at the last word and rubbing the accumulated need to sleep from her eyes.

“What about Cadence, then?” asked Twilight dubiously, outwardly concerned for her old foal sitter.

“You can foalsit her while we are out,” Shining joked. Cadence shooting a frown, him in turn returning a kiss in her cheek which only caused her to groan.

“You are unbelievable.”

“I love you too,” he replied smugly, and before any of the present had a chance to respond, he turned to John. “Now come on, let’s go,” John eyed Shining suspiciously, but not having an alternative, he nodded and followed him out.

“Be careful, you hear!?” Twilight called right behind him.

“Yes, mom!” John responded with a hint of annoyance that wasn’t missed by Shining.

“Hey now, she is just looking out for you.”

“I know she is, sorry. It’s just she is kind of getting to me, I can take care of myself well enough, you know?” as soon as they were out of sight, Shining pushed John to a nearby wall, rapidly stopping him in his tracks. “W-what are you doing?” he asked, his voice letting out a bit of his fear.

“Sombra is actively trying to find a way to kill everypony, he tried to do so with Applejack earlier today, but she managed to survive a trail of deadly crystal spikes that made short work of a sheep. THAT’S what has my sister so worried,” John could only ponder over the new information.

“So, is that why…”

“Yes, now stop complaining and let‘s go, we have a fair to help out in.”


~~~~~


“Lulu, you know you can tell me anything.”

“N-no! It’s nothing! I knew I shouldn’t have brought it up!”

“Listen, it’s okay, you are still young, and there are lots of things you don’t und-”

“WE ARE OVER 1,000 YEARS OLD!” Luna replied in anger, making Celestia hold her words for a bit before replying.

“… Perhaps you are… Technically. However, you being possessed by Nightmare Moon for one-thousand years really puts that into question, mentally, you are still a young adult, and I’m just trying to help,” Luna sighed in defeat, her sister always bringing up the issue whenever she got into her moods… But one couldn’t argue with results, however.

“You know you don’t have to bring it up every time? But yes, you are right, Celly,” Luna responded, causing Celestia to groan.

“I’ve always hated that nickname. Now come on, tell your older sister, what are the current events in the empire?”

“YOU ARE 2 MINUTES OLDER THAN W-Oh, I give up,” refusing to let his sister’s teasing get the best of her, she relied the information about the other ponies in the empire.

“I see..." Celestia muttered, mulling over the events. "It was a good idea to have visited the Empire’s library, I take it that book will be useful to Twilight. However, I seem to have underestimated Sombra, he appears to have more influence in the empire than I expected.”

“His range is limited to the outskirts of the city, but we cannot let him continue, perhaps it is time I cut in?”

“No! Luna, you cannot intervene with Twilight’s test, I’ve told you numerous times of the importance of this task,” the annoyed tone that Celestia gave was proof enough of its importance.

“Very well… But I will keep a close eye on them, now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go give the fair another round,” she responded, readying herself to leave.

“I concur, and I can sense Twilight right now, so I will go check on her myself," Celestia concurred. "I need to figure out what exactly is blocking my ability to check on her.”

“You already know what is, though,” Luna said, wondering what her sister was thinking.

“I know, but I need to find out why; it just doesn’t make any sense that he would just block it."

“Very well, I’ll check on them later as well, just in case.”

“As you wish, and, we will discuss whatever has you so flustered when you return,” Celestia finished teasingly before cutting off.

“IT WAS N-Ugh…” Luna sighed and shivered, the memory of ‘his’ appendages bringing her goosebumps.

“I am in the need of a memory erasing spell of sorts,” she sighed before heading back into the fair, hoping for some cotton candy to help ease her uneasiness as she kept an eye on things.


~~~~~


The sounds of the young colts and fillies could be heard through the fair, their laughter filling the air over the relatively calm conversations going on around the plaza, none of the crystal ponies noticing the occasional shield flickering thanks to the entertainment that the elements were giving them, as the ponies continued their fun, John and Shining walked by silently.

“It’s funny, isn’t it?” Shining began as they arrived by the tents in the fair.

“What is?” John asked surprised of Shining’s sudden conversation starter.

“We are using all of these Crystal Ponies to protect the kingdom, their own ignorance helping them survive against King Sombra—it‘s funny, don‘t you think?,” John looked at Shining with a raised brow.

“I don’t know if that’s the correct wording, it’s more like we are helping them help themselves, it IS about their kingdom after all, I think they have an idea about Sombra, they aren‘t stupid,” John noted as Shining grinned at his words, shaking his head.

“What’s so funny?” John asked irritated.

“You are, or rather the way you view things. That’s actually what I was thinking.”

“Then why did you bring that bit of ‘using’ them?”

“I wanted to hear your thoughts, and honestly, I’m glad you didn’t fall for it," Shining chuckled.  "You know, you are alright in my book, John.” 

John gave him a smile of his own “Well, I’ll be, you are finally referring to me by name directly,” John laughed feeling relieved, getting a rough push from the stallion, nearly causing him to fall.

“Rude!”

They maintained conversation during the whole trip until finally reaching the elements. They helped, or rather, tried to help, starting with Rarity and her hat making, only to fail miserably and being kicked out by the pony, getting similar results from the rest of the element bearers.

“Well… That didn’t go so well…” Shining complained, sitting on a bench, huffing exhausted.

“Hey, you beat Rainbow Dash at jousting, that, was a fucking point in my book,” John noted, with Shining giving him a hearty laugh, remembering the face in the rainbow maned Pegasus after losing the match.

“Yeah…” the pair kept in silence, enjoying the calm they had devoted themselves to for the moment. Shining seemed to struggle while doing so, and he let out a loud sigh as he turned to John. “I wanna get this out of the way," he said, looking at the confused John. "Look, I’m sorry for what I said in the castle. I was being a pest, and honestly, I was just jealous of you,” he confessed suddenly, turning to John who smiled amused.

“Dude, are you serious?” John began, bursting into laughter.

“W-what?” Shining demanded, looking flustered without knowing the reason.

“I think it was pretty obvious you were jealous bro, oh God, it hurts!” he kept laughing, only to be pushed off the bench by Shining.

“Geez, that’s the last time I go all sappy on anypony,” John got on his feet and dusted himself, giving the guard pony a smug look.

“Make sure of it, being sappy doesn’t fit you,” Shining glared at him, but laughed nonetheless.

“I guess you are right… Funny how we are laughing while my wife is back at the castle suffering, darn it…" Shining lamented. "I’ll make sure not to mention how much fun I had, otherwise, she wouldn’t let me have fun with her, if you know what I me-”

“Oh God, please, stop.”

“That’s payback for the mocking, and trust me, I have lots of  sexy stori-.”

“Stop! Geez, fair enough…”

The pair went back to silence,  unable to keep the conversation going. John recounting to himself how he’d gotten there to begin with, the fun they’ve had, and how an overly powerful unicorn was about to destroy them.

“Wish they could just blast him out of existe- Wait..”

“Hey Shining, how come the girls didn’t bring the elements? You know, those things that Twilight once told me they used to defeat pretty much everypony?” he asked, while Shining gave him a quizzical look.

“What are you talking about? They did bring them, they always do,” John retraced his steps and thought about Twilight having a suitcase or something that could contain the objects, but soon realized that all of the luggage had been lost.

“Oh no! We have to go back outside! We need to get the elements!” John said quickly, trying his best to remain calm.

“Um, John, are you okay? They’ve had them, it‘s kind of hard to miss them….”

“What do you m-

“BUUUUUUUCK!” came a faint voice from behind them, a few ponies heard the scream, but none paid it any mind, while John and Shining looked at each other

“That came from the tower, didn’t it?“ John began.

“Twily… Come on, let’s go,” John nodded and the pair began their trek back to the castle.


~~~~~


After quickly running back to the tower (with Rainbow and Applejack tagging along), the group finally reached the throne room, where they found a furious looking Twilight Sparkle.

“I’m SO stupid! How did I not see it coming?”

“If I told you for the 10th time that it happens to even the best of us, would you actually listen this time?” responded an exhausted looking Cadence.

“Nope,” replied the arriving party at the same time, causing both mares to turn toward them.

“I made a terrible mistake!” Twilight began, quickly running towards the group.

“How about you explain, sis?”

“There is a page missing! And after asking around, I learned that there is only one true Crystal Heart!” she explained, pulling out the book and showing all, highlighting the rip mark with her magic.

“Uh huh…” Rainbow said incredulously.  “Oh, that may be the reason why some of the ponies kept saying they were surprised that we’d gotten the Crystal Heart back. Maybe I should have been more attentive… Heh heh…” the others only glared at Rainbow. “Hey! I was entertaining the other ponies! I was working too hard to pay too much attention!”

“Did this ’extra hard work’ have anything to do with the beating Shining gave you, Dash?” asked Applejack with a sour look on her face.

“Um… No?” Dash replied sheepishly.

“Whatever the case, we have a bigger problem at hoof, and I think one of you needs to keep the ponies away from the crystal, otherwise, we might have a big panic coming,” cut in Shining, assessing the situation.

“Good point. Don’t y’all worry, Ah’ll keep an eye out for any of them curious ponies,” Applejack saluted Shining and ran out the door.

“Why does everypony feel the need to salute? A hoof bump once in a while could be nice!” John gave him an unamused look at his jest, one that Shining only shooed away with his hoof.

“What? Just trying to keep the situation from getting too tense here.”

“Can we get back on topic here? I need to find the real heart!” Twilight began, her mane already a disheveled mess.

“What do you mean ‘I’?” both John and Rainbow asked, giving Twilight a harsh look.

“I mean, that this is more than likely the test the Princess tasked me with. Rainbow!” she began, turning to the rainbow maned Pegasus.

“Y-yeah?” she replied a little taken aback.

“I need you to help the others keep the Crystal Ponies happy, we don’t want them to be discouraged, otherwise, finding the real Heart will be pointless!” Rainbow nodded.

“Fine… You can count on me!” she said, then flew out the door, heading towards the fair.

“I’ll help!” Shining offered, his wife quickly falling beside him, as she did, the small trail of magic coming from her horn gave away, and the shield outside shook, then disappearing from sight, a giant cloud of smoke becoming visible in the distance.

“Oh no… Cadence!” called Shining, the Princess of love quickly perked up and recast her magic, the shield quickly coming back, and a yelp of pain sounding off in the distance.

“That didn’t sound too good…” John gulped in fear.

“I… think it might be better for you to stay, Shining” suggested Twilight, looking nervously at both ponies.

“Yeah… Okay. Then take John with you,” he suggested, John giving him a thumbs up as thanks.

“No! He is staying he-” Twilight found John’s hand in her muzzle before finishing her sentence.

“No can do, I’m going, and you won‘t stop me, besides, I’m not getting in your way, so please?” Twilight seemed to think it over, her mind quickly scanning every possibility, she instantly groaned and gave John a worried stare.

“Fine, but please, be careful, and just so we are clear, whatever happens, do not try to help me, okay?”

“Well, I-”

“Okay!?” she insisted right away.

“Um… Okay,” John agreed reluctantly.

"Good," she nodded convinced and put herself in front of him. 

“Er, what are you doing?” 

“Just get on me! It’ll be faster!” John gave her an incredulous look, unable to grasp what she had in mind, he looked at himself, being over little over 200 pounds in comparison to her less than 100 as he guessed whenever he had carried her.

“Um…”

“GET ON!” she demanded, he hesitantly did as he was told, Twilight grunting as he laid his weight on her, Shining and Cadence only stared, looking just as hesitant as he was.

“G-good!” magic flowed out of her horn and she enveloped herself in it, suddenly smiling confidently, she began her trot out, John holding onto her neck the softest he could to avoid cutting her breathing.

“How are you doing this!?” he asked as Twilight increased speed.

“It’s sort of a neat little trick I learned when I needed to move heavy objects without the need of telekinesis, this is basically how I wrapped my 2nd winter last year!” John became more confused at her words. “Oh, right! I’ll tell you later! But don‘t tell Applejack I said it!”

“Err, okay,“ The pair reached the bottom of the stairs and rushed out.

“Twily, John! Be careful!” the pair heard as they left the castle, Twilight galloped past the ponies in the fair, passing a complaining Pinkie Pie on the way, John noticed Twilight‘s rapid breathing as she ran, muttering slightly to herself, she stopped and groaned for a bit, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. 

“Um… Twi? You okay?”

~I have the need to be quick and find myself a needed clue, - “Excuse me?” 
I can‘t let anything mess up my very important test, - “Um…”
I must go onwards, there is no stopping me
To finish the task the Princess tasked me wi-~

“Twilight? What the hell are you doing? Are you singing!?” John asked confused, Twilight did not respond and kept rushing ahead but stopped her spontaneous song, passing a few ponies who jumped out of her path surprised, until finally she came to a full stop mere seconds later.

“W-what? Why did we stop?” John asked, while Twilight facehooved for the 15th time that day.

“Of course! Why didn‘t I think of that!”

“Twilight!” both turned to find Spike approaching them.

“Spike!” called John. “Help! Twilight was just singing out of nowhere and I thi-”

~I’m here to go with you on your task, whatever that may be~

“Or maybe you can sing too, don‘t mind me I‘ll wait here!” John groaned sarcastically, burying his face in Twilight’s mane.

~There is no way you are going/please I won’t get in the way!
Fine just keep yourself from helping me, on the task that Celestia has tasked me with!~

“Can we go now? Before you all start singing again?” Twilight nodded and began heading back towards the castle.

“So what’s the actual situation? All Rarity told me was that Twilight had gotten in trouble,” the dragon inquired, then listened to John’s explanation, making sure to remember. “I see, don’t worry Twilight, you go-”

“What’s going on, John?” a familiar voice called the human, causing Twilight to stop, she turned around, only to find the pony now familiar to John; Dream Chaser, pieces of cotton candy sticking from her muzzle.

“Who are you? We don’t have time for this!” Twilight responded looking annoyed.

“Let’s just say we found the solution to our problem, and we have to go, now!” John vaguely explained, the mare sighed and a stream of magic left her horn, John was forcibly grabbed, and put on Chaser‘s back, relieving Twilight of some of the weight.

“What are you do-”

“I’m going, do not worry, I will not intervene,” she replied looking at Twilight directly, her eyes responding with understanding while licking the sweet off her face.

“Very well… ‘Dream Chaser’, just please, do not intervene,” John noticed the suspicion on her voice and got off Chaser to approach Twilight.

“It’s okay, she helped me out, we can trust her to… Not help out? I guess,” he said confident, Twilight grimaced and turned to him.

“I know, and I hope you are right and my theory isn‘t,” choosing not to waste his time questioning yet another cryptic message, he got back on Chaser, and the pair set of to the castle once more.

~We are heading to the castle, where we might find a clue~ / “Of course!” John complained once more.
~I know that I can do it whether with strangers or friends,
It’s a Princess given task,
I’m ready to,
She is ready to~ John jumped slightly as Dream Chaser began her singing as well as they entered the palace.
~To finish this
To finish this~ “That’s it! I can’t take this anymore!”
~To finish the task the Princess tasked me wi-~

“TWILIGHT!” she stopped, realizing they had made their way into the throne room, Cadence and Shining nowhere to be found..

“What?” she replied looking confused, John held his face with both hands, he took a deep breath and gave the room a look before getting off Chaser and addressing them all.

“I‘m going to ignore the elephant in the room, and I will address it at a later date, for now we need to know what the plan is. Please?” he asked, trying to get the odd event out of his head for the time being.

“But, there is no elepha- It doesn’t matter, in any case, we are looking in the one place that Sombra would keep the heart… His throne!” explained Twilight triumphaly, the others only staring confused.

“Wait, this is the place where he lived thought… Right?” asked Spike, John scratching his head trying to keep up.

“Well, it is, but it just didn’t look like this at all… Okay guys, stay back, I’m trying something, I just hope it works!” Twilight closed her eyes, sweat already coming out, then, her closed eyes dripping with dark smoke and her horn glowing black.

“Um… Twilight?” John said worried at this point, Twilight began charging a dark beam from her horn, John fell back as a tinge of pain hit his forehead. “Ouch! What the…?” he opened his eyes and noticed what appeared to be a set of stairs leading underground had appeared on the floor.

“John? Are you okay?” Twilight asked, helping him on his feet.

“Yeah… How did you do that thought? That was odd,” he asked, looking at the last of the dark mist disappear from her eyes.

“It’s a trick that I picked up from Celestia,” she replied, looking proud of herself.

“Ms. Twilight, we shouldn’t waste time,” called Dream Chaser, already starting her way downstairs.

“Woah there! I’m going in, ’Chaser’, you can stay here with Spike.”

“Hey!” he complained.

“Sorry Spike, John came first, and I don‘t want more help than I can get, besides, you‘d be more useful than he was,” John huffed at this while waiting for her by the stairs. “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Ready, John?” asked Twilight, John nodding rapidly in response, then, the pair making their way down the dark corridor

“Not fair…” Spike said disappointed, then he looked at the strange pony besides him and smiled nervously. “So… Come here often?”


~~~~~


“Why is it so dark in here?” we had gone down quite a few ways, and there had been nearly no light for a while, I had nearly tripped once and fallen, only to be caught by Twilight’s magic and pushing myself to the edge of the wall to avoid that shit again.

“Do you really want me to answer that question?” she said in a flat tone, me realizing what she meant.

“Oh shut up, I was just confused… See!? I need some damn light!” I reached into my pocket and took out a lighter, I looked at it a bit confused, it looked familiar, but I wasn’t too sure where it had come from.

“Oh, your sister’s lighter!” 

“My what?” Ugh! Another shot of pain went through my forehead, keeping me from concentrating, so I put the lighter away and kept walking..

“Why did you put it back?” she asked confused.

“Um… You have magic, why don’t you use it?” I said a bit more irritated than I‘d like, but instead of getting a worried stare, I got her to facehoof… Yet again. I swear I could see the mark her hoof had left on her face by now.

“Just a bad day, everypony has them,” she countered, her horn showing a small light, we continued silently for what felt like hours, or perhaps a few minutes, my sense of timing had been thrown off ever since we came to the empire. After some dubiously counted time passed, we finally made it to the bottom.

“I… Hate… Stairs!” I certainly wasn‘t fond of them at least, I hated going up and down the damn things, even living on a two floor home back on Earth was a pain… Or at least I think it was, my mind had been very fuzzy since waking up.

“Oh, you are such a whiner,” laughed Twilight, I stuck my tongue out and looked at my surroundings; it was dark, obviously, but my eyes had grown adjusted to it well enough, and I was able to notice the door with a crystal on top right in front of us to use. “This is too easy,” Twilight said worried, and she was right, there had to be a catch.

She once again charged her magic, another stream of the dark mist coming from her horn and making a direct path towards the crystal on top of the door, opening in contact.

“Ouch! What the heck is going on?” another shot of pain hit my forehead, this time, stronger than the last, the pains had been minor, but now they had gotten painful to the point of sending me into a minor stupor every time. 

“Well, I guess sometimes we can have some luck!“ Twilight quipped looking satisfied. “Ready to go?” Twilight called on me, and so, as any sibling would, I worked through the pain, she would help me get rid of it later anyway. I put my hand on her withers, and together, we went through the now open door.

…

“What?”

I opened my eyes and found myself in a valley, it was beautiful to say the least, but something stood out from the majesty of the place, and that was the charred looking spot just a few feet away, needless to say, I wasn’t in the tower anymore.

“What’s going on here… Where am I?”

“Did they send you? I wouldn’t be surprised, he knows of this place after all,” I turned to meet the owner of the voice, only to find a white blob in the shape of a pony, I began panicking, and the figure did not yield, making me realize it wasn‘t able to see me..

“I knew it, and ag…
Oh no… 
Could it be… “ it babbled over and over, almost as if it was having a conversation with somepony that wasn’t there.

"Have they found it? Then I have nothing more to say to you, you must go, not even I wish death upon you, go! Before you cease to be, this world is doomed,” the blob disappeared as it had come, evaporating in thin air, I had to admit, ’end of the world’ was something that could easily pique my interest, but I had not much time to ponder upon it, I looked behind me and I saw it… An explosion. A big one from the sound of it, I gazed into the sky seeing pieces of debris flying, before being instantly wiped out from existence as the wave hit.

“What’s happening here? Why is this happening!?” I said out loud, unable to comprehend what I was witnessing, was this a dream, was this just a fantasy made in my mind? I had no way of knowing, and obviously, no escape, my thoughts raced until I felt the wave finally hit me, and I felt myself float away.

I was floating.

Everything was floating…

~~~~~

“This, is not the Crystal Heart, this, is a fraud!” one of the Crystal Ponies exclaimed angrily, tossing his hat upon the floor, his mane becoming a crystallized spiky mess showing his mood.

“Ugh, er, I!” Rarity struggled to talk as she looked upon her creation on the floor. “How dare you!? Do you know the hard work I put into that specific hat!?” she was practically fuming, the pony noticed the look in her eyes and backed away, his mane returning to the same sorry looking state as before.

“Listen y’all, we were trying to keep you happy while we recover the real Crystal Heart, can’t you not see that? Please, you have to trust us!” she pleaded, her frown sweating profusely.

“Yeah! Twilight is working hard to find it! And she will, isn’t that right girls?” Rainbow assured the surrounding ponies, receiving the sound of her friends, agreeing.

All but one.

“Hmm…” the pink pony hummed loudly, checking her tail, looking at it with an analyzing stare.

“What are you doing Pinkie?” Dash looked at Pinkie’s tail and found nothing particularly special about it. “We can’t have you being  just you at a time like this, this is serious!” Pinkie turned her head slowly, housing a rarely seen look on her face. Worry, and a hint of confusion.

“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” asked Fluttershy who noticed it first.

“My Pinkie sense was acting up… It was my tail,” the mares all instantly went into high alert, Applejack instantly shouting instructions.

“Okay everypony! Watch out! Something might be fa-” Pinkie covered her muzzle with her hoof, removing it after she had calmed down.

“Well, that was a role reversal…”

“Applejack, my tail was twisting itself, it has never done that.”

“Well, what the hay does that even mean?” asked Applejack confused, Rainbow flying in the background along with Fluttershy and Rarity, trying to help calm the Crystal ponies down.

“I… I don’t know, I said I’ve never felt something like this before…” she looked at the  floor, her gaze wanting to penetrate the solid concrete floor. “I… Think Johnny-boy needs our help!”

“Pardon?” 

“You girls can handle it!” after recovering from her serious tone, she ran off, leaving a trail of smoke behind her, leaving Applejack holding a Pinkie Pie shaped balloon animal.

“Um…” she let it go and it floated away into the sky. “Well… Ah’ hope you know what you are doing, Pinkie Pie.”


~~~~~


“Twilight! Snap out of it!” Spike slapped Twilight with his tail, getting her back to her senses, she shook her head confused, fresh tears falling from her shimmering eyes.

“W-what? What’s happening?”

“You were in some sort of trance, Spike here fell in one too as we came down, it apparently makes you see bad things…” the newly arrived Dream Chaser explained, looking at Spike seemed on the verge of tears himself, he ran towards Twilight and hugged her.

“Y-you wouldn’t give me a-a-away, would you?” he said between sniffles, crying into her mane, Twilight giving him a motherly look.

“I wouldn’t give you away, even for the Princess’ oldest and most valuable book,” she replied nuzzling him. “And what about John? He went inside with me,” Chaser pointed towards the wall, where the human laid himself on, waiting.

“John! Are yo-”

“Fine, I’m fine. Let’s just keep going,” he walked towards the door and waited for the others who only stared at him blankly, Twilight turned towards the other two silently questioning them.

“He woke up like that on his own, we have no idea what he saw,” Twilight turned back and noticed him waiting by the door once more, tapping his fingers impatiently.

“Okay… I’m not gonna fail this test, and nothing will stop me. Nothing,” she gave a look of determination, and this time, a purple stream of her usual magic left her horn, opening the door and allowing them in.

“Good job Twi! Well, I guess it’s time for us to go back, huh?” Spike said discouraged.

“No,” Spike jumped in place surprised. “In fact, I think you both should come with us, that way you can protect John in case I mess up somehow, and Chaser can protect you!" she finished nuzzling the young dragon.

“But you never mess up!” Spike replied proudly, and Twilight returned a thankful smile, looking ahead. 

“Let us hope that stays true,” she walked into the door, and her ears flattened at the sight she came across.

“What is it Tw- Oh geez…” the group witnessed the monolift in front of them, stairs going so high that the top was not visible at all.

“You can’t be serious…” complained Spike.

“Need a ride, little dragon?” offered Chaser, an offer that Spike quickly accepted, as they began their ascent.

“So, Twilight?” Spike called his sister of sorts.

“Yes, Spike?”

“What did you see in your trance thingie?”

“… Let’s just say it wasn’t very nice and leave it at that… I don’t want to talk about it,” feeling the discomfort Twilight had, he ended the conversation and the group continued their ascent in silence..

~~~~~

“Please sweetie, you have to hold on…” ever since the others had left, Shining had desperately tried to keep his wife awake, using every method necessary.

Every single one.

“Shining, I don’t think it’s fair for you to leave me like this!” she said sounding desperate.

“Sorry dear, I have to, maybe I can keep the blood from going to your head, but otherwise, you are staying like th- Whoops…” he had let go of his wife, causing her to fall into the edge, as she had been hanging from the balcony for the past couple of minutes.

“Sorry dear! My hoof slipped!” he swiftly apologized, his wife returning with tired blows from her wings and into the balcony once more.

“You…! I can’t do this, I’m sorry Shining, I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to hold on…” she fell on her limbs, breathing heavily and slowly, her magic disappearing from her horn until a singular spark remained, before completely going away, Shining looked up, watching in horror as the shield silently broke, and then came the… Silence?

“What the?” he looked over the horizon, but found nothing, no cloud, no menacing danger going in, it was safe. “What is the meaning of t-”

“Zzz…” the loudness of the snoring caught Shining by surprise, he looked down at his wife and found a smile on her face, he would have been smiling himself if it wasn’t for what was happening, or rather, what wasn’t happening anymore.

“Twili… This silence… Please, please, I beg to the Princesses that you are safe…”

~~~~~

“Aaaah!”

“It’s okay, Spike! It’s just some gravity magic!” she said as they slid faster and faster, Twilight had come to the conclusion they would take too long to reach the top, and after some quick thinking, she had chosen to reverse their gravity pull, allowing them to ride in the strangely smooth bottom part of the stairs.

“I must admit, Twilight, this is a rather unorthodox way to travel!” Dream Chaser screamed at the top of her lungs, but the excitement could be easily heard in her voice.

Twilight looked towards John who was riding with Spike in his hands, his face showing his fear, hugging Spike as one would a pillow, she turned her head forward as she noticed the roof coming in fast.

“Get ready! We are almost there!” it wasn’t long until they finally made it outside, all of them falling, or rather, going up into the sky, Twilight was swift, and undid the spell, causing the group to fall into a small pile.

“You are crushing me!” yelled Spike who was under John at the moment.

“Oh, my bad, Spike, here you go,” he managed to get him on his stubby feet and moved away, looking around the place they were now in. A quick look to the edge informed them of their location; the very top of the Crystal Tower.

“The heart!” Twilight said instantly, causing the group to turn quickly, it floated effortlessly, as if hanging from an invisible thread, it shone brightly, just like the coats of the ponies that it could be protecting. Twilight ran towards it, and she got closer, until she had it in her hooves. “We did it, guys!”

“Oh, that you did indeed,” dark spikes came out from the ground, blocking Twilight’s path all around.

“No…” Dream Chaser’s horn lit up, revealing a trail of magic building up.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, you wouldn’t want to harm this poor human, would you?” Twilight’s ears perked up, recognizing the voice, and she desperately looked for a crack in the wall, she quickly found one, and what she saw, caused her to instantly tear up.

“Oh, hello ‘Twili’, glad to have you here, now about you be a good little sis and give me that heart now?” John said in a rough voice, smiling deviously.

“No… no, no, no, no. No!” she noticed the dark lines around John’s eyes, the way he spoke, and the way he’d demanded things. The person talking was not John. “It's Sombra!”

“Hmph, that’s King Sombra to you, element,” he said looking inexplicably angry with her.

“But, how? How did you even get into him!?” she asked while desperately trying to get over the multiple spikes, her mind worked quickly, and she teleported out, but somehow, the power of the dark crystal only teleported her back in.

“I apologize Twilight Sparkle, but I cannot let this demon get away,” an immense cloud of magic covered up the unicorn known as Cloud Chaser, and seconds later, it dissipated to reveal an angry Princess Luna.

“What the!?” said Spike looking confused.

“Luna! You promised!” yelled Twilight who didn’t seem surprised at all.

“I am sorry, but the greater good is at stake here,” she charged her horn, preparing a magical attack, but the surprising thing was that Sombra remained unmoving.

“Why do you not move?” she asked, taken aback at his obvious foolishness.

“Well, the thing is that… I don’t want your magic to hurt me,” he responded simply, while Luna stared dumbfounded at his words, she shook her head and took aim.

“Do not try to confuse us!” she spared a look to Twilight who was only shaking her head rapidly, mouthing silent ‘no’s over and over.. “Someday, you will forgive me, friend,” and she fired, the shot hitting John/Sombra head on, the tower shook as it hit, but otherwise remained undamaged by the blast.

“Luna! Why!? Buck you to Tartarus! We could have found another way!” Twilight yelled at the top of her lungs, falling apart in the spot, pulling herself into a ball, crying at her own misery.

“Oh Twily, why must you be so melodramatic?”

“No way!” Spike said looking at something that was not supposed to be there anymore. Twilight instantly got up and searched for the source of the voice, finding her brother whose clothes had been torn from the blast, but otherwise, okay.

“W-what is the meaning of this!?” Luna said loudly, her voice echoing in the Canterlot voice.

“It doesn’t matter, what matters is that you are powerless,” he made a stance and crystals shrouded Luna, keeping her immobile, her horn covered in dark crystals to keep her from using it again.

“Princess!” Spike said, running towards her and trying to get the spikes, to no avail, only to be thrown aside by another spike, the poor dragon hitting the wall hard, knocking his breath out and causing him to instantly pass out.

"Spike!?" yelled Twilight, rage in her eyes.

“Now, the real show can commence.”

Snap! The sound of his fingers echoing somehow.

In the outskirts of the kingdom, a giant trail of smoke began to slowly move in, dark crystals appearing as it touched the ground, the Crystal ponies noticed this and began running, their terror filled screams the only sound for miles.

“Well… This doesn’t look good…” said Rainbow while watching the horizon.

“Well, no shit!" AJ yelled an uncharacteristic curse. "Whatever tipped you off? The giant smoke? Or the terrified Crystal ponies, sometimes Ah’ just can’t believe you.”

“Hey! I’m just confused here! I don’t know what we are supposed to do!” Applejack looked regretful and turned back to Rainbow.

"Ah'm sorry! Ah' guess I'm confused as well..."

“I-I-I’m scared, Applejack…” said Fluttershy, while being held by Rarity who held a sad look in her face, the intense wind that had just started managing to ruin her mane completely, seeing her like that only made Applejack worry more.

“Ah’m scared too Sugarcube,” she hugged the pair, Rainbow joining in soon after. “Ah’m scared too…”

Back at the top of the tower, Twilight desperately tried to free herself doing all kinds of magic, but all ending with her back inside.

“Ready to give up?”

“No! And give John his body back!”

“I don’t think so, he is far more useful that you would think, element,” he got on his feet and began walking around in circles. “How about I give you a clue to help you escape? Tell me, what did you use to remove to activate the crystals in the throne room?” he awaited for a bit while Twilight worked her brain, her eyes quickly shining, then, a dark mist coming out of them.

Sombra smiled.

“Twilight, stop! It must be a trap of some sort!” the young dragon said, having woken at that moment, but it had been too late, and Twilight was instantly on the floor, the mist slowly spreading across her face.

“Oh, did I forget to mention that not controlling your negative thoughts can cause the energy to corrupt you? It must have slipped my mind!” Sombra laughed, using John’s voice, the sound much more terrifying for all present.

Twilight screamed at the top of her lungs, intense pain running through her body

…

The mist grew closer, already taking homes.

…

The elements tried their best to get everypony to the center, but there was no escape, they were surrounded.

…

Cadence woke, but her magic would not work, she had not enough magic necessary for a shield.

…

Pinkie ran as fast as she could, trying to reach the top, but she was not even close.

…


~~~~~


Have you ever wondered what is like to be in a vegetable-like state? Able to see, but unable to do anything at all to interact? Well, what was happening to me now was twice as bad. Not only I didn’t have the ability to interact, but I had a megalomaniac controlling my body and doing things that I didn’t think were possible for me.

The lesser of them being not being shamed at being naked, but honestly, I couldn’t do much, and that just brought me to tears. I wasn’t able to help Twilight, and the worse part... To protect her.

“And now, I am trapped here forever… I’m a fucking useless thing…” I laid my head between my legs, hugging them with my hands, I found comfort in being able to do this here while not being able to do it with my actual body.

Gotta find the silver lining in this hell, after all.

“You give up far too quickly…” a voice said, I chalked it up to it being Sombra again, he had been talking to me for a while, but he’d left after getting bored, and I honestly wasn’t in the mood.

“Go away. I’m wallowing in my own despair, can’t you see that?” I was being pathetic, but there was nothing much I could do in my situation.

“Stop your moping right now, you need to get up, otherwise, Twilight Sparkle, your foster sister, the being that you cared for, will die,” now he was just being annoying, I got on my feet and looked around, not that I could see much, being trapped in a pitch black mental prison with only a way to see-but-not-hear outside.

"Shut up already!"

“You have the power to help her… Do you want her to die?” okay, now he was getting to my nerves.

“Look, she doesn’t need me! I would just get in the way! She can get out of it herself…” I lied, I wasn't too sure of the identity of this voice, as it sounded slightly different, more ambiguous.

“If you really think so… Look outside,” I did as I was told, and to say I was horrified by what I saw would be an understatement; Twilight’s coat glowed a dark purple, the dark  energy around her eyes enveloping her body, I could see her trembling lips with great clarity, her eyes still tearing up.

“Okay! You showed me this Sombra, you want to break me, is that it!?” I cried out loud, I couldn’t keep it in, there she was, being corrupted by it, and I couldn’t do a damn thing.

“All you gotta do is believe and you can save your sister… Just think of this: Do you want Sombra out of your body?” the voice asked, horrible cliche aside, it managed my attention.

“… Who are you?” I asked intrigued, this could not have been Sombra telling me this after all.

“It’s your body… Just ask… And just maybe… It will respond…” the voice went away, I didn't have a single way to trust it, a way to confirm that it was right.

But I also had nothing to lose.

So, ask my body I did.


~~~~~


“Argh! What in Tartarus!” Twilight observed weakly as Sombra held his head, obviously trying his best to hold himself together.

“Twilight!” called Spike, he approached her easily, the spikes long since removed. “Oh Celestia… We have to get you out of here!” he said, trying his best to hold himself together, but to no avail, the spikes around her fell, allowing her a chance to escape... But unable to do it in her current state, she looked around, noticing Spike weakly dragging himself.

“Spike… Take the heart… And deliver it… It’s all up to you…” she managed, losing consciousness after finishing her sentence.

“Twilight! Wait!” he'd managed to hear her, and he had quickly cut the distance between both, he stared at his sister, her coat singed in places, her face a miserable mess, he held the need to hug her and grabbed the heart, slowly limping towards the edge. No other choice.

“No!” John/Sombra screamed loudly, smoke enveloped his body for a second, before completely disappearing from sight, leaving only John behind, who wasted no time in falling to the floor, panting heavily.

“John!?” Spike called, he ran to him, watching for any signs of Sombra’s control, but finding none. “You are back!” the human smiled weakly and pointed downwards.

“Take it… They need you…” he smiled as the dragon limped away, and before he could do anything else, he lost consciousness, and knew no more.
> Unprecedented Events
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“How? How are you doing this!?”

“I don’t know buddy, but I‘m not looking a gift horse in the mouth”

“Aaargh!”

Despite my own doubts, it was working, and I couldn’t give  it up, then, I felt the darkness around me tremble, and then, the “walls” began to break, the darkness being slowly removed by light coming from the cracks that appeared.

“You…”

“Get out!” I yelled at the top of my mental lungs, Sombra growled back in response, and suddenly, I felt myself regain control of my body, completely limp, and falling to the floor like a rock.

“You are just like him… Good riddance I say,” were the words I heard before losing consciousness.


~~~~~


“Aah!”

“Ahh!”

“Oh my god, what!?” John felt himself fall over something, it took over a minute for him to realize his current situation; he was on the floor, and his face was directly face down on the floor over something soft, he took a deep breath and opened his still closed eyes, noticing a pillow in which his head now rested.

“What the hell?” he cursed, humming confusedly, and feeling the cold floor around him, only serving to confuse him further.

“John!?” came the sound of a voice just above him, he grunted at its closeness and got on his feet, popping his bones in the process, he turned his head to the bed to find the small form of Spike sitting on it.

“Are you okay!? That was quite a fall,” ignoring him for the moment, John looked around, it was a big room, lavish red curtains hanging in each window, a clean, and polished floor reflecting his face, and the bed he had just been laying on looking as comfortable as it probably was for him when he was on it.

“We are in Canterlot?” he asked himself, knowing the answer already, he looked at Spike once again, noticing a cast on his right arm and a small boot in his left leg. “Spike? Are you okay? That cast!”

“Oh, this? Pfft, no worries! I’m doing fine, but better question is, are you okay? You know…” -he cut off suddenly- “After what happened?” he seemed to hesitate as he asked, hiding his able arm behind his back.

“Me? Well…” he tried recollecting his thoughts, doing his best to remember what had transpired. “We went to this Crystal Empire, then we threw a fair, and then Twilight found this Crystal Heart thing, and then… Argh!” he held his head as he felt a headache coming in, he allowed himself to sit on the bed as it passed, the young dragon stealing a glance at him every few seconds. “What’s up with you?” John asked when he noticed Spike continuously looking at him.

“Sombra…” he began, shivering at the mere mention of the name.  “He took over your body, that’s what,” he stared at John, his face a mask of sudden seriousness.

“Ugh!” John held his head as the throbbing pain returned, but this time, returning with a stream of images in his head. “Oh… Wait… I think I remember… What happened to Sombra, Luna was there too, and…Twilight!?” he turned to Spike. “Where is Twilight!?” he asked loudly, holding the young dragon’s shoulders, his ragged breathing showing his distraught state.

“The Princess wants to see you,” Spike simply sighed, he moved John’s arms aside and got off the bed, heading for the door.  “Go out and turn right, pass ten rooms and you will find the Princess’ study, she’ll be waiting there… And I-I‘m sorry if I can‘t tell you anything but… I was forced to Pinkie promise,” he looked at John nervously one last time and closed the door, leaving him on his own.

John sat there dumbfounded at Spike’s sudden change of tone, his worry over Twilight, what happened in the Crystal Empire, himself; all weighting down on his mind. “Twilight… Did she di- No! It couldn’t be! She is a strong pony, yeah! She is alive. Yes. And Celestia will reaffirm that!” he got on his feet and began walking to the door, stopping as he reached for the handle.

“Um…” he looked at himself for a bit and a noticeable red appeared on his cheeks once he had realized it. “Why the hell am I naked…?” he fumed both embarrassed and annoyed.


~~~~~


After some quick searching in the room, he had been pleasantly surprised to have found a shirt and a pair of pants resting on a chair, unfortunately for him, no underwear nor socks were left behind.

“Beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose.”

He left the room and began his walk, heading towards the room Spike had told him about, questions plagued his mind on the way there. “Why does she want to see me? Is it about Twilight? And what the heck is a Pinkie Promise again?” he walked the ample hallway in silence. With no sign of guards to be found, he calmed his wondering thoughts by looking outside at a view of the mountainside; the city of Canterlot visibly going about its business under the grand castle, it was quite a sight to behold.

“And ten...” he audibly finished his mental counting, reaching a pair of doors engraved with the logo of the sun, he took a quick gulp of air, and made to knock on the door.

“I’ve been waiting for you, John, come on in,” he was taken aback by Celestia’s voice, surprised by her knowing of his presence. Choosing to leave it to her omnipotent abilities, he slowly made his way through the doors, readying himself to find some answers, he shook slightly as he entered the room, her presence usually causing his guard to be up expecting his own death by magical Alicorn for whatever reason.


“Shut up brain, can’t I be afraid of a goddess?”


“Welcome John, I am glad to see you looking better,” Celestia warmly welcomed him from the podium she stood by, giving him a warn smile.

“Yes, thank you, but can we cut the pleasantries? You know why I’m here,” he responded without thinking ahead, his hand moved like lighting to his mouth in response to his sudden rudeness, mentally cursing himself for his tactless act. The smile on Celestia’s face faded, and she let out a sigh.

“Straight to the point, I see,” the doors closed by themselves behind him, scaring him slightly as they automatically locked themselves, taking it as a sign, he took a deep breath and walked towards Celestia, making sure to avoid her gaze by inspecting the room.

A few torches hanged around the room, separated just enough to give the right amount of light, a single window lay hidden in the far end, behind numerous bookshelves that kept it mostly hidden from sight, various ancient looking paraphernalia, the set up giving the room a mysterious feel that John hadn’t noticed in the other parts of the castle.

“Okay, w-what do you want?” he timidly asked as he stood as close as he dared to.

“John” she began right away. “What you experienced at the Crystal Empire was something that I apologize for, I should have taken care of Sombra all those years ago,” she closed her eyes, showing her regret, John frowned in return, uncomfortable with her apology.

“Look, Princess?”

“You can call me Celestia, I can at least give you that much.”

“Er, okay. Celestia? It’s okay, sometimes we can’t control what happens, you did what you thought was best with the circumstances, okay?” he tried reassuring her, feeling a bit relieved. “Besides… It was my fault, I shouldn’t have gone, things would have turned out differently.”

“That may be, but we cannot change what has transpired. I am not blaming you for any of this.”

“Well, you should,” John said in a low voice.

“I’ll be honest with you John, I’m actually surprised you survived,” John jumped back, unpleasantly surprised at the Princess’ words, had she wanted him to die? 'No, that's dumb,' he thought.

“Pardon my wording, but the reason I say this is because any creature possessed by Sombra never survives. When he leaves the body, the host dies—but you didn't,” John listened to her explanation carefully, tensing up at the facts she was giving him. “Which is why I ask; what happened?”

John stood still, thinking of her question carefully 'Should I tell her? Would she believe me?' he thought back on the voice that had helped him, imagining it to be a part of his subconscious, a fact that in the end, he let Celestia know as he spoiled the events that had transpired in his own mind.

“It’s a possibility, but I do not think it’s that simple to get out of such powerful magic. Not even one of the most powerful unicorns was able to,” all of a sudden, her eyes received a distant look that faded after she took notice of John once more- “Ah, forget my reminiscing; let’s continue,” she moved closer to John, crouching slightly to meet his face directly with hers, causing him to fall back on the floor.

“W-what are you doing?” he asked, frightened by her massive closing frame. She only closed her eyes, and a dissatisfactory grimace appeared on her face, she turned her back to him and took out a feather controlled by her magic, she quickly scribbled on a parchment, making notes of some sort, John grinned at the act, being reminded of Twilight, much to both his relief and growing worry.

“John, what if I told you I can see into your thoughts?”

“I would probably believe you, you are a goddess after all, right? Are you looking into them now?” he asked irritated, clumsily getting back on his feet, he had gotten tired of her questions, and he wanted to address his own.

“… Yes, I am, which is surprising,” she turned to him with the smile she usually wore back on and fixed his clothes with her magic.

“What was that for!” he asked, growing increasingly uncomfortable as she kept her line of tinkering, he’d had enough.

“Once again, I apologize, but I needed to make sure. Thanks to this, now I’m sure of what happened back at the Empire,” her wings extended to its full view, John stared at them, awed by the way they looked once fully open. “John, you seem to have some sort of special ability that I have never seen in the entirety of my existence, and trust me, I’ve seen a lot.”

John stood silence, staring confused. “W-Wait, can you explain, please?”

“You seem to carry a sort of ‘magic negating’ ability, allowing your body to cancel out both raw, and controlled magical power used on your body,” John stood looking serious for a second, then, burst into instant laughter that roared in the big room, he instantly recovered and glared at Celestia.

“So, if you are done, can we get on with my questions?” she only stared at him with the look of real seriousness plastered on her face, John shook his head at the reaction. “What? You can’t be serious.”

Celestia stared at him, keeping a somber look. “Luna told me Sombra had been able to survive one of her attacks while in your body, and trust me, you shouldn’t have survived that either… I am not mocking you, John, this is the real deal.”

“Celestia, magic has been used on me several times by Twilight, what you say is impossible,” in response, she shot a small trail of magic towards him, hitting his forehead and disappearing at contact. “Oww! What was that for?”

“That is how I visibly read minds, and as you noticed, it didn’t work this time—your mind is blocked even from me,” John raised a brow and chuckled darkly.

“What? Even the Goddess of this world can’t read my mind? And besides, I thought you’d already read it, what is this nonsense?” he asked exasperated, staring holes into Celestia.

“From what I have gathered, this just shows that this can be activated subconsciously whenever you are either intimidated greatly, or are in great peril; that’s the only explanation I can give you. This would also answer why I can’t scry the elements in Ponyville.”

“Scry?”

“Never you mind, I was merely talking to myself,” she finished, smiling ever so slightly.

“Yeah, okay, but why? Why me?” Celestia mulled over the question for a second before replying.

“I have absolutely no idea, even this confounds me like nothing else,” she trotted to the side, heading to a large oval shaped object the size of Celestia, covered up by a single cover. She then removed said cover, revealing a large mirror. “Unlike your world, one that runs in events that transpire more logically, events that always have an explanation no matter the case; our world is filled with raw magic, which is much more… unstable, so to speak.”

“Get to the point,” John fumed.

“Either you were born with this ability, which sounds very unlikely due to the minuscule amount magic in your world, or our world gave you this ability. Why it did? I do not know. Scholars have spend hundreds of years trying to find the logic that our world follows, but unlike the magic we use, it cannot be recorded nor measured like ours is, it’s a mystery.”

“Uh huh.”

“Do you understand?”

“No,” he replied flatly.

“Understandable, I don‘t really either,” she replied, laughing to herself.

“Marvelous. So are you done now?” Celestia looked at him curiously.

“Do you not want to know more?”

“All I want to know right now is what happened at the Empire, please Princess, tell me.”

“I’m glad to see that your priorities remain where it matters,” her horn glowed, and a bright light filled the room, forcing John to close his eyes. Once he opened them again, he found himself in hallway, the smell of sterilized objects in the air, a smell familiar to him.

“We are…”

“In the hospital wing in Canterlot‘s General hospital, glad it worked with you, otherwise we would have to fly. Now come, protocol says we have to make the rest of the way to the room by hoof,” John did as he was told without protest, following Celestia as she filled him in on what had happened back at the Empire; Pinkie had arrived the instant he’d fainted, grabbing the injured Spike and jumping down to escape. Luckily for them, both Rainbow Dash and Princess Cadence—who’d apparently been thrown like a javelin towards Spike—grabbed the pair and the heart, activating it, and saving the kingdom, revealing Cadence to be the Crystal Princess to boot.

“Well, what do you know?”

“Indeed, life is full of surprises.”

“And Sombra?” John asked nervously, wondering over the King who had so easily taken over his body.

“He is gone. Dead,” Celestia replied simply, not adding anything more. John remained silent absorbing the news, relief washed over him, but the fear over the unicorn remained untouched.

That fact would never change.

“A-and what happened afterwards?” he asked reluctantly, Celestia missing the trembling in his voice, or just choosing to ignore it; it was difficult for John to notice.

“After that, you were all brought in and your injuries treated, Luna and you were practically fine, with only a few minor injuries, Spike had a broken arm, as well as a sprained ankle, but you were all otherwise okay.”

“W-what about Twilight?” John hesitantly asked.

“Well… You will see for yourself.” 

They kept walking in the hallway area, turning numerous times, finding a couple of doctors who bowed when the Princess came into their presence, a few of the ponies giving John glares that he couldn’t quite place, as the silent reigned between then, Celestia spoke once more.

“Do you regret it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you regret coming here, to Equestria?” 

John stopped walking and looked up to Celestia, being taller than he was presented a challenge for him to show resentment, but he tried his best with the glare he currently had. “Why are you asking me this now? You said I couldn’t return anymore anyway, didn’t you? I‘m not going to complain about it.”

“I did, however, that was only due to the difficulty to find your dimension once more, it was easy to track Twilight due to her magic, but a world with no magic to track would present a challenge,” John shook his head in disbelief.

“Why? Why would you do that for me?”

“Because I wanted to give you a chance to choose, and now that you’ve experienced Equestria, you can safely choose. I can help you, however long it takes,” John looked past Celestia, seeing the hallway come to an end, a pair of double doors in their way. “We can talk about this later, we are here,” wasting no time, the pair made their way inside.

“What is this place?” the room was immense, there were no lights, giving John the sensation that the unnaturally white walls gave off light magically, there were windows high up near the roof where multiple seats were visible, but nopony sat on them; it remained as empty as it looked, a single curtain being a sore spot placed in the otherwise empty room.

“This is an operating room, but we had to use it as a guest room for Twilight due to her cir-” at the mention of the name, John ran ahead, ignoring the rest of Celestia‘s explanation, he pulled the curtain back and headed inside, only to gasp at what he witnessed.

“Twilight?” her breath came in short bursts, her disheveled mane let out beads of sweat by the second, an overbearing smell reached John’s nostrils; the smell of dirty hair, or in Twilight’s case, mane and coat.

“Ugh… What’s going on ? Why is she… why does she smell?” he added awkwardly.

“She is fighting it, John. Look,” Celestia pointed to Twilight’s flank, her cutie mark specifically, it looked as flashy as it always did, but one of the marks looked different.

“Why is the star in her cutie mark… Black?” he asked, noticing the blackish symbol.

“I blame myself for this” Celestia stomped the ground with her hoof, surprising John. “If only I had explained to her the disadvantages of negative energy, this wouldn’t have happened! She is being corrupted by it, either her mind or body, maybe both, nopony knows,” John sighed in understanding, he remembered Twilight mentioning it back at the empire.

“… We have to do something!” he turned to her, his pleading eyes hoping for an answer, the look she gave him showed him enough; she was just as lost as to what to do as he was.

“Let’s go, we don’t want to be here when another one of her episodes happens, none of the nurses are brave enough to get close to her,” she unfurled her wing and wrapped it around John, pulling him away from his sister.

“What episode?” as in cue, a yell came from the bed’s direction.

“Aaah!” John ducked under Celestia’s wing, looking at Twilight‘s bed once more, where she trembled violently, a glow of magic keeping her tongue in place; John presumed it was to avoid her from biting. Dark streams of magic left her body as she twisted herself, loudly showing the pain she was going through. John couldn’t stand it, and he ran towards the bed, ignoring the dark haze coming out of Twilight.

“John! Get away from her!” Celestia called, she attempted to use her magic, but to no avail, finding her magic suddenly blocked. “Not again…”

“Twilight! Please, answer! I’m here!” John hugged her pain filled form, the dark streams of magic enveloping him as he did. “I’m okay! See? Sombra is gone! Sombra is gone, just… Wake up…” he said, his eyes filled with tears, not knowing what to do other than hug her writhing body in a desperate attempt to reach her.

Celestia only stood there, unable to get too close, the unstable magic a threat even for her. “It’s times like this that I wish you were here…” her eyes glowed yellow, and a stream of brightly colored magic filled her eyes, flowing out to suppress Twilight. “I’m sorry Twilight, but this will hurt…” she apologized somberly, the magic reaching the now obscured pair. “Aaaa-!” Celestia’s hold on the energy broke as she heard Twilight’s voice crack, and a bright light filled the room, blinding her momentarily. Once she recovered, she looked upon the pair, the dark energy now suddenly gone.
`	“John… Are you okay?” she approached the pair instantly, unfolding her wings and flying the short distance faster, yet still fearful of what she might see, a knot in her stomach telling her to stay back but one she ignored regardless, and one that went away when she got a look of the pair.

“Yes, we are,” Twilight laid dormant with a blissful look in her face, she breathed slowly and without effort, the dark star now replaced by a single dot barely visible to the naked eye, one that Celestia could see, much to her chagrin. John had then turned to check the star as well, noticing the dot too. “S-she will be okay, right?”

“John, I’m sorry, but it seems we didn’t treat her in time,” Celestia began, sounding regretful. “The dot she now bears has become a part of her; it doesn’t belong, but it’s a part of her now and it will likely return. She is at risk as long as it is there. How long will it take to recover? I don’t know. There have been cases of ponies that have kept them all of their lives, and most of them didn’t live a full one," she shook her head. "I’m sorry.”

The bluntness of Celestia’s words broke John's heart, and he felt the harsh truth; Twilight was still in danger; and not just momentarily, but what could potentially be the rest of her life. There was nothing they could do,  and not even a goddess appeared to have the answers.

“But I can… I can help her, by staying by her side… Right?” he turned to Celestia, a sad look in his face, but behind it, Celestia saw something else—a resolve.

“You seem to be able to block off the magic rather well, but I cannot ask you to do th-”

“No, I’m the only one who can do it, and I’m willing to,” he interrupted her, a fierce look of determination piercing through Celestia's words..

Celestia only nodded in silent agreement, and they both stood in stood quiet by the bed, not speaking another word, Twilight’s soft snores the only sound that could be heard in the room.
> Mini Chapter - Letters for the Princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Umm… Hi.

I now begin to write you as I promised I would back in Canterlot, it is the first day, so there hasn’t been a single change with twi Twilight. And I hope you can forgive my mistakes, it has been a wh ile- while that I’ve written directly by hand… Don’t wonder about it too much.

As expected, twilight has not woken from her sleep, she still seems stable though, and that’s all that matters to me, and I supposed to you too.

Sorry if this is short, but this is all I have to report, I just wanted to thank you for letting us come back to poniville, it’ll be nice for twilight to wake up in a place she knows

John







Esteemed Princess Celestia (Spike got angry because I didn’t start my letter nicely, ugh)

Thank you for the reply and for telling me the proper way to spell “Ponyville”, it’s much appreciated, and I know you told me to only send you letters via Spike with some sort of update,, but I just had to reply back! I’m amazed by how spike’s fire works, I know I’ve seen it before, but it’s just cool…

Your student’s caretaker

John (see? I didn’t forget that part this time)







This is going to be fast.

Today Twilight just had another episode, much like she did in the hospital a few days ago, unfortunately, unlike the room she'd been in, the treehouse ACTUALLY began catching on fire. Spike and I managed to get the fires out and we moved her down to the basement where (for some reason) there is the very little wood, anyway, I moved the stuff out of the way and managed to get her bed with Rarity's help.

Anyway she is stable now but she hasn’t woken up yet and sorry for the short letter but I have to go back to check on her.

John







Esteemed Princess Celestia

I’ll get to the point. I’m sorry, but I had to agree at last to let the girls in, they have the right to see their friend, whether it is unconscious or not, I know, I know, you told me not to, but I did, you can punish me if you want, no need to get mad at then please, -in any case, they were aware of the danger, so really I would not be liable-

Just know that they were happy to know that Twilight is relatively okay for the moment.

Your student’s caretaker

John







Esteemed Princess Selestia
Look, I’m sorry for telling you off, but how was i supposed to kno that you would had a peev with batgrammar, you mocking me erry time sort of got to me.

On the topic of the letter, Twilight seems to be mentally conscious, I sometimes notice her mumbling in her sleep, in random babbling, but she seems to be coming to, it’s not really a very obvious sign, but it’s one that gives me hope.

On another topic thank you for that book suggestion, I didn’t know there could be such great fiction here! Daring Do reminds me a lot of a character from my own world whose name I can‘t really recall, one would think either is a rip off of the other, but I digres digress. After I was done with the series (which turns out it has 7 books so far, woah) I began reading other books, I even found one that teaches me how to read the odd language you ponies have (it’s odd to me okay).

Anyway, since I’m not willing to abandon Twilight in her current state, I might as well study up on this language.

Your student’s caretaker
JON







Hey Princess!

Sorry for taking so long, it just took me forever to translate the letter you send, I know you were trying to help me learn the language and all, but I did NOT need that, although in hindsight, I could have send a letter to you to ask…

ANYWAY

Twilight is still unconscious, but she no longer has had an attack fortunately, obvious since I would have send you a letter, but I see this as progress.

And unlike the previous letters, this time I have a story to tell!

Applejack stopped by the library a few days ago, and well, she basically forced me to go with her, I’m not going to go into too much detail, but it involved a sack, and ropes, a lot of them, well, I was taken to the Sweet Apple Acres farm, it was the first time I had been there, and BOY do they have a lot of apples.

But she took me to this odd place, the trees were dead I think, it was VERY (emphasis) odd actually, but then, this crazy old mare came out of nowhere and started yelling, and then, clouds came out of nowhere, no Pegasus pushing them! Then, lighting came down and hit the tress, leaves came out instantly! It was the most amazing thing I had seen, Applejack looked at me with a sad smile, and she told me I couldn’t stay cooped up in the library with Twilight all day, I would be missing amazing things like this, that she would be fine for just a little bit, I was mad at her, but… I don’t know, it made some sense?

What would you do?

Worried caretaker
John







Follow-up to my last letter! Yeah… I sort of left Twilight while I went with Applejack, but don’t get mad at her, please.
PS: I just realized that I could have made something up and you wouldn’t have known (maybe)…
PSS: I’M SORRY

John







Twiligh has woken up! After nearly a week he she finally woke up, she can’t move much but she has been able to keep herself up, I await your visit as you promised you would do when she awoke, you would be a better pony to explain the situation to her.

Your no-longer-caretaker

John







Hey, Celestia.

Thank you for explaining the situation to Twilight, she didn’t take it well did she? She is sleeping peacefully for the moment and I ho

she woke up once again, just minutes before this part. It was… Scary. Her mane was off, and her eyes seemed like she was craz well, not good in the head, she was crying, and then she began yelling, then she stood in the lobby, I'm guessing trying to conjure up the books in the shelves from the way she moved, this lasted for 10 minutes, I just couldn’t take it and








Sorry, I spilled some ink and well, anyway, after wards, she just stood there crying silently, I took the chance to pick her up, take her to the room and give her the pills you brought for her, and she didn’t even fight back, I was destroyed, I just couldn’t take it… the girls were here too and none of us, not even Spike oculd do a thing I just- if only - all I wanna-

I don;’t know what to do celestia please help me, I don’t wana see her like this ever please, you are an all powerful being yo u must know what to do!

Please, ignore that, I was going on a tangent there, in any case, thank you for reading, this will be my last daily letter to you for the moment, hopefully, things will turn out fine, I'll try sending a letter whenever something happens

Your pen pal, John.


> Lost Sparkle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rain was commonplace in Ponyville.

Scheduled times for it were set at regular intervals, of course, as the crops—mostly consisting of apple trees in Sweet Apple Acres—needed the water. However, sometimes, there were scheduling errors, and the mix up caused different places to close down for one reason or another due to the bad weather.

One of those that didn‘t, was Ponyville’s post office.

Its policy (created by none other than Darling Doo) forced employees to work even in bad weather, as such, many of the new recruits resigned whenever their first rainy day came around. A day just like that had been going on, and just like that, many of the workers that had stayed were forced into overtime just to be able to deliver the mail, one of the ponies being Ditzy Doo, who at the moment, flew from house to house, getting the mail through the new route forced upon her. 

It was a tough job, but she didn’t complain; after all, she had finally gotten a good opportunity, and she wasn’t going to waste it, her thoughts filled with her plan as she flew through the horrid weather, until she finally arrived at Sweet Apple Acres.

Knock, Knock

She knocked twice, awaiting impatiently as the water hit her. Despite her rather fast delivery, she had forgotten her coat in the post office, and had to resolve herself to rushing to finish faster, maybe even avoid the cold mistress she was tempting.

Knock, Knock she knocked harder.

“I’ma coming, jeez!” came a southern voice from behind the door, the sound of locks were heard, and the door opened, revealing Applejack with a cooking apron on.

“Huh? Derpy?” she eyed her from top to bottom, noticing her wet coat and mane. “What do you think you are doing out here in this weather?” she asked, not looking away from her drenched form.

“Well, it’s company policy to leave no piece of mail undelivered, so. here I am!” she smiled gingerly, reaching into her sealed bags, taking out a few packages along with some letters and hoofed them to Applejack.

“Ah’ appreciate that you came with this weather,” AJ looked outside, noticing hail start to fall. “But Ah’ can’t let you go with this rain. Come on in for a bit, drink some cocoa; made enough to warn twenty ponies!” she headed inside first, Ditzy tentatively following behind. "Grab a towel from the back of the door, we usually get caught in rain when out on the fields, so we always keep a few spares for some quick drying," after drying herself, she continued into the kitchen, where Applejack waited along with the familiar faces of her sister, brother, and grandmother who were sitting around a big table. The whole kitchen looked modest, something that Ditzy found strange, seeing how the Apples were some of the richest ponies in town.

“Well, darn tooting! We have a visitor in this weather? Do Ah’ know you from somewhere? You look familiar…” the elderly pony said holding her hoof over her chin.

“She is the mail mare, Granny, you’ve received the mail from her multiple times,” Applejack explained half-laughing. “Now, you just make yourself at home, Derpy, I’ll get you some cocoa right now.”

As time passed with nothing but silence, Applejack began the conversation. “So Derpy, how have you been? Ah’ haven’t seen you since… well, the train station event,“ she began, trying to be subtle about it.

“Oh, well, I’m good, I didn’t break anything,“ she half-joked. Applejack grinned satisfied, hoofing her a cup. "Thank you."

“Glad to hear it.”

“Ah’ feel I’m missing something in that story,” said a grimacing Applebloom, disliking being left out of the conversation.

“Oh, it’s nothing. It’s just an accident that happened, nothing unusual!” said Ditzy. Applebloom stared suspiciously, but asked no more, to her relief.

The group continued their small chat as they drank their cocoa, laughing as they passed the time comfortably, it had been nearly twenty minutes when Ditzy finally spoke up.

“This has been fun, but I must go.”

“Aww, do you have to?” asked Applebloom sadly.

“Y-yes. Sorry, but I have to head back to work,” she explained to her, reminding her of the reason for her visit. “But before I go, I’ve been wondering about something for a few days now. May I, Applejack?“

“Go ahead Derpy, we don’t bite,” replied Applejack playfully.

“Well… Have you seen John? He didn’t arrive with you girls in the train last week, is he still back in Canterlot?” Applejack’s curt demeanor did a complete 180 as she did a spit take, splashing Big Mac with the remains of cocoa and spit, her eyes shifting from side to side suspiciously.

“Aaah! Applejack!” he got on his hooves and ran to the restroom, the sounds of disgust audible as he ran.

“S-sorry, Big Mac!” She turned to Ditzy again. “Um, yeah! H-he is! And so sorry that you’ve gotta go, by the way, thanks for-a-coming!” Applejack began, pushing Ditzy until she had made it out of the door.

“Oh, okay…” Derpy replied looking bummed. “Well, I’m going to finish my shift and then go talk to Spike, I saw him walking around town yesterday, maybe he can tell me…”

“Um… Yeah, that could work, but er… Don’t forget to finish your shift!” Applejack said sounding nearly desperate. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it! Anyway, thank you so much for the cocoa, and take care you all! Goodbye!” said Ditzy as she flew into the storm once more, the Apples watching as she dodged a tree on her way back to town.

“… Applebloom, get mah coat, please, Ah’ have to head into town.”

~~~~~

"Huff, huff"

Applejack ran as fast as she could, cursing as the now hail filled storm hit her often, she had also been limping thanks to the amount of tripping caused by the muddy ground.

“Horse apples!” 

She beamed as Golden Oaks came into sight, she bit her lip slightly and ran faster, reaching the door and knocking. One knock, Two knocks. Seven times she knocked, and the door creaked open, revealing Spike looking surprised at her drenched appearance.

“Applejack? What’s the matter? What are you doing here? You are all drenched!”

“I need to go in, please,” she pleaded right away.

“Applejack, I thought John was angry with y-“

“I know! But this is important! I need to tell hi-" she stopped and looked around before looking back at him. "You, something!“ Spike seemed to think it over for a bit, but he finally let her in without inquiring any more, closing the door afterwards and locking it.

…

“Now… I wait…” Ditzy said as she laid patiently in a nearby bush, keeping herself warn with her no longer forgotten coat on .

“Sorry about this, Applejack,” she said apologetically to herself, impatiently waiting for her to leave once more, it had been going all according to her plan. 'What are you hiding?' she asked for the umpteenth time, her hoof had been forced after days of patient waiting, and she would not take it any more.

It happened a week ago.

News of the element’s feats in the Crystal Empire had reached Ponyville quite fast, the mail ponies having received the news first thanks to their ease in gathering information, news that only concerned the elements; John hadn’t been included in them.

With the worst in mind, Ditzy had headed for the train station the day of their arrival, unfortunately, when she arrived at the station, she only found five ponies and Spike getting off the train, with no sign of either Twilight or John around. After waiting for another train, hoping for a late boarding, she had no such luck, and with a heavy heart, gave up for the day, hoping the following would give her some news.

“Hey Fluttershy, here is your mail!” she said in practiced enthusiasm the next day after arriving at her cottage, delivering her mail while she watered her flowers.

“Oh, thank you so much, Derpy!” she took hold of the letter with her snout and shoved it to the side of her wing.

“Um, hey Fluttershy, I was wondering if  you know where John and Twilight are? I haven‘t seen them here yet, so I‘m a bit worried,” Fluttershy froze in place as she took the question and turned to Derpy with a look of panic.

“Oh, w-well, they were busy in Canterlot, s-so, they had to stay longer!” she had told her, and to her credit, had sounded as nervous as she usually did, the lie hidden by her usual shy demeanor.

That is until Derpy had had enough of it, and had chosen to march straight to the tree house after the 7th day of waiting to get some answers out of Spike. Unfortunately, rain had decided to put a damper in her plans, but thanks to a stroke of luck, she had managed to device a new plan.

A vaguely thought out plan.

And yet, a plan that was currently in motion and actually working.

“Come on…” she had waited in the bush for half an hour, and no sign of Applejack could be seen.

“-nks, Spike, I’ll keep it in mind, now I gotta gallop back home, Granny was a bit peeved by my decision to come, so I’ll see ya, little fella,” Ditzy ducked her head back in the bush as Applejack exited the library, avoiding her gaze.

“Bye Applejack, and don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye.”

“Thank you, Spike. Catch ya later, and, well, take care of her,” Spike stared silently as she ran through the rain once more -that thankfully- had died down by then, leaving only a light drizzle. Spike waved after her as she disappeared into the buildings and went back inside, the sounds of the locks audible from Ditzy’s position.

“Finally!” she waited for a minute before reaching for the door, she put her hoof on the wood and recalled Applejack’s knocking motion, repeating it in the same fashion. To her fortune, the sound of the door unlocking was audible on the other side.

“Applejack? What are you doing back he- Ack!” Spike didn’t have time to react as Ditzy made her way in uninvited, she flew over Spike and stayed there as he called for her.

“What the!? Derpy! What are you doing!? You can’t be here! And I just finished talking to Applejack too!”

“I’m not leaving! You are hiding something about John and Twilight! A-and I’m here to find out what that is!” she replied, trying her best to keep herself from backing down, she was on a mission she would see through to the end.

“Grr…” growling was all Spike could do in response.

“Spike, close the door, you are letting the rain in, geez,” came the voice from another room, the figure of John appearing from a hallway with a book under his pit.

“John! What are you do-” 

“Just close the door, Spike, please. She won’t leave anyway,” Spike begrudgingly did as he was told, while John walked closer to the now shocked Ditzy, evidenced by her mouth hanging open.

“Um… You okay there, Ditzy?” John asked as Ditzy struggled for words, and as the flapping of her wings slowed, lowering her she flew back to the ground. As soon as she had touched the floor, she jumped at John wrapping him up in a bone crushing hug that instantly left him breathless. “Ditzy…” he managed with some of the air he still had in his lungs. “you are crushing me augh…” she realized this and let him go, causing John to fall to the ground, breathing heavily.

“Sorry… I’m just glad you are okay! And what’s going on?” she apologized sheepishly before completely doing a 180. “And why didn‘t you tell me you came back?” John looked uncomfortable as Ditzy awkwardly interrogated him, scratching the back of his neck trying to come up with a response.

“Things… Happened. Stuff that’s out of our control for the moment, so I haven’t been able to do much leaving, or talking… Or anything for that matter,” he let out an awkward laugh. Ditzy simply remained silent.

“I’m… gonna be in the kitchen if you need me, but I‘d rather you didn‘t,” said Spike who left unnoticed by either of them as they stared at each other.

“Sorry, I’ve been sort of busy for the past week…”

“You were here from the get-go!?” she exclaimed in an angry tone. “Have you been hiding all this time?” she added, John cursed at his lack of discretion.

“Well.. Yes, I was, well…”

“He was taking care of me, is there a problem with that, Ditzy?” both turned to the side to find Twilight Sparkle peeking her head from the hallway, a cynical look on her face.

“Oh, Twilight! I’m glad you are oka-” both said at the same time before she interrupted them.

“I appreciate the sentiment, but you need to go. Now,” she said pointing to Ditzy, she only returned a confused stare.

“W-what? Why?” she asked, her previous confidence now completely gone, Twilight ignored the question and continued.

“I'll let your 'visit' slide this time, and I think you are smart enough to know not to mention us at all out there, wouldn’t want something bad to happen, would we?” Ditzy gulped, thanks not only to Twilight’s straight to the point attitude that brought a chill to her spine, but due to her stare that would give Fluttershy a run for her bits.

“W-we’ll talk later then, John?” he gave her a sad smile and intended to approach her, but before any of them knew it, she had headed for the door and flown away, leaving a trail of smoke where she had just been sitting.

“Ditzy…” he turned to Twilight with an irritated look. “Twilight, that was uncalled for, she was just worried!”

“Of course she was,” she replied arrogantly. “Besides, she didn’t really have to leave, I mean, there isn’t much that I can do to make her leave in the first place, is there?” she headed for the kitchen and stood next to the counter for a bit before growling and reaching up with her hoof, grabbing a bottle from deep inside the storage spot. “Didn’t think I would ever take this, but I guess now is a better time than any,” she half-laughed, looking at the bottle as if it were a foreign thing.

“What is that bottle?” John asked, giving the bottle a wary look.

“Care to give me a hand?” she asked, ignoring his question. She threw the bottle at him, John barely managing to catch it before it had hit his face. He stared daggers at Twilight, relieved that the to-be accident had been avoided, and he looked at the label in the bottle, trying to read the inscriptions with no luck.

“Pegasus dialect, I suppose… i haven't gotten to this yet.”

“Are you going to try to read it? Or are you going to open it for me?” Twilight asked snidely. John rolled his eyes and did as he was told, setting it down on the table while Twilight approached it with a glass in hoof, proceeding to serve herself a drink.

“What is that anyway?” he asked confused.

“Well, from what your world told me about ‘slang‘… This is booze; specifically ‘heavy peach cider,” she set the glass on the table and chugged the bottle down with forced gulps. 

“Twilight!” horrified, John swiped it away from her, looking at the now half-empty bottle.

“Oh, don’t worry, I *hic* saved you some…” she pointed to the glass and stumbled, the apparent strength of the drink already destroying the little tolerance she’d had, falling into John's arms.

“What the hell!? Spike, get in here!”

“W-what is it?” Spike asked, staring nervously at the scene in front of him.

“Send a letter to Celestia, we might have to have her come here.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, plea-”

“Don’t!” he turned his head back to Twilight who had a terrified look on her face, the mere thought of Celestia seeing her in her current state instantly sobering her up.

“Please, don’t send her a letter, I don’t want her to see me in this… Pathetic state,” she dislodged herself from John’s arms and lazily walked to the couch back in the lobby, where she laid down on her side, her face hidden by the couch’s pillows.

“Twilight…” John followed her back outside, sitting on the edge of the couch where her hooves rested by.

“G- go away!” she said covering her face, trying to shut John out completely.

“Twilight, look, I know what you are going through!" mere seconds passed, as Twilight shook, the thought of her crying once more causing him to let her be.

“No! You don’t!" she yelled suddenly. "You aren’t the one who lost their bucking magic!” John flinched at her tone, her face holding a look of disgust, her rage and sorrow completely overriding her sensible side.

“Okay, yes, you are right, but Twilight, I mean,” he began awkwardly, he got on his feet and eyed her with worry; her mane was a mess once more, even her coat was off in places.

“What? Are you going to tell me that it will all be okay? That I’ll recover my magic? Well, guess what? WE DON’T BUCKING KNOW THAT! And you are probably going to tell me that I still have my intellect, that I’m still the intelligent pony that everypony knows, huh!?” John stared wide-eyed. Her perceptive mind having already figured out the speech he was about to give her. His ammo having run out, he remained silent. “I thought so. Now, let me add something else that your pretty little head didn’t think of,” she wiped away her falling tears, jumping off the couch and giving John a cold stare, one that seemed to look past him and beyond.
“I am the Element of Magic. I am the one pony who specializes on Magic. Or rather, I used to be,” she began breathing heavily, visibly struggling to keep up her rant. “I have no more magic, the one thing that made me special, my TALENT! Gone!”

“Twilight, I…” he tried to counter, but stopped. Nothing he could have said could have helped her situation.

“Now you see, John,” she took a few steps towards him, her eyes looking hollow, a haziness over them that wasn‘t there before. “Sometimes, words aren’t enough to solve our problems. I guess our worlds aren't that much different after all,” she turned around quickly, the end of her tail hitting John’s face, causing him to wince in pain. “Welcome to real life. Now, leave me alone.”

She galloped pass the hallway and headed upstairs, the sound of the slamming restroom door echoing in the house.

“…”

“John…” Spike approached him and put a claw on his leg. “Sorry about that, I guess she was being a bit mean...” John gave him a deadpan stare. “Er… Okay, a GREAT deal of mean, sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Spike, from the way I see it, she finally accepted what happened,” reminders of her actions of the day before ran through his head, it hadn’t been pretty fun for none of the ponies involved.

And still, Twilight had the worst of it.

“Well, at least it wasn‘t as bad as yesterday‘s breakdown… I guess that helped me to avoid crying this time,” John looked at Spike as if he were reading his mind. "Now excuse me, John, I have chores to do," he said, leaving the scene, quickly making his way to the room he now slept in on his own.

"Spike..." John thought running Twilight's words through his head. He felt hurt by the way she'd yelled at him, but he found himself realizing something then.

“Despite all of this, I can’t help but wonder… Why don’t I feel sorry for her?”


~~~~~


Back in Canterlot, things had quieted down, the excitement over the newly re-found Crystal Empire in the backs of everypony’s minds, celebrations had since died down days before, and all had returned to their usual habitual way.

As such, it was a normal break day, Celestia stayed in her room after a long day, working with a book on her magical grasp, beads of sweat adorned her face as she seemed to stare intently at it, her eyes twitching, as if upset with an unseen force.

Her concentration was cut short as a scroll spontaneously appeared in front of her, causing her to fall off her bed unceremoniously.

"4,342 days without falling off the bed, bummer, another 5677 and I would have had a new record."

“Well, it appears that I am done studying the book for today,” she sighed, she gazed upon the rolled scroll on the floor, recognizing the Golden Oaks seal and picking it up, she opened it, and read its contents, wistfully sighing at the end.

“… Oh, Twilight…” a bright light shone from behind her and she turned around.

“What in the?” the book she had been reading had begun shining brightly, she picked it up, and looked at the first page, finding a few words inscribed.

“But… How?” she proceeded to read the words in the book and gasped as she went along.

“Greetings, if you are reading this, you are probably Celestia.

If it wasn‘t obvious enough this is Starswirl, so…
How you doing, my cotton candy-marsh-” 

No more words were read as the book was thrown aside, smashing against the wall and falling with a miserable thud, Celestia stared at the book with a boorish expression and picked it back up, setting it down next to her bed, she headed for the door in a quick pace, but not before looking  back one more time.

“Even after death, you can’t remain from calling me that, huh, you old fart?” she closed the door, and left for her sister's room.
> Shine-less Diamond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


“And just remember, John.
If a problem arises, the magic of friendship can help you conquer anything,

I trust you to do the right thing.”

Celestia


John read the bottom of the letter he’d received that morning for the 10th time, absorbing the fact that Celestia now had some deal of trust for him. Despite that, his mind still lingered on what that meant; for one, he felt good that even the Princess of a whole country would put trust in him, on  the other end, he was afraid that he would let her down.

“Calm down, you’ll do fine! I‘ll be here to help in any case,” Spike called from the stove, knowing the contents of the letter already.

“Right…“ he put the letter on his pocket and turned to more pressing matters in his mind. “Is it ready yet?” John stared at the contents of the pan in Spike’s claw with delight, the sound of his stomach showing his lack of patience.

“Hey, you can’t rush perfection!” retorted Spike who flipped the contents with a spatula. After deeming the food cooked to perfection, he moved to John who had been sitting at the table, and put a pair of pancakes on his plate.

“Thank you, mighty dragon overlord, for the nourishment thou has given us on this day; Spike‘s Super Special Service of… Something... I'm too hungry to think of something clever,” he said, glorifying Spike before shoving his make-shift fork into the pancake in the top.

“Oh, stop!”

“Okay,” he concurred, stopping the praise and picking the fork back up.

“No, I meant, stop!” Spike exclaimed, taking the plate from John’s path before he began digging in.

“S-Spike?” he looked at the cook with watery eyes, but Spike kept an unnerving still face, and put the plate on the other end of the table before returning to John.

“Go wake Twilight up, tell her breakfast is ready and that I made her favorite! A daffodil sandwich!” he showed the simple meal to John who only recoiled at the strange food.

“Well, alright, let’s test the Princess’ trust.  I’ll go get her out of bed, let’s see how it goes. Wish me luck, I guess,” he made his way outside the kitchen and down the stairs towards the basement. Reaching the bottom, he opened a door leading to a strange room where he found a bed with a single shelf besides it, in the opposite corner laid flasks of different sizes as well as a strange machine, lazily shoved to the side to keep out of the way.
“Um, hey, Twilight?” John called out carefully, the figure of Twilight stirred slightly at the sound of the disturbance, she turned lazily towards the voice and returned her gaze to the side of the wall after noticing him.

“What,” she replied lifelessly, her voice coming in a raspy tone.

“Breakfast is ready… Would you like some? Spike made your favorite; daffodil sandwich!” he said with mock excitement, hoping to get Twilight out of her bad mood, or at the very least, get her out of bed.

“Oh, yes! And then everything will be alright after I eat it, and my problems will be all gone?” she replied sounding cheery, but instead of her face reflecting her happy tone, it showed an angry glare, her eyes were puffy and red, marking obvious signs of previous tears.

“It’s just breakfast…” John said tilting his head to the side, keeping himself from staring at her too much.

“Sure, I’ll fix myself something later.”

“I’ll just go then…”

“Close the door on your way out, and stop making too much noise, I have a headache.” 

“Guess the cider gave her a hangover,“ With a heavy sigh, he returned to the kitchen where Spike waited for him, his thoughts on Twilight and her current mood, he shoved the thoughts to the back of his head as he entered the kitchen and smelled the pancakes once more.

“So, what happened?” Spike asked nervously, the thoughts rushing back.

“Well, I can tell the Princess that I got her to get a hangover, she should be proud of me!” he replied sarcastically as he took the plate once again and brought it to himself, grabbing the fork and cutting a piece of the pancake.

“So, what do you have planned for today?” Spike began, trying to change the topic. John stared at the piece for a second before he put the fork down and turned to Spike with a serious stare.

“I plan to go fish in a nearby river,” he said keeping an eye on Spike.

“What? But why? You’ll be killing animals!” Spike replied looking slightly surprised.

“Listen, I love your food, but as an omnivore creature, I don’t think I can survive on this stuff alone. I’m sure there isn’t other kinds of foods that can be give me the nutrients needed to have a balanced diet, or at the very least, something that will keep me going in the long run, you know?” he explained while Spike stared at him incredulously.

“I think you’ve been reading way too many of Twilight’s books,” he guessed.

“And you might be correct. Anyway, just think of me as a bear, only 1000% less dangerous.”

“Will do. Anything else outside the killing of innocent creatures that might give Fluttershy a heart attack?” he snarkily replied.

“Drop it,” he groaned annoyed, having already been told of her love of practically anything alive. “Anyway, I’m planning to go talk to Ditzy and the girls first, I haven’t really seen them much since the Empire, and honestly, I haven’t really done much since I got back here, heck, all I know is the way to Sugarcube Corner and back! And even that‘s really vague.” he informed Spike with a frustrated groan. “How long have I been here in Equestria? Two weeks?”

“About so. Hey! I thought the Princess forbid you to leave? Something about keeping Twi’s condition and well… Yours, a secret?”

“Well, yes, but when I wrote to her yesterday, she send me this, you know? The letter that you read,“ he pulled out the scroll from his pockets once more and read.

‘John, I believe that you have been hidden from sight long enough, I see no more danger than you could face outside a misfortunate pony crash’ he quoted from the scroll. “And for Twilight, well, the Princess gave her something to help her… Episodes,“ he groaned as he remembered when Twilight had one days ago. It had been pure chaos. 

“I guess I must have skimmed that,” said Spike embarrassed.

“Enough talk, can I eat now?” John groaned.

“Eh, I’m not stopping you,” Spike replied smugly before turning his back on him.

“Jerk.”

“THUD THUD” came the sound of knocking, forcing John to drop the fork again.

“For the love of- Spike, can you open the door?”

“Sorry John, I’m a bit busy with the dishes, can you take it?” he said before turning back to the pan he was holding. “I’ll get you this time, smudge!”

“Dammit, fine, but I’m taking the pancakes with me.”

He headed towards the entrance, plate in hand, he felt a bit unnerved at having contact once more, but he kept to his wits and opened the door. He found himself staring at a pair of beige Earth ponies, each donning a pair of shades and snazzy suits.

“Um… Can I hel- Argh!” he found himself grabbed and shoved inside a bag before realizing what was happening, the sound of his plate breaking being the last thing he heard before hitting his head on the door and passing out.

“M-my pancakes!” 

A few seconds later, Spike headed to the door after hearing the sound of the plate, he noticed the door open and the pieces and became alarmed, running outside in search of John, but finding nothing out of the ordinary. The misfortune of waking up early meant that no ponies passed by the library to see the event.

“John… John? Are you there?” he called hopeful, but found no sign of him.  

“I gotta tell Tw-” he stopped himself, remembering her current state. “Oh no! I- I gotta handle the situation myself!" he stopped midrun, reminding himself of his leads. 

...

"Maybe Applejack can help! Yes!"

~~~~~

“And there you go, perfect!” I looked into the mirror once more and smiled as my tiara and I looked good for another day at that boring school. It didn’t help that Cheerilee would get on my case for forgetting today, but I suppose that talking about my amazing tiara again might solve the issue.

“Ms. Diamond, your father waits for you, he will not start breakfast until you are there,” I looked at the maid -who’d decided to come in unannounced with a scowl, causing her to back off a bit before I replied.

“Very well, tell him I’ll be down in a minute,” she bowed awkwardly and left my room. We seriously need better help. I reached for my saddlebags and made my way downstairs to the dining hall where daddy was already waiting with a smile on his face.

“Good morning sweetie, did you sleep well?” 

“Good morning daddy! Yes I did!” I lied, I’ll never understand how he can be so chipper in the morning, it takes me ages to get properly awake. It’s probably the age.

“So sweetie, I heard that today is ‘Show and Tell’ at school, do you have something in mind?” I frowned, I vaguely remember telling him I didn’t, guess he forgot. It might be his age after all.

“Yes, daddy,” I replied miserably.

“Well, no need to worry, I got something to help your ‘Show and Tell’, Diamond.” 

I look up to him surprised. “R-really?”

“Yes, it should be waiting in the kitch-”

“Let me go you damn, relatively dirty ponies!” what?

“Um… Daddy?” I turn to him worriedly.

“D-don’t you worry, Diamond, your daddy will take care of this,” he got off his chair and headed for the kitchen where I could instantly hear his shouting after the door closed.

“What is the meaning of this!? Why is he tied up!?”

“You told us to bring him to ya, boss,” responded one of the guards.

“Yes, but I never told you to pony knap h- Whatever! Untie him!” I heard the rustling from the  guards in there and then-

“Back off! Who are you!? Why did you kidnap me!? How did you even know about me!? And you better have answers! I have a princess, and I’m not afraid to use her!” I had to raise my eyebrow at that statement, it was quite bold for some random to be talking to daddy that way.

“Listen, I…” the voices became a hushed whisper, until a roar broke the silence.

“… Your name is ‘Rich‘? … Boss? Oh god, please stop, my gut hurts!” wait, what?

“The name is Mr. Rich! And I wasn’t planning for this to happen, it just did! Okay? Look, I just need your help,”  it became silent as they lowered their volume, I tried my best to catch what they were saying, but they were no longer yelling, I turn to my muffin that seems to be getting cold, so I bite into it, deciding to leave daddy taking care of whatever was happening.

~~~~~

“Okay Spike, calm down, and explain again,” Applejack said with a kept, yet frustrated tone.

“John… Has been pony knapped!” Spike replied with rasped breaths, he’d managed to keep himself together after he ran out to get the mares, but after arriving back to the library, he’d landed on the floor exhausted. Applejack had finally managed to get something out of him.

“Alright Spike, thanks kindly, you go ahead and take care of Twi while we go search for him, alright?” he nodded and left for Twilight’s room.

Right about then, Rainbow Dash landed in front of Applejack, her usual smug  smile was replaced with a doubtful look, she stared into Applejack’s eyes and shook her head, her ears drooping slightly.

“Ah’ see…” she turned to the other mares that awaited for further instructions and put her most confident face on. “Alright girls, it seems we’re gonna have to look ourselves,” she took out a map from her hat and set it on the library floor. “Rainbow and Fluttershy, Ah’ need y’all to check the outskirts of Ponyville. Fluttershy, since you know the Everfree better than anypony outside Zecora, you’ll have to go there,” the squeak of fear on Fluttershy was not unexpected, but she complied with the suggestion and left for her spot.

“Dash, Ah’m going to need ya to search the outer parts of Ponyville, it hasn’t been over an hour yet, so if John was pony knapped by some outsider, ya might be able to catch them.”

“Aye, aye, cap’n!” she saluted Applejack and dashed out of the library in a flash.

“The rest of you, ‘Ah need you to check North, together, Ah’ll check South on mah own, got it?”

“You meant Pinkie and I, right?” cut in Rarity, looking distressed.

“What’s the matter, Rarity? You may not like him much, but Ah’ didn't take you for the heartless kind.”

“Of course not! It’s not even about him! It’s just that… I mean…” she pulled her to the side and whispered to her ear. “I love Pinkie, you know that, but spending extended periods of time alone with her isn’t really something I’d want…” she finished, her mouth set into a pout.

“Y’all are talking about the time Ah’ ran away and you were forced to use the tracks, correct? “ she guessed, causing Rarity to glare at the reminder.

“Yes… Don’t remind me…”

“Yeah, Ah’ can see why you’d say that…” she concurred.

“Does that mean I can go with you?”

“Nah,” Rarity’s face returned a shocked stare. “Together you and Pinkie will cover more ground, Ah’ll be running the whole time, so walking with Pinkie might be better for you.”

“I suppose…” she sighed and moved with the waiting Pinkie who currently had a pillow on her head. “What’s that for, Pinkie?” 

“Huh… I have no idea!” she replied instantly, mulling over the question for no longer than a second, Applejack in the meantime, was deep in thought, her hat resting in her haunches.

“This is bad… Somepony knows about John being back in Ponyville, we need to find him as quickly as possible,” she put her hat back on and rolled the map into her saddlebags before heading out. “Alright ponies, we have a rescue to do! And remember, if you ask somepony, keep it plain, we don’t want more fellas to know of him. Let’s go! Yeehaw!” Pinkie and Rarity nodded and set off in the opposite direction. “Don’t worry partner, we’ll find ya,” she said to herself once the other two had gone, getting ready to trot into town.

“Find who?” the farmer lost it at the first step and fell on her face, bringing a predictable moan of pain with it.

“What in tarnation!?” she turned around just to find the mail mare Ditzy, idly gliding in the air.

“Oh, I’m sorry, Applejack! I didn’t mean to! The door was open, an-” a hoof stopped Ditzy in her tracks, Applejack rubbing her muzzle slightly with the other, nursing her pain away.

“That’s alright, Derpy, it was an accident. Now if you’ll excuse me, Ah‘m in a rush.”

“I’ll help you. What are you looking for? If you don’t mind telling me, that is…” Applejack’s mind quickly thought of what she needed to do and reacted instantly; she needed to obey the princess‘ request. “Ah’ better be careful of what Ah say though, otherwise we might have some problems.” she figured. “Well, suspicious activity from somepony is all I can say, if you can keep up, you can look from the air while Ah’ look from the ground, would that be fine?” Ditzy seemed to think it over and nodded her head rapidly in agreement, the pair leaving soon after.

“I guess I’ll talk to John about Twilight later, then,” thought Ditzy a bit disappointed.

~~~~~

“So, you are using me for your daughter’s benefit?” John told the sharply dressed pony towering over him, he wasn’t too keen on helping a stranger, much less after said pony had had him kidnapped and back against a wall on the floor.

"Not to mention I'm running out of cliche lines to use."

“I’ll pay you, please. You are probably the most interesting thing I can give my daughter to use.”

“’Thing’? I’m not sure I liked that tone, Mr. Filthy. Name is John,” John replied offended .

“It’s Ri- Sorry, JOHN, look, please, I plead you,” John looked into his eyes, seeing the genuine hope.

“I don‘t know…” John replied unsure, he was having second thoughts by the way he‘d asked him, another thought making its way into his head right at that moment. “Wait… How did you know about me? I’ve been in hiding for a while.”

“I was spying on you, but that’s not important! I‘ll pay you a handsome amount! How does 4,000 bits sound?” John‘s ears perked up and he looked at Rich trying to read his features, his drooped ears told the whole story.

“Sounds like money…” he replied astutely. 

“Well, it’s a lot of money, I can tell you that,” Rich  replied, guessing John’s dilemma with the amount.

“Well, I guess, I DO need to get some money…” he thought of Twilight and the orders he’d been given by Celestia when he‘d arrived. ‘She wants you to get a job to help me.’

“I guess the girls can wait for now.”

“Okay, Mr. Rich, I’ll do it, if only for the money,” he got off the floor he’d been sitting on and moved to Filthy with an extended arm. “You have a deal, and whatever the job is, I hope the pay and your daughter are really a beautiful bunch,” he joked.

“She is ten,” he deadpanned, while John coughed into his hand to avoid the awkward subject.

“G-good, I‘m not interested in ponies anyway, makes it easier on me… Don’t give me that look, you’ve been spying on me after all!” John responded defensively.

“You can’t blame me for wanting to know about something that might have actually been dangerous! In any case, you do not have to worry, I only was made aware of your return about a week ago, but surprisingly, nothing else. Something suddenly blocked my unicorn’s view of the place,” John mentally thanked Celestia for her protection on that end as they headed for the single door and found themselves in a wide dining room.

“Woaah! This place is huge!” it was a grand hall, chandeliers hanged from the ceiling, each light-bulb shining as bright as the others, the windows had immense brown curtains, matching the simple, yet elegant mosaic tiled floor, the table itself was long and polished. John imagined a good number of stuck up ponies sitting around it easily, at the close end there were two seats moved, a more adorned misplaced chair stood alongside a smaller chair where a purple-ish filly with a tiara sat, staring intently at John.

“Um , daddy? What is that..?” she asked, pointing a judging hoof at John from the other side.

“‘He,’” Rich corrected. “is John the human, and he will be your show and tell project,” he gladly explained his daughter, she left her seat and trotted to her dad, whom she hugged  before tiphoofing to his ear and telling him something John was unable to hear.

“Yes, Diamond, he is not dangerous. I would have not allowed him to do this if that were the case, and the Princess would have kept him jailed or some other shady punishment.” he laughed along his daughter, while John remained with a stoic look.

“Ha… Hahahaha, can we not talk about my would-be punishment with your daughter please?”

“Alright then. So sweetie, are you ready for school?” she nodded non-enthusiastically and left the dining hall, looking back at John with an unsure stare.

“Um… Nice daughter you have there.”

“Thank you,” he moved closer to John and whispered. “And if you do something to her, you can kiss the money, and maybe something else goodbye. Capiche?” John gulped suddenly terrified of his tone.

“G-got it!”

As he was directed to the front door, a reasonable question filled his head.

 “Are you sure you aren’t a mob boss?”

~~~~~

Ponyville was apparently more than just a hick town.

As soon as Diamond and John had left the building, he’d noticed the area around the house, which looked much bigger than it appeared from the inside. There were multiple other houses next to it that lacked the grandeur of the mansion they’d just been in, but still showed an air of class.

“Nice place you have,” he praised Diamond Tiara as they moved.

“Thank  you,” she replied with a serious tone before trotting ahead.

“Hey, wait!” he didn’t have to run much to catch up to the filly who held a steady pace, they made their way down a hill, where the now familiar—if somewhat generic thoughts on John‘s part—sight of Ponyville waited for them. "So, before I forget... My name is John, an-"

"I'm Diamond Tiara," she replied quickly, forcing John to switch the conversation.

“So… I’m surprised that Ponyville has such a rich-looking area,” he continued, casually trying to form a conversation.

“It’s a state built specifically for entrepreneurs who want to keep an eye on their investments, in this case being father‘s business with the Apples,” she responded mechanically.

“O-oh, I see…” he said before adding. “You know, you don’t have to be so curt or anything. I mean, you have a creature you have never seen before and you aren’t asking questions? We can be friends!” she stopped and turned back to him with a raised brow.

“Friends? Father has told me to keep a professional behavior when taking part in any sort of business,” she replied in a practiced fashion.

“But this time you are supposed to showcase me, if I‘m correct, so it wouldn‘t hurt to ask me some questions, you know?” he said, a bad feeling building up in the back of his mind as he did.

“So, you don’t mind if I act like my usual self while we are out here?” she asked holding a knowing look.

“U-um… No?”

“Good. I don’t like those formalities,” she fixed her tiara and smiled smugly. “Come on, we’ll talk as we walk,” John was taken aback by her change of tone, but followed without question.

“So, where are you from?”

“Um… Earth?” John replied with effort.

“Excuse me, but is that a question? Or an answer? And where in Equestria is that?” she asked annoyed.

“Er, well… A little of both, and you can say it‘s REALLY far away…” he replied with a hint of sadness.

“Cadence said that I might lose some of my otherworld memories… Guess it’s happening  faster than I thought…” John thought frustrated, cursing himself for forgetting his list.

~~~~~

“Grr!” John threw the parchment to the trash, where it barely missed the can.

“Why can’t I remember shit!?” he looked at another piece of parchment in front of him. Different details were written from his life back on Earth; friends, family, hobbies, achievements and others. Most of the spots remaining blank.

“Um… John? You need help?” asked Spike who‘d just arrived, looking worried.

“That depends. Can you tell me my life story? That would be nice to know,” Spike raised a brow and returned him a grin.

“No, but I can tell you what you told us all before, not that it’s much… But you did tell us something, remember? Like, something about your sister Frankie, and other things li-” Spike was suddenly engulfed in John’s arms, suddenly being crushed by him.

“W-what are you doing?” he let Spike go and softly set him down, looking down at him with a warm smile. “Er… You are welcome, I guess?” he continued, looking confused.

"Go make me some tea, please," he asked, and Spike nodded and left the spot.

"... Geez, that was awkward," both of them thought at that moment.

~~~~~

“If it hadn’t been for my willingness to share my story, I wouldn’t have been able to write down what I have so far… I need to buy him something as th-”

“John!”

“Woah! Yes?” he responded to the voice, he turned to the side where he saw Diamond Tiara glaring at him.

“We are here,” she snarled, pointing a hoof at a strange church-like building; it had a bell on the top, and a fenced playground was visible as part of a swing set came into view, there were also dozens of little-r ponies running about outside, one of them hesitantly running towards them.

“H-hey Diamond Tiara!” the gray filly called.

“Hey, Silver Spoon!” Diamond replied, the other filly visibly appearing to relax.

“Bump, bump, sugar-lump, rump!” they both said once Silver Spoon got close, doing a strange dance, much like Twilight and Cadance had before.

“Geez, are suggestive secret dances a thing in Equestria?” he thought, slightly disturbed.

“So… What is the human doing with you?” John looked at the pony Silver with interest.

“And how do you know about me?” the filly seemed to hold an air of self-importance that Diamond Tiara had, making it easy to see that she was one of the rich ponies in the state, which didn’t surprise John in the slightest. “Even here cliques exist, I suppose.”

“I was in town when Mayor Mare told us about you, so I’m not so surprised, but it‘s weird seeing Diamond with you though,” she moved to him and poked him a bit with her hoof. “So, where are your tentacles?”

“E-excuse me?” John asked with genuine confusion, the filly backed away slightly after seeing his reaction.

“I-I heard rumors that said that you had tentacle-like appendages which you used to save the Crystal Empire,” she replied steadily, looking up at John.

“Where in blazes did you hear that!?” John asked, trying his best to get around the concept.

“Tabloids,” she replied cheerfully.

“Of course.”

“Silver Spoon, what did I tell you about the tabloids?” Diamond asked sounding irritated.

“Not to trust them, they are trash. I know. Sorry,” right then, the sound of a bell broke them out of their conversation, the ponies playing quickly running inside, the yard was soon left free from the fillies and colts running about. 

“Huh? What’s that?” in the distance, three ponies were visible, one of them appearing to be riding a "Scooter?"

“Yes! We made it!” said the orange one before running inside the building, the other two remained on the pulley, breathing heavily.

“Ah’ knew we shouldn’t have taken that shortcut…” said the southern accented filly.

“It was YOUR idea!” reprimanded the white filly.

“Ahaha… Come on! We’ll be late!” she said cutting it short, and together, running into the building. It took John a few seconds to recognize them. “The Cutie Mark group thingie…”

“What’s the matter?” asked Silver Spoon.

“Nothing, I was just realizing that you go to the same school as those three fillies,” John said interested, but Diamond only rolled her eyes.

“Ignore those blank flanks. Anyway, you wait out here, I’ll call you when it’s your turn, got it?” she ran ahead along with Silver Spoon and the pair disappeared into the building, leaving John confused over the odd title for the group. A few seconds later, a magenta colored mare came out, she stayed in place, shifting from side to side awkwardly before finally speaking.

“C-can I help you?” she called out to John who was taken aback by her sudden call.

“Er… Well, I’m just sorta waiting… I’m one of those kids’ show and tell and well…” the mare beamed slightly and approached him in a much more relaxed manner.

“I see… I apologize if I’m acting a tad awkward, but you have to understand th-”

“This is the first time you’ve come across something like me,” he finished for her. “I know, Miss…”

“Cheerilee."

"I'm John. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. And I’m the teacher here, pardon my rudeness, but may I ask, who even dared ask you to be their project?”

“Diamond Tiara, I believe,” he replied, the kept smile on Cheerilee’s face drooped a little at the mention of the name, but returned nearly instantaneously.

“I see,” she grabbed John’s arm and pulled him by the door, where she sat him on the stairs leading to the classroom. “Would you like anything while you wait? Any questions, perhaps?”

“Yeah… What’s a blank flank?” he asked. Cheerilee sighed and gave John a blank stare.

“Maybe we can talk about that after class, would that be alright?” he noticed the gloomy look she’d acquired and frowned, only nodding in agreement as she returned inside and closed the door.

~~~~~

Applejack and Ditzy had searched for nearly an hour, their questions to other ponies were reduced to simple ‘suspicious activities’ which didn’t leave them with much wiggle room for answers, after a few more minutes of searching, Applejack stopped, taking out her map and checking the area.

“So, what exactly re we looking for, again?” Ditzy took the time to ask as they had stopped for a rest.

“Eh, A-Ah’ told you; suspicious activities,” Ditzy twisted her mouth doubtfully, trying to find an angle in which to ask her a question. It was widely known that Applejack was a terrible liar, as such, many ponies tried to take advantage of it. To their dismay, she had learned to avoid lying by diverting the questions away with simple neutral answers. 

“Well, yeah, but it would be far easier if I knew what I was looking for, you know?” Applejack eyed her with some doubt, not wanting to divulge more than she had to.

“Sorry Derpy, but it’s not for me to tell, Ah’m sorry if Ah’m not being too helpful here,” responded Applejack with an apologetic droop of her ears.

“Well… I guess that if you really can’t, I can understand,” Ditzy responded disappointed.

“Thank you, it really is important,” she looked back at the map and nodded. “Alright, nothing suspicious here… The last part to check has to be: the school grounds. Dang it, Ah’ gotta reconvene with the girls…”

“I’ll go!" DItzy suggested excitedly. "Then I can just fly back and tell you if I saw something, how does that sound?” Applejack gave Ditzy a smile.

“Well sugarcube, that’s a mighty fine idea. Thanks for the help, Ah‘ really appreciate it,” she waved her goodbye and made a trot back into the center of town.

“Yeah… Bye, I guess,” despite her reasons, Derpy seemed disappointed by her lack of trust. “I guess I did agree to just look for anything suspicious…” she said to herself, as she flew towards the school grounds.

~~~~~

Thirty minutes had passed since John began his wait by the steps, he admired the view of the town which lacked any sort of activity by the school due to its placement, the clear skies, the gentle breeze that blew softly through his hair and… He was bored out of his mind.

“Ugh! Who could have thought that waiting would be so boring,” he exclaimed sarcastically to himself.

He stared into the sky once more watching a Pegasus idly fly by, his eyes suddenly felt heavy, and soon, he found himself closing them and laying back on the steps.

…

“What are you doing?”

“I’m resting my eyes, what does it seem like I’m doing?” he replied annoyed to the assumed pony suddenly talking to him.

“It looks more like you are sleeping to me, like always,” the pony replied, getting a grunt of annoyance from John.

“Back off, I’m waiting for Diamond to call me,” there was silence afterwards for a full minute, but the voice returned to his annoyance.

“So is this what your life has come to? Living a simple life without cares? I suppose that’s to be expected for some creature that has nothing going for him, right?” this brought John to open his eyes and a furious scowl to his face, to his surprise, he found himself staring at Ditzy Doo who flew in place right in front of him.

"J-John?" she seemed surprised, seeing him laying down on such a random place.

“D-Ditzy? What the…” she remained shocked for a while longer before jumping in front of him.

“What are you doing out? I thought you were meant to be a secret to everypony!” John realized what she meant and put a hand in her wither, softly pushing her off. “What are you doing? We have to get you back hdasdfdkf!” he put a hand on her muzzle to keep her quiet.

“Ditzy. I know what I’m doing, and I’m allowed to go outside now, so don’t worry,” he removed his hand before continuing. “The better question is; what are you doing here? I don’t think you were searching for me, were you?” 

“Well, I’m actually on the look-out for suspicious activity…” she got her face close to him. “But don’t tell anyone, Applejack said it’s secret or something,” John raised a brow, trying to imagine what Applejack could be looking for, until it finally hit him.

“This won’t end nicely… Will it?”

“What do you mean?” Ditzy asked legitimately confused.

“Just… Tell them that you found me, and that they should meet me here after school,” her eyes grew in size as she realized what he’d meant the pieces falling into place in her head.

She took off, stopping to John one last time to say: "Alright... But we really need to set some time to talk, I have so much to tell you!"

"Will do," he said with a smile, waving her bye..

“May Celestia have mercy on you, John,” she thought uncomfortably, feeling bad for what would happen before flying towards the center of town, where the six mares were more than likely waiting for the messenger.
> Friendship is Magic?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

John watched as Ditzy flew, guessing she was heading back to the library. He wasn’t too worried over the ponies looking for him, though he was a bit concerned over what they would do to him, but nothing he couldn’t handle. “I hope…”

His thoughts remained on the words he’d heard, he knew Ditzy wasn‘t the one who had said them; she was too friendly.

“But if Ditzy didn’t say it… Then who?” 

He remained deep in thought, staring at the unmoving clouds, thinking of  the words, there had only been one time that had happened to him, and it had been back at the Crystal Empire.

“Maybe I’m going crazy?” he felt the lingering thought quickly disappear from his mind as he quickly passed out on the stairs.

…

“Mr. John?”

“Woah!” he turned around and found Cheerilee giving him a confused stare.

:”Is something the matter?” she asked him, smiling knowingly as she gave him an analyzing stare. “Well? Is something wrong?” she asked again.

“No,” he was quick to avoid the subject and faced Cheerilee with a smile, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “So, I’m guessing it’s my turn?” he quickly began, trying to look awake, stealing curious glances into the classroom. Thankfully, Cheerilee picked up on it quickly.

“Oh! You seem excited! Haven‘t seen a school before?” John snorted amusedly.

“Quite the contrary, I have! Mixed memories on my end thought…” he exclaimed, feeling like the right thing to respond with. “This random memory comes-and-goes thing is getting on my nerves.” he imagined himself reading about it every few lines and groaned. “I need to stop that.”

“Excuse me?” Cheerilee asked concerned. “Are you sure you are okay?”

“Yes, just talking to myself. So, can we go in, or whatever?” his change of tone was not missed by Cheerilee as her furrowed brow showed. “Sorry, just need you off my back,” he thought, hoping the apology would somehow make it into her brain.

“Yes, I suppose that’s the reason I came outside for,” she made the motion to follow her, and both of them made their way inside the schoolhouse.  

“It looks bigger on the outside,” he joked as he found himself with the smallest classroom he had been in; it was the typical set up, with a chalk—"Chalk? Really?"—board and a teacher’s desk sitting near a corner, there was even an apple on top of it, which nearly brought a laugh from him. “Well, I think my potential insanity can wait for a while.”

He stared into the desks finding a number of foals that he could easily count without running out of fingers to do so, he shook the thought away and returned his attention to two of the fillies he‘d seen earlier, now dubbed ice cream swirl pony, and in his opinion for best nickname; ribbon pony. Each holding a rather large smile that brought John goosebumps.

“Why am I scared?” he thought as their unnaturally huge grins rivaled Pinkie Pie’s. “Those grins are cursed!”

“About time! What took you so long?” Diamond Tiara, who had been sitting besides the huge ribbon pony got on her hooves and ran up to John with a smirk on her face. “Well, I’m ready now!”

“Well, since this isn’t our usual show and tell, how about we allow him to tell us a bit before himself before starting?” John flinched at the suggestion, but found himself unable to deny it. It made far too much sense. “Go ahead, please.”

John gulped as he was put on the spot, unable to come up with something to start with.

“Your name might be a good start,” suggested Diamond Tiara looking annoyed.

“Of course! My name is John, and…” he stopped, looking around at the foals who only gave bored glances in return, the wonder of having something new already gone. 

“That’s kids for you…” he thought.

“Right! And he comes from another world!” added DT, the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ weren’t unexpected to John, he had known they would come at some point, along with…

“What exactly are you?” Questions, of course. “Seriously, Ah‘ve been rather curious.“ ribbon pony asked.

“Apple Bloom, don’t be rude, introduce yourself before asking questions!“ Cheerilee reprimanded her before turning to John. “John, you may pick from the class if they have questions, but only after Diamond Tiara presents,” no longer ribbon pony cringed and shrank back on her seat.

“Oh, Ah’m so sorry! Mah name is Applebloom, it’s nice to meet you!” John grinned, she was at least educated enough to apologize when it was due.

“Just get to the point!” scolded Diamond who gave John a good kick to vent her anger, he’d imagined that younger ponies were weaker. He had been wrong.

“Ouch…” he mentally reminded himself that she was just like a little girl -rather spoiled for sure- and hitting her might result in a Equestrian version of child abuse, so he let it go. “Thank you,“ he said through gritted teeth deciding to allow the response. “And to answer your question, I’m what’s called a human,” mumbling among the ponies was imminent, one of them writing down what he’d said. 

“Right, ahem!” Cheerilee said, trying to return order to her class. “So, Diamond. What can you tell us about John then?” Diamond gulped slightly, finding herself on the spot, her previous eagerness now gone, not expecting the questions asked to her directly.

“Well… He is not dangerous at all, he is in fact, er… Rather friendly! Yes,” Cheerilee gave her a blank stare, one of knowing, Diamond Tiara in return glared at John who only raised a brow in return.

“Hey, I told you to ask me questions,”

“Well, good try, Diamond Tiara! I will have to speak  with your father though,” she said, instantly recovering her posture. Showing how adept she was at it. “So, seems that’s everypony, a-”

“Wait! What about me? I have yet to show AND tell!” said the pony that had arrived in the scooter hours before.

“Oh… Right! Of course! How could I forget you, Scootaloo,” replied Cheerilee, looking a bit put off.

“Um… You seemed to be working on something by the look of the paper on your desk, what is it?” John asked her, interested on what Scootaloo could find more interesting than him.

“Well, it’s only the most amazing, awesome, incredible, dashing paper in all of Equestria!” she exclaimed, puffing her chest out proudly.

“Oh, here we go again,” said Diamond Tiara on her seat, John looked confused and chose to humor the filly.

“What do you mean?” she stood on top of her desk and smiled.

A big smile adorned her face.

John felt like he had committed a grave mistake.

“Well, don’t get me wrong, you were cool before, and the talk of the town, but nothing can compare to the most amazing thing, or n this case; pony in existence!” John raised a brow at the comment, intrigued. [i"‘What could possibly be so great?" he thought.

“What could possibly be that great?” he found himself asking without realizing it. 

“Oh, Faust… That‘s a great question!” said Cheerilee in obvious faux excitement. “How about you, ahem, show us? In fact, just that would be just fine,” she said hopeful.

“Yes it is! And I’m glad you asked, but this is something that everypony must hear! You see…
~There is only one!
There is only a Dash!
There is only one!
There is only a Rainbow Dash!”~ there were moans of pain in the room with John joining in as well, he realized that Scootaloo was singing in class, and to make it all worse; it was some of the worst singing he’d ever heard.

Everypony else shared his thoughts from the way they cringed.

~“She is the fastsst pony that you have ever laid you eyes on!”
Nopony can’t beat her because she is just that awesome!
You can try, but no dice, where are you? You are dead last!
There is no way that you can beat, Rain----bow, Daaaaaaaash!”~ she finished her song and brought a plushie in the form of Dash from her satchel, hugging it while standing on her desk.

“I’m guessing that’s… Your show and tell?” Cheerilee asked cautiously, one of her ears still flattened over her head.

“Yup! And that’s only the first verse! You have GOT to hear the chorus!”

“You get a passing grade, isn’t that just great!” Cheerilee didn’t bother to hide her enthusiasm. Fortunately for her, Scootaloo was too busy hoof pumping in celebration to care. “So, now that Scootaloo is done, how about we ask John some questions about himself? That‘s if you don‘t mind answering them, of course,” the fillies and colts all nodded approvingly, glad that they would skip their basic lessons for something new and less monotonous.

“Well…” he noticed the excited looks on the foals’ faces, the decision already been made. “Of course…!”

“So, John. Where are you from?” Cheerilee began right away, he was surprised to see her holding a wide smile, her eyes seemed to spark as she waited for an answer. “Oh boy… It’s Twilight all over again,” choosing to ignore her look, he thought back on what he could to recall and replied with some effort.

“I… come from another dimension, or so I've been told...wait, I said that before, but I didn’t say that I come from a planet called Earth. To add to the explanation, it’s a world inhabited of billions of creatures like me, not like-like me, but humans that are actually the only sentient species… Well, dolphins are too, but they don’t talk much. Er… They are like fish… I guess? Look, I was never too good with biology of any kind, so please, don’t ask!” he looked ahead and noticed ice-cream swirl pony writing like a madmare, not surprisingly, the sound of scribbles were heard from behind him, Cheerilee obviously taking notes as well.

“Why are you here?” asked ice-cream swirl pony. “My name is Sweetie Belle, by the way!” she added, knowing the incoming question.

“Perceptive filly,” John thought, disappointed that he couldn‘t reprimand her. He mulled on the actual question and jumped slightly. “Oh… Ahem… Excuse me?” he asked again, hoping he had heard wrong.

“Why are you here? Did some sort of phenomenon take place in your world? Is that what brought you into Equestria?” the ponies around her gave her blank stares at ‘phenomenon‘, getting her to roll her eyes at the display. “Did something strange happen for you to have come here?” she corrected herself.

“O-oh, well, I…” he struggled with the words, thinking of what to reply with. “I came because I wanted to be with Twilight Sparkle? That sounds easy enough, right?” but another thought came to him as he did. “Or… Did I do it as an arbitrary way to escape my old life…?” 

“Mr. John? Are you okay?” he looked ahead to see Sweetie Belle looking over him with worry, some of the other ponies in the class doing the same.

“I-I, well, you see…”

“How about we continue after recess, kids? Go ahead!” Cheerilee instructed and the foals wasted no time, they were out the door in seconds.

“Um, I…” he cleared his throat and turned to Cheerilee with a thankful smile. “Thank you, you saved me the… You saved me,” he finished simply.

“Come on, John, sit down,” she brought a pillow from the closet and set it down next to her desk, for him to sit on. “There is something in your mind, would you like to talk about it?” John fell the sweat fall from his brow at the question. “I’m not sure what the problem really is, but I sure can at least tell you that you can talk to me if the need arises, alright?” she put a tentative hoof over his arm on the desk and smiled warmly.

“I… Why are you doing this so willingly? I barely know you! I know this is ‘Happy Pony Land‘ but this is just odd!” John blurted out, uncertain of her motives, Cheerilee visibly wincing at the term.

“I’m going to tell you a little story about a pony from… ‘pony land‘,” she replied, taking a bite out of the apple on her desk. “Once upon a time, there was a filly who lived happily with her parents. However, she was never able to go to school, as she lived in a very remote part in Fillidelphia ,” she stopped, checking if John was paying attention. When he nodded, she continued. “As such, she spend most of her years without much knowledge outside her farm work and some simple things like writing, at least that was until her parents died in a terrible disaster that struck in the form of stray clouds from the Everfree, which brought a rare case of natural tornadoes,” John raised a brow in confusion. “The Everfree forest is a gigantic forest that expands far, it touches Ponyville, as well as Fillidelphia and other cities despite the distance between each other. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it's pretty dangerous, so please, never go in,” she added knowingly.

“Got it…” he acknowledged, still mentally mulling over the ‘Fillidelphia’ part.

“Anyway, hours afterwards, she was found in the ruins of her old home and taken into custody, and she had to move to an orphanage in Canterlot, as she was only ten. She learned quickly that she was one of the least knowledgeable ponies in the city, and she was rather embarrassed by it,” John raised a hand to stop her.

“You were that pony, and you were picked for it. You studied hard and became a teacher,” Cheerilee frowned slightly, taken by his interruption. 

“Well, yes, that’s the gist of it.” 

“I’m sorry…” John apologized realizing the rude interruption.

“Don’t worry about it, I should have been more specific,” she got on all hooves and pointed to her flank. “It wasn’t until I was sixteen when I got my cutie mark. Funny how the most obvious thing can be the most difficult to realize, huh?” she explained, looking at him curiously. “And speaking of them, not to be rude or anything, but, I’m surprised you cover yourself with clothes, it’s not really a special occasion, don’t you wanna show off your cutie mark?” John chuckled.

“Okay, so one; we don’t have cutie marks, two; clothes are what your coats are to you… Also, we don’t do the naked thing, okay?” Cheerilee seemed amused.

“I see… I imagined that was the case.”

“We are getting off topic thought, what does that have to do with helping me?” she bopped her head and nodded.

“Well, a bit, actually.”

“What do you mean?”

"You see, despite what I may say, my cutie mark symbolizes the love I have for each of my students and the need to help them grow,” John stared with a blank look. “This doesn’t really mean it’s for them only, I wanna help you learn things you couldn’t learn otherwise, if you’d let me, that is,” she allowed herself a little smile as she continued. “Which is why I shared my story with you, so I believe it’s fair if you were a bit more trusting of me. No?” John snickered.

“You play dirty… And I‘ll think about it. Thank you, Ms,” he said amused, Cheerilee only shook her head.

“You can just call me Cheerilee without the Ms part, but only when outside the classroom, got it?” she said matter-of-factly, eliciting a laugh from John.

“Got it!” 

“By the way…” Cheerilee seemed to think of something as she looked at the clock in the wall. “Why exactly are you helping Diamond Tiara with her project?” John noticed her raised brow, wondering what she had in  mind.

“I’m thinking that you think I’m doing something shady.”

“I didn’t say that,” she giggled. “But you certainly put the idea in my head now, so you might as well spill it,” John sighed in response.

“Her father hired me, somewhat roughly, I must say… I don’t wanna talk about it,” Cheerilee rolled her eyes at the mention of the Rich stallion.

“Figures. I can see you already know how Diamond Tiara can be, just be careful with her, I have never wanted to accept it, but she can be downright nasty,” she said with a bit of regret.

'The magic of friendship can help you,' he suddenly remembered, being the last line Celestia had written in the morning’s letter. “Well… I can try to be friends with her…” 

Cheerilee looked shocked. “I bid you good luck,” she replied simply, getting off her hooves and making her way to the door. “I’ll be right back, it’s time for the kids to go back to class. And don’t worry, I’ll help you if some question you find uncomfortable is asked.”

“Thank you.” 

“And John?” Cheerilee called.

“Yes?”

“A blank flank is a phrase used negatively for ponies without cutie marks, you can see why it would be an insult,” she showed a genuine look of sadness as she exited the building.

“Oh…” he mumbled as the door closed behind her. “Note to self: rethink my ‘Happy Pony Land’ statement.”


~~~~~


I stared into the mirror, my eyes never leaving my flank, that same ‘star’ staring back at me, I grimaced as I looked into the dark dot right in the middle. 

Cutie Marks are what identify the pony’s talents, and mine, was practically useless. It might as well be just a tattoo, of course, it was a tattoo that grew perfectly no matter what, the coat always returning the same way, leaving the cutie mark intact.

I always liked to call it ‘powerful stylist magic’ as a joke.

I looked to my drawer and noticed the bottle with pills that the Princess had given me, the yellow contents glowed as I stared. It wasn’t hard for me to see that it was the Princess’ magic in physical form, meant specifically for my ’condition’. I hated it, of course, but the way things were going, I might have to take them for the rest of my natural life.

…Not a very happy thought.

“Stupid black mark… If only I hadn’t…” I shook my head. I mean, just how many times had I been over the same thing? I felt my eyes water again as the tears fell from my eyes; I-I just couldn’t stare at it anymore. I returned to bed and surrounded myself in blankets.

“I guess I’ll just stay here forever, being useless,” I cringed at the smell; I’d showered the night before, but the bed still had the same sheets I had been lying on for over a week had become a stink fest. I didn’t dare go outside, unless I wanted to get another “get-well” speech from that moron. “Maybe I shouldn’t have snapped at Spike…” my number one assistant had come in to keep me company a few hours ago, I kicked him out without hesitation, but not before a few hastily thrown words. Was it the right thing to do?

… In all honesty, I didn’t care.

“They’ll never understand…” I pulled the blanket up and covered myself completely, searching for sleep as the only way to avoid the pain.


~~~~~


Most of the class was spend with the foals asking questions about John; thankfully, Cheerilee didn’t need to intervene for any of them, as most of them were questions that concerned his physique.

“So… No magic?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Or wings?” continued Scootaloo before he could reply.

“Nope,” he felt more confident as he went on. “The only differences we really had was in the color of our skins, but we didn’t get any special ability or something like you do,” he finished, clearing his throat afterwards.

“Well class, I think Mr. John has had enough, and by the looks of that clock, so have we all. Class is dismissed!” the foals all cheered happily at Cheerilee's words, and trotted outside in small groups.

“Thanks, my throat is parched," John said relieved.

“Don’t mention it, you taught u- I mean, you taught the kids a lot!”

“You don’t have to hide your enthusiasm, I can see you enjoyed listening as well,” John laughed, noticing Cheerilee's coat shone a slight tint as she blushed in response. Sharing one final laugh, she followed John outside.

“Yeah, you are correct,” she turned to the schoolhouse and waved. “Well, John. Feel free to come visit whenever there isn’t classes. Any questions you may have, I’ll gladly answer them,” John smiled thankful and waved back.

“Will do,” she closed the door to the classroom, and as she did, John felt something tugging at his pants. “What the?” he looked down and noticed Diamond Tiara staring at him, Silver Spoon standing right behind her.

“Thanks for the help,” she began sarcastically, huffing as she said it, referencing the events of her presentation.

“Hey, you could have asked questions, you know?” he replied in an attempt to defend himself.

“I did, and you were useless on that end!” she replied with an arrogant scoff.

“Well… Okay, you are right. I’m sorry DT… I can call you that, right?” she rolled her eyes and trotted ahead.

“Sure, whatever, can we go now?” John raised a brow amused.

“Progress!” he thought excited. “Wait, go where?”

“I’m guessing you don’t want your money then? Take me home,” John jumped back surprised.

“O-of course I do!”

“I thought so,” she replied satisfied with a smug smile on her face, already trotting towards the exit.

“Er…” John searched around, hoping to see the mares as he’d hoped, to his disappointment, he found none. “Did Ditzy forget?”

“John!” he heard his name called and he jumped back surprised.

“No, I said I was sorry!” he covered his face by instinct, but found no further comments. He dropped his hands to see three familiar fillies staring at him with puzzled looks. “Er… Apple Bloom? Scootaloo? And… Sweetie Belle? I got your names right, right?” the three fillies smiled in acknowledgement.

“That’s right, mister!” confirmed Sweetie Belle, the other two nodded agreeing as well, holding looks of anticipation.

“So… How may I help you?” he crouched to be more at eye level with the group.

“We were wondering if you wanted to hang out with us sometime!” explained Apple Bloom, barely holding her excitement.

“Well…” John thought of his options. “I could know a bit more about the world from the eyes of fillies or… I could be a pedo… No, fillyphile on the eyes of other ponies by just hanging out with them… Yeah, no.”

“Oh, well, I don’t know? Can we talk some other time? I really need to g-”

“Yeah! Why don’t you just go and do your… Lose-a-ding!” DT and Silver Spoon appeared out of nowhere, laughing at their terrible wordplay, Applebloom and company delivering a glare to the pair.

“It’s crusading! And we ain’t talking to you, DT!” Apple Bloom retaliated angrily, falling for the obvious ruse.

“Lose-a-ding, crusading—same thing, really,” she turned to John who only stared in shock at the exchange. “Come on, you don’t need to talk to these losers, they just want to use you to get their cutie marks,” Sweetie Belle seemed ready to talk back, but held her tongue, her eyes tearing up at the implied comment.

“How dare you! We just want to get to know him!” countered Scootaloo, her tiny wings flapping rapidly, the image of a hummingbird coming to John’s mind.

“Oh, Scootaloo, how goes the flying?” Diamond asked, and Scootaloo recoiled at the question, slowly backing away. “That’s what I thought,” only Applebloom remained, staring daggers at the filly.

“This is too eerily relatable for my taste,” John thought, looking at the scene play out in front of him, realizing that it had gone far enough.

“That’s enough, DT,” the filly glared at John at the request. 'Friendship'. The word ran throughout his head, the reminder of Celestia making its way into his thoughts once more. “Er, please, there is no need to be mean. Why don’t you just try to be friends or something?” he said looking slightly flustered at the suggestion.

“What?” it was the only thing that Apple Bloom could respond with in her shocked state.

“Friends? With them? As if!” Diamond Tiara turned her head away avoiding them completely. “Who would want to be friends with some blank flank that’ll never do anything in life!” at this point, Apple Bloom looked slightly upset, her frown slowly turning into a grimace.

“A blank flank is a phrase used negatively for ponies without cutie marks, you can see why it would be an insult,” 

“Diamond Tiara, stop.”

“Why? You don’t have anything to say to them. I do,” Diamond got closer to Apple Bloom, a wide grin plastered on her face.

“Please? I really wanna go back home,” John said, quickly making up an excuse, she turned to him with an annoyed look.

“Go ahead on your own then, but have in mind that  my daddy won‘t pay you if you do,” he was taken aback by the threat, but a look into the crusader’s faces snapped him out of it.

That had been the last straw.

“Friendship? Yeah, screw this. Sorry Celestia.”

“Good, now I sh- Hey!” DT stopped, not surprising as she was currently being picked up by the ‘waist’ by John at that moment.

“I said to leave them alone!” DT was unable to retort, being placed face to face with John, shaking terrified. “You can keep the money, I don’t want it,” he breathed heavily, untapped anger being released at the terrified filly. “I’m not going to stand here while you pick on someone for some dumb reason like that. YOU need to learn some manners,” he set her down without removing his eyes from her. “You are going to go back to your daddy, and tell him what happened here, you hear?” she nodded slowly, unable to run, by that point, she had begun to cry.

“Y-y-you’ll see!” she finally managed to respond. “ Come on!” Silver Spoon who had been frozen in fear at John’s outburst till then ran after Diamond, weeping to herself as she went.

“Well… That’s done,” he looked around and found no one, it had been lucky for him that the school had been secluded, keeping any other pony from observing his treatment of the filly. “Crap, I’m gonna get in trouble for this, aren’t I?”

“John! You… Thank you!” Apple Bloom didn’t hesitate and hugged his leg, Sweetie Belle following right behind and hugging the other.

“That was so nice of you to do!” said Sweetie Belle.

“I don’t know, picking on somepony younger than you doesn‘t really seem very nice…” commented Scootaloo, the other two fillies glaring at her in response. “What? I’m just telling the truth, but still, it was nice. Thank you, hum- John,” she stared at him, her eyes glassy, tears being forcibly held back to keep up appearances.

“No girls, she is right, I’m going to get in a lot of trouble. Still, that was worth it, if only to help you gals. I just hope this teaches you to try better when dealing with her,” the three got together and nodded furiously.

“That gives me an idea!” they formed a circle, speaking in hushed voices as to prevent John from listening, until suddenly. “Cutie Mark Crusaders Bully Control Yay!” John jumped back, covering his ears at the loud shout.

“Okay, not sure how that‘ll do,” he simply said at their outburst. 

“What do you suggest then?” challenged Scootaloo.

“Well… Sweetie… You are an unicorn, right?” she looked to her friends with a confused look, looking for answers to the obvious question. “I mean to say, why don’t you get a cutie mark in magic? Kind of like Twi-” he stopped, rubbing his temples as the reminder of his pony sibling returned. “So yeah, her, and you two could do it in flying and bucking apples,” he finished motioning towards Scootaloo and Apple bloom respectively.

“Ah; guess we can try that…” Apple Bloom nodded hesitantly and huddled up with the group in another meeting. “We’ll be going now then, thanks for  the idea!” she said in an obvious farce, running from him with Scootaloo, leaving Sweetie behind with John.

“I actually think that’s a good idea, I’ll try it on my own time thought, thank you,” said Sweetie Belle cheerfully.

“You are welcome, Sweetie Belle,” he replied satisfied.

“Come on, Sweetie Belle, We’ve got to get to the clubhouse!” hurried Apple Bloom, causing her to run to her side. “And Mr. John, we would really like to have you over some time, if you can, of course!” 

“Ask your sisters and then we’ll see!” he shouted as they were quickly leaving the area, and without wasting more time, the group waved him goodbye one last time, and hurried to their ‘crusading’, leaving John on his own. 

“Well, so much for the pay… Dammit, I need a good job, I guess I’ll worry when I get back to the li…” he stopped himself as realization hit him in the face.

“… Fuck… “ he turned back, heading back towards the schoolhouse, shouting as he got closer, thankful that no other ponies were around. “Cheerilee! How do I reach the library?”

~~~~~

“He what!?” Rainbow Dash asked angrily.

“Yeah… He should be making his way here now. I would have made it here earlier but I had to stop by the post office since Dar- my boss called me in to… Do things!” she finished awkwardly, the other ponies only looked at each other with varying degrees of shock, Rarity being the first to speak.

“I’m going home,” she informed, making her way to the door. “I have a very important order to take care of,” she waved her friends goodbye and left, the rest looking at each other with unease.

“Um…Actually, I also have to go," Fluttershy said next. "I need to go give the animals their lunch, and it’s getting late for that, sorry… Say hi to John for me,” she said her goodbyes and left after Rarity.

“I have to go too,” joined in Derpy. “It’s my turn to make supper, I’ll talk to John some other time, see you girls!” she left in a rush, closing the door on her way out.

“Well, I’m staying!” Rainbow shouted, crossing her limbs angrily. “He interrupted my training!”

“Dash, this is usually the time you are sleeping on a cloud, Ah’ don’t recon you had anything better to do,” Rainbow fumed at Applejack's words, but didn’t comment. “Well, Ah’ll stay, just to keep an eye on Rainbow. Would that be okay, Spike?” 

Spike eyed Applejack knowingly and sighed. “Huh? Oh, well… Yeah, sure,” he replied, looking down.

“What the matter, Spike?“ 

“Well, let’s just say that Twilight is not really in the mood for visits, and leave it at that,“ he presented a tray with some glasses. “You want some water? It’s all we have for the moment.”

“Thanks kindly, Spike. And what about you, Pinkie, will you wait?” the pink pony didn’t reply, as she laid her head on a pillow, sleeping soundly as Applejack spoke. “Well… That explains the pillow now.”

“At least she gets to sleep,” added Rainbow.

“Can’t you just drop it already!?” asked Applejack irritated of her friends’ complaints.

“No! He’ll have to hear from me!” she retorted, her nose fuming. “He could have come back and told Spike, but instead he goes Celestia knows where to… Do a show and tell!? What the hay?”

“Well, we can at least give him the chance to explain, there is no need for that attitude! Besides, Ah’ had to leave the farm to search for him! It’s Zap apple season if you remember, and tomorrow is harvesting day, so how about you calm yerself, and sit down?” she finished, breathing heavily after her short rant.

“W-well… I-”

“Would you two be quiet!?” both mares turned towards the sound of the voice, their eyes widened after noticing Twilight with an annoyed look on her face.

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie got woke up and rushed to Twilight, hugging her and nuzzling her affectionately. 

“Twilight! You feeling alright?” Applejack approached her with a relieved look.

“Yeah, we were so worried about you since… Well, what happened,” added Rainbow.

“You couldn’t leave that part out, could you, Dash?” Spike groaned

“Well, excuseee me! I was worried too, you know!” she retorted.

Ignoring the argument and staring at Twilight at the moment, Pinkie spoke up. “Um, Twilight? Why is your coat going all dark and spooky, and why is my Pinkie Sense going off like crazy?”

The door knob rustled.


~~~~~


“For someone who has been in Ponyville for days, I’m surprised you don’t know your own way back home.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” John answered through gritted teeth. As it turned out, the school had been three miles from the library, something that he wasn’t ready for. “Well, at least the walk is good for me?” he said in defeat.

“Don’t worry, the library is sort of the beacon of the town,” the library came into view just in time, sticking  out like a sore thumb. “As you can see, it’ll be difficult to get lost from now on.”

“Huh… Lesson learned.”

They walked in silence, Cheerilee received a few hellos from other ponies as they passed by, her status as teacher being common knowledge in Ponyville due to its size.

John looked up into the sky; despite the whirlwind of events, the sun still stayed up in the sky just as high as it had been earlier, courtesy of Celestia.

“Getting used to this place is harder than I expected,” John said loudly to himself, unaware of Cheerilee at the moment.

“I like to think that you are handling it pretty well, seeing how you even managed to let such outburst on a filly,” John froze, he turned his head slowly to see Cheerilee holding a stern look.

“Oh… You heard that?”

“I did more than hear, but yes. I was about to intervene when you decided to do it yourself,” she sighed. “John, that wasn‘t very nice—why would you do such a thing?” she asked curiously.

“Well… I guess because they remind me of me when I was younger,” John sighed.

Cheerilee’s eyes widened. “You were bullied as well?”

“I… Yes, somewhat, it was a long time ago, I can barely remember it, okay?” he groaned in frustration at the mixed memories. “I did get over it, I can tell you that.”

“Well, they’ll get over it too, once they get their cutie marks, that is.”

“It was wrong, wasn’t it?” he asked regretful.

“Well… I can’t say that picking her up like that was okay, but I won’t say that you were wrong per se,” John gave her a puzzled look.

“I yelled at a filly, how was I not?”

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it? Some ponies just don’t learn with a few simple stern words, sometimes… You have to be a bit more tough on them. Sometimes, all you need is a harsher approach,” she looked up to the clears skies and smiled. “Everypony is different, right? And different situations lead to different solutions… At least that‘s what I heard,” she looked at John, awaiting a response.

“Well… I guess you are right,” the pair turned a corner and found themselves staring straight at the library.

“And to your right, we find ourselves in Ponyville’s library; Golden Oaks, founded by Celestia herself over 50 years ago. It’s one of our most beloved icons alongside Sweet Apple Acres,” she mockingly explained.

“Amusing. You are a teacher, aren’t you supposed to be boring?”

“I’ll take that as a compliment. In any case John, be careful, and take care,” she waved him goodbye and left back the same way she’d come.

“Yeah… She totally came just to teach me a lesson,” he made a beeline for the library and sighed content. “Home sweet home.”

‘Why is your coat going all dark and spooky, and why is my Pinkie Sense going off like crazy?’

“Oh no…” the first thought on his head was annoyance at Twilight’s neglect of the medicine to panic, as he rushed inside and noticed what he’d expected; the area around Twilight was already being burned, black flames already surrounding her and slowly spreading.

“Spike! Get the pills from her room!” Spike, who had been frozen at the sight, quickly snapped out of it and complied, running downstairs.

“John? What in Tartarus is this!?” asked Applejack. 

Simply ignoring her, he ran to Twilight as she writhed in pain, he kneeled by her and placed his arms around her in a hug, thankfully, the flames around her died down, his early arrival preventing any real damage.

“It’s… Complicated, Applejack,” he sighed.

“Here you go, John!” Spike handed him the bottle, and he wasted no time shoving one of the yellow pills into Twilight’s mouth.

“And don’t touch those flames, the Princess said they were dangerous,” he warned as Pinkie Pie approached a dying fire cautiously. 

He placed Twilight on the couch where she sighed peacefully. Knowing that the worst had passed, he took the ponies and Spike to the kitchen where he explained everything, knowing that after seeing the phenomenon, they would undoubtedly question him over it. 

“So… That’s what happened on her room a few days back?” asked Spike at the same event days ago.

“Yes, sorry to keep you out of the loop, the Princess didn’t want this information out, only reason I know was because I was in the middle of it all—this happened when I visited her, after all,” the others all looked at him with different emotions on their faces; Applejack seemed resentful, but accepted it rather quickly; Spike still looked scared, his short claws trembling as he took the information; Pinkie Pie looked down on the floor unable to speak, the shock of the event causing her mane to deflate.

And Rainbow Dash?

“That’s just great! Keep important secrets from us, why don’t you?” she groaned angrily.

“Dash, this was on a need to know basis. The princess forbid me to speak of it, that was the reason I didn‘t want you guys to see her!” this seemed to calm her down a bit, so her sudden outburst was unexpected as she slammed her hoof on the table and displayed her wings in anger, without anything more to say, she ran out as the others watched her in silence.

“I-I’m gonna go too, Gummy probably wants me to help with the bakery and Mr. Cake needs food, so…Yes, bye…” Pinkie slowly made her way out, leaving only AJ with John.

“… So John, where were you?” John let out a mocking laugh at AJ's question.

“Not one to waste time, huh? Still… Really?”

“Might as well. John. Ah’ waited for you for that reason—we all did. We were worried about you, you know?” John clicked his tongue at the response, not being one he expected.

“Fine, I'll get to the point: I was wrongly kidnapped, apologized to, got sort of a job, lost that job, and learned things throughout the day. It was still dumb of me to not have returned here first, so I‘m sorry,” he didn’t react as Applejack put her hooves around him in a hug.

“That’s alright, pardner, glad that you are at least owning up, Ah’ll talk to the others later about it, just make sure to take care of Twilight.” John gave her a sad smile and nodded.  “Ah’ have to go, so take care yourself as well.”

“Will do,” left without any more words to exchange, she bid Spike goodbye and exited the library, leaving John and Spike on their own.

…

“Sorry, Spike.”

“Don’t mention it, at least you are okay…“ he waited a few seconds before continuing. “So… What now?” \

John sighed, he expected the question, and he was ready with an answer. “We wait for Twilight to wake up.”


~~~~~


The wait had been longer than they expected, going through midnight, Spike having passed out by that time and being taken to bed by John. By that point, he returned downstairs to find Twilight heading back downstairs.

“Hey,” he called, stopping her in her tracks, she turned around lazily, giving him a wary look.

“Yeah, hey… I’m going to bed, I don’t feel too good, so I-” before she could finish, he ran downstairs, blocking the path to the basement.

“No.”

“What do you think you are doing?” she asked with a tired look..

“Couch. Now,” he barely held his voice. Twilight shivered slightly at the tone and did as she was told.

As they took a seat, Twilight looked around for a moment before giving John a quizzical look. "Okay… Now what?”

“What? You mean outside not taking the pills like the Princess said? You know how dangerous that can be! She told you!” he reprimanded her seriously, though her eye rolls showed that he was being taken as anything but.

Twilight sighed. “Well, I forgot. I am allowed to forget am I n-”

“Shut up,” he ordered her. Twilight jumped, noticing his harsh stare. “You never forget such things. Ever. This could have ended up badly.”

“W-well, I'm sorry! I did today an-”

“No, it’s gone far enough."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, you think because something this terrible happened we all have to be in your pity party? Well, no, I’m done!” his hushed voice quickly raised in volume until he was finally screaming at the top of his lungs. “You lost your magic, big deal!” 

Twilight didn’t hold back at this point, getting on her hooves and confronting him head on. “What!? You know full well that it is a big deal! Don’t try to pretend it’s otherwise!” she shouted back, shooting him a glare of her own.

“Well, if it is, why haven’t you tried to find a solution to the problem!?” the glare in Twilight faltered slightly as she thought over the question. 

“W-well, the Princess hasn’t found a solution, what makes you think I can!?” she stuttered weakly.

“She isn’t doing this 24/7! Doesn’t she have royal duties to attend to!? You may be her student, but she has to place her subjects before you alone!” John shot back. "All I'm hearing from you now are excuses!"

“You…” she said in a low voice, holding herself from doing something. “You don’t know what I’m going through!”

Smack!

…

The sound echoed louder than it should have, Twilight was on the floor, her eyes wide open in shock at the action that had just taken place. John stood over her, his hand still in the air, he looked at it in the same shocked expression that Twilight had, and neither spoke for a moment.

“I… I’m sorry Twilight, I didn’t mean t-” 

He didn’t have time to finish as Twilight jumped on him, he fell on the floor roughly, expecting a beat down from Twilight that never came. The only thing that came were the silent sobs of Twilight as she cried into his shirt. Neither of them spoke, allowing the silence to mend what had transpired.

~~~~~

Dear Princess Celestia

Friendship is more complicated than I expected.

I tried my best to comfort Twilight, to make her see that I was there for her, just like you told me, but… It only ended up backfiring.

Then, I spoke with a rather good schoolteacher after a certain event that I’d rather not repeat (which let’s face it, you already know what it is)  I found that sometimes, being just “nice” can be a bad thing, that sometimes, you need to be harsh to help those you care for.

I know this isn’t the sort of letter you were expecting when you told me to write to you about what I had learned weeks ago, but I felt it imperative to write you about this.

Hope you don’t think any less of me for this.

Your pen pal
John
> The Usual Ponyville - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The ticking of the clock was the only thing that could be heard, fabrics and various other materials laid on the floor out of order, only a mannequin with a beautifully crafted dress rested in the middle of the room, a sight to behold in the sore view of the room.

Meanwhile, across the room, gentle  snores were distinct among the ticking, where the one called Rarity rested her tired body. By now she had begun stirring, unconsciously pushing blankets off herself before pulling her blindfold off, allowing the light to hit her eyes, bringing the world into focus.

“Well, I must say that was a very refreshing rest!” she said to herself with a satisfied yawn. She trotted off the bed and made her way to her restroom where she began her beautifying routine. “Now…” she made her way to her working room, the place where the ‘magic’ happened both metaphorically, and almost literally. “This isn’t really my best piece…” she admitted to herself, looking over the beautiful dress with knowing eyes. “But it won’t certainly be the worse,” she took the dress from the mannequin and returned to her room, where the beautifying process continued.

A growl reached her ears, causing her normally white coat to turn a slight shade of red. Awkwardly acknowledging her hunger, she made her way downstairs, her mind already planning a well deserved—and not messy—salad. As she entered the kitchen, she found herself gasping instantly as she noticed a certain filly sprawled on the floor, her eyes closed, breathing heavily.

“Sweetie Belle!” she lost all composure and ran towards her sister, who had then begun stirring at the sound of her voice.

“Oh… Hey, Rarity…” she replied weakly.

“Sweetie! What’s wrong? Should I take you to the doctor? Oh, what am I saying, of course I should! Come on, we need to g-”

“No!” shouted Sweetie Belle before returning to her tired form. “I’m just exhausted…” she stopped for a bit to inhale some much needed air into her tiny lungs, her sister shaking her head at the sight.

“But you look terrible! If that’s the case, tell me what happened or you will be forcing my hoof!” it wasn’t an ultimatum as much as worry over her condition.

“I was trying… To earn a magic cutie mark…” she explained quickly. “I was trying to teleport… But I… Failed and… Just got exhausted…” Rarity’s eyes widened at her words; teleportation was known to be one of the most advanced forms of magic for any unicorn, and as such, one of the most dangerous—and her sister had been attempting it.

“Sweetie Belle! That’s dangerous!” she couldn’t be too mad, it had been obvious Sweetie didn’t know of its difficulty. “Just listen to me when I say that's a big no! If you want to learn magic of that level, wait until you are older, okay?” Sweetie seemed regretful and nodded a bit before finding herself more tired than before.

"O-Okay..." she replied weakly.

“Goodness me, who even gave you this idea of attempting to get your magic cutie mark?” Sweetie could barely hold herself awake as she told Rarity. 

“It was Mr. John… He told me I could try magic, and… I did…” she stopped as she passed out on the floor.

“… John…” Rarity said in a near threatening tone. “Oh, that human needs a strong talking to!” she had been uneasy around him for a while, but had grown accustomed to him over time. She still had some anger directed at him over nearly revealing Spike‘s secret —which wasn‘t a secret to everypony else, herself included-—but she had successfully kept it to herself. She took Sweetie to her room and then made her way back downstairs. “Alright, it’s time to go talk to him then! And while I’m at it, I guess I could show off my gallant work!” she made her way to the door, words about Sweetie Belle as well as the waste of time he had made for her two days prior as extra ammo in her head. She reached for the handle and pulled.

…

“Why can’t I open the door?” a note hanged from the wood, she took it in her hooves and read.

“Magic Cutie Mark Acquisition by Sweetie Belle.”

“Well, that’s Sweetie alright,” she noted, before continuing.

“First: Place magical sealing lock from the outside on every entrance including windows.
Second: Try to earn cutie mark and not give up -hence the locks-
Third: Get cutie mark. Yay! Unlock everything”

“Ah… Aaaah…” Rarity was at a loss of words, but not at the steps she read; rather, she was lost at what followed right after.

“In case of failed attempt, chimney escape will have to be done via rope ladder. I call it the exit of tears.”

Rarity ran to every door and window, she found even her own room’s windows somehow close as well. It wasn’t long until she found herself staring at the chimney. It was an ornately one, she enjoyed it greatly in those cold winter days.

As of this moment, she despised it immensely.

“Oh… Mister, you, are in big trouble!” 


~~~~~


“Hmm… No… This has nothing…” 

“Hey Twi, here are some more books from the Princess, where do you want me to put them?”

“Uh huh…”

“Twilight! I’m going to be crushed, and it isn’t going to be pretty!”

“Come on Spike, it can’t be that ba-…”

…

Golden Oaks library was a place that could be found in either a state of perpetual cleanliness, or utter book chaos—at the moment, it was on the latter multiplied times one hundred, Piles upon piles of haphazardly placed towers of books stood in nearly every spot in the library, leaving only a small path created by both John and Spike who kept bringing books for Twilight to read.

“Oh. Maybe we should clean up…” she responded with a sheepish look on her face.

“You think?” replied an especially sarcastic Spike.

“It’s gonna take us hours, isn’t it…” complained John at the sight.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby! I do this every week! It’s not difficult!” replied Spike knowingly.

“Easy for you to say…”

“Come on now, I’ll help categorize the books and place the ones I read back in the boxes, okay?” comforted Twilight while John nodded miserably, but a small smile escaped his lips as he stared at her, happily humming while putting the books in their respectful spots.

“Well… At least she is better now.”

Despite their quick argument and solution to a problem, Twilight and John—accompanied with Spike who’d heard the whole thing from his room—had had to talk about it thoroughly, ending with an awkward group hug within Spike and John, but one that Twilight welcomed happily. 

“Okay Twi, where do you want me to put this box?” John asked as he picked up the book-filled container from the floor.

“That is going back to the Canterlot archives, so place it near my podium,” she instructed, placing book after book in boxes with clumsy movements. “Ugh… This is annoying.”

Twilight had made up her mind to learn how to function without magic, as she had done so when she had been a filly, to her misfortune, such long forgotten habits had been difficult to remember.

“It’s okay Twilight, you can take a rest if you want,” called Spike who gave her a worried look.

“No… No. It’s okay, Spike, I have to get used to this, especially if I want to do this fast,” Twilight said, resuming her work with confidence to Spike’s approving nod. “Hey, John?” she called as she archived a second copy of ‘Magical Ailments and their Effects thorough History’ in her own shelf for later library addition. “I know I’m a little late, but who was at the door earlier?” John tensed up at the question, he’d forgotten about an early visit from a familiar pony.

“It was Mr. Rich. Do you remember what I told you happened like two days ago?” Twilight nodded slowly, recalling the unlikely events. “Well… He came to yell at me slash thank me.”

“What!?” asked Spike’s and Twilight’s voices in unison.

“Yeah… Apparently, I was the first one to look past the money and do that to his daughter; it seems no one who had been offered to be paid by him ever did that… Who knew, huh? In any case, I apologized, he accepted it, and I apologized in return for my own behavior. He was still a bit angry, but nothing too bad.”

“So what now then? Diamond Tiara must be furious…” replied Twilight, abandoning her current task and approaching John.

“Well, if my hearing didn't fail, I’ll be mentoring Diamond Tiara in the ways to ‘stop becoming a bitch’, as I call it, so… I have a job now!” Spike giggled at the title while Twilight delivered a disapproving look.

“John, please tell me you didn’t say that to Mr. Rich…”

“Of course not! I’m not crazy—but it’s not less true!” Spike was laughing by this point, while Twilight giggled a bit.

“I suppose not, but we need to talk with that behavior you have with foals, might cause some real trouble,” after accepting the fact, the three returned to silent work.

Knock, Knock!

“Huh? Wonder who that is?” Spike said getting on his feet and walking to the door, only to be stopped by a tower of boxes in front of him. “John! You barricaded me!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it,” he told Spike, laughing a bit as he headed for the door and opened it. “Oh, well. Hello.”

“Who is it?” asked Twilight. He removed his frame from the door, revealing a sheepish looking Ditzy. “Oh… H-hi Ditzy,” the room became an awkward silent as neither spoke.

“Okaaaay! So, what’s up?” John asked, trying to keep the awkward mood away.

She quickly recovered from her stupor at John's words. “W-well, I’m off today, and I was wondering if you wanted to hang out? I still need to give you that tour I promised you…”

“You didn’t promise me any tour,” John revealed, making Ditzy shift uncomfortably in place.

“W-well, if you don’t want to, that’s okay, I’ll just g-”

“Sure, he can go. He isn’t busy,” both John and Ditzy turned to the voice, Twilight revealing a huge smile. “Don’t worry, Spike and I can handle this. You go ahead and get the tour; it’s long overdue after all,” she said no more and returned to her work.

“O-oh. Well, if you say so. Are you good, Spike?”

“Pffft, of course! I’ll be fine on my own! Go!”

“Well, let’s go then,” Ditzy said excitedly, John following her out, turning right before closing the door, mouthing a silent thank you to the pair..

…

“I hope he enjoys the rest, he deserves a break,” Twilight said out loud, returning to her work once more.

“Hey! I deserve a break too!”  Twilight only gave him a glare. “What?” she couldn’t help but laugh at Spike’s sudden expression.

“How about this? We finish two more boxes, and then we can go out for lunch; would that be okay?” Spike didn’t need to say anything else, as he rushed to the pile of books and brought them over to Twilight, helping her put them back in their rightful places with ease. “Heh heh. I’ll take that as a yes.”


~~~~~


“La, la, la, la, laaaaa!”

“What are you doing, Pinkie?” Dash asked, barely holding her attention on her current companion.

“Singing!” she replied easily, jumping around Rainbow who currently occupied herself on a cloud that had descended from the sky, forming some fog on the ground.

“Well, it’s not really much fun for me… Why don’t you go and have fun with somepony else? Then, after I’m done here, we can hang out by the lake, how about that?” Pinkie gave Rainbow a big smile and jumped in place.

“Oh, you are SO on!” and she was gone, leaving behind a dust of pink smoke.

“Yawn… Maybe I‘ll just take a nap instead.”

Pinkie ran through the field at top speed, reaching the town in just mere seconds. She donned a pair of binoculars and observed quietly, looking for any sort of fun she could be having. It wasn’t long until she noted a robed figure who currently, was in the process of talking to herself.

“Come on, Rarity, it’s all good, nopony will recognize you like this!” 

“Hiya, Rarity!” Rarity found herself instantly skyward, and just as fast, she was on the ground once more, Pinkie observing from the same spot. “What you dooooing?” glaring behind her hood, she composed herself and got on her hooves.

“Oh, hey, Pinkie… W-well, I’m going to Twilight’s, so, if you’ll excuse me, I need to g-”

“Ooh! Can I come?” Pinkie said excitedly, blocking Rarity’s path.

“W-well… I need to go show her my latest dress, and it’s a surprise for her, and her only! It’s in my rulebook, Pinkie! I can’t let this outfit be seen until the owner does so!” Pinkie visibly pouted, but she was soon smiling once more.

“Okie, dokie then!” she then skipped away from Rarity, off to find some fun somewhere else.

“Well, that was close… Alright, John, prepare yourself for uncouth Rarity!”


~~~~~


Meanwhile, in Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack returned with a cart full of apples, carefully dropping them into the barn.

“Well, Ah’ guess it was bad business today,” said Applebloom, jumping off the cart while looking down at the floor sadly.

“Now, now, don’t be sad sis, it was just a slow day; besides, we had fun, didn’t we?” she ruffled Applebloom’s mane who giggled at the affection. They hadn’t done anything particularly fun, but they had spend the time talking about themselves, something that they hadn’t been able to for a long time, due to their erratic schedules

“Ah’ guess you are right, sis! We did have fun!”

“Did somepony say fun?” Pinkie Pie asked, popping out of the apple-filled cart, surprising both Apples who jumped at the unexpected visitor.

“Pinkie! How long have you been there?” Applejack asked as Pinkie ate one of the apples, leaving a bit on the cart as payment.

“I just got here, silly!” she jumped off the cart and stood between the pair with a huge grin. “So what were you saying about fun?”

“Um, we said, we had fun, Pinkie… Fun is over, Ah’ guess?” explained Applebloom, while Pinkie had a horrified look on her face.

“What!? That’s terrible!” Pinkie said loudly, grabbing Applebloom’s face between her hooves.

“Pinkie, we can always have fun later, you know, it’s not that ba-” Applejack was stopped as Pinkie put her hooves around her own face.

“No! I meant to say I missed the fun! What if I’m missing the fun somewhere else!? Oh! What if me talking here, putting more words together into lines, and then badly structured sentences is making waste more time…! See!? I just wasted zero point nine seconds with that pause!” and with that, she ran out of the farm, leaving behind two very confused mares.

“What just happened, AJ?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, sis.”

“… Can we get some Apple Zap jam now?” Applejack licked her lips at the question.

“You had me at Apple, Applebloom.”


~~~~~


“Aha! Finished!” Spike said proudly, putting a book in the last open spot in a box.

“We are done starting, you mean. We haven’t even gone through three-fourths of the books here,” explained Twilight, Spike didn’t take kindly to this as his current glare was saying. “Oh… Sorry.”

“That’s okay, we get to eat now after all!” he lifted himself with his own tail, bouncing around happily at the grub that was coming.

“Well, aren’t we excited?”

Knock, Knock!

“Oh? Wonder who that is?” Spike headed for the door and opened it, jumping back at the cloaked figure in front of him. “Woah! Hey… R-Rarity… How may we help you…” Spike couldn’t hold any coherent thoughts as he lost himself in the visit of his crush.

“How does everypony keep knowing it’s me? Ugh,” she closed the door behind her and pulled her hood off, revealing a sight that not many ponies would glance into; Rarity’s mane was a mess, tangled and dirty, her face was covered with dark spots, overly visible due to her white coat.

“Rarity… What happened to you?” Twilight asked, staring agape at a sight of her friend she never expected to see.

“Twilight! Darling! You look fantastic! I’m glad to see that you are feeling better,“ Rarity said, disregarding her own looks, something that Twilight was thankful, happy that she didn’t hold any ill thoughts for her previous behavior.

“Thank you, Rarity, I’m doing just fine… But you don’t seem too hot yourself.“

“Yes she does!” intervened Spike, but was ignored as he continued to drool over Rarity.

“Pardon?“ Rarity asked at Twilight’s wording. 

“Oh, just ignore it, it’s something I picked up from John,” she explained, disregarding her comment.

“Well… I would say that I was caught up in another one of Sweetie’s attempts at earning a Cutie mark, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. If I could be so bold, may I use your shower first, please? I’m rather dirty, as you can see. I will explain afterwards.

After a good hour, and waste of all hot water the library had to offer, the three met up in the kitchen; there, Rarity explained the issue to the pair, and while Spike quickly took Rarity’s side, Twilight wasn’t too open to it.

“You know, Rarity, you can’t really blame him for that; Sweetie Belle didn’t know either, right? It’s no surprise John was ignorant of the knowledge,” she explained, trying to justify John’s advice.

“W-well, I suppose that’s right…” Rarity agreed begrudgingly, not having thought of it herself. “But it was still pretty dangerous! I expect that you can at least inform him of such things!” 

Twilight noted with some skepticism.  “You know, I’m actually surprised you didn’t tell her about this before yourself. Didn’t you learn the basics of it from your parents?” 

Rarity froze, the topic having turned a direction she hadn’t expected at all. “W-well…”

Growl… the sound of two simultaneous stomach growls caused Twilight to giggle, as Rarity held her own stomach in shame, while Spike fell on his back.

“Hun… gry…”

“How about we talk about this more over some lunch? My treat, Rarity.”

“W-well, I suppose a lady must have some food on her if she wants to have a good c- Growl… conversation…” Twilight got on her hooves and poked Spike, making him get on her back.

“Come on, let’s go then, wouldn’t want Spike to pass out on us, heh heh.”


~~~~~


The sun was high on the sky as Ditzy and John walked side by side, it was an especially good afternoon, as they had visited a couple of places and Ditzy had managed to explain everything while they were at it. A good hour later, a growl from John’s stomach got Ditzy out of her tour guide mode.

“Oh, I guess you want to eat something, huh?” she said playfully.

“Well, I guess I do… What do you have in mind, Ms. Doo?” Ditzy could only blush at the comment, as she had never been referred to as such by other ponies, much less another species.

“I got just the place!”

It wasn’t long until they made it to a place where tables were set outside, John gave the place a sweep and shrugged.

“This looks good,” he took the nearest seat, and a pony in tuxedo trotted towards them.

“Good afternoon, sir, madam,” he placed a pair of menus on the table and bowed. “You may call me once you have made your orders,” John ordered a simple salad, Ditzy mimicking his order, and both ate in peace, enjoying the surprisingly tasty treat. As they did, John began some small talk.

“Thanks for the tour, Ditzy, God knows I need it,” he said gratefully. She only smiled and nodded, fiddling with her salad as she did.

“Well… It’s my pleasure! I’m always glad to be w- hang out with you! You are nice,” John smiled at this and ruffled her mane.

“You are pretty nice yourself,” at this point, Ditzy had found herself as red as Big Mac, or so she thought as she felt the burning in her cheeks.

“Y-you know," she began carefully. "We could always hang out m-”

“Hello!” the pair jumped in their seats as a sudden pink intruder appeared on them. “Hi guys! Anything fun going on!” Pinkie Pie looked at a watch hanging around her neck and sighed. “No! This isn’t fast enough!”

“Well… I was… Till you showed up,” Ditzy complained internally at Pinkie’s intrusion.

“Yes… Hi… So what do you mean, Pinkie?” John asked with some confusion.

“I’m trying to take part in the most fun I can manage, and I’m trying to run from Rainbow Dash’s spot on the lake to Sweet Apple Acres barn raising that Applejack just told me about two point five minutes ago, but then I’ll miss Rarity’s big reveal that she might or might not do and I could miss hanging out with Vinyl! GAAAAASP!” she fell back on the floor, rasped breaths coming out at a fast rate.

John couldn’t help but laugh at Pinkie’s ridiculous dilemma. “Pinkie, you know that’s plain impossible, even for you. The only way to do that is if you could teleport, or heck, cut yourself into more of you, hah… Please tell me you can’t do that,” John said with reserved fear.

“No…” she replied miserably before suddenly smiling once more. “The legend of the Mirror Pool! Why didn’t I think of that ages before! Could have saved me at that bachelorette party!” and just like that, she was gone, leaving behind a very confused John and Ditzy.

“Legend of the what-now?” John asked Ditzy who only raised her withers, knowing as much as John did.

“Well… Now that we are alone… Wanna continue that tour? If you are done eating, that is.” asked Ditzy, getting Pinkie out of her mind.

John ate the rest of his salad in seconds and nodded. “Well… I am now. what’s next?” John asked curiously glancing around as Ditzy paid the bill for both of them.

“Well… Ever heard of a place that sells only quills and sofas?” John’s vacant expression at Ditzy's question was almost unreadable.

“This town is freaking weird.”

“You honestly have no idea."


~~~~~


“… And that’s how I was stuck with the order, and now it’s ruined…” Rarity pouted as she took a drink from her tea and put a hoof over a bag with the ruined dress as a server came from close by and refilled her cup. “Thank you.”

“Well… You know you could have taken the dress off, right?” Twilight pointed out.

Rarity grimaced—she had expected the question. “Of course, but I will admit that I was NOT totally in control, you would say I let my anger get the best of me… not my best decision,” she ate a piece from her apple tart, delicately cleaning the crumbs from her mouth.

”You know, this still doesn’t explain what you meant by you not telling Sweetie about teleportation,” Twilight said, roudning back to her original question. 

Rarity sighed loudly, the question had been expected as well, but she had not planned in answering it to just any pony; however, Twilight Sparkle was just not any pony.

“Well, Twilight… It’s complicated, and let’s just say, it has to do with the fact that…” she hesitated for a moment.

“Rarity, if it’s something embarrassing, you don’t have to tell me,” Twilight said in understanding.

Rarity raised her hoof and shook her head. “No, no. You are my friend, and as such, I must tell you…” she took a deep breath and let it out in a whisper: “The thing is I’m a very weak magic user.”

Twilight’s head was full of questions at the statements, there were also obvious holes in that statement, taken from over two years of knowledge of the pony.

“Rarity… I’ve seen you levitate a lot of things at once,” she began, hoping for Rarity to clear her doubts.

“Of course! But you should know that levitation is the most basic skill for magic users everywhere! Not much magic is used when a pony has mastered that art,” Rarity had been right, even Twilight herself used such magic in that way with nary a thought, and when she was a kid no less.

“I just needed to analyze every possibility,“ Twilight took out a pad from her satchel and hastily wrote what she could with her mouth, messy scribbles that she would have Spike transcript later. “What about that time you made a dress out of seemingly unrelated materials, when Trixie was here?” Rarity hissed at the question, finding it difficult to give a straight answer.

“Well… Have you ever heard of the term ‘transfiguration’?” Twilight’s eyes widened at the realization, her mouth was agape at the knowledge.

“Are you telling me that you… Wow! Rarity! But how could I not see it!  That’s a really rare use of magic! I’m very surprised that you know it! I was actually going to practice it myself, but not at the moment,” Rarity gave her a disapproving look that Twilight quickly caught. “What’s the matter?”

“The matter is that I don’t enjoy using it. It takes away from the satisfaction of creating my own pieces at my own merits!” she waved a dismissive hoof and continued. “Regardless, my point is that I cannot use magic like most unicorns can!” she suddenly realized what she had said and quickly added. “Oh, I’m sorry Twilight! I’d forgotten… I hope you don’t think any less of me for this rant,” her ears drooped and she sighed, she felt a hoof on her wither and looked up to see a smiling Twilight.

“Don’t worry, Rarity, I‘m not mad. I may not have my magic, but I can sure try to help you get more proficient at magic use, and don’t worry—this is between us,” she finished softly, placing a comforting hoof over Rarity's own.

Rarity’s lip quivered, an exaggerated smile showing in her face. “Thank you, Twilight.”

“So, what did I miss?” came Spike from another room, his claws dripping water behind him.

“Spike, did you forget to dry your hands again?” asked Twilight knowingly.

“Um… I’ll be back!” he ran back to the restroom, leaving behind two giggling mares.
> The Usual Ponyville - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The passing of the day became apparent as Ditzy and John continued their walk, a chilly wind catching him off-guard, he shivered slightly as he carried a bag which contained several quills and scrolls for his own use.

“You okay, John?” he looked at Ditzy with wonder.

“Aren’t you c-cold?”

“Oh? Well… Pegasus are practically resistant to harsh weather conditions both hot and cold, so we don’t usually feel one or the other,” she said rather easily, while John rubbed his hands together and gave her a surprised stare, not expecting the rather detailed explanation. He shivered once more, despite the warmth the sun was giving, the cold front had been harsher than what it seemed.

“Lucky you, don’t need to carry a jacket, huh?” he asked envious, putting his hands inside his shirt, figuring that nopony would care much for it.

“Well, Pegasi still need to wear jackets and scarves when it‘s really cold; we may not feel the weather effects, but we CAN get sick from them. It’s more of a... momentary relieve,” Ditzy explained.

"I see," John muttered, not knowing how to continue the conversation. “So, what's next?” Ditzy grinned at his question, ready to show him the surprise she had kept for last.

“Glad you asked! It’s actually another place, just outside of Ponyville—if you still want to come, that is,” she gave him her best puppy-eyed look, noticing his discomfort, but she had planned to be a bit selfish over this if she needed to.

“Ugh… Don’t give me those eyes, I get that from Twilight enough,” he sighed in defeat and complied. “I mean, I was going to go anyway, geez... lead the way, missy.”

Ditzy grinned satisfied. “You got it!”

They walked for a couple of minutes, and the number of houses had soon thinned out, passing by the last house in the outskirts, where a pair of donkeys affectionately nuzzled each other as they made their way inside their home. John appreciated the beauty of the place they had arrived to; big and lush trees, flower beds that looked unnaturally good and animals actually approaching  him; a squirrel even daring to get on his shoulder for a bit.

“Here we are!” John noticed the spot Ditzy, being a single tree peering in the distance. The tree was at the top of a hill, looking towards Canterlot in the far distance—something he found very familiar.

“Oh… Nice… Place,” he said, trying to show some surprise.

“You don’t really seem so surprised, “ noticed Ditzy right away.

John tensed up, but not feeling that it was that big of a deal, he decided to just say it: “Well… I’ve been here before.” 

Ditzy’s eyes widened. “What? How? This place is quite far. I didn’t think you’d been outside of Ponyville apart from Canterlot,” she said, getting herself comfortable by the tree.

“Oh, well,” he followed her lead, sitting next to her, failing to notice her jump in place as he continued. “I was here for a somewhat odd reason,” he looked over the horizon, the view had been beautiful at night, but not much beyond could be seen. Now, however, multiple ranges of mountains were visible in the far off distance, with a small patch of yellow in the farthest reach that suggested a desert of sorts that hadn't been visible that night.

"Hmm," Ditzy hesitated to speak, giving him a curious look. “What reason? If you don‘t mind me asking.”

“Well, let’s just say I made a friend sad, and I went looking for them, is all,” he recalled the recent memory, feeling like it had been ages ago—lots of things had taken place since then. “You could say I learned a few things with Pinkie her- oh…” he facepalmed, realizing his mistake. "I mean..."

“Pinkie? What were you two doing here?” she asked, giving him a look he quite couldn't place.

“Nothing! Nothing bad at least, if that’s what you might be thinking, ugh,”he groaned, though Ditzy seemed a bit confused by his words.

“Oh… But what was that last ’ugh’ for?” Ditzy asked sounding hurt. John just sighed in mild annoyance, not liking the way the conversation was heading.

“Nothing, forget about it,” they were both quiet, the moment of awe lost in the confusion of their own words.

After a few minutes of total silence, Ditzy finally spoke: “How exactly do you see mares? Do you see us as just ponies?”

“Oh, come on!” John thought aggravated, the one topic he hadn’t expected to pop up for at least some time was now being brought up over a misunderstanding.

“Look, Ditzy. I’m not saying I do, but I’m also not saying I don‘t either. It’s complicated! I’m still getting used to this place, and honestly, looking at you ponies in a certain… ’way’ isn’t on my list of priorities at the moment,” Ditzy seemed thoughtful over his response, looking down on the grass. She released a wistful sigh, and got on her hooves.

“I see… Alright. Do you wanna go back n-”

“Fun!” both were taken aback at the sight of something John wished hadn’t been possible just hours earlier; two Pinkie Pies stood in front of them. He rubbed his eyes, but the vision didn’t go away.

“W-what’s going on here?” Ditzy asked, clinging to John in fear.

“I don’t know! I-it’s this what you meant by weird stuff?” John managed to slip.

“Yeah, this fits into that, can we run now!?” they slowly backed away. Thankfully, the Pinkies ignored them and resumed their trot, and once they were far enough, they set into a run, headed straight for Golden Oaks.


~~~~~


“They ruined the barn we were trying to raise!”

“They jumped on my flowers!”

“They ate my carrots!”

“Carrot Top, you have more at home.”

“THE NAME IS GOLDEN HARVEST!”

“Enough!” yelled Twilight at the ponies in front of her, a crowd that only grew in size, complaining at the appearance of the Pinkie Pie looking creatures that began running rampant through town. “I’ll try to find a way to fix this! Please, bear with me!” her piece said, she returned inside, Rarity and Spike following right after her and closing the door to the still continuing screams.

“So, Twilight! What’s the plan?” called Spike, getting ready to pull out books at her call.

“... I have no idea…” she said simply, and Rarity and Spike’s jaws fell. “Don't get me wrong, I just don't have one yet; I don’t know what we are dealing with exactly. And while normally I’d search through the books easily by bringing them up with my magic, we don’t have the luxury of that," taking a deep breath, she faced the pair. "Listen, I’m going to need you guys to get me any book that has to do with cloning or even some sort of transformation!”

“Are they not changelings?” asked Rarity, hoping that she might be wrong.

“No. They are causing far too much chaos for that to be the case, they seem to be looking for, well…  ‘Fun’…”

Knock, Knock!

“Who is it, we are busy!?” said Twilight with an exasperated huff.

“It’s Ditzy and I, Twilight!” came the voice from behind the door.

“Who is Ditzy?” wondered Rarity out loud. Spike opened the door and both him and a gray Pegasus made their way in. “Oh... I see.”

“What’s going on!? Why are there so many Pinkie Pies!” asked Ditzy loudly, gasping tired breaths between each word.

“I don’t know! I’ve never seen anything like this! Maybe the real Pinkie has something to do with this, but I can’t be sure!” then, at that moment, the earlier meeting with Pinkie Pie returned to John.

“The Mirror pool!” all present turned to him.

“The what?” Twilight ran to him with open ears.

“What about it?” said Ditzy recalling the words from somewhere.

“Pinkie Pie said something about a mirror pool, and that she went to search it, I think… Might be what caused this,” Twilight’s eyes flared to life at the information and ran to another part of the library, returning with a dusty book, opening it for all to see.

“We found this book earlier while rearranging things, I skimmed some of it and read a part about that pool,” she turned the pages until a few letters engraved in gold were the forefront. “There is a way to solve this, but…”

“What?” said John rapidly, the panic in his voice getting all in an uneasy mood.

“It’s a spell, and while I don’t think it’s particularly difficult, we need somepony who CAN cast spells…” all turned to Rarity at this point who was sweating beyond belief.

“M-m-me?”

“Yes. I’m sorry, but you are the only pony in Ponyville who uses their magic more than most ponies here outside… Well, Lyra, but she isn’t here since she left to some vacation or something,” Twilight said bitterly.

“I-I-I…”

“We don‘t have a choice, but don‘t worry—I‘ll teach you!” Twilight said, pointing her to the door heading downstairs. Rarity eyed the door warily but did as she was told, being led in by Twilight without delay.

“What do we do?” asked Spike, holding out his chest, awaiting instructions.

“You stay here, I need you to help me out here, and you two; you have a more important task: finding the real Pinkie Pie. The spell sends the fake Pinkies back, but it can also accidentally send our Pinkie into the pool,” she finished darkly.

“You can just bring her back thought… Right?” asked John, but the shake from her head was enough to bring them to terms with the stakes.

Twilight nodded. "Yes, bu-"

“Okay, we’ll do it! Come on, Ditzy!” John shouted, running out the door before any of them could say anything else, leaving behind the distressed forms of Twilight and Ditzy.

“He didn’t let me finish…” Twilight groaned, but turned to Ditzy with a stern look. “It's not gonna be easy it's likely all Pinkies will probably try to say they are the real one; you must both try your best to find and save the real one,” Ditzy nodded to Twilight, and ran off after them.

“Must… Find… Pinkie…” John ran as fast as he could, the thought of the  real Pinkie in his mind. He looked around wildly, seeing the chaos that the other Pinkies had brought as he tried his best to find her, but to no avail. “T-There are too many…” he fell to his knees as he came to the realization. “I’ll never find her, and she’ll be send into the pool, and it’ll be my fault, and I’ll be losing someone I care about again, and I’ll be alone again, a-” 

He fell a push from the side, and he turned to see Ditzy glaring at him. “What are you doing?” she asked, shaking him out of his stupor. “Come on! We have to find her!” realizing what he was doing, he quickly nodded.

“Y-yeah… Yes! We do,” they set into a normal pace, scanning the multiple Pinkie Pies in search of the real one, but despite everything, it proved a difficult task. Finally, John groaned in frustration at the sheer number of them.

“Why did Pinkie do this anyway?” said Ditzy, finally joining his frustration, just as one of the Pinkies jumped on her back momentarily and sped off.

“She wanted to take part in the fun with everypony else, remember?” John explained, remembering her earlier comment.

“Well," Ditzy groaned. "I think it was irresponsible of her! Didn’t she think of what could have happened?” John turned to her with a surprised look, the behavior strange on her usually sweet and kind form.

“Somepony is a bit on edge today… Does this have to do with what happened earlier?” John asked. Ditzy just huffed, her annoyance at the comment obvious to John.

“It doesn’t matter—we have to find Pinkie Pie!” she dismissed the comment, and the pair continued their search.

An hour of searching later, they found themselves sitting down on a table, the chaos of Pinkie Pies still going on around them, the terrified ponies in Ponyville trying their best to get away or even stop them. Something that failed to do miserably.

“It’s no use… “John sighed, mimicked by a sigh right next to him. "Yeah, I know it sucks, Ditzy."

“Um… John?”  Ditzy called, tapping his shoulder.

"Huh?" John looked up and found himself staring at one of the Pinkie Pies, frowning sadly and pacing her hoof on the table right next to him. “Are you the real Pinkie Pie?” he asked right away, the question now engraved into his mind after repeated use, the flicker of hope lingering in his mind now just a dull dot.

“Heck if I know! Any of us could be the real Pinkie. It‘s like I don‘t know who I really am anymore…” his heart sunk like a brick at the despair in Pinkie’s voice. He‘d received mixed answers from the other Pinkies; unfortunately, many of them had given him a similar look, the Pinkie in front of him giving him the saddest of the bunch. Hope for the Pinkie to be real was there, but doubt was there as well. “But… What if she is faking it…”

“Come on, John, let’s continue,” called Ditzy, getting him on his feet.

As he got up, he looked back at the Pinkie as she laid on the floor, drawing sad faces on the ground. “Hold on…” he approached the Pinkie and crouched next to her. “Come with me, would you?” she turned to him with a doubtful grimace and sighed.

“Why? I’m probably just a fak- woah!” she was now in John’s hands, being carried away by him. “What are you doing?” John didn't reply, simply starting to walk/

“Come on, let’s just get them all; I have an idea,” he walked away with Pinkie easily in hand, as she had stopped resisting and allowed herself to be taken.

“I hope you know what you are doing, John…” Ditzy said to herself, flying towards them without another word, conflicting thoughts lingering in her mind.


~~~~~


Rarity panted heavily, tired from the exertion of magic, Twilight had said the spell was easy, but to her, it was a great consumption of magic that she never thought was possible to even use, having never attempted it with so much in such a small time period.

“Come on, Rarity; you almost got it!” Spike called, showing some support. Despite his efforts, his continuous bickering over her failed attempts had become more annoying than helpful.

“Spikey, can you please quiet down? I need to concentrate,” she pleaded as calmly as she could muster. To her relief, he saluted her and made a zip motion over his lips, showing he’d be quiet. “He is so understandable,” she thought, concentrating once more. “Come on, Rarity! You are an unicorn! You can do things Pegasus and Earth ponies could never dream of! You have the power!” she abruptly fired a shot that quickly bounced off the walls, and Twilight and Spike jumped for cover right away, the blast leaving burns wherever it touched. “Oh, who am I kidding! There is no hope!” she pulled her hoof over her head in usual dramatic fashion and fell back, landing on the hard wood. Spike hadn’t bothered to soften the landing this time, it seemed.

“Don’t worry Rarity! You’ll get it sometime!” encouraged Twilight.

“Let’s face it dear, time is something we may not have… We don‘t know the extent of the Pinkies!” she shot back. 

Twilight couldn't help but bite her lip in response, looking over the clock in the nearby wall. “I know… But we can’t give up! Not when I know you can do it," she gave Rarity a reassuring smile, but it didn't seem to be much comfort.

“Twilight! Are you down there?” came a familiar southern accent from upstairs.

“Yes, AJ. Rarity and Spike are here as well,” at her call, the rapid sound of her hoof steps began as Applejack descended into the basement, watching the group incredulously.

“What’s in tarnation is going on here?”

“We are trying to have Rarity use a spell to get rid of the Pinkies,” explained Spike who now wore a make-shift helmet.

“Uh, Ah’m guessing it ain’t going so well…” the drooped faces told her enough. “Sorry. Anyway, Rainbow Dash and I managed to capture a good number of the Pinkies, we found John and he had an idea to get them locked up somewhere; they are in town hall right now if y’all want to go there,” her message said, she ran off upstairs, stopping long enough to say: “Better hurry though! Ah’ don’t know how long it’ll hold!”

“B-but…” Rarity began, thinking of the job she’d have to do.

“Rarity!” Twilight shouted, getting Rarity out of her stupor. “Listen, if you don’t cast this spell and right, we might lose our Pinkie forever. I’m sorry for bringing this up now, but we need you to have confidence, please? For her?” she closed her eyes, her eyeballs moving behind as she quickly accessed the situation, she opened them again and a determined look replaced her previous fear.

“Very well! Let’s try this one more time!”

Twilight smiled. “Good! Because I have a plan!” 


~~~~~


John and the rest of the mares stared down to the full house they had, the town hall had been big enough to contain the group, and it held a stage that each Pinkie tried to fight for as they performed various random things.

“So… What now?” asked Rainbow, her front hooves crossed in boredom and annoyance.

“I think we have to wait, Rainbow,” commented Fluttershy, barely keeping her rabbit—who had just been continuously grabbed by the Pinkies—hidden, as he shook in fear. “Now, now, Angel. Mommy’s got you.”

“Ah’ told you that Twilight and Rarity are working on it, no need t—get back in there!” Applejack threw her lasso as one of the Pinkies nearly jumped to the window. “Ah’ stand corrected! Ah’ll go get them.”

“They are here!” Ditzy pointed at the first floor where Spike, Twilight, and Rarity made their way to the stage from another entrance.

“Finally!” Rainbow flew down, followed by the rest, John getting ahead of them all.

“Hey, Twilight," Dash asked. "So how did it go?” 

Rarity cut in front of her before she could say anything and held a smug smile. “It went great! Now… Did you find Pinkie Pie?” they all turned to John holding a scroll and a feather to write with. 

“Yes… No? Kind of! Look, we can actually have this over with in one go if you let me try my plan, okay?” he looked at the Pinkies and grinned, looking at a Pinkie poking the wooden floor sadly, somehow making a hole through it with ease while  everyone else looked at him with the doubt he expected.

“What!? How are you doing that!?” he was surprised to see that Rarity had been the one to speak up instead of Rainbow Dash.

“Well, with trivia, of course!” he unrolled the scroll and turned to the Pinkies who at the moment, spend their time jumping around and doing numerous Pinkie Pie-esque feats. “Excuse me!” he said loudly, but found himself ignored. “Er…”

“Attention!!” shouted Rainbow Dash, all the Pinkies lining up perfectly for the group. “That’s how you do it!” she told John with a satisfied grin.

“Alright, Pinkies, I’m going to ask you a few questions! You can either think it’s correct, or not, but this information will be known to the real Pinkie only,” they all looked at each other and sighed, a ’boring’ coming out of one of them.

She was promptly blasted away from existence, the fake’s body slowly disintegrating into tiny specks and flying away, a trail of smoke directly from the spot that ended in the horn of an annoyed looking Rarity, with everyone giving her a horrified look.

“What? Our Pinkie would never be that rude!” she noted simply, blowing away the smoke that lingered on her horn.

With the stunned look still in his face, John turned back to the Pinkies “R-right; anyway, you Pinkies can think of this as a… game,“ the look of excitement on their faces revealed their interest as John began. “Now, how many of you know that my real name is actually James? If so, come up front.” 

“What?” came the combined voices of the elements and Spike behind him, but a stern look from John was enough to silence them.

“Oh, oh, I do!” said one of them. “And me!” said another. A few more of them raised their hooves and moved towards John, giggling as they did.

“Rarity?” he looked behind him at Rarity who, to her credit, quickly understood and released the spell, and the Pinkie Pies were no more. The rest of the Pinkies stared at the now empty spots with worried glances and numerous gulps before turning to John again. “Alright… Let’s continue.”

The process continued at a much slower pace, many of the Pinkies following a different one, and doing gambles over each other. After seven more questions, only two remained, each one of them sweating profusely.

“Alright, last question,” John said as he walked by the pair, and the room remained nearly silent, all but the sound of their breathing and Spike’s popcorn munching. “Pinkie Pie,” both of them perked up at their name, ready for whatever he had planned in asking.

“Tell me,” he began, putting the scroll in his pocket. “Where did I first refer to you by name, Pinkie?” one of them began sweating extensively, looking back and forth between the elements and John. She eyed the ground, and before any of they could notice, she was in the air.

“Ah! I can‘t handle the pressure!” she rushed to the closest window, but she never reached it, and she was gone before she could even make it a meter from the spot. A few feet from there, the last Pinkie breathed heavily, barely containing her breath.

“Pinkie! Fina-”

“Hush, Twilight…” John silenced her, still looking at the last Pinkie. “So tell me, Pinkie—where?” she looked at him with worry, took a deep breath, and spoke.

“At the tree by the hill, where I go take breaks. You found me there and apolo—” she was stopped as she was engulfed in a hug by John, who nodded to the others.

“Glad to have you back, Pinkie…” he said as the rest of the present reached her instantly, enveloping her in a group hug of their own. 

"Thank you, John, girls; all of you!" she said to all present.

“But Rarity, how did ya manage that spell? You were having so much trouble earlier,” asked Applejack, Rarity looked at Twilight and grinned.

“That‘s the genius of it! Twilight modified the spell allowing me to use it along some magic I use often! I mastered it in a few minutes thanks to her,“ the others congratulated Twilight, who shrank in embarrassment at the praise.

“See, Twi? Even without your magic, you are still a great help!” said Spike happily, Twilight giving him a warm smile and hugging him. 

“I guess I am…”

John had by then moved to the stage where he watched the group talk to each other with a big smile on his face. “We did it, Di-Huh?” he turned to the side and noticed Ditzy slowly leaving. “Ditzy, where are you going?” he asked while approaching her.

“Um, I feel I’m just intruding here, so I‘m heading home, if you don’t mind,” she kept walking and was stopped once more by John. “What? I said y-”

“Look. I know it's worrying you, but Pinkie is my friend, that’s all. I won’t stop being your friend just because I worried about her!” he explained, though Ditzy only rolled her eyes at the comment.

“Why are you getting all sappy? I really do feel I’m intruding, I barely know them,” she explained with an amused grin. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be making my leave. I'm tired.”

“Geez, sorry, I was just trying to help. You know, you certainly act different from when I first met you,” John sighed, and returned to the group as they spoke, never noticing the satisfied giggle from Ditzy as she reached the exit.

She looked back one more time, staring at the others intensely, Pinkie Pie being the one she focused on. 

“Pinkie, huh?” she shook her head and cleared the thought away. “Nah, no point in worrying,” her stomach rumbled at that moment and she recalled the small lunch she’d had hadn’t been enough.

“Huh… I wonder what Harvest cooked up for lunch today?”

...

“Well, we did it! So, now what?” asked John as he reached the group.

“Well, we have to seal the pond, of course. With Rarity’s help, if it isn’t too much trouble,” replied Twiilght, while Rarity waved her mane around in an exaggerated manner before replying.

“If it prevents another one of these stress inducing incidents? My schedule is open. But you know, I feel like I’m forgetting something…”


~~~~~


“Yawn, wow, that was a nice nap!” Sweetie Belle said as she got out of her tiny bed, but she didn’t make it far as the memories of the earlier events hit her.

“Oh no! Well, maybe she won’t be too mad!” she looked for her sister all over the house, but found no such luck. “Maybe she went out?” she headed  for the entrance and tried to open it to no avail. “Oh, yeah… Well, maybe I should try the chimney then; shame exit after all,” she sluggishly headed to the chimney where her eyes dilated at what she was staring, or rather, not staring.

“W-where is the ladder?” she looked over the chimney and found no traces of it. She ran to all of the other exits and tried them, but was unable to do anything—she had been very through with her task. She reached the last window and her eyes were glued at the sight of a rope ladder being softly blown by the wind with nopony in sight.

“Oh… COME ON!”
> Outside Trouble - Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The world all around is dark, and nothing is visible as far as the eye can see. The void stretches endlessly with no end in sight. Not that much can be seen with darkness all around, anyway.

I’m sitting on a bed, or at least that’s what it feels like. I’m in a room of some sort, but I can’t see anything. I hear voices, but I can’t understand them. Is this what my dreams are now? In my hand there is a lighter… It looks familiar… It feels dear to me, but I can’t quite place why that is. 

And then, I fall.

Dreams in which one falls are always terrifying, but at the same time, they are liberating. Nothing to worry about. Nothing but the destination, of course, but that’s a given.

“You talk a lot.”

I turned my head quickly, trying to find the source of the voice, but to no avail.

“Can you try stopping? It’s annoying,” the voice said, I figured I might as well try. And I did. “It’s too dark here, maybe some light will help,” the room became illuminated and the view of the sky and the sun in the distance was shown, a real nice display, I notice a tall white figure; a horse with an ethereal looking mane… and wearing a crown. Dreams, you have a knack for the strange.

“You know, you aren’t bad, at all,” a female voice comes out of the horse’s mouth. It was familiar, yet strangely alien as well.

“What do you mean?” I asked her, she shook her head.

“What you did to get the Pinkies… That was smart, genius even… Maybe you aren’t just a waste of life…” she finished insulting/praising me about the days old event.

“Who are you?” I asked her. She only smiled

“I‘m hurt. Don‘t you remember? You met me once, in a dream like this,” she waved a hoof and everything dissipated, bringing the darkness once more. “Oh well.”

“What are yo-” I never managed to finish as I fell once more, I look up, and I really come to terms with the huge horse. "Wait, are you C-Celestia?"

“I think you are…”

THUD!

“Fuck!” John cursed as he instinctively reached for his elbow and rubbed the pain away. “What the hell…” the dream quickly came back, it was still vivid in his head, and after a yawn, a stretch, and a complaint after a badly popped bone, he ran downstairs where Spike and Twilight were already eating breakfast.


~~~~~


Rows upon rows of trees were passed by, the sound of hoof steps were audible in the quiet area, chirping and rustling from animals around quite discernible, as they hid from the two creatures walking side by side through the calm forest.

One was a tall, buff looking gryphon, slightly taller than Big Mac, he held a perpetually threatening stare, a look that was further emphasized by his ragged look and multiple cuts, the clanking of a set of claw hooks on its talons looking worn and used adding to the image.

Alongside him, a creature that contrasted with him walked as well.

He was a small green pony, merrily trotting with a pensive look, his small glasses falling off his face slightly as he jumped, his cowpony hat never moving from the spot it was on, but his wild light green mane going about, he bore no cutie mark, and he carried a satchel with countless stacks of papers, many of them completely strewn around in the pack randomly, some of them even crumbled. He seemed completely unaware of anything, until he turned to the gryphon and spoke.

“So, what you are saying is that due to their lack of an appendage to direct the magic with, Gryphon aren’t able to use magic!? Well, I’ll be!” the gryphon only shook his head, the young colt had remained from talking for more than ten minutes. A new record for certain.

“Listen kid, don’t you think a book would benefit you more with that kind of questions?” he asked, but the voice that came out of him wasn’t a rough personification of masculinity, but rather, that of a refined child, easily matching the colt’s.

“Oh, no!” he said, shaking his head rapidly. “I need to learn this info myself! From others!” he stopped and quickly jotted down some notes and hastily shoved them into the mess of papers in his satchel.

“I read that from a book…” thought the gryphon exasperated. He sighed as he set his eyes on the road. He’d picked the young pony up by the entrance of the forest hours before; he looked lost and scared, and as such, had offered him assistance.

What he didn’t expect was the young colt to quickly get over his fear of him and begin the talk… The never. Ending. Talk. Not that he regretted it; he always enjoyed company, and it could be helpful to boot.

“So… Where are you heading, mister?” the gryphon snorted, it wouldn’t hurt to tell him where he was heading. He had already broken one of his rules by taking him along, after all.

“I have a rather important thing to take care off, and I‘d say we are almost there,” he said, his eyes noticing the thinning of the tress. “To a town that has been rather popular lately.”

“Ooooh!” he could only smile, he enjoyed the child wonder of the young thing. He always had a soft spot for young ones, even in the middle of a job. Ponies liked to call it being good. Gryphon liked to call it ‘pony stuff’ He snorted thinking of how easily it fit. “Can’t really change how I think so easily, can I?” he thought of days when he‘d been made fun of. He also thought of those gryphon that no longer existed because of it. “Well, well… Looks like we are here, kid.” he pointed out, directing his attention to the lack of trees in front of them.

The young colt’s eyes lit up as he noticed in the distance; a humble little town, simplistic in its look, but a homely looking one nonetheless.

“Where are we, mister?”

“Welcome to Ponyville, kid.”

“Wow… What a stupid name! Oh well, this is where I wanted to be anyway,” 

“And there goes the magic of the moment… Right, come on, kid,” they began their walk to the town. “So kid, why do you want to come to Ponyville for?” 

The colt smiled and waved his hoof. “It’s my super secret!” the gryphon rolled his eyes, but didn’t comment any further. 

In but a few minutes, they reached the outskirts of the town, but before entering, the gryphon removed all of his weapons and put them in his bag—a smart plan, since as expected, they were stopped by one of the ponies.

“Hello, sir. What business do you have here?” asked a brown pony roughly, he looked at him, noticing the hourglass shaped cutie mark on his flank.

“Nothing much, we are just passing by. Is there a problem?” he replied, giving him the warmest look he could muster, he didn’t want any more trouble than he needed.

The stallion was taken aback by his odd voice, but shook his surprise quickly. “I-I see. I apologize for the rudeness, it’s just that we have to be on the lookout, this town has been… Rather hectic for quite a while, so I hope you and your colt can understand,” he said, ruffling the mane of the small green colt, who in return snorted at the affection.

“I knew brining him was a good idea. Thank you, Mr…”

“Time Turner! I work as the major’s aide. It’s a pleasure to meet you Mr…” 

“Hilbert is the name, and don’t worry about it, no harm done,” he said, reaching out for the stallion’s hoof and wrapping it with his huge talon.

“I… See that you've seen your share of hardships,” Time Turner mentioned, noticing the multiple cuts and marks in Hilbert’s limb. “Oh, forgive my rudeness.”

“It’s alright, you get used to it,“ he raised his other talon where a claw was obviously missing, causing Time Turner to gulp. “It’s a tough world outside of Equestria, Mr. Turner, we don’t have such a magnificent ruler like you do, but we make do. It’s not that bad, really,” he said with a confident stare which Time Turner returned.

“I see. Well, I hope you both enjoy your stay in Ponyville, make sure that your young doesn’t cause any problems!” and just like that, he left.

“Geez… Talk about horrible security, but gotta hand it to the kid, he made this go much smoother… Where did he go?” he looked around, but found no sign of him. “Dammit! Well, I guess I got him outside the forest, that’s got to count for something. Just hope he doesn’t do anything dumb, Screw it, I‘ll look for him later,” and without another word, he ventured into town.


~~~~~


“So… Basically, it was like the previous dream, but in this one you remember some Princess Celestia-lookalike was talking to you?” asked Twilight as she finished her tea.

“Yes, that is exactly what I just finished telling you,” replied John looking annoyed.

“I’m just making sure I have the facts correct,” she explained.

“Well, yes! It was weird, and then she said… ‘I think you are…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“… I think you are, what, exactly?” she asked with growing curiosity. “Don’t keep me in suspense!”

“Oh! Well, at that point, I fell off the bed and woke up!” John said scratching his head in embarrassment. 

Twilight smiled amused walking to the dish pit and dropping her cup. “Honestly, I don’t think I can do much with that information. I can only tell you it’s a dream created by your subconscious, so I wouldn’t worry too much.” 

John grimaced at the response, but concurred. “Yeah… I suppose so.”

“In a much more important matter… Are you ready for today?”

“Gee, thanks for reminding me, Twilight,” he replied, shaking in fear at the prospect of what he was set to do. After all, who wanted to practically baby sit Diamond Tiara of all ponies?

“Well, you WERE the one who accepted the job,” she reminded him.

“I know! Is it like your job to laugh at my misery?” John asked as miserably as his question showed.

“No. I only do for the things you set yourself up for,” she said with a smirk.

“Nah, that‘s my job!” added Spike, coming up from behind, laughing at John’s pouting. “Oh come on! You look funny when you pout, you can’t blame me.”

“Well, I’m blaming you anyway, and there is nothing you can do!” he said, sticking his tongue at Spike.

“Right back at you, buddy!” he responded sticking out his own.

“I don’t like you very much…” John said with a venomous tone.

“And I guess I have to be the adult here and say that you both need to cut it out!” Twilight sighed annoyed.

“Adult?” John thought for a bit before asking. “You know, I never asked you how old you were, question never seemed to come up,” Twilight seemed surprised, but scratched her head as she realized it as well.

“Oh yeah, I never did, did I? Well, I‘m seventeen,” John’s jaw nearly hit the floor.

“Really? And… You live on your own?” Twilight raised a confused brow.

“Pinkie is sixteen, and she stopped living with her parents at a somewhat earl— wait, is there something I’m missing?” John couldn’t help but return a twitch of his eyes at the new information, as it had been something he never expected.

“So you are both underag… I’m… Gonna head off to, er, work now, yeah,” he left without saying another word.

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked Spike, who only shook his head, just as confused as her.


~~~~~


“Ooh! Aah! Cool! Eeh… I’m bored now.”

The young colt walked through town with a tourist mindset, he looked around with awe at the colorful town, but that did not last, as he quickly grew bored of the sights.

“Geez, and I thought my town was b-ugh!” he was unable to continue, as a beam of light suddenly hit his eyes. “Aah! The pain! It burns!” he rubbed his eyes and timidly opened them again, as he did, he noticed something on the floor, shining in the sunlight.

“Ooh! What’s this?” he picked up the object, but was unable to investigate it any further as voices close by took his notice.

“…-mah sister’s friend Twilight works, Babs,” his ears perked up at the voices, his interest piqued by one of the names, he followed the voices, forgetting the object for the time being.

“Um, well. I don’t really like reading much…” admitted Babs.

“Oh, that’s alright, cuz! Ah’ don’t much either!” concurred Applebloom.

“So, why are we here then?” asked Scootaloo who stood besides her with a bored face.

“We are giving her the whole Ponyville tour! We won’t be able once the parade starts!” explained Sweetie Belle.

“Does that mean we can go to Sugarcube next? I’m huuungry! Also, can we walk now? I’m tired of pulling you guys!”Scootaloo complained taking off the reins to the embarrassed look of her friends.

“Um… Ah’ guess we could walk… And I DO want some sweets…” Appleboom noted.

“Did you say sweets!”

“Woah!” the four fillies jumped in place at the voice, and quickly all hugged each other in terror. That is until they noticed the green colt, and their terrified stare became glares

“Hey! What’s the big IDEA!?” shouted Sweetie, her voice breaking at the last word.

“Ouch! Calm down kid, you nearly broke my eardrum…” the young pony complained, but the glares continued.

“Answer Sweetie B- Woah! Hey y’all! Look!” Apple Bloom said, pointing to something that everypony quickly picked up on.

“You don’t have a cutie mark!” pointed out Sweetie.

“Well that's just rude. You haven't even introduced yourselves!” the colt said with a pout.

“Says the pony that just jumped on us and scared u- I mean, my friends!” retorted Scootaloo, pressing her face against the green pony.

“Um… Good point! Sorry, miss!” Scootaloo softened her glare but did not remove her eyes from him.

“W-well, you apologized, so I guess we can let it slide…” 

She was pushed out of the way by Apple Bloom who reached to the colt’s leg and shook it vigorously. “Well, we are sorry too. So, Ah’ heard that you were hungry!“ she said, changing the conversation. “Wanna come eat with us?” 

The colt grinned happily and nodded rapidly. “Would I?!” he followed after Apple Bloom, leaving the others behind.

“What’s the deal with my cuz?” asked Babs.

“I think she wants him to join us,” whisperedSweetie Belle.

“Ugh, why would we want him in our group?” said Scootaloo annoyed..

“Oh, come on. The more the merrier! Besides, you don’t have to be mad, he wasn’t trying to scare you,” Sweetie finished, walking away with Babs in tow.

“Hey! I… I wasn’t scared!” she said, kicking a rock in the way and getting on her scooter, following the group with a pout on her face. “I wasn’t scared…”


~~~~~


A pair of doors closed, John, and Diamond Tiara stood outside them. Both held a sad stare, as they looked forward to the terrible day they would have. 

Each of their reasons may have had something to do with the other.

“I hope you realize that I hate you,” began Diamond Tiara.

“Well, I hope you realize that I still have your allowance.”

“You wouldn’t leave a lady without her allowance! That would be… Mean!” John couldn’t help but laugh.

“Admittedly, I came up with the idea on the spot, but I think we’ll get along JUST fine, don’t you think?”

Diamond Tiara glared at John, a look of pure hate towards him that no mere child could have pulled off easily, but it seemed befitting of Diamond herself. He didn’t really blame her; it was a rather mean plan after all. 

After arriving at the Rich mansion earlier, he had found it problematic to make the filly listen, even her father was having problems. Fortunately, he had been a kid before, and he quickly came up with the solution: to become the keeper of her allowance.

Something that she didn’t take kindly.

“Whatever…” she said with a defeated expression.

“Okay, I almost feel bad… But not quite,” he thought. “I still have to wrap my head around that age thing. Maybe…” he looked down to Diamond Tiara who only kept her glare. “Hey, Diamond, I was wondering if I could ask you something.”

“You can’t,.” John flinched, he’d been aware of what the response would be, but didn’t expect the harshness of the answer.

“Oh, come on! What if I give you ice cream?” John offered. 

“Are you bribing me?” she smiled mischievously.

“Guilty as charged, so is that a deal?” 

She seemed thoughtful for a moment before answering. “Sure, what is it?” her face showed some excitement before returning to her usual condescending stare, and then walking ahead, John quickly catching up to her.

“Well… I was wondering, what age does a pony reach adulthood?” he asked quickly. 

Diamond Tiara stopped and turned to him with a boorish look. “Really? That’s your question? And here I thought you were dumb before,”

“Oh, what’s that? You don’t want ice cream? Well, that’s a shame,” he said, mockingly turning away, but noticing the look of sadness on DT's face told the whole story.

“Y-you wouldn’t!” she nearly cried out, and John nearly took his decision back, noticing her childish behavior come out over her usual nasty self with her pout, he hadn’t expected the response.

“J-just answer the question please, and you‘ll get your ice cream,” he said, avoiding her puppy dog eyes.

“F-fine!” he felt regret as the young filly wiped some small tears from her eyes. “When a pony turns fifteen, they are considered an adult! Are you happy now!?” she said loudly, her voice cracking in a rather comical way.

“Yes, yes! Let’s go get ice cream!” he quickly offered. She instantly cheered up, happily trotting behind John. “Well, if she can act so childish, I think there is hope for her yet,” he thought, a bit of satisfaction for the ‘progress’ he’d gone through.

They made their way out of the RIch state, and quickly returned to Ponyville. John kept to himself, thinking of what he was supposed to be doing to help the filly behave better. “I have nothing… That’s not good.”

“So, what are we supposed to do?” asked DT. John tensed up, cursing the inopportune timing. “All daddy told me was that you were going to ‘help me’ or something,” she sounded angry, obviously disliking that her dad had practically forced her to it.

“Well…” he wondered whether he should tell her what they were doing. “I guess you could say I’m here to educate you, in… The proper way to talk to other ponies.” 

“I see…” she said with a sigh. “If daddy says so. Okay, I’ll bite! What do you have in mind?” 

John stopped in surprise. “Just like that? You are okay with it?” DT simply nodded. “W-well, we can start by you calling me Johnny! Maybe we can be friends this time!” she rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Baby steps, baby steps…” he thought.

“So what? Are you gonna spend my money for ice cream?” John gave her a shocked look.

“Of course not! It’s my treat, this is coming from me, okay?” he smiled, hoping to get the message through.

“O-okay…” he managed to notice what could have been a smile, but it had disappeared as fast as it had come. “Well, come on then! Ice cream awaits, idiot!” she said, running ahead of him.

-Aww, the little filly has a  heart after all!-  John stopped at the sound of the voice.

“Did you say something, DT?” she turned around with a visible look clearly saying ‘what are you talking about?’. “Never mind, let’s go get that ice cream. That was weird…” he didn’t think much of it as they headed towards Sugarcube Corner.


~~~~~


“Hmm, this is great!”

“Um, yeah… Can Ah’ ask you a question?”

“Sure!” 

“Are you going to eat your weight in cupcakes?” Apple Bloom asked, noticing the great amount of cupcake wrappings on the table, having ordered a few batches of the sweet, she had expected to take some home. The green colt; however, made it so that she wouldn’t.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” he said noticing the mess. “I guess I was more hungry than I expected…” he apologized quickly. “I wish I could pay you, but I don’t have any money,” he said, looking teary eyed.

“What? Well, you could ask your parents, dude,” proposed Babs, to which the kid looked surprised.

"Um..." he began, looking to the side.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen you around. Who are you, kid?” asked Scootaloo suspiciously.

“Well, I mean... Look! I found this!” he showed the item he had found earlier, they were all taken by surprise by the item he brought to their attention.

“What is that?” asked Sweetie, taking it from his hands and investigating it up close. “It looks like it’s made of metal… Woah, and it opens!” she noticed, popping the top to the side.

“Whoooh, what does it do!” asked the colt curiously, forgetting the previous question himself.

“Well… This looks like it can be pre- Aaah!” she dropped the object as it suddenly brought a flame to life. “What was that!?” the green colt picked it up and looked at with hungry eyes, sparkling in an overly curious manner.

“This. Is. INCREDIBLE!” they all  jumped at the last shouted word. “Wonder how it works! Maybe it’s has some sort of pyro magic set up so it brings the flame into existence by tapping the button! Maybe it takes the components on the air to make it work! The possibilities are endless!”

“Or… Maybe it’s just a lighter… MY lighter?” they all turned to the voice and noticed the tall figure of John approaching them with Diamond Tiara holding an ice cream cone in her hooves, licking the treat with gusto.

“John!” two of the fillies called after noticing him, only Sweetie Belle gave him a disgruntled cough.

“Hey girls! And… you both are new. Hello, young lady,” he said to Babs, though she hid behind Applebloom instantly, obviously terrified of him. “Um… Did I say something wrong?”

“Nah, she is just shy. Come on, Babs! John is a nice guy!” she looked behind him, seeing Diamond Tiara trying her best to keep out of sight. “Um, John, what is Diamond Tiara doing with you?”

“Um, well,” he looked back at Diamond, her eyes telling him all he needed. “We are hanging out! I decided that I had gone too far last time we met, and so, we are here for some apology ice cream!” Apple Bloom eyed the pair suspiciously, but raised her haunches in acceptance.

“Eh, alright.” she moved aside and pushed Babs towards him, she gulped when staring at him, the sheer size difference between both more than obvious. “Come on, introduce yourself, Babs!”

“Um… I-I’m Babs… Nice to meet ya, mister…” John reached out with his hand and shook her hoof, it shook as he did, but it slowly seemed to relax as she let go.

“Hmph!” he heard the grunt from the white unicorn resting between Scootaloo and Applebloom. Sighing, he turned to her.

“Sweetie, I know what this is about, and I got enough of that from Twilight, I didn’t know that was advanced magic!” she looked at him with one eye and giggled at his response.

“I know!”

“You are mean, young lady,” he turned to the ‘elephant in the room‘ as it may. “And now, you, young, er… Pony, that’s my light —Where did he go?” he turned to the door and saw the colt staring at him, the lighter firmly set in his mouth, the tension between him and John visible by their determined glares.

“THIS ISH MAIN, I FUND IT!” and without another word, ran away.

“Shit! DT? Wait for me here! Don’t cause trouble, you hear?” and without another word, left the building after the colt.

“Um, what just happened, cuz?” asked Babs, looking at the others with a confused stare.

“Ah’ don’t know, but we should go help him! Girls!” they all nodded and put their hooves around each other, taking in air before shouting to the whole place.

“CU-”

“Not in my bakery, you are not!” hissed Mrs. Cake, giving them all a glare. “You’ll wake the twins!”

“Oh, um, sorry…” AB apologized quickly. She turned to the other three and motioned them to go, as they left, she noticed Diamond Tiara, staring after them, a look she hadn’t seen on her face before. “Um, you can come if you want, DT…” she said with some difficulty before dashing off towards town. Diamond sighed, and with some reservations, followed after Apple Bloom.

“Ugh, I’m not doing this because you said so, blank flank… I can‘t leave him alone anyway, or daddy will be mad,” she said to herself as she left the building after them.

“Stop right there, you punk!” John shouted, quickly going by a bunch of staring ponies. “That lighter is mine!” he cursed to himself, in his pony-age dilemma, he hadn’t noticed that he’d lost it. “Why do I even care about it so much?”

-Maybe it’s something dear?-

“What the?” he stopped to look around, searching frantically for the source of the voice. At this point, he didn’t notice the five fillies crashing into him. He turned, looking at the mess of the crusaders on the floor. “What are you girls doing?”

“We came to help! We’ll help you get your fire-maker!” explained Scootaloo, the others nodded agreeing, Diamond Tiara only scoffing at the promise. John couldn’t help but smile.

“Thank you, girls. Alright, let’s go!” 

Far ahead, unaware of what was happening, Hilbert explored the town.

“Um… Nothing yet.”

Hilbert flew, his eyes peeled, looking around for signs of his assignment. He hadn’t expected it to be difficult, but even with his way of searching, he had realized it was still a pain to find anything.

“Hilbert!” he recognized the voice instantly. He looked down on the ground and saw the young colt, running with something in its mouth. “Help me!” he managed to say through gritted teeth.

“What are you…?

“Stop!” he looked down and came upon an interesting sight; a sort of hairless monkey and five fillies right behind him, certainly something he hadn’t seen before.

“… I’m coming!” he swooped down and grabbed the colt by his small body, picking him up with ease and making his way into the sky once more.

“Oh no, you don’t!” John jumped, but was unable to catch him. “Damm- Woah!” he found himself being picked up as well, he looked up and saw a rainbow mane, flowing rapidly with the wind.

“I see you need my help, monkey boy,” said Rainbow Dash grinning.

“Woah! We are really high!” they both noticed the voice, and John managed to see a bit of orange through his peripherals. “Oh… Hi, guys!” he managed to recognize the voice of Scootaloo.

“Scoots!? Rainbow! Just hold on! We are going to desce-”

“Crash!” said Rainbow Dash as she finally took notice of the building in front of her, there was a loud noise, and then, silence.

…

“Ugh…” John woke up, looking around with his limited eyesight, he flinched as he felt a pain in his leg and noticed a small shard of glass stuck. He sighed as he felt the glass, thankfully it hadn’t gone deep enough to cause any real damage, though a passing thought of certain yellow Pegasus would tell him otherwise. Through gritted teeth, he removed the piece, a small trail of blood coming out instantly.

“Um…” he felt something stir under his arm, he removed it from the spot and noticed Scootaloo resting under his embrace. He hadn’t realized that at a moment’s notice, he’d grabbed Scootaloo and protected her from harm.

“Phew, talk about a rough landing! This place looks familiar,” he noticed the area and recognized it instantly. “Town hall. Empty. Right,” he looked around, searching for Rainbow Dash. He didn’t look long as she was close by, stirring from her passed out form into consciousness.

“Ugh… Talk about a rough landi—”

“Already made that joke,” commented John as he got close and helped her on her hooves. “Are you alright? That was a rough crash,” she shook her head and gave a sly grin, her fur had dozens of tiny pieces of glass strewn about, but she didn’t seem to complain.

“Of course I’m okay, I’m Rainbow Dash. Just a bit sore, is all," she suddenly tensed up, looking around quickly. "And Scootaloo?” she asked urgently.

“She is alright, I managed to protect her from the glass,” he said, Rainbow showing her relief.

“That’s good. Thanks. I swear, poor kid is sure crazy,” she remarked with an amused stare.

-Will you two kiss already?- John looked around rapidly, searching for the voice, but found nothing in the partially lighted area.

“You alright, dude?” Rainbow asked, giving him a confused look before going to check on Scootaloo.

“Yeah, I am...” he shook off the strange feeling and sighed in relief. Everything having turned out alright despite the incident.

-I wouldn’t count on it.-

“Talk about a perfect spot…” they looked to the source of the voice and noticed the gryphon from earlier, standing there with the young colt behind him “Hello there, John.”

“He knows my name…” a mental red flag was raised. He felt the danger of the creature in front of him. “You! Kid! Give me my lighter!” he said, trying to hide his fear, focusing instead on the colt who only hid further behind the gryphon. “Grr…”

“I’ll just get to the point,“ he said, pushing the kid back. “Come back with me, or your friends will be hurt.” 

Rainbow Dash popped up from behind John and flew towards the gryphon with ease. “Not on my watch, buddy!” she extended one of her hooves in a punching fashion, ready to hit him with full force.

John watched eagerly. “Get him Rainbow—”

“What the!?” Rainbow said surprised.

“...-Dash?” he completed the name lamely.

“Hmph, sorry Dashie, but too slow,“ Hilbert said with a smug smile. 

"W-What?" Rainbow Dash stared horrified as her hoof was being easily held by Hilbert’s claw, a small twist, and she was send straight into the wall, the crunching sound of bones breaking resonated in the mostly empty chamber getting John to flinch in response, Rainbow fell to the floor, and moved no more, a hole imprinted where her body had hit. 

“Anyone else want to try this?”

John stared with horror, quickly realizing he wasn't a match for him and he would be taken easily. There was nothing he could do. He fell on his knees as the realization hit him.

“S-someone is going to capture me… I won’t see Twilight, or the others ever again…” he shook his head. “Whoever you are, please don’t take me! I-I...”

“Oh great, you are losing it already. This should be a fun trip back…” Hilbert said sarcastically, he approached him without reservations, slowly getting closer and closer.

“No! NO! Get away from me!” John thought, but he couldn’t make the words come out.

…

-You know? For being smart, you sure are pathetic at putting up a fight… Fine, I’ll help you.-

“W-who are you?” he asked.

The voice simply chuckled. -Just a figment of your 'imagination'. Now, I want you to follow my lead perfectly…-

“Are you done feeling sorry? Or am I going to have to sma- What the?” Hilbert looked at John, as he had seemingly stopped his terrified stare. “What are you up to…?”

“La, la, la, la~” he began, a simple tune, more of a hum than anything.

“What the hay…? Have you actually lost it? Whatever,” he moved towards him, and raised a claw to grab him. “What?” by the time he had noticed, he had already moved out of the way.

“La, la, la la~” John continued, this time getting on his feet.

“I don’t know what you are playing, but you are coming with me!” he leapt towards John, but he quickly found himself grabbing nothing but air as John sidestepped out of the way. “Well, what do you know? It seems you have some fight in you. Guess knocking you out should solve it easily, huh?” he leapt once more, but much quicker, he reached John, and punched… Only to miss again.

“What the!?” he looked at the spot he had hit, John having only partially moved to the left to dodge. “H-How are you doing this!?”

“La, la, la ,laa, la, la laa!~” John continued, and a vein became visible in Hilbert’s plumage, having grown weary of John’s act. 

“Shut it!” he leapt once more, and this time unleashed a flurry of punches which John easily dodged.

“La, la, la la~” John kept on, never letting up.

“What’s going on!? How are you doing this!?”


~~~~~


“OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHWHAT’SGOINGON!?” John thought, his surprise having reached levels he never imagined.

-Surprised, aren’t we? Just keep it u- LEFT!- the voice shouted, allowing John to dodge the hook that nearly hit his chin.

“How, am I doooing this?~” he said out loud, the humming now becoming rough lyrics.

“I don’t know, but youuu, need to stooop!~” he put a claw to his beak.. “Wait, how come I am, singing too!?~” at this point, his eyes lit up, catching up to what was going on. “You…” he jumped to the far end of the hall, reaching for Scootaloo.

“No! Leave her alone!” John shouted right away.

“Then shut up, and I may let her live. Don’t, and well, something bad might just happen,” the gryphon said, pressing a knife on the filly’s throat.

“Y-you...” John fell on his knees and extended his arms. “You win. Take me. Just leaver her, please!” 

“A reasonable one it seems,” he tossed Scootaloo aside and headed towards John nonchalantly, ready to tie him and take him away.

“Not on my watch! Scumbag!”

Both raised their heads at the voice coming from seemingly nowhere, and without warning, like a flash, the figure of a pony went through the window. John noticed as the pony hit the gryphon square in the face, the whole act in slow motion, then instantly speeding up as Hilbert flew and hit the wall with force, and was instantly knocked out by the crash.

“Hmph! Still causing trouble, I see,” John recognized the voice instantly, and he looked ahead, a patch jet black mane, covering the face of the mare in the middle. “Everypony in, now!” dozens of armor clad guards entered the town hall, surrounding Hilbert and quickly capturing him without trouble.

“R-Rough Patch…?” as John said the name, the memory of his first day in Canterlot came to mind, him being told off for having broken a law, he trembled in fear as he shook off the thought. “What’s going on here!?”

“No time to explain," she said and turned to him. "And you are coming with us too,” she looked to the side and directed a couple of guards to pick the unconscious bodies of Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, quickly taking them out of the hall and into a barely visible ambulance cart.

“But it’s too sudden, and what about Diamond Tiara, and Twi-”

“Both ‘princesses’ has already been verified, so I suggest you get off your behind, and come with me,” she whistled loudly, and another guard came among the others, saluting Rough Patch as he landed.

“Yes, Rough Patch, si-OUCH!” he complained after being hit over the head, at which time his helmet fell off, revealing a pink mane.

“Guard, how many times do I have to tell you it’s CAPTAIN!?” 

John’s eyes widened in surprise at the title. “C-captain?” 

Rough Patch harrumphed. “Things change, buddy, now get ready… It’s going to be a doozy,” John didn’t have time to react as he was being lifted up into the sky before realizing what was going on.
> Inside Trouble - Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Oof!” John complained as he was suddenly thrown into the inside of a flying carriage, landing on the other side of the carriage upside down. “Gee, it’s nice to see you again, Mr. Guard,” he blew a strand of hair from his face, managing to see the upside-down smirk of Guard. He set aside a mental note to cut his hair at some point.

“John!” he turned to the source of the voice and noticed Twilight with Spike right next to her.

“Hi…” he was wrapped by her hooves instantly in an attempt at an awkward hug, one she quickly broke after realizing it. 

“John! Are you okay!? Your body is covered in cuts!” she pointed out in shock. John looked at his leg where the glass had been before, a moderate trail of dry blood as well as other small spots in his hands. He hadn’t noticed them when crashing through the window.

“I’m okay…” he groggily got on his feet and stared at the door he had been thrown into, noticing it had been closed and they were now on the move. “It’s... a rather odd story. I think it might be best if I explain with the Princess. Please?” Twilight looked doubtful but accepted the terms with a nod. John headed to the nearest seat and laid back with a heavy sigh, unable to grasp what had happened just minutes before.

“Oh my god… What is happening to me?” he thought, placing his hands over his eyes, ignoring the looks of worry from Twilight and Spike. He released a heavy sigh, the thought of what happened up to the point of the kidnapping attempt, which he quickly pushed to the back of his mind..

-You know, that isn‘t a healthy thing to do-

“Shut up! You aren’t real, get out of my head! NOW!” he yelled in his own mind. He didn’t want to acknowledge the voice. To him, doing so would have meant him accepting his own insanity.

“John?” called Spike who was right next to him on the seat.

“Don’t! Just, please. I got a lot to think about,“ Spike seemed hurt, but didn’t argue, and the rest of the trip remained in silence as they arrived in Canterlot Castle.

They pulled up by the castle courtyard, where John, Spike, and Twilight were promptly dropped off.

“What about Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo?” whispered John to Rough Patch, getting away far enough from Twilight and Spike to ask the question.

“They’ll be taken to the hospital wing for examination, and don’t you worry, that gryphon won’t bother you anymore—he is going to a rather secure place,” John smiled thankful at the bit of news and nodded. “Now go, Her Majesty awaits you in her study, Miss Sparkle here should know the way.”

“Thank you, Captain,” John said with a sad smile which Rough Patch acknowledged with a nod. She returned to the carriage, before it took off once more, heading to what John imagined was the dungeon.

“Let’s go, Twilight, you know the way to her study, right?”

“Y-yes…” she replied with some discomfort as they headed into the castle.

Nothing had changed since John’s last visit, though some of the ponies in there did give him fearful looks, like recognizing him from his previous incident months before. He tried to ignored as best as he could as they made their way through a smaller hallway. After a few minutes, they stood in front of the door to Celestia’s study.

“Ms. Sparkle,” Twilight jumped at the sudden call of her name, and she turned to the side just to find a familiar face.

“P-Princess Luna?” said Princess nodded, a silent greeting to the three of them.

“Greetings, Ms. Sparkle. It has been a while, hasn’t it?” Twilight smiled awkwardly, looking at the door and back to Luna not wanting to be rude, hoping she would take the hint.

“Oh the ’hint’ as it may has been taken,” Twilight gulped at how easily she was read. “However, you are coming with me, my sister has things to speak of with John,” Twilight began to protest, but was quickly stopped. “Privately,” she rubbed her leg awkwardly at the information and readied an excuse, but was again interrupted. “And with good timing, as I have something to talk to you about as well. It is quite important, I assure you.”

“B-but…”

“Go. I’ll just tell you everything later, alright?” John said with a weary smile. Twilight grimaced, noticing the pained sound in his voice. Something she couldn't help him with.

“I guess just another thing I’m useless at right now…” she thought miserably. “Alright… We’ll see each other later, okay?” John only gave her a weak nod before turning to the door and giving it a single nod.

“Come in/Let’s go,” came the voices of Celestia and Luna respectively. John and Twilight looked at each other one more time, and without another word, headed to their respective meetings.

“Afternoon, your Majes-” John said as he made his way in, he instantly stopped as he was suddenly engulfed in an odd attempt at a hug, giant wings enveloping him completely, the surprise in him was expected, after all, he was being ‘hugged’ by Celestia herself. “Y-your Maje-”

“I told you before, you can call me Celestia,” he was once more fazed, this time by her tone, it sounded much more open. She showed some strain to her voice, something which quickly raised a flag for him.

“Are you alright?” he asked Celestia, who gave an air of sadness about her. “W-what’s the matter?”

“Look at you. To think that I didn’t actually predict this—I have been a fool!” she stomped the ground harshly, leaving an indentation where her hoof hit.

“C-Celestia! Can you explain what’s going on? What’s the matter with you? You are acting rather…”

“Odd? Friendly? Forward, even?” John only stared. “That’s because I am. Worrying over a friend should be something natural, don’t you think so?” John‘s eyes moved wildly, his mind racing to understand. “Or is this perhaps too strange for you? Twilight herself never liked me acting this way, so I’m usually the same around her as with everypony else. She doesn’t want any special treatment,” John sat down on the floor, holding his head.

“This is… A bit to take in…”

“Is it?” she moved away from him and her horn lit up, dozens upon dozens of scrolls came up, noticing a familiar seal on them. His seal, at Twilight's insistence to use in his own letters. “As these letters show, you and I have been far more close than you think. You’ve been very open with me, and have protected the one who I see not only as a student, but a daughter… I think this is a rather normal reaction to that.”

“Heh…. Heh, heh, heh…” John laughed out loud, taking in the absurdity of it all. “Well, I guess you are right, and I’m glad you think of me as one, now I can do the same for you,” he said honestly. “Well, I guess you want me to talk about what happened, right?”

“… Yes, but maybe you’d like to talk about something else first,” John tilted his head confused.

“What do you mean?” he felt two spots of wetness in his face, he reached to each and felt it; the familiar texture of tears, freely falling without his consent, he shook his head in confusion and looked at Celestia. “I-I don’t know why I’m crying… This can’t be ri-” his mind began running amok, different memories running through his head without question.


Never go back home… that stupid pink pony… I just want to protect her… It’s happening again no!… I nearly died back there!… No, I can’t lose someone else… I’m done pitying you!… I’m going to be taken…

I’ll never see Twilight again


“I-I-I can’t!” John shouted, plumbing on the floor as his legs gave way, he was sobbing as he hit the floor, shaking as he hugged his legs and cried, cried like he hadn’t done since arriving in Equestria.

“It seems that you have things on your chest,” Celestia said, approaching John and putting a protective wing over his crying self. “Go on, I’ll gladly listen to everything you have to say.”


~~~~~


Their steps resonated in the halls, the two ponies and the dragon made their way through the castle in total silence, something that Twilight quickly pointed out.

“Princess Luna! What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?” she asked rather forcibly, stopping midsentence.

“Patience, Ms. Sparkle, we are almost there,” true to her words, they reached a pair of doors. Luna pushed them open, and the three made their way in, the doors magically closing behind them, following a hallway which contained multiple plants and flower pots randomly set up, and then came upon a pair of black doors, which Luna easily pushed with her magic. Inside, they found a rather lavish room, it had a regal looking bed with blue covers, the rest of the room was nothing more than a small shelf and a small drawer with but a single window with a just as plain curtain.

“What are we…?” Twilight began to ask, but was stopped by Luna’s hoof as she moved to her bed. removing her regalia and placing it in the table, and climbing on.

“Welcome Ms. Sparkle, to my room,” Twilight eyed the place quickly, having already realized as much.

“Yes, but what are we doing here?”

“Well, I figured that the only place I could feel comfortable being myself was my room, so I moved us here,” she said simply, laying on her  back and lazily stretching an odd sight for the pair.

“Uh, huh… how come you didn’t just teleport us here?” Twilight wondered.

“A valid question, indeed. Why didn’t I? You may ask,” she jumped off the bed and moved towards Twilight. “The better question is why I should have. Tell me, was it really something I needed?”

Twilight replied, taking a step back. “I… I suppose not.”

“Tell me, Ms. Sparkle. How have you been faring?” Twilight backed away once more, the seemingly casual question implying more than it seemed.

“Why do you keep calling me Ms. Sparkle? You know my name, Princess,” Twilight noted, showing a hint of annoyance at the prospect.

Luna smiled. “Well, I only refer to my friends on a first-name basis, ponies who bother to keep in contact with me; don’t you think that’s fair?” she said, turning her head towards Twilight almost mockingly.

“I… I have been busy. I apologize if I haven’t been keeping in contact, but is that all this is?” Twilight asked, trying to dodge the topic. 

Luna shook her head. “No, it’s not something as ’trivial’ as that. In any case, you seem to be avoiding to answer my question, so I will be blunt,” she turned towards a window looking outside, the sight of a great forest far away. “Tell me: how have you been faring without magic?”

Twilight flinched, and Spike clenched her hoof, staying close to her. She knew how to answer, but it wasn’t a response she was ready to give with Spike there.

“Go on, Twilight. It’s alright,” Spike said, noticing her hesitance. Sometimes, the small dragon really knew how to read her.

"It's been tough. Is that all?" Twilight answered uncomfortably.

“No, it is not,” Luna approached Twilight with a simple leap, a glare plastered in her face. “Tell me, how would you feel if you were to never regain your magic?” Twilight’s eyes widened at the question.

“W-well, that question is irrelevant! I’ll get better… That’s what the Princess said, and I trust her! Not to mention I’m looking for a cure… “

“Do you really believe that?” Twilight seemed to freeze at the question.

“I-I…”

“Princess Luna! What are you trying to say!?” Spike asked angrily, he noticed his tone and nearly backed off, noticing Luna's neutral look.

“Young Spike, I will say this—s she not the element of Magic? What will happen if she does not recover? Not only her, but her friends, the world. Her role as the Element of Magic is not a simple one, it bodes much more than just a simple ‘element‘. She is an important beacon, one that brings hope to other ponies. Can you imagine if she were to never recover? It would upset not only the trust of the ponies, but may even bring upon conflict between our own,” she eyed Spike with knowing eyes before asking. “You may be young, but you are wise enough. Is that explanation enough?”

Spike stood frozen, not having realized the implications of such a title. He closed his eyes, and thoughts ran through his head. “It’s Twilight, I'm sure she can fix this. She can fix anything!” he opened his eyes once more and glared at Luna. “W-well, she’ll deal with it! You’ll see! I believe in her”

“Spike…” Twilight said, looking at him with a big smile. “Yes, I will deal with that!” she said, donning a hesitant smile. She thought not only of Spike, but her other friends who would have more than likely said the same to her. She would have to try.

She had no other choice.

“A naïve thought, but even naiveté can work for one such as you, Spike, as well even you, Miss Twilight. Hopefully, your will is as strong as your words,” she said with a serious stare.

"...”

“Still, it seems that many of those previous doubts are gone,” Luna said with a grin. 

Twilight smiled a bit, realizing the fact, but quickly regained her frown. “S-still! That was a rather mean thing, even coming from you, Luna!”

“Thanks for actually calling me Luna that time, Twilight.” 

“Oh, I guess I did.“

“Now, if you could send my sister and I letters again, that would be most appreciated,“ they all stared at each other, and without warning, burst into laughter. An uncalled for laughter, but the kind that just made the tension disappear.

“So, is this what it was all about?” Twilight asked, wiping the tears of laughter from her face.

“Yes, I needed to know if you were ready for whatever may come, and I have hopes that you will,” she said, donning a confident smile.

“…That doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive you, that was quite a mean thing to do,” Twilight said, glaring at Luna without remorse.

“Of course, and I am sorry, really,” she sighed wistfully and turned to the door. “We may go now, you have seen my room more than even my sister lately,” they quickly left her quarters, making their way outside, but instead of going the way to Celestia’s study, they went towards the opposite direction.

“Luna?”

“Do not worry, we’ll see them later; however, you must want to see your friend Rainbow Dash, no?” Luna suggested.

“Dash is here…?”  Twilight asked confused.

Luna closed her eyes in understanding. “I see. I‘ll fill you in.”


~~~~~


Through the closed room, no one could hear the sniffles of John, who by this point, was on his feet, already getting his bearings.

“Feeling better?” Celestia asked..

John nodded. “Y-yeah… I guess I needed that, didn’t I?” he said, wiping tears from his now red eyes. “Oh God, I feel so pathetic…”

“Now, now, it’s never bad to have a good cry once in a while, you’ve had a rather hectic three months, and frankly, things that no human has really been put through; you needed release,” she comforted him.

“I guess I did…. Thank you, Celestia.”

“Pardon my change in topic, but it must be brought up… Do you have any idea about the creature that captured you? Did you do anything else?”

“You mean the one I, er, fought? I did dsomething to it… but are you trying to bring up that odd ‘singing‘ thing I did?” he tried explaining, shivering a bit at the recent  memory.

“I don’t mean that. I will admit it‘s quite odd, but I wouldn‘t really put it in the 'otherworldly' section,” she explained.

"I see," John sighed, he had already expected the answer. 

"But," Celestia continued. “I do have one theory, of course,”

“What?” John asked hopeful.

“Music.”

“Huh?” he responded, losing it already.

“Music is a powerful thing in this wonderful planet of ours, all creatures are linked to it, and as such, are driven to act alongside it. Of course, that’s implying that all creatures are born here. Understand?” it took John a moment to realize it, but he quickly face palmed once he had.

“You can’t be serious…” 

Celestia snickered. “But I am! It’s a rather common thing in Equestria, have you not seen ponies spontaneously bursting into song before?” the memory of a certain moment in the Crystal Empire returned to him, bringing in the explanation he’d wanted so much back then.

“Yeah, I have,” he rubbed his temples at the absurdity. “But how did I manage to dodge that gryphon then? It doesn‘t explain anything,” Celestia seemed thoughtful for a bit, recalling something, she smiled once more as she came up with an answer.

“It’s all about timing and rhythm.”

“You know, if I didn’t know any better, I would say you are screwing with me... are you?,” he groaned, his doubt more than valid.

“Simply said, he may have been slowed down by the tune you sang, that would explain him missing every time he attempted. Of course, this should tell you that nopony sings in battle,” somehow, John bought every thing she’d said easily.

“Wouldn’t be the first time something crazy has happened… But what about the voice?” he asked, and Celestia's grin turned into a grimace.

“I will look into that and your dreams in more detail, I know for a fact that you aren’t crazy—I would know if you were—and I can’t really see or feel any sort of magic hex on you. In any case, for the time being, there is a place you should go to first,” her horn lighting up, a guard appeared out of nowhere, and saluted Celestia without question.

“Yes, your Majesty!”

“I apologize for the surprise summon, but could you take Mr. John to the dungeons? There is somepony… Or rather, somegryphon he needs to talk to.”

“W-what? Why?” John asked, clearly scared of meeting the creature that nearly took him.

“Well, there is something I would like to say, but maybe going directly to the source might get you to understand their motivations, as well as the implications,” John gulped, but nodded, hesitatingly agreeing to her suggestion.

“Okay… Let’s go.”


~~~~~


The walk to the dungeons was a longer journey than John had expected, and having to make numerous turns through many hallways, he arrived to what appeared to be a secret passage. Before even realizing it, he passed from the overbearing feel of the castle, to a much less comfortable dungeon motif with flickering torches to add to the mood.

A mood John wasn’t enjoying too much.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the pony beating human,” John rolled his eyes. Ahead of him, waited the pink maned form of Gleaming Guard, the guard with John saluted him, and was quickly dismissed.

“Hey… Guard,” John greeted him awkwardly.

“It’s Gleaming Guard, but you can just call me ‘G’ for short, trust me, it makes it easier. And don‘t worry about ‘that‘, I‘m over it,” he said, referencing the incident from their first meeting, John only nodded. 

“After tossing me into the carriage, right?“ John guessed. Guard grinned, practically acknowledging it. "And no promises on the 'G' thing, but enough of that; what are we doing?"

“Follow me.”

The walk seemed to be longer than expected, and John quickly grew bored, choosing to start a talk with Guard.

“So, how have you been?” 

Guard turned to him with a gleeful smile. “Honestly? Much better than last time we 'talked'. Let’s just say that putting me under Rough Patch was a smart move from her Majesty and leave it at that. would ask how you were, but I’ve read the report: so much in so little time, more than any normal pony would see in a lifetime,”  John growled at the information, not liking the fact that his life was an open book, Guard noticed this and coughed. “Sorry, I’m the Captain’s second-in-command, so I am told these things. it doesn‘t say more than just general information, so no need to worry.”

“Right. So, how did Rough Patch even become Captain?” Guard chuckled at the question.

“That’s her story to tell, human… or rather, John. Can I call you that?” John only shrugged. 

“Sure. I can see you aren’t angry at me anymore, and I’m not one for grudges, so go for it,” Guard laughed loudly.

“Oh, I‘m still very ‘grudgy‘! You‘ll be my punching bag from now on,” John’s smile disappeared with the words, Guard didn‘t pay it any mind and continued.  “Now, how about we see to our guest?” he said, pointing to the door, having failed to notice they had arrived.

He opened the door for John to enter, and gulping a bit, he entered the small room. There were stone walls just like the outside, but the whole place had but two torches illuminating it, and a single table with a pair of chairs, where he noticed a gryphon; however, it was not the same gryphon from before.

“Well, what a nice surprise… If it isn’t our human?” the gryphon greeted him, its face covered in bumps and cuts, obviously fresh from a recent beating.  Recognizing the voice, John turned to Guard with a confused face.

“Yes, that’s him, or rather, her,” John let his mouth hang open, surprise over the out of nowhere reveal.

“B-but how?” John asked dumbfounded. 

Guard entered the room and closed the behind him. A barrier suddenly popped up and closed the passage completely, making John gulp again. “It’s just protocol, don't worry,” Guard said, noticing his fear.

“Heh, don’t worry Pinky, I wasn’t going to escape; not that I really could anyway, what with the seals and all,” she explained.

“Can you explain that!?” John said loudly, getting Guard’s attention before he could make a retort.

“Right… See this?” he brought out a small transparent bag, it seemed to contain seemingly random items.

“Yeah… What am I looking at?”

“Make-up and other such things, our gryphon here is the mistress of disguise,” he explained. “She is wanted in multiple countries, including her own of Griphonia. 

“The name is Hilda, not that my name matters," she sighed. "I‘ve heard of Canterlot‘s security… I‘m not getting out,” Guard scanned her for a moment and brought out a pad where he quickly jotted down something.

“I’m still confused… Why were you after me!?” John demanded. 

Hilda scratched the back of her head and snorted. “As if I’d tell you, if I didn’t tell the ones who ‘warmed me up‘, I’m not telling you… But our ‘handsome’ Guard here has an idea, don’t you?” John turned back to him.

“Yes… We do," Guard said with a groan.

“Tell me then!” 

Guard took a deep breath, before speaking. “Fine, but keep it mind that Princess Celestia has made it clear that you do NOT divulge this information, and that includes Twilight Sparkle and the other elements of Harmony. Got it?”

With a tinge of fear, John asked. “W-why?”

“Because this is being kept under wraps, even the stallion who contacted us was told to keep the talk with her secret, this is just a special occasion due to your involvement, so please, do as Her Majesty has commanded, alright?” Guard explained.

“Ugh, I knew he had something to do with you being there,” grunted Hilda instantly at the revelation.

“Alright, I swear I will,” Guard sighed nervously, but allowed himself to continue.

“Let’s go outside though,” they left the room quickly, mostly avoiding the complaints from Hilda for not being allowed to listen.

“Good enough,“ Guard took a gulp of air before letting out the words. “Without mincing words, you are a rarity: a creature who managed to beat Sombra, and the only one of its kind; and from what I read, someone with… Gifts,” he stopped for a second before continuing, letting John realize how much they knew. “We believe that she was send from another land to capture you and take you to them.”

“W-what?” John couldn’t believe the words.

“In a way, you are an asset to Equestria, and this gryphon here, she was hired to give you, well, as an asset to that other land, “ John simply stared. “Of course, it’s all theory, and there are other dozen reasons that may work as well, but this one is the most worrying of the bunch, and unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get much… Yet.”

“I… See…”

“Come on, let’s head back inside,” they entered the room once more, finding the laid back form of Hilda on the chair.

“Hello boys, I missed you!” they both rolled their eyes, ignoring her.

“So, what now, Guard?” asked John, still bewildered at the possibilities.

“Rotting in prison for life is the best we can giver her; besides, we have Princess Luna to get the information out of her. I‘m sure her ‘dream treatment‘ will get some answers out of her,” Hilda let out a loud obnoxious laughter and spoke.

“Well, that‘s just wonderful, I get a free room!” G’s lack of amusement caused Hilda to stop. “Geez, chill a bit lame-brain. Anyway, before I head to my ‘permanent vacation‘, I was wondering if you could tell me something, Guard?” he turned to her with a bored look, but allowed her to continue. “What happened to the colt that was with me? I already told you he was innocent.” 

There was a second of surprise in his face, which was quickly hidden by an amused chuckle. “He is fine, and not going to prison for all I care to tell you. Is that all?”

“Yes, it is,” she sighed content, then turning to John. “Hey, you!”

“Y-yes?” he answered a bit unnerved.

“Firstly I wanna say that I’m sorry for taking that filly like that, I wasn‘t going to hurt her if it makes you feel better… I don‘t hurt children,” John only stared, but didn‘t say anything. “And second, this might be yours,” she made some gagging noises, making John back away while Guard opened his wings, ready for whatever she was about to do, Hilda continued her act, and with a single spit, let a small bag out. “Ugh, take it… I don’t really need it where I’m going,” John approached the package warily and stared, gagging at the smell and look of it.

“What is….?”

“Hey, John?” she interrupted.

“W-what is it?”

“Take care of the colt for me. We might have not known each other for long, but… he was a nice kid, and he doesn‘t seem to have anyone,” she released a big sigh and smiled. “Well, I believe that’s all I have for you—I think it’s time for goodbyes, don’t you think?”

“I believe it is,” agreed G, a pair of guards behind him ready to help take her, each hooking a cuff in her talons.

“You know, I have no regrets. I lived my life the way I wanted, and that means I don‘t regret what happened in that hall… And you know? I will leave this world just as such,” she looked up to the roof, staring at it for a few seconds before letting out a sad laugh. “You know? It’s a bummer that I didn’t get to see the sky one more time…”

“What are you…?” Guard began lost.

But it all quickly made sense.

Hilda opened her beak wide to the confusion of all present, and with an ear shattering crunch, she slammed it shut; the sound of something breaking was heard through the room, and she suddenly fell back on the floor with a heavy thud, shaking violently,to the horror of all present.

“W-what’s going on?” noticed John, terrified at the sight of the now convulsing Hilda.

“Horse apples! Get the medical team, now!” ordered Guard to the other two.

“H-Hilda?” John said approaching her. As she looked up to him, she extended her talon; she reached out to him, and not even getting close, she closed her claw and smiled a bit as the life left her eyes. She had one more spasm,  and she moved no more, her talon staying upright, the smile never leaving her face.

“A doctor is h- dammit!” Guard kicked the floor with one of his hooves, a nurse noticing the body and staring intently, John backed off slowly, allowing her to do her job, but it was obvious to all present that nothing would come out of it.

It was too late.

“John!” Guard called out to him. “Let’s go, I‘ll take you to Ms Dash‘s room. We are done here.”

“Hold on!” he ran to the table and grabbed the bag, ignoring his disgust, he opened it and saw the lines of a small object; a lighter, his own. He pocketed it and went to Guard, no more words were said, he turned once more to the lifeless body of Hilda and stared, the events from before conflicting with his current emotions.

“Yeah, I think we are done…”


~~~~~


Twilight, Luna, and Spike continued their way to the infirmary, Luna finishing the rundown of what had happened to Rainbow Dash hours before.

“But how is she!? Is she okay?” Twilight asked, afraid of what the answer may bring.

“She is alive, however, I believe her wings were broken quite badly. She was still passed out when I checked on her, but I left to get you; thus, I was not able to give her a proper check up,” Twilight sighed, but didn’t question any more.

“Your Majesty!” they stopped as they came upon Rough Patch trotting towards them.

“Captain? What’s the matter?” Luna asked as Patch looked at Twilight for a second before focusing on the Princess.

“Princess Celestia wishes to speak with you, something has happened, and it’s urgent,” Luna closed her eyes in thought for a moment at the request.

“Very well. Captain, can you take Miss Sparkle to the infirmary?” she nodded and saluted her. “I apologize  Twilight, but we will have to see each other another time, excuse me,” she nodded and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving Patch and Twilight on her own.

“I know my way to the hospital wing, I‘ll go there on my o-”

“Let’s go,” Patch ordered. Twilight didn’t bother with an argument and chose to follow her.

“Um, sure…" as soon as they began walking, the awkwardness settled in for all. "Um, congratulations, by the way! My brother told me he’d be leaving his position due to him staying up on the Crystal empire… I was wondering who’d gotten the post,” she said sincerely, starting a conversation with the usually rude pony, hoping that her usual friendly demeanor could cut through. 

“Is it that surprising?”

“Nah, you seem like the type!” replied instead Spike, getting a chuckle out of her.

“Heh, I knew me liking you wasn‘t a one-time thing, hello little dragon dude,” she said, ruffling his soft scales in a friendly manner.

“Thanks… I guess,” he huffed, fixing his flattened spike.

“I was actually going to say the same, you seem like a responsible one,” Twilight continued. 

Her laughter died instantly, giving Twilight a serious look instead. “Well, I DID work for my title, after all.” 

Twilight raised a brow, the comment having come out more insulting than anything. “I wasn’t implying anything, Patch,” she responded just as rudely. 

Patch glanced back and laughed. “Well, I take it you read the papers, I‘m sure you already knew of my position,” Twilight faltered for a bit, giving Patch the opening she needed. “I thought so.”

“It's not like the rumors are true though, right?” Twilight asked, hoping for something out of Patch.

“What do you think? You should know it’s odd, I mean, an Earth pony as a Captain?” 

Twilight shook her head. “Well, I don’t believe it, in all honesty, I don’t even know why I asked.” 

Patch hissed angrily. “Make up your mind, Sparkle. I hate indecisive ponies,” Twilight didn’t manage to make a response as they reached the pair of doors leading into the hospital wing. “Here we are. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a job to do,” Twilight and Spike looked as she left, never taking their eyes off her until she disappeared in a corner.

“…She is mean…” said Spike simply.

“You can say that again. Come on, let’s see how Rainbow is doing.”

“Sure, but what did she mean by papers with Ms. Patch?

“… Something that honestly isn’t of my concern. But Rainbow is of concern right now, so let‘s go.”


~~~~~


The hospital wing in the castle was simplistic in comparison to Canterlot’s own hospital, it didn’t take much for Twilight and Spike to reach Rainbow Dash’s room and gain permission to enter.

“Rainbow..?” asked Twilight, slowly making her way into the room.

“Twilight!” she found herself in the hooves of a crying Scootaloo before even entering the room.

“Scootaloo? What are you doing here?” she quickly recalled what Luna had explained as she asked, and set a note aside to focus more on the conversation, while Scootaloo continued her awkward sobbing.

“Rainbow! Her wings!” she continued with a sadness she’d never seen on her, and Twilight felt her heart sink at the implications of Scootaloo’s words.

“She’ll be fine, she always is…” she looked at the sleeping form of her friend for the first time since entering the room and gasped; her wing had more than likely bended into place, forcing the team to put a cast on it, obviously due to the serious damage it had suffered, only one wing had been affected, it appeared, as the other one remained with but a simple bandage. The rest of her body was covered in other such bandages, but nothing really catching Twilight’s eye like the cast did.

“Hey, Twilight.” 

Twilight reacted to the familiar voice, and going around the bed, saw Rainbow who was grinning. “Dash! You are awake!” they all ran to her placed a careful hug on her form.

“Thanks, guys... ugh, I really hate hospitals. By the way, anypony care to explain how I got here…?” all of them looked at Scootaloo, being the only one who had been present.

“I don’t know… I was passed out the whole time. Sorry, Dash…” said Scootaloo with a shamed look.

“That’s okay, squirt, maybe somepony else saw what happened.”

“And that would be me,” all but Dash turned to the sound of the voice, noticing John standing in the doorway with a guard in tow. “Alright G, that’s all I know, do you have everything for your report?” 

With a satisfied grunt, Guard nodded. “Yes, go ahead, and thanks for the help,” he nodded to the other ponies in the room and left as John made his way in and closed the door behind him.

“Hey guys, hey Dash. How are you feeling?”

“I’m a bit grounded, as you can see,” John couldn’t help but admire her for her optimistic attitude… As well as chastise her for her horrible humor.

“You are just as bad as me with the jokes, Dash,”  he laughed, but she only huffed in response.

“Hey, John… So how was the talk with Princess Celestia?” asked Twilight with some worry. He went on to explain the events leading up to his meeting—leaving out his breakdown with Celestia—while Dash shook as she heard the story.

“Grr, that stupid gryphon… I could have beaten her! She just caught me by surprise!” protested Dash, now aware of the gryphon’s real gender.

“Literally,” John added, the others laughing a bit at the Pegasus’s expense.

“I set myself up for that one, didn’t I… Anyway, what happened to the jerk!? I wanna beat her up once I’m healed up and ready to go!” John’s face darkened at the question.

“Well, doing that will be impossible, Dash,” she raised a free hoof to the air and shook it as best as she could.

“No way! Even if we have to do this in the dungeons, we are settling things, like… ‘ladies’ heh, heh…”

“… She is dead, Dash,” all present became silent at the information, Dash lowered her hoof as John resumed the explanation up till the point of their meeting—leaving out the attempts and other motives out as promised—they all looked at each other, uncomfortable after knowing of her fate.

“Wow… So they couldn’t help her?” asked Twilight with a doubtful look.

“No. It was too late when a nurse arrived, “ he explained uncomfortably, remembering the macabre look on her face after she died.

“You don’t seem too sad about it,” Spike noticed, looking at John’s neutral face.

“Well, it’s difficult to feel bad for someone who tried to kidnap you, but… I do feel a bit bad, and it helps that well… She didn’t seem that bad, I mean, for a criminal,” he finished quickly while the others looked from him to Dash angrily. “Yes, I know!”

“Did they get anything out of her?” wondered Twilight, but John shook his head.

“No… Well, she did ask me to do something before she did it.”

“And you are going to ignore it, obviously?” asked Twilight with some anger behind her words, not caring much for whatever Hilda had asked.

“I would, but…”

“John, I th-”

Knock, Knock

“I’ll take it!” yelled Scootaloo, reaching the door with a leap and a push of her tiny wings. “Yes, who is i- You!?” while Spike and Twilight held confused stares, only John stared with some reservations at the new guest now in front of them.

“I’m sorry to bring him here, but he said he wanted to talk to the one called John,” said the guard, explaining his visit, Scootaloo kept her glare as the colt from earlier that day backed away slightly. 

“Well, he ca-Umff!” she was stopped by John who covered her mouth.

“Yes, you may leave him here,” the guard granted John's request, and left. The young colt stood there, fidgeting uncomfortably at the crowd in front of him. “Hey, kid…”

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry for taking your fire making thing…” he said right away

"Fine! You deal with him," Scootaloo groaned, marching towards Rainbow's bed and sat down, only occasionally watching them.

“Heh, at least you don’t beat around the bush… It’s alright kid, no hard feelings,” John said with a smile. Relieved, the kid looked up and jumped with joy.

“Wooh! Thanks, monkey man!” ignoring John’s serious face, he looked behind him and his eyes grew in size as he noticed a certain pony there. “I-is that… Twilight Sparkle!?”

“Huh!?” were the collective sounds of all there, the colt ran around the bed and raised a hoof to present to Twilight. 

“Miss Sparkle! I am yours, please, take me!” he bowed to her in a respectful way, leaving any previous childish behavior he had from before.

…

“HUH!?” all repeated. Twilight was unable to as she had now fainted at the colt’s request.


~~~~~


“Y-you could have been more specific! Ugh!” Twilight facehooved constantly as the colt explained what he hadn’t meant.

“S-sorry… A- anyway, I haven’t introduced myself!" he jumped back and raised a hoof to the air. "My name is Lemon Lime! It’s an honor to finally meet you!” he said happily revealing his name and bowing once more for her.

“I’m not used to this kind of attention…" Twilight sighed to herself before speaking again. "Well, can you tell me exactly what you want, please?” he looked to the others with embarrassment before returning to Twilight.

“Yes… But can we talk in private? Please?” she looked to the others who only shrugged in response.

“… Alright, but Spike is coming with me, alright? We’ll be back, guys.” 

“Oh, okay, sure! I always wanted to see a dragon! Ooh! Can you tell me about you?” Spike grinned smugly and rubbed his small hands.

“Can I? Well you see, my story is a great one…” and with a groaning Twilight in tow, they left the room.

“… Interesting kid, huh?” John pointed out amused, Rainbow huffing on the other hand.

“Whatever. He stole things, that alone places him on my ‘bratty list’,” John nearly asked what the reason for the list’s name was, but was interrupted by Scootaloo.

“Um sorry to interrupt, but… Is there a bathroom here? I REALLY have to go! I was here with Dash for a while and I can’t hold it anymore!” Dash chuckled a bit and raised a hoof.

“It’s out the door and three doors down… What? I’ve been here before, I have good memory!” Scootaloo didn’t wait for permission and ran out the door, slamming it shut, causing Rainbow to shiver at the shock waves, making her body ache.

“You alright?” John asked noticing.

“Yeah… I am,” they remained silent afterwards, awaiting for the other to speak.

“So... Wanna make out?” suggested Rainbow, causing John to jump back and fall off the stool he was sitting on. “Ouch… I was joking,” she said laughing a bit “You okay, dude?” John groaned as he got on his feet, giving Dash an icy stare while blushing. “You should see the look on your face! It’s priceless!"

“W-what was that for!?”

“Well, I wanted to get your attention, and since I can’t really punch you, I figured I would go for the unexpected route."

“Fine, but what are you s-Oof,” he was stopped as a hoof went over his mouth.

“I wanna say sorry about the crash today, it was probably why that stuff happened to you…” it was now John’s turn to place a hand on Dash, she removed the hoof from his mouth as he spoke.

“And now I say you don’t have to do that, I never blamed you, alright?”

…

“That was the lamest warm apology ever!” said Rainbow bummed out.

“Yep… Wanna pretend it never happened?” John suggested.

“Fine by me,” they stayed silent once more, Dash breaking it again. “Hey, John, wanna make o-aha-ouch-haha-ouch-ha!” 

“F-I mean, buck you!”

“Time and place, please?” Dash said with mocking bedroom eyes.

“Ugh!”

And so, Dash continued laughing while in pain, as the others returned to the odd sight of an angrily embarrased human and a laughing pony, confused over what was going on.


~~~~~


The events that transpired afterwards passed in a flash, and John, Twilight, and Spike now slept in a room together. Scootaloo had decided to stay with Rainbow Dash, while Lemon Lime had been taken by the guards, apparently having come to like the kid during his stay in the barracks.

“Dammit, Rainbow Dash, didn’t think of her as the type to use that… But it was kind of… I’m not going down that road,” he turned to his right, the bed next to him housing Twilight and Spike, sleeping soundly together, nothing bothering them.

“Um…” John looked into his mind, carefully thinking of things, he took a deep breath, and began. "Hello?" he received no response. "Of course no one answered... It wasn't real," he returned to bed, and despite his relief, felt a slight tinge of disappointment over it as he passed out.

The night passed without incident, and the three slept soundly, the chambers they had been placed in proving to be great at keeping any sort of noise out.

"Wheee!"

But of course, it was also able to keep all noises in.

"Oof!" John complained, as he fell something land on his body, providing a rough waking upon him. "What the hell!?" he said between rasped breaths. He looked over his covers, finding a pink blob... A very familiar pink blob.

"Hi there!"

"Oh..." he said simply, realizing who he was talking to.

"Well, somepony seems lost," came a pompous voice from the door, where four other ponies stood, some more happy looking than the others.

"John! You are alright!" shouted Derpy, flying directly into him, carefully avoiding a hit with Pinkie, who was now in the process of waking Twilight up. 

"Oh, hey girls! I guess we took too long, huh?" Twilight said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Spike barely stirred as she got off the bed.

"That's alright, Twi, Ah' take it you've been busy," replied Applejack looking a bit somber. "So... Where is Dash, Ah' heard from a guard that she wasn't doing too good."

Suddenly, John jumped off the bed, walking to the door. "Come on, I'll take you to her roo- Oof!" he felt himself being tackled and landed on the ground, groaning at the fall. "Thirty bucks say it's the girls..." he looked down, noticing as he expected, the forms of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, with Babs hiding right outside the door. "Well... Let's go then," he laughed, forcing Applejack to keep a figurative leash on the pair, something easy due to Babs' much more mature attitude and at times, a literal leash from Applejack.


~~~~~


"Pardon me, Princess, but can you repeat that again?" Rough Patch said, drooping her ears and raising them again as if attempting to notice some fault.

"I believe you understand what I'm asking quite well, Captain Patch."

Slowly, Patch shook her head. "B-But Your Majesty!"

"It has already been arranged... And I'm giving you the task because I trust you. You can refuse, of course." 

"I mean..." with a defeated sigh, Patch bowed. "I'll gladly accept, Your Majesty..."

"Very well, you may take two ponies of your troops with you. I am perfectly sure of your capabilities to handle this," Patch released an uncharacteristic sigh, and a thought she hadn't had in years crossed her mind.

"This is gonna be a drag...


~~~~~


Everypony was now in the train station getting ready to leave, a special train had been set up to take all back to Ponyville, as the workers there finished its maintenance, the passengers were engaged in much more problematic talks.

"WHAT!?" came the outraged voices of some of the group.

"There is nothing wrong with that. He apologized... Didn't he?" Twilight explained, trying to get her point across to the group of ponies deciding that for once, Twilight wasn't having a good idea.

"But I swear... I'll behave! Please!" Lemon Lime begged, as the four crusaders, Rarity, and an oddly sitting Rainbow Dash, glared at the colt.

"Ah' don't see why not, it's Twilight, y'all, we should trust her judgement, don't you think?" the six remained silent, unable to agree, but not yielding for an agreement either.

"Well, I suppose if Twilight is really up for it, then I suppose that i can understand it," yielded Rarity.

"Yeah? Well, I'm not letting him off the hook easily for what his friend did to me," Rainbow Dash said bitterly, as she was pushed into the train, still shooting a glare.

"And we ain't either!" replied Applebloom for practically the rest. Lemon looked down, saddened by their disapproval. "Unless he joins the CMC, that is," the girls grinned evilly, getting Lemon to laugh nervously. 

"The... What?" he was soon dragged inside as the conductor gave the train the okay to go.

"Heh... I think it's time for us to go, don't you think, Twi?" John noted.

"Yeah... But it feels as if nothing happened... And yet, I can't shake the feeling that something is still wrong, maybe something is going to happen" Twilight said ominiously, as John looked to the train, thinking of a response.

"I don't really know, but... We can handle it, right?" 

Twilight smiled. "Of course! So how about we get on, brother from another mother?" John couldn't help but chuckle at the wording.

"Yeah, yeah... Let's go..." they both turned to the sound of the voices, noticing three ponies going towards then; a strange unicorn they had never seen before; Gleaming Guard, who donned a pair of sunglasses despite the day been cloudy, and finally, Rough Patch, who held an annoyed stare.

"Wait, are you guys coming?" John asked bewildered. Patch and Guard passed by them without another word, while the Unicorn stopped by them and saluted, also extending his hoof towards John who shook it confused.

"Greetings, Mr. John and Ms. Twilight, my name is Recon, and I hope we can be mo-"

"Recon!" came the voice of Patch from the train.

"Oh, pardon me!" he excused himself while John and Twilight looked at each other confused.

"Well, this'll be fun," John said sarcastically as they made their way into the train and into their cabin, where John quickly jumped for the window seat, getting a huff out of Pinkie Pie who had to sit in the opposite edge, it didn't last long as she spend the rest of the trip playing with the Crusaders. Next to him, saw the newly acquired member Lemon Lime, as well as somepony that Twilight, Spike, and John had agreed to interrogate further once back in Ponyville.

The train ride remained peaceful, they all shared some light conversation, John holding a bored expression while looking outside as Rarity sat across him, occasionally stealing a glance.

"Eh, whatever," he thought instantly, keeping his eyes outside. It was a beautiful, yet boring sight as the cloudy skies darkened the land. "What the?" he looked at the distance noticing something, his eyes widened as he realized it, but was unable to do anything else as the words left his mouth.


"Ru-!"



And then, an explosion

> Side Chapter - Time Will Tell
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“… What is wrong with me?”

Celestia said as she stared outside, simply watching the clear sky, observing the sight of the gigantic Everfree forest in the distance.

Knock, knock. came the sound from her door, and with a glow of her horn, it opened, revealing the sight of her sister behind it.

“I’m here, Tia, is something the matter?” Luna asked, entering the room and closing the door on her way in.

“How did your talk with Twilight go?” Celestia asked.

“Greetings to you too…” Luna replied annoyed. “And it went about as good as you expected it… I still don’t know why you chose me to do that,” she groaned.

“My apologies, I am just at edge at the moment, and well... who else but you? You are better than I at being blunt, I do seem to dance around the subject often,” Celestia said, bringing a smirk from her sister.

“Fair point, but it went well enough, thanks to young Spike, of course,” Luna approached the balcony and stared outside, observing the sights with Celestia. “Now, what’s the real reason you called me here? I’m sure I could have told you this telepathically.”

“Of course…” Celestia sighed. “You see. Today, when I talked to John, I was... very warm with him,” she explained, making Luna stare with confusion.

“You always are with all your subjects Whatever is your point?”

“Well, I was as warm to him as I am to my closest friends,” she began, and continued, telling Luna about the whole exchange.

“I do not understand, you always say you have to get to know others before… well… doing what you did,” Luna commented afterwards.

“Don’t you think I know this? That’s the oddness of it, I guess it feels as if… I know him from elsewhere, it’s strange, really, but I can’t shake the feeling,” she explained.

Luna stared with a pensive look,, and she paced from side to side, attempting to understand.. “So, what you are saying is that he reminds you of someone?”

“Yes! No! See? I’m not even sure why, but there it is! For all I know, it may be how much he cares about Twilight! We certainly shared enough mail about it,” Celestia huffed, looking outside her window, noticing  the sight of a green colt playing around with a filly she instantly recognized. “Hey, Luna?”

“Yes?”

“What did you find about that young colt?” Luna seemed surprised by the question.

“Odd change in topic, but I will enlighten you,” she replied, looking down at the same spot. “He is an Appleloosan unicorn by the name of Lemon Lime, and according to the report, he seemed to have disappeared a week ago. From what I read, he lost his parents in one of the buffalo’s runs… A sad tale,” Luna commented with a sad stare.

“I see… So, what will happen to him?” 

“Well,  he came with our prisoner, and I assume you already know of his fate, correct?“ Luna explained irritated. “To think our guards didn’t bother to check for a kill-pill… I have the feeling someone overlooked something on purpose, and there is already an investigation in place," she finished with a sigh, composing herself. "In any case, that will be dealt with when the time comes,“ she finished, holding a hoof over her forehead.

“Difficult day, isn’t it?“ Celestia asked.

“Yes… Sometimes I regret taking charge of the Royal Guard, but not enough to change my mind, I suppose.“

“That reminds me… Have you made contact with the Gripphonian government yet?” Luna rolled her eyes at the question.

“Sister, it was send from the moment we captured the gryphon,” she replied indignantly.

“My apologies, I should have expected as much… In any case, what will be the colt’s  fate?“

“He has not been charged of anything, as it turns out, he knew nothing of the deceased… In fact, Lemon thought of her as a male all the way through. What is to come of him involves Twilight, as she has offered to take care of him for the time being. She has yet to be informed of his situation on the colt, but I believe Lemon will tell his tale when he needs to… And I figure you agree to this, correct?”

“I do. And I do believe you just called her ‘Twilight‘—finally on speaking terms?” Celestia’s  question brought a smile to Luna.

“Indeed! In fact, she’ll write us both again!” she said excitedly.

“That’s good to hear,” Celestia said as she watched the pair return to the castle. “Now, I believe it’s my turn to give you my side of the tale, correct?” Celestia offered, to which Luna replied with a raised hoof.

“I will pass, how about after I get a full day‘s sleep?” she yawned, her words coming out in a slur. 

“Fair enough… Sweet dreams, Luna,” Celestia laughed.

“I will see you in the evening,” Luna replied. “And may luck fare you well on your human dilemma,“ she added before disappearing in a flash of light, leaving Celestia on her own once more, back to observe the wildlands of the Everfree.
> NEver free of Trouble - Part 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A day before…


Rarity opened her eyes, letting out a small yawn before gracefully leaving her bed. With a glance, she looked towards the clock on her counter, noticing the time.

“Oh my… it’s already this late? I still have work to do!” she muttered, quickly fixing herself up before making her way downstairs.

“Hmm, if I’m correct, I have a tuxedo for Hoity Toity, and I believe Minuette wanted me to ‘patch’ her dress for her dance routine…” she spoke to herself, walking down the stairs without much of a glance to anything, her instincts automatically taking her to the kitchen where she proceeded to prepare herself a small cup of tea; the usual green tea with a small portion of milk. “I must admit, today is going rather peaceful!” she commented as she drank. “Sweetie Belle is out with friends, orders that for a change aren‘t stress inducing, and I have absolutely zero plans for the rest of the day… Maybe those orders can wait till tomorrow; perhaps, I can simply s—”

Knock, knock.

“…—tart by answering the door,” she sighed, setting the cup down and lightly trotting to the door. “Coming!” she announced as she neared it, opening it swiftly with her magic. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique! You’ll have to excuse me, but we are not open tod-”

“Rarity!” her guest shouted, breaking Rarity’s focus.

“Oh,” Rarity mouthed once she took notice of Derpy at the door. “Why, Derpy, whatever is the matter?” she asked, noting the panic she seemed to be in.

“Trouble! John! Twilight! Help! Bah!” she shouted incoherently, but to her credit, getting the message across well enough.

“What? What happened to Twilight?” Rarity asked promptly, consciously ignoring everything else.

“Got a letter at post office! They are in Canterlot! Something happened! And Scootaloo is gone with them, and Rainbow Dash was hurt, a-an—” she was stopped as Rarity placed a tentative hoof on her snout.

”I believe I’ve heard enough. I’ll gather the girls, and we’ll be on our way,” Rarity groaned, feeling the calmness of the day instantly vanish in a fell swoop. 

“O-okay! What should I do?” Derpy asked, wanting to help.

“Go gather the other crusaders and meet us at the station, I’m sure we can manage a train, and the girls should be thankful that we’ll manage to find out why their friend is gone too,” she explained.

“G-got it!” Derpy saluted, flying away at a speed Dash would be proud of.

“Now to gather the rest, Why do I get the feeling HE has something to do with this…” she thought as she locked her house and headed off to get her friends.


Present Day…


“Ugh…” Rarity whined, a piercing pain running through her head that only a Saturday night would bring. “Wait, it’s not Saturday, though,” she reasoned, opening her eyes, ready to meet the harsh glares of the sun through her window.

Only to find darkness, and the very peculiar smell of plant life.

“What in heaven-umf!” she was interrupted as an appendage covered her mouth.

“S-shut up!” a familiar voice hushed, she looked up, and found none other than John, sweating profusely. To his side, stood the young green colt they’d met at the castle. “If you don’t, it’ll hear us…”

“Who will?” she hushed back, just in time to notice a familiar creature right outside the bush, the sight of the wings and scorpion tail tipping Rarity of their location. “No, it can’t be…”

“Yes, we are in that dangerous forest, I know, quiet!” John hissed, as the manticore passed by.

They waited in silence in the bush, hoping that it had been long enough for the creature to leave, it was impossible to gather how much time had passed as no sign of change was apparent from where they stood.

“Ah fink be guited enuff!” Rarity mumbled through John’s hand which was then covering her snout once more.

“What?” John asked confused, removing his hand.

“I said I believe we’ve waited enough! Now unhand me!” she snarled in an attempt to escape his grip.

“Geez, sorry!” John apologized sarcastically, simply unhanding her and allowing her to unceremoniously fall to the ground with a thud.

“Why, I never! Ugh!” Rarity complained, holding her head as the pain returned.

“You never what?” asked Lemon, giving her a curious look.

“Um, it’s a figure of speech, sweetie, but never mind that,” she explained, simply waving any further inquiries aside. “Now, John, can you tell me, what in the wide world of Equestria happened? How did we end up in the Everfree?” she asked, pointing at her surroundings which housed trees as far as the eye could see, the place being illuminated enough by little natural light that peered through.

“We were attacked…” he began. “I saw this thing flying towards us from the train window. I suppose I might as well call it a mini-bomb. Anyway! After the explosion happened, I sorta fell, and well, you did too, you WERE sitting right across me when it happened,” he explained.

“But how did we end up here. And from what I can gather, far from the train?”

“Oh, oh! Can I?!” Lemon chimed in.

“Knock yourself out, kid,” John groaned, laying back on the ground with a pained yelp.

“Well, I sorta slipped when the explosion happened! I fell on top of a tree but was safe! But I saw when you two fell, and Mr. John grabbed you in the air and held you! It was a pretty big fall, but after that, I caught up with him and you two were okay! Yay! Of course, he was running from the chimera with you on his legs.”

“Arms,” came the correction from John.

“Yeah, those! And then, we went deeper into the forest to avoid it!” he finished.

“Oh, I had no idea…” Rarity said guiltily. “I suppose I owe you my thanks,” she finished turning to John.

“You suppose?“ John harrumphed. “Whatever, I saved you, no big deal. What really has me worried is the others; we were lucky, but we don't know if they were,” the group seemed to visibly lose confidence as the other two’s ears drooped at the mention of their friends.

“W-well, nothing but attempt to get out of this monstrous place and find the others!” Rarity said, getting on her hooves.

“I agree,” John complied. “And for the record, I don’t recommend climbing trees, trust me: some shit will try to EAT YOU.”

“Ignoring your foul language, are you saying the chimera chased you into the trees?” Rarity asked surprised.

“Eeyup, funny how those wings on its back weren‘t just there an aesthetic look,” he whispered.

“Well, I suppose that just means that we have to choose a path on the ground and stick to it, correct?”

“Right,” John agreed.

They each looked to the side, and in a swift and synced motion, pointed in opposite directions.

“Let’s go this way,” they turned to each other and glared. “No, this way! Who put you in charge here!? Stop copying me! Gah!”

“Wooh! That was awesome! Do it again!” Lemon cheered, while the other two simply stared annoyed.

“Today is NOT my day,” they both thought at his words.



~~~~~



“Welp, seems like Ah’m going back empty-hoofed this time,” Applejack said in defeat as she returned to the meeting spot, in a paced run across the tracks to return to her friends, a rocky area with nothing more than… Rocks. That and the train which currently had a very apparent hole to the side of one of its passenger cars.

“So, I’m going to take you didn’t find anything, did you?“ Twilight asked once AJ had arrived, receiving a rapid shake from her  in response. “Well, then, the answer is obvious then, isn’t it?”

“Yes… They probably fell on the Everfree,” AJ sighed. “Thankfully, that means they might have survived. Hopefully I’m correct.”

“Oh my…” Fluttershy said, cowering behind Rainbow Dash’s wheelchair.

“Great! So what are we going to do? I can’t fly, so I can’t even search the forest from the sky!” Dash exclaimed, while Twilight remained silent, an idea coming to mind.

“You can’t, but we have three ponies who can…” Twilight explained, pointing towards the three pegasi in the group.

“That’s a negative, Sparkle!” shouted Rough Patch who turned around from a corner, coming from the opposite direction from the engine. “I won’t allow civilians to get lost on my watch. “

“What!?“ Pinkie cried out loudly. “But our friends are out there!“

“Ah’ agree, we aren’t going to stand here, the forest is about as dangerous for them as it is for us!” Applejack added, stomping closer to Patch.

“Yeah, you can’t stop us!“ the dozen pair of eyes turned to meet Rainbow, who simply shrank back on the spot. “Okay, you can stop me, but that’s not the point!“

“Yeah! And that Lemon kid fell too! We can’t leave him alone!“ Applebloom shouted, joining the conversation.

“And my sister…” Sweetie Belle said sadly, looking into the forest under them.

“Yep! And there ain’t no way you are going to stop us, missy!” AJ declared, coming face to face with Patch as the pair simply glared to one another.

“Um, miss?” Guard joined in. “… Trust me, you don’t want to piss off Captain Patch,” he warned her.

“That’s enough!” Twilight shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “AJ, we don’t know this part of the forest, we’d only get lost, or worse," she explained. "That being said, I can see why Patch wants us here…” she said, turning to Patch. “This attack wasn‘t caused by anything from the forest itself, was it?”

Patch grinned. “Well, I’m glad somepony is perceptive enough here, even if it’s you, Sparkle.”

“Thanks… I guess,” Twilight groaned.

“Anyway, don’t worry, I was planning on sending my stallions to check the situation. Guard!  Recon! Get over here!” she commanded, getting the two ponies to respond in a flash.

“Ma’am!” they announced, saluting her and standing in line.

“I know this is a bit off protocol, but I want you two to search the Everfree for signs of our missing passengers; two unicorns, and a human. You know them well enough. Guard, I need you to search the skies, and Recon, you search by ground. I don’t know how far they went, but be as through as posible—that is your mission. Now prepare, and stand-by for further orders.”

“Yes, ma’am!” they saluted, standing to the side to wait.

“How come we can’t go?” asked Derpy annoyed.

“Honestly? Most of you aren‘t really the best to search the place, and the fact is that danger you‘ll be in will be exponentially increased,” Patch explained.

“I imagine you have the same idea?” Twilight asked, approaching Patch carefully. “You think this was some sort of terrorist attack, don’t you?”

“That’s right, wouldn’t want to leave you guys with those things; they are likely psychos. There is, however, something you can do for me…” she motioned to Twilight.

“Anything that can help us, I‘ll bite.”

“How about you let me borrow you dragon for a bit?” she motioned, pointing towards Spike who stood to the side with a damaged scroll and quill in claws.

“Finally! I’d thought you’d never ask!” Spike said enthusiastically.

“You already have the letter, don’t you?” Patch realized with a smile.

“Eeyup! Wrote it as you guys were arguing!” he said sticking his chest out proudly.

“I knew I liked you for a reason. Go ahead and send it, champ,” Spike nodded rapidly, and blew fire into the letter, disappearing into a trail of flames. “Now…” Patch said turning back to the ponies. “Remember when I say how most of you couldn‘t go? Well, I meant it. Well, all but you,” the group turned towards Patch’s pointing hoof, noticing a rock.

“What are you pointing at?” Rainbow asked confused.

“Come on out, Flutterhsy,” Patch ordered, getting the Pegasus to jump out at the mention of her name.

“B-b-but why me?” Fluttershy barely managed to ask.

“Because you’ll be great help with the animals in the area; besides, you will be joined by Guard,” she said, pointing to the pony.

“I-I don’t know…” Fluttershy started with fear.

“Hey, don’t pick on Fluttershy!” Pinkie screeched, jumping in front.

“Nope,” with a quick sidestep, Patch was once again in front of Fluttershy, whose shaking only became worse the closer Patch got. “Come on, I know you can do it,” Patch said calmly, placing a hoof over her head and patting it. “I really do.”

Fluttershy’s eyes seemed to shrink as she stared at Patch. A tinge of realization plastered on her face, she closed her eyes, and released a heavy sigh.

“Wait, are you… I’ll do as you say, F-Captain,” Shy walked to Guard and nodded. “P-please take care of me,” with a curt nod, Patch gave the go-ahead, and the three ponies left together towards the forest.

“H-how did you do that?” Twilight asked confused. 

Patch simply scoffed. “I don’t think that matters now, does it?” she finished arrogantly before walking away from the group.


~~~~~


Chirp, chirp

The sound of a bird reached the ears of John, Lemon, and Rarity, bringing a slight sense of panic as they continued. To their surprise, sunlight had begun peering through the trees as they made their way closer to their destination, everything seemed to be going according to plan, and a sense of comforting relief began oozing into them.

“Are we there y-” 

“No, we are not doing this, kid. I’ll tell you when we are there,” John groaned, stopping Lemon before he managed to say something, causing any sort of calmness to leave John.

“Oh… Sorry,” Lemon apologized, drooping in sadness as they continued.

“John! He is just a kid, you cannot honestly not expect something like that,” Rarity reprimanded John, giving Lemon a comforting pat.

“He is the one who knows the way! In any case, he can do it all he wants when we get out of here,” he reasoned, increasing the pace.

“Oh, don’t worry, Mr. John! We’ll be fine! As I said, all we have to do is retrace our steps, and we’ll reach the exit in no time!” the colt explained cheerfully.

“I know, but I feel as if we are in danger…”

“We are in a forest full of danger,” explained Rarity. “No matter how often I’ve been here, I still cannot get accustomed to it!” Rarity continued with a wave. “By Equestria, you need to relax!”

“You know this is my first time here, right?” John replied annoyed.

“But it’s true, mister, it’s not too bad! I traveled through with Mr. Hilbert, and nothing bad happened!” Lemon jumped in with a smile.

“Kid, stop helpi-” Creak “W-what was that…?” John hushed, looking around frantically for the source of the noise

Rarity sighed. “Oh, come now, it was probably nothing, the forest always makes such no—” Rustle rustle “I stand corrected, what was that!?” she cried out silently, edging ever closer to John and Lemon.

“Let’s hide!” John suggested, running to a nearby bush, hiding just before a pair of shadows creeped closer to the bush. “Crap…” John whispered, noticing the bird-like shadows. “They found us…”

“Wait, you know them?” Rarity asked with a growl. 

“Hush! I‘ll explain later!” John silenced her.

“Um…” Lemon began, looking uncomfortable.

“Don’t  make a sound!” John ordered him.

“B-but… I gotta go pee…” 

“Oh, come on! Can’t you be a stereotype another time?” as John finished, the sound of something dripping started, causing him to instantly jump out in disgust. “Lemon! Gah!” he stopped, realizing what he had done, slowly turning to the side to find two figures, simply staring at him.

“I told you he was close,” one of them said with a grin.

“Um… Hi, guys… Nice to see you agai- Damn it…”


~~~~~


To Guard’s surprise, Fluttershy had been far more useful than he had expected.

Having shooed away roughly three manticores until then, there was no doubt on his mind that Fluttershy was really quite the animal expert.

Even if she wasn’t the most talkative.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“Miss Fl-”

“Eep!” Fluttershy flinched, nearly falling out of the sky like a rock to the sea of trees. “S-sorry! Is something the matter…?” she asked, returning to her glide.

“No… Well, you seem  a tad too nervous, and I feel talking might get your mind off things, I‘ll focus on things while we do,” Guard mentioned, keeping his eyes on the ‘ground’ of trees as he spoke. “Is that alright, Ms. Flutter?”

“Well, I guess so, but my name is Fluttershy, Mr. Guard, sir,” she corrected.

“Oh, I know that, but I feel that the name is a bit… synonymous to the way you act. Just want you comfortable as we talk, you know? Just forget anything else,” he explained, while Fluttershy nodded, looking down at the trees herself, wondering how their thickness made it able for Guard to be able to see through them.

“O-oh, I see, but, I don’t mind. I mean, it’s my name, and, well…” she began mumbling.

“I see. I would have imagined it made your life a bit difficu- Sorry! There I go again! Turns out that if I‘m not protecting a door, I end up blabbering!” he apologized embarrassed.

“It’s okay… I mean, you are right, it did make my life more difficult,” she began.

“Oh… Then I feel worse for having done so,” Guard said with regret. “I-I’m sorry, just forget I said anything.”

:”N-no! It’s fine! I’ve accepted it a long time ago, and my friend Rainbow Dash helped me a lot through those times, so I feel alright with it,” she explained giving him a smile.

“Well, if you say so,” he squinted his eyes at the trees under him, clicking his tongue in frustration, having difficulty keeping track of Recon. “Darn it, these trees are getting worse.”

“Maybe we should land?” Fluttershy suggested.

“Negative. Keeping track of creatures on the sky is a must, not to mention there can be signs of the three we are searching, and things like a flock of disturbed birds can help; besides, Recon is checking the ground,” he reasoned.

“Oh, I understand,” Fluttershy acknowledged with a nod.

“And well, I actually was going to ask you another question, miss?”

“Y-yes?” she replied nervously.

“Do you happen to know the Captain from somewhere? She sure seemed like she knew you, at least,” he asked, his curiosity having been piqued. To his surprise, Fluttershy simply remained silent for a solid minute before replying.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, sorry!” she apologized, her mane covering her eyes from view.

“Are you sure? You sure seem-”

“Gah!” came a cry from the forest.

“That must’ve been Recon!” Guard acknowledged. “Stay close to me, we’ll check it out,” he ordered Fluttershy, flying downwards towards the forest. 

He didn’t wait for a  response before he dove into the trees, passing through a small opening in the huge foliage, obtaining a few scratches on his way down as well as a few leaves to the face while instinctively maneuvering the branches in his path.

“Um…” Fluttershy mumbled as she watched him from afar. “I-I’ll be right there!” she attempted to shout, but without much success, fumbling her way through the same branches at a slower pace.

“Recon!” Guard called once he reached the ground, watching a strange scene in front of him; Recon was there, laid back on a tree, breathing heavily as a trail of blood ran down his cheek, but otherwise looking alright. To his side, laid an ummoving manticore, and just a few feet from him; a broken mess of a gryphon, laid facedown on a pool of what Guard assumed to be its own blood.

“Boss… You are late…” Recon joked, grunting in pain.

“What happened here!?” Guard asked urgently, approaching Recon to check his injuries.

“Gryphon attacked me… Manticore came up and… Good distraction… Now there he is… Managed to stop the manticore, thankfully…” Recon barely managed to explain. “But no time! I heard him talk about other three Gryphon close by, they shouldn’t be too far! You gotta catch them! Check the body, maybe he has a map…”

“Well… Princess Celestia won‘t be happy about that one, that‘s for sure. Reports for you, buddy,” joked Guard at the morbid subject. “But what about you? I can‘t leave you here.”

“I’ll be fine, I’ll catch up, just gotta catch my breath first… Wooh! Damn that thing took my breath,” he complained with a pained laugh.

“Oh my goodness!” came the voice of Fluttershy who’d just arrived, noticing the chaos in front of her. “W-what happened here!?” she cried out, noticing the manticore on the ground. “Oh no!”

“It’s alright, miss… I simply… Knocked it out… It should be fine in a bit,” Recon explained, stopping Fluttershy on the spot.

“A-alright, but what happened!? And that gryphon, he… He…” she started, teary eyed.

“I’ll brief you later!” Guard interrupted. “We have to go. I think we may have found the others, come on!” quickly flying towards the dead gryphon, he rummaged through the stuff, easily finding a map on his pockets. "Got it. Let's go!"


~~~~~


The pair of gryphon gave John a piercing stare, their eyes being the only part of their faces visible through the masks they wore. John simply watched with fear, while Lemon watched them  in awe, their green outfits filled with pouches in numerous places, the only thing not covered up being their wings.

“Honestly, John? Honestly!?” Rarity shouted, stomping out of the bushes and making a mad run to John. “Do you realize what you’ve done!?”

“What? Me!? The kid peed on me! It was a natural reaction!” he replied in defense.

“Not even I would be foolish enough to let it so that someone chasing me would find me!” she fumed. 

“Oh, suuure! I mean, it didn’t happen to you, did it?” Rarity recoiled at the implied event, and growled.

“So, are you two done yet, or do we get you a room?” one of the gryphon said with a chuckle, getting the pair to return their focus to them.

“Lemon, stay back!” Rarity called, jumping to the front. “I will take care of these ruffians! I didn‘t train with Twilight for nothing!” her horn began lighting up, but it quickly subsided as she cringed, the feeling of her previous headache returning full force. “Not now…”

Ignoring Rarity, the first gryphon spoke again. “Thought you could escape, huh?” he referred to John. “I didn’t think you’d be able to struggle like you did, but trust me: it won’t happen again.”

Before Rarity had a chance to question his words, the gryphon dashed forward, and with a swift motion, smacked Rarity across the face, a powerful swipe that left her instantly out-cold, the force of the hit making her land with an unceremonious thud.

“Well… That’s one down.”

“Um…” John mumbled, looking between his friends and the gryphon. He gulped, and with a determined stare, jumped in front of Lemon. “Don’t hurt them!” he said, grabbing Lemon and holding him in his arms. He looked towards the unconscious Rarity and her horn, an idea forming in his head.

“Lemon!” he whispered. “We need to get out of here, can you teleport Rarity somewhere safe?” the colt simply looked up to John confused.

“Huh? Sorry mister, but I can’t do that,” Lemon replied.

John simply gave him a blank stare. “W-what!? But I thought you wanted to learn magic! You should know that one, right?”

“Well, yes, but I’m not an unicorn!” Lemon explained, removing his hat, and revealing a bare head with only his greenish mane under it.

John was speechless.

“Why do you even… We have to ru-” John started.

“I don’t think so, buddy,” gryphon one spoke, delivering an icy glare that caused even Lemon to shiver. “You are coming with us, unless you want your friends to be hurt,” he threatened, giving Rarity a quick glance.

“No…” John began. “I just went through this yesterday, please,” he despaired, closing his eyes in defeat, his mind running through baseless ideas that would do nothing to help him.

-Well, look who finally needs my help.-

"Huh?" John thought at the voice before realizing. "Wait, are you…"

-Well, seems like somebody finally acknowledges me, or are you going to tell me to go away again?- it said with an angry grunt.

"No, please! I’m sorry! Listen, we need your help!" John’s focus came back as he began backing up, attempting to get away from the pair in front.

“Come now, don’t make this harder than it should be,” the other gryphon groaned, seemingly annoyed.

-Well, I suppose that I might as well help you, unfortunately, it appears that brute force will simply NOT do against two of them,- the Voice explained.

"What!? Then what do I do!?" John asked desperately, closing in on the unconscious Rarity and picking her up.

-Just, follow my lead…-

“Why exactly don’t we just grab him, again?” the second gryphon finally asked.

“Because we don’t know what he can do; you saw what he did in Ponyville.”

“Yes, but he would have done something by now if that were the case, so it lends itself to reason that he can’t, at least right now,” he astutely replied.

“… Fine! Shut it, let’s just knock him out and grab h-”

“Don’t!” John shouted, surprising the pair. “Don’t come a step closer, or something that you two will regret will happen!” he threatened, getting the pair’s attention.

“Whatever you say, hue-man,” gryphon one laughed, leaping closer, however, he cut his jump short, noticing John’s hands. “What are you…?”

John stood with a piece of rock by his neck, the sharpness of it piercing into his skin just enough for the slightest hints of blood to peer through, to his relief, the pair stopped.

“Mr. John?” Lemon called, looking up at him terrified, but John simply continued as if uninterrupted.

-I know that you need me alive, that’s why the bomb you used did so little damage and why you  rescued me as I fell,” John continued, simply repeating the lines from the Voice in his head. “Either you back off… Or this ends in you two losing your target!” he shouted dramatically.

-Well, I say, that was quite a nice delivery, I didn‘t take you for an actor,- the Voice praised.

“Guess that fear is a good motivator for instant learning…” John barely managed, his mind a jumbled mess.

“So… What do we do?” Gryphon two asked, looking at his partner. “We can’t let him die, can we?”

“No,” he replied. “But I am very good at stitching stuff back together,” he replied with a sadistic smile, jumping at that point, and extending his claw at John, who only managed a surprised stare.

"No…"

“Oof!” time seemed to have slowed down, John watched the gryphon being smacked aside, a distinguishable form that stopped in front, then, just as fast, the gryphon suddenly returned to normal, rocketing to a close tree, smashing through with incredible force.

“I don’t think so, buddy!” came the familiar voice of Guard.

“G?” John called unconvinced before he could register anything else, just as sudden, he felt his shirt being tugged, and looking to the side, he found Fluttershy as well.

“C-come on! We have to run!” she shouted, grabbing the terrified Lemon.

Without thinking about it, John pushed Rarity into his arms and ran after Fluttershy, simply happy to escape the situation.

“Good luck, G!” John shouted before disappearing into the bushes with the others.

“No…“ the final gryphon simply stated, staring at the spot where his partner laid, ummoving.

“Well, this one is down,” Guard noticed as he watched the spot as well, his eyes widening at the odd angle the gryphon's neck was placed. “Crap, guess I‘m joining  Recon on that report…” he turned to meet the remaining gryphon, but failed to notice him already leaping at him, his claw in the path to his face. 

Without a second thought, Guard attempted to dodge, but was unable to do so completely, donning a few scratch marks and being tossed aside by the power of the hit, doing a painful bounce before stopping a few feet from him.

“Grr!” the gryphon roared, jumping back to the downed Guard, who with a swift roll, got out of the way before the hit, jumping to his feet and taking off, flying up pass the trees and towards the sky. 

“Come back here!” the gryphon roared, taking off after him.

“Woah…” John said as he watched from behind a bush. “But wait, how are the o—… thers.” he had turned to meet Fluttershy, realizing she was nowhere to be seen. “Umm, Fluttershy?”

Meanwhile, the gryphon flew pass the masses of branches, simply cutting his way through with his claws, and without much effort, exiting the forest itself and to its skies where he found nothing but the clouds.

“Where are you!?” he growled again, looking around vigorously. “Come out and fight!” he reached into a pouch to his side, his claw coming out with a small knife.

“Oh, I don’t need to,” came Guard’s  response. “Fluttershy, now!” 

“Wait, wh-”

“Sorry!“ Fluttershy apologized, and before the gryphon was able to notice, there was a flash before two bolts of lighting hit him, causing him to twitch uncontrollably as the electricity flowed through his body.

Then, he fell, tumbling through the same trees he’d cut on his path, hitting himself on the way down constantly before finally hitting the ground, his body literally a smoking mess.

“Well, that’s that,” Guard said while descending, followed by Fluttershy who shook her head in disbelief.

“I, ehat did I do…?” she said in horror, noticing the gryphon as she neared the ground.

“Helping make this fight a lot less bloody than it would have been, trust me, you helped a lot,” Guard said, trying to comfort the shaking Fluttershy.

“Woah…” John said in amazement once they were back down. “That was fast!”

“We are not done yet. Hey, you!” Guard started, looking at the burned gryphon. “For a terrorist, you sure were careless,” he joked.

“I guess… I was…” the gryphon responded to the surprise of the others, looking to the side at the now dead gryphon who had accompanied him. “You know… you killed my friend,” he said simply, and to Guard’s surprise, got on his feet

“Trust me, I didn’t want to, but sometimes push comes to shove,” Guard explained. “Not that I’m going to apologize for it, I did what I had to,” he watched as the gryphon shakily kept himself on his feet, trembling constantly as small jolts of electricity occasionally ran through his body. “Please, don’t make me make you join him.”

“Kill me? Please, I know Celestia‘s troops aren‘t killers, just show,” the gryphon said in anger. “Know what? How about we made a deal… You go easy on me, and I give you info, how does that sound?”

“I-”

“Why are you after me!? Who send you?” John started, bursting out from the bushes with a scowl. “You could have killed us!”

“Well, aren’t we curious,” the gryphon laughed, ending with a cough that released some smoke from his mouth.

“John, be quiet, we’ll get our answers soon enough,” Guard ordered, glaring at the gryphon. “You have no room to negotiate with us, but you never know—you could get off easier."

“I guess that's as good as it's gonna get," he sighed. "But I do know cool stuff. For example, I can answer h—” he suddenly stopped, the smile on his face disappearing  in a flash.

“Huh?” Guard stared confused, watching as the gryphon stopped talking. “You alright? The electricity wasn’t enough to kill you.”

“You… Lying… Pony…” the gryphon simply uttered, a trail of blood suddenly dripping behind him, and without any further comments, collapsed on the ground, a sort of metal blade stuck on his back.

“No!” came the voice of Recon, suddenly appearing out of thin air in a noticeable magical explosion, landing on the ground with a grunt. “Darn it! I missed him!”

“Recon! Report!” Guard quickly ordered.

“There was another gryphon, and I followed him but I missed him! Then I tried to teleport to catch him, but he was too fast!" he stopped suddenly, taking a gulp of air. "He used some sort of thrown weapon like… That one on that gryphon? What happened here?”

“Focus!” Guard ordered angrily.

“Sorry! The point is that he escaped! Before I noticed, he was already gone!” he finished in a rush.

“Damn it!” Guard roared. “Come on, maybe he is still around!” without any further comments, they ran towards the direction the knife had come from, leaving the group on their own. 

All while Fluttershy was busy, attempting to bring back Rarity into consciousness.

“Rarity? Rarity, please, wake up…” Fluttershy called, shaking Rarity lightly, and after a few attempts, she finally stirred, opening her eyes mere seconds after.

“W-what happened?” she asked in a slur, twisting in pain as she held her damaged head. “Oh no! What happened to young Lemon!” she shouted, looking around.

“Oh, Rarity…” Fluttershy cried happily, hugging her friend. “Lemon is fine, he is right here,” she said, pointing to the scared colt.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine, Ms. Rarity. And so is Mr. John! And the guards and Ms. Fluttershy came to rescue us!” he explained in a rush.

“O-oh, that’s good… what happened? And the others!” she asked confused.

“You were out cold, but luckily Mr. Guard and I got here," Fluttershy explained. "And everypony is fine, they were just worried about you guys."

“Really? No one was hurt?” John asked.

“Yep, you were lucky…” Guard sighed, arriving then, his small injuries now treated. “We sure weren‘t though, he got away,” he lamented, sighing in defeat.

“What now, Captain?” Rarity asked.

“We leave. We’ll send a team to gather the bodies… ” with a sigh, he began walking, the others following without objection.

The trip continued for a couple of minutes in silence, the ponies and human simply gathering their thoughts over the events of the day, most of them remained in front, with Lemon having passed out on top of Fluttershy, while Rarity stayed behind with her headache, something that John quickly took advantage of to stay behind as well.

“Hey, Rarity?” he began.

“What do you want?” she asked with a hiss.

“I was just wondering how you are doing, is all…” he explained nervously. 

“Well, I would be better if you hadn’t blown our cover. If apologizing is what you were attempting to do, I supposed you are forgiven,” she groaned.

“What? No! That was a…” he stumbled to find the right word.

“A mistake committed by you while blaming a young child who was probably terrified? Yes, of course,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Is that all? I really do not feel like talking right now.”

“Okay that’s it!” John shouted, finally having had enough. “What’s your problem? Practically since I got here, you’ve been nothing but unpleasant to me! I do admit that I haven’t been doing a good job to make up for it, but come on! You aren’t helping!”

“Oh,” Rarity simply scoffed, looking at him with narrowed eyes. “You want to know, don’t you?”

John simply went with a reluctant nod. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this.”

“It should be obvious to say, but I don’t like you,” she started.

“I believe that has been established<“ John replied irritated.

“Can’t this wait?” Guard commented from the front. “Please.”

“I thank you for saving me, Mr. Guard, but I must get this off my chest now; it was a long time coming,” she stopped for a second, taking a deep breath.  “Fluttershy dear, would you be so kind to go ahead? I will be with you in a bit.”

Fluttershy simple stared, sighing in response. “O-okay. Don‘t take long, please.”

Rarity waved at Fluttershy, and after a few seconds of waiting, she finally turned to John. “Tell me John, what makes you so special?”

“Pardon?” John asked.

“What makes you so special that you would convince Twilight to bring you here? I’ve heard your story, and as tragic as it is, I never thought that it required you to move into a completely different world.”

“W-well…” he started, attempting to bring up a valid argument.

“Yeah, keep thinking about it, I’ll continue,” Rarity hissed. “Now, it lends itself to reason that Twilight actually helped you come out of your shell, and you were doing just fine, which begs the question: why did you come?”

John simply remained silent.

“I see… You don’t know, do you?” she began walking around him, her eyes never leaving him. “A poor creature, a terrible event ruined his life, but with the help of another creature, he was able to recover… And he did. But instead of turning his life around, what does he do?” she asked, turning to John.

“Um…”

“Well?”

“…”

“I thought so," she groaned, not bothering to hold her voice back anymore. "And then, instead of turning his life around, he simply tosses it aside, practically leaving every single one of his friends and family! All without a single goodbye!”

“B-but my mother hated me!” John retorted, remembering that certain part in his memory list.

“Did she now? But of course, you will never know if that would be the case forever, would you? Perhaps a reconciliation might come, and you two would be even closer because of it!” John simply shook his head.

“Why do you care!?” he shouted, loud enough that birds in the forest flew from the trees.

“I don’t,“ Rarity replied simply, taking a deep breath.

“Then why!?“

Because I cannot simply respect someone who probably hurt those he loved on a whim! Twilight would have gotten over it soon enough. As much as it pains you to hear, you only knew each other for a week, she would recover… As would you.”

“I’m still waiting for your point,“ John began, his mind drawing a blank.

“The point is: what happens when you get here?” she didn’t wait this time, practically running up to him. “You freeload! You cause Twilight to be cursed! I mean, what have you even done here for her? For anypony?”

“…”

“It may not be of my business, but Twilight is my friend. With all that you‘ve caused, I believe it‘s obvious,” she stopped, taking a deep breath, and looking at him with a fake smile. “I hope that answers your question, darling!” she trotted ahead, nodding to Guard. “I’m sorry for the delay, Mr. Guard, we shall get going!” she announced, skipping ahead without another word.

“… Er… Take your time, John, I’ll wait just ahead,” Guard said awkwardly, shaking his head. “Ouch…” he whispered as he got away enough.

-Oh my… That was rather harsh, don’t you think? Are you going to take that?- the Voice asked.

John said nothing.
> Side Chapter - Sideliners
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight paced the library floor, simply circling around a very nervous looking green colt. She gave him a neutral look, her expressionless face revealing no thoughts, no clues as to what they had in plan. She simply stared.

“Twilight, what are you doing?” asked Spike from the side with a bored look.

“Hush, Spike! I’m sizing the situation!” she retorted with annoyance.

“Sizing the situation? All you wanted to do was to talk to him about him being an Earth pony, what is there to size up from that? Just talk!” he explained.

“Fine! Ahem…” she turned to Lemon and began. “Well, Lemon, back at Canterlot you asked to become my student in magic, and I hesitantly accepted. However, back then, I thought you were a Unicorn… but you are not.”

“Y-yeah, I know…” he replied hesitantly.

“I suppose you know what question is coming next, then?”

“You mean the ‘why do you want to learn magic, then?’ question, don‘t you?” he asked, receiving a confirming nod from Twilight. “Well,” he looked ahead and took a deep breath. “I just really like magic! I’ve been interested ever since I saw this one blue showmare doing it back home! I’ve researched a lot of books on it, know some theories about it! An—”

“Wait, did you say ‘blue showmare’?” Spike interrupted with tentative curiosity. “Is this mare called Trixie, by the way?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Lemon replied with a shrug. “But she did have a cool matching cape and hat!”

“That‘s Trixie alright,” Twilight deadpanned. “But back to the point; why do you want to learn magic? What’s your purpose?”

“Well…” 

“Good morning, ma’am, you assistant has arrived,” came a female voice from the front door, bursting in without a knock.

“Assistant?” all three asked at the same time with confounded stares, looking at the mare as she entered and closed the door; she held a familiar stern stare right behind the pair of glasses she wore, her dark mane tied in a bum, and a cutie mark of a book in her flank.

“Um… Captain Patch? Is that you?” Twilight asked as she got closer, recognizing her facial features. “Wait, are those my glasses without the lenses? I was looking for them when we arrived yesterday!”

“Ah, ah, ah!” Patch stopped her. “The name is ‘Bookish Delight’, remember that! And I am your new assistant in this here library!” she explained with a mocking accent.

“Firstly, terrible accent,” Twilight pointed out, with Patch frowning in return. “Second, I don‘t care much for the name, and third;  Patch, that’s not what I asked,” she said returning to the topic.

“Sparkle! I am in disguise! And your glasses provided an excellent addition. You should be glad,” she replied, justifying herself. “Besides, I need to guard the human, and what better way to do so than being your assistant in the place he holed himself in?”

“He is safe, besides, I'm certain that he won't come out; he seemed out of it after what happened yesterday, so we don‘t need you to baby-sit him, ‘Delight‘,” Twilight explained.

“Even more so! He is in one place, and more prone to a focused attempt!” Patch pointed out.

“Aren’t you supposed to be watching Ponyville for danger, Ms. Patch?” Spike asked.

“Guard is already on flyover duty, while Recon is, well, keeping watch on the outskirts, little fellah,” she explained with a smile. “And my job is to keep John safe, so this set-up works well in this case.”

“Fine! Fine! Whatever! Can I please focus on Lemon here?” Twilight groaned with a stomp.

“I was not stopping you, Sparkle. Seems that you need to learn better focus on tasks.”

“Uuugh!” Twilight groaned, returning her attention to Lemon. “Alright, Lemon, sorry. Now, what were you saying?”

“Um? Oh yeah!“ Lemon shouted, his mind returning to the topic. “This might sound odd, though…“ he said doubtfully.

“Don’t worry, I’m very open minded, Lemon,“ Twilight assured him, while a quiet snort escaped Spike.

“Well, have you ever heard of the legend of the ‘Uniearth Pony‘”? Lemon asked with a hint of excitement.

“Legend of the what-now?” Twilight asked with a confused stare while Lemon rolled his eyes. "That sounds made up."

“That's because I invented the term!" he explained proudly. "Anyway, it’s an Earth pony who has the power to use Unicorn magic! Kind of like a Unicorn who was born from an Earth and Unicorn ponies has some Earth pony abilities!” he explained.

“Yes, there are a number of those Unicorns working at the Royal Guard, but I have never heard of an ’Uniearth pony… Is that a legend of some sort?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Yep! It’s in my hometown’s library!”

“Really?“ Twilight said, mentally noting the book for later research. “I take it you want to find such a pony then, correct?” Twilight continued. “If that’s the case, what do you want with them?”

“That’s a secret!” Lemon said firmly, doing a zipping motion over his mouth.

“Not getting that out of you, am I?” asked Twilight amused, receiving a fast shake from Lemon. “… Very well, I won‘t pry,“ she walked to the small podium and jumped on top, allowing her to tower above the rest. “I understand you still want to become my student, but I’ll have to think about it; why don’t you go and check out Ponyville in the meantime? This is a town with mostly Earth ponies, so you might find something for the study of your legend,” Twilight suggested, getting Lemon to grin excitedly.

“Good idea! I’ll go right now! Thank you Ms. Twilight!” and without further words, he ran out the door without much a good bye. Twilight stared at the open door for a second with a penetrating glance, before remembering her lack of magic, and closing it by hoof, releasing a wistful sigh.

“Every time,” she groaned.

“What’s the matter, Twi?” asked Spike.

“Nothing. Anyway, I could say I'm surprised that an Earth pony wants to learn magic, but I'm actually more surprised that Trixie of all ponies would have an impression on him. She is a total show-off!”

“With no disrespect to the Princess, but I read that your magic inspiration began by watching her do something that could be counted as an act of ‘showing-off’ but at a larger magnitude, isn’t it?” pointed out Patch with a grin.

Twilight turned to meet her with her mouth open and a raised hoof. “How did y- Oh, right, the books about us…” she promptly closed it as she annoyingly recognized the truth in her words. “I’m starting to think that disliking you is not such a bad idea after all,” she hissed.

“About time you learned,” Patch retorted satisfied.

“Grr…” Twilight growled, turning to Spike. “Spike, what do you say to a day off? Maybe you can show Lemon the town?” 

“That would be awesome!” Spike said excited. “But… I have chores today, remember?” he added disappointed.

“Oh, don’t worry, ‘Bookish Delight’ will take care of them: isn’t that right new assistant?” she explained, relishing on the words as Patch realized it.

“What!?” Patch yelped. “Bu-”

“Oh, wow! Thank you Ms. P-I mean, Ms. ‘Delight’,” Spike winked. “Thank you Twilight! I’ll see you later!” 

“Don’t stay out too late!” Twilight advised him, and after a goodbye hug, he was gone. “Come on, new assistant, we have work to do!”

Patch simply stood in place, her jaw hanging open and an eye twitching. “… You win this round, Sparkle,” she acknowledged, before lazily following after Twilight to deal with Spike’s chores.


~~~~~


“Yes, that’ll be three bits, ma’am,” Harvest informed the pony on the other side, bagging a pair of turnips and handing them to the mare who dropped the payment on the counter. “Thank you for your business! Have a nic-”

“Sigh…” came a wistful lament from Ditzy from the side, causing both mares to turn to look at her.

“-er, a nice day, ma’am!” Harvest finished quickly, waving away the mare before turning to Ditzy. “Di-I mean, Derpy?”

“Sigh…” Ditzy continued sighing, completely missing Harvest’s call.

“Er, Derpy? Helloo?” she attempted once more.

“Siiiigh…” 

“… Ditzy!”  Harvest called one last time, getting Ditzy to jump in surprise.

“Harvest!” she shouted angrily. “I told you not to call me that out here!” she hissed, looking around frantically as she covered her friend’s snout, who simply held an annoyed look at her reaction.

“Derpy,” Harvest started calmly, removing her hoof. “Look, I know you have a thing with that name, but honestly, Dit… I mean, the other one is your name!”

“Harvest,” Ditzy simply said with a commanding tone. “It’s Derpy—end of discussion, alright?”

“Fine…” Harvest sighed, resigning to the familiar outcome; it wasn’t the first time she’d attempted it. She brushed her mane aside in exasperation and gulped a fresh of air. “Can you at least tell me what your problem is, then? No offense, but you are scaring away my customers.”

“Well so-rry! I told you I didn’t wanna come, remember?” Ditzy pouted angrily, crossing her hooves in annoyance. “But you HAD to make me come, didn’t you?”

“Look, DERPY, I dragged you here because you were moping and wouldn‘t leave your room! Seriously!” she reached under the stand and brought out a double sided ‘OUT FOR LUNCH’ sign, setting it up on the table and pushing Ditzy inside the tent right behind them, closing the place to give themselves some quiet. “Now, will you tell me what the heck is wrong with you? You usually get over things by now!”

Ditzy stood in place, her hooves clopping as she bumped them together with occasional nervous glances to Harvest who simply gave her a frustrated stare. “But it’s embarrassing…“ she started.

“I swear to Faust, if you don’t tell me, I’m calling you Ditzy out here from now on,“ Harvest threatened instantly.

“O-okay! Fine! Well, r-remember when I went out on that, er,  special meeting?” she started, glancing to the side.

“The one from a few days ago? Yes, what about it?” Harvest questioned confused.

“Well. the truth is… I kinda went out with John, you know? The human, and…” she ran a hoof through her mane as a blush spawned on her face. “And I j-OOF!” she was stopped, as Harvest held a hoof in her mouth.

“Please, just… “ Harvest sighed. “You have a crush on him, don't you?” Ditzy blinked once, and after a second, nodded slowly, her eyes closing as her face became redder by the seconds. “I don't mean to be rude by asking this, but why?“

“W-well, because he is so nice, and he actually keeps his eyes on mine when we talk, even when they aren’t where they are supposed to be! And he is just really nice! A-“ the hoof returned to Ditzy’s mouth, stopping the barrage of words.

Harvest sighed once more. “Fine, I get it. For goodness sake… Well,  I guess it’s time you told me what happened that day, then.”

“B-but, you still have to work, don’t you?” Ditzy argued weakly with a hopeful stare.

“Well, I do,” Harvest agreed, walking back outside and simply turning the sign from ‘OUT FOR LUNCH’ to ‘CLOSED’. “And now, I don’t. I’m all ears.”

Ditzy whimpered, but conceded with a nod. “Alright… You see, it happened a few days ago at Golden Oaks…”


~~~~~


“… And then we fell! It was really scary! And as I was about to say something, Rarity placed her hoof in my mouth stopping me, and even as we fell, I felt the beauty behin-”

“Yep, uh-huh, okaay,” Lemon groaned with feign interest, his focus remaining on the Earth ponies around him. “Noo, too short, too normal… Too buff, oh, wait, that’s a Pegasus: tiny wings!” he continued observing. “Hey, Spike?” he turned to talk to the dragon.

“…nally, like a ton of these huge dragons! And then, I-”

“Spike!”

“Woah!” Spike yelped surprised. “What was that for? I was getting to the best part!”

“Sure,” Lemon lied. “I was wondering, is there an odd Earth pony around here? Someone who is, you know? Really out of place?” he asked hopeful.

“Hmm…” Spike thought, his mind running the different ponies he knew. “I’m not sure…” he put his claw on his chin, closing his eyes as he thought of it.

“Wheee!” came a laughter from out of nowhere, surprising Lemon.

“What was that?”

“What was what?” asked Spike, a pink blur popping out from behind, and placing a party hat on top of his head. 

“Yes! Who did that!?” Lemon asked surprised as Spike grabbed the hat.

“That would be me!” said a laughing Pinkie Pie, popping from the middle and giving each a hug. “I’m glad I found you, I was looking all over for you! I looked under my pillow, in Gummy’s favorite dinner plate, I even looked inside the oven, but you guys weren’t there!”

“Um, Pinkie, why didn’t you just look in the library? I sort of, you know, live there,” Spike said without any amusement.

“Doh! That was my fifty-seventh guess!” she said with disappointment.

“Hey… You are the pink pony who was in Canterlot, weren’t you?” Lemon asked, recognizing her.

“Oh, sorry! Yes, I was! I’m Pinkie Pie! Nice to meeeeeet you!” she greeted Lemon, shaking his hoof rapidly. “Now come on! We have to go to Sugarcube Corner, the others are waiting!” she shouted, popping from under Lemon and picking him up on her back alongside Spike.

“W-woah! What others, Pinkie?” Spike very validly asked.

“No time to explain! Come on!” and with a motor-like sound, she sped off, the other two quickly grabbing onto her for dear life. 

“Cool! How did she do that?” Lemon started turning to Spike. “How did she teleport under us!?”

“I. Don’t. Know!” he replied, jumping as Pinkie began skipping. “I. Never. Question. Pinkie Pie slow down!” he finished turning to shout at Pinkie.

“Huh…” Lemon began thoughtful, a suspicion coming to mind as he wondered over the pink pony he was riding. “I wonder if she could be… Naaaah!”



~~~~~



Harvest drank a cup of tea, sitting down on a chair as she continued to listen to Ditzy‘s story, focusing on her words. “And then… you just left?”

“Um…“ Ditzy seemed exhausted as she finished. “… That’s when I decided to give up on him, yes, but after I got home I realized that I DIDN’T want to, and I became, well, like you see me now,” Ditzy finished, looking down sadly, her eyes tearing up “And I know I shouldn’t feel like this, b-b-but ouch!” she stopped, looking up to find Harvest’s hoof towering over her. “W-what was that for?” she pouted, rubbing the growing bump on her head.

“You are really silly, Ditzy,” Harvest said with a smile.

“I told you! I’m Der-ouch! Stop that!” Ditzy cried out, falling back in surprise at the new bump in her head.

“Wait until I’m done talking,” she ordered, making Ditzy tense up and stand as she waited for the words. “Good. Now, you told me that he was not YET interested in ponies, correct?”

“Well, yes, I di—”

“AND you then continued, arriving at the part in which you said he ‘obviously’ liked somepony else; do you see where I’m going with this?” she asked mockingly. “Rhetorical question, of course. You already know.”

“Yes, but… What if h-”

“What if NOTHING!” Harvest stopped her. “You don’t know that yet, they are friends, he was worried about a friend! He told you he wasn’t interested in ponies yet! Honestly, see what got you for not trying! You have to stand strong! You have to fight for what you want! You gotta show him you are the mare of his dreams!” she exclaimed, holding her hoof and shaking it in the air.

Ditzy said nothing, simply listening intently at her friend’s words.

“Now, as your best friend, I will try my best to help you with this, but you must promise me to NOT pout over this, and not give up until—and only if—he starts dating somepony else, understand?"

“Harvest…” Ditzy whimpered, tears falling down her face. “Thank you!” she shouted, jumping on her roommate, rubbing her cheek without restraint as she towered over her.

“Alright, alright…” Harvest sighed happily, ruffling her friend’s mane. “You are hopeless, you know that?”

Ditzy only smiled, giving her friend the biggest grin she could muster. “Hey, I have to repay you for this!” she said excited.

“You don’t have to, I’m just happy to help you dummy,” Harvest replied, rolling her eyes. “Anyway, I have to get back to work.”

“Aww, come on! I’ll take you to Sugarcube Corner! You deserve it!”

“Ugh,” Harvest complained, her sweet tooth activating at the mention of the sweets place. “Attacking me with my one weakness… Eh, what the heck? I can deal with one day without work. You can pay a bit extra for this month’s bills,” she exclaimed content and headed out the tent.

“Yeah!” Ditzy said happily before realizing what she’d said. “Wait, what? Harvest! That wasn’t in the deal!” she shouted, rushing outside the tent in a desperate attempt to stop her friend.


~~~~~


“We are here!” Pinkie Pie shouted, coming to a sudden halt, causing the kids on her to jump off, both hugging the ground dramatically as if thankful to be back on it. “What are you two doing? We have to go to the others!”

“Sorry Ms. Pie, I’m just showing the ground how much I appreciate it,” Lemon replied without a hint of sarcasm, before looking up and noticing the place. “Oooh! I remember this place, this is the place with the sweets! I love sweets!” he said instantly turning gears.

“Me too! Come on boys!” Pinkie grinned, pushing the pair inside the place, they went past the front section of the bakery, and into a different room, where suddenly, dozens of different colored balloons rained from the ceiling.

“Surprise!” came the shout from the filly in front of them, grinning and waving around a table which housed a cake shaped like a shield with the outline of a pony in the middle, oddly struck by a knife which had brought its perfect shape to an untimely demise.

“Oh, hi Apple Bloom!” greeted her Spike. “What’s this for?”

“Oh, heya Spike!” returned it Apple Bloom looking confused. “You came too? Eh, Ah’ always said that more ponies make parties more fun!”

“That’s what I was thinking!” Pinkie shouted, coming from behind the cake and expertly grabbing the knife. “The floor is yours, girls!” she disappeared under the table, and out of nowhere, the lights dimmed, a spotlight enveloping the group.

“Huh?” both Lemon and Spike said surprised. 

“Scoots!” came Sweetie Belle’s voice.

“Got it!” and out of nowhere, the sound of a drum began playing, it continued its playing as another pony was pushed into the circle.

“Babs?” Lemon said recognizing the filly. “What’s going on?”

“Beats me! They had my eyes covered until now!” she replied looking around confused. “What’s with the sweet spotlight?” she asked looking at the circle of light they were in.

“I think we are about to find out…” Spike said nervously as Apple Bloom stepped forward with a scroll in hoof.

“We, the C- Um, Spike, can you come over here?” Apple Bloom said, motioning Spike to stand besides her. 

“Oh, okay, sorry!” Spike apologized, running to stand by her side.

“Okay, now. Ahem… We, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, elect Ba-” she suddenly stopped, giving the scroll a good look before turning her head to the back. “Scootaloo! You forgot to write Lemon’s name here!” she groaned, dropping it to the floor. 

“Sorry! I forgot!” Scootaloo replied, stopping the drumming. “Well, the mood is lost, turn on the lights, Sweetie Belle!”

“Aww!” came a cry from an unknown location, and with the sound of a switch, the light returned the place to its usual colored look.

“Ah horse apples, Ah’m winging this!” Apple Bloom said, jumping towards the pair and standing in front of them with a determined stare. “You are both hereby welcomed to the Cutie Mark Crusaders! You are both now, er…” she stopped, grabbing the scroll for a bit, reading some of it, and rolling her eyes before tossing it aside. “You are one of us now!”

“I need to revise the scroll, don’t I?” Scootaloo asked, approaching the group.

“Oh yeah, big time, Scoots,” Apple Bloom  replied laughing.

“Well, there goes the plan,” complained Sweetie Belle, approaching them from the side. “Oh well, welcome to the CMC!” she told the pair who simply stood looking confused. “What’s the matter?”

“Sorry, I’m just… confused,” Lemon began. “We both probably are,” he said motioning towards Babs.

“It doesn’t matter right now! Let’s have cake to celebrate!” Apple Bloom offered, rushing to the cake where Pinkie Pie lay in wait with knife in hoof.

Pinkie smiled and raised the knife, cutting through the cake. “Alright, who is first?” *Knock, knock*. “Oh, we have company! Spike, can you cut the cake? I’ll be right back!” handing the knife to Spike, Pinkie rushed to the front door, where the sound of muffled voices could be heard.

“…okay, we can come back tomorrow…” 

“Hello!” Pinkie greeted, suddenly opening the door fully, finding none other than Golden Harvest and Ditzy waiting right outside. “Oh, hey guys! Did you need something?”

“O-oh, hi Pinkie,” answered Ditzy surprised. “Um, I thought you weren’t home today…” 

“Oh, yeah! It was my day off, but the Cakes had to go out on an important delivery so I stayed to baby-sit!” she explained. “Do you need something? A party?  Did you lose something maybe?”

“Um, no, we came because we wanted to eat here, but if you are closed, it’s okay, w-we’ll come back,” Ditzy replied excusing herself.

“Oh, duuh! Of course you were, this is a bakery! I am NOT on the ball today! But that’s only because I don’t have one!” Pinkie laughed.

“Um… Right. We’ll just go then, alright?”

“No, wait!” Pinkie stopped her. “I don’t get to see you often at all!, Derpy! Like, I’ve seen you around thirty-seven times less than the pony I’ve seen the least! It’s ridiculous!” and without further arguments, she grabbed the pair and brought them inside, taking them to a different room to avoid messing with the CMC's party.

“Um… Thank you , Pinkie, but don’t you have to watch the twins?” Harvest asked worried.

“It’s okay! They are asleep, just don’t make too much noise and it should be fine,” she explained, handing them a pair of menus. “So, what can I get you?”

“We’ll need time to think, thank you, Pinkie,” Harvest explained, opening one of the menus.

“Okie, dokie! I’ll be back in a jiffy then!” she said before skipping away, leaving the pair on their own. 

Harvest watched as Pinkie disappeared into another room, and with lighting speed, turned to Ditzy. “Psst! Derpy!” she called, hiding behind her menu.

“What?” Ditzy replied without paying much attention, her eyes literally fixated on a certain item.

“This is your chance!”

“Chance for what?” 

“Ask Pinkie what she thinks about John, of course!”

“What!?” Ditzy yelped, barely holding her voice."Are you crazy!?"

"No! You need to do this, how else will you find out that but from the pony herself? Just be inconspicuous!" Harvest explained.

"But!"

“Oh, are you girls ready to order?” Pinkie asked, popping out of nowhere with a white apron on.

“N-not quite, can you give us a few minutes?” Harvest asked, holding back an awkward laugh.

“You got it! Be right back!” she agreed, skipping away from the pair and returning to the Crusaders, who by that point, had completely destroyed the shape the cake had beforehand.  “Hey kids! Everything alright?”

“It sure is, Pinkie! This cake was delicious!” Sweetie said happily, a smidge of cake hanging around her snout. “Your pastries are the best!”

“Thanks! So, do you guys need anything else?” Pinkie asked, the phrase visibly boring her as its repeated use became apparent to her.

“Um, no it’s alright Pinkie, Ah’ think we’ll be fine,” Apple Bloom said warily. “Is somepony else here? Ah’ thought Ah’ heard voices,” she asked.

“Oh, it’s nothing! Don’t worry about it! Just enjoy the party!” Pinkie exclaimed excited. :”If you guys need anything, give me a call!” she explained before leaving the group to their own again.

“She is acting weird today, huh?” Scootaloo said surprised.

“When isn’t she acting weird?” Sweetie Belle retorted.

“Good point,” she answered, causing the group to burst into laughter.

“So, cousin… Can you tell me what I did exactly to become a Crusader now? You said something like that before,” Babs asked suddenly, looking at the three other fillies curiously. 

“Oh, sorry! Well, remember your idea from today?” Applebloom asked.

“Wait, you are not talking about the ‘Demolition Cutie Mark’ plan, are you?” Babs asked tentatively, sighing at the reminder. “That was terrible, and I mean, the clubhouse…”

“Oh, don’t worry about it! It was an awesome idea!” Scootaloo said excited. “The execution needed work, though…”

“Scootaloo, it’s demolition,“ Sweetie cut in. “The only execution we needed was ‘destroy’, which we did. It was pure pandemonium!” the fillies and Spike all looked at her with blank stares, confusion clearly plastered on their faces.

“She means chaos,” Lemon explained with a laugh, receiving ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ from the others.

“Oh, great, another dictionary,” Scootaloo sighed.

“Um… What?” Lemon asked with a perplexed stare, not knowing how to feel about the word.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it Lemon,” Apple Bloom replied with a mischievous grin.

“Right… Wait, what did I do to get into the club?” Lemon asked confused. “Miss Applejack said that I needed to join, but you don’t seem like the type to just let ponies in just like that.”

“Aaand you would be right, kid,” Scootaloo said grinning. “We were planning to have you do something awesome! But there was no need when, you know? The Everfree incident and all…” she stopped suddenly, noticing the others suddenly quiet. “Oh, right. Sorry…”

“What’s wrong?” Lemon questioned, looking at the somber looks on their faces. “Guys?”

“Well, you were out-cold when you arrived from the Everfree,” Applebloom started explaining, looking at the others. “But when you guys returned, Fluttershy sort of broke down and cried, and then there is Rarity…” she said, pointing to Sweetie Belle to continue.

“Rarity seemed okay, but when I tried to talk to her this morning and ask her about it, she yelled at me that it was none of my business,” Lemon and Spike seemed shocked for a second, but Sweetie quickly intervened. “It’s okay, she apologized right away, but she seemed really upset. She is resting now, though, so she‘ll be fine.”

“How about you, Lemon?” Spike continued. “Are you alright?”

Lemon only stood in place looking at the other ponies giving him a worried look, their faces showing their worry for him. He could do nothing but smile.

“I’m okay, I… Sorta passed out when the Chimera was chasing us,” he lied, remembering a certain order given to him by Captain Patch.

…

“Hey, kid?” Patch called, getting Lemon‘s attention as they arrived in Ponyville.

“Oh, yes Ms. Patch? Is something the matter?" Lemon asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

“Don‘t worry, I‘m not gonna hurt you, I just need you to sign this,” she brought out a paper, setting it down in front of him.

“What‘s this?”

“You are smart, so I‘ll make it easy; this is a non-disclosure agreement, I need you to sign this,” she explained. “What happened  is classified information, I need you to keep anything unnatural that you saw a secret, understand? This is really important.”

“So, I can’t tell anypony about the gry-”

“Shh!” Patch interrupted. “No, you cannot. Trust me, this will help John more than you going on and spouting everything to all, understand?”

“Yes…” Lemon replied in agreement, signing the paper with a quill left to him. “I understand!”

…


“That’s okay, Lemon, we are just glad you are okay,” Babs continued, giving him a smile and interrupting Lemon’s memory.

“I…” Lemon began, not knowing how to continue. “Wow, I didn’t know you guys were that worried about me.”

“Well, of course we were! You are our friend!” Pinkie shouted, popping in out of nowhere. “And here is your Sundae!” she said, dropping a bowl of the treat in the middle.

“Pinkie, we didn’t order this,” Sweetie said, her eyes remaining on the treat, she licked her lips, resisting the urge to reach out for it.

“Oh, sorry! This is mine!” she said quickly, grabbing the treat and taking it out of the room. It didn’t take her long for her to arrive with Ditzy and Harvest who talked quietly as she reached them. “Sorry for the delay, here is your Sundae! And probably my best so far!” she said proudly.

“Thank you! Oooh!” Harvest smiled, quickly digging in on the sweat treat. "Hmm..."

“You are welcome!” Pinkie said, quickly sitting in the middle of the pair. “Soo, Harvest, how come I haven’t seen you in my parties lately! We’ve missed you!” she asked Harvest, who currently held a spoonful in the air.

“Oh, well, I went to Canterlot to visit my... well, to visit somepony last time. Sorry I didn’t go,” she apologized, quickly turning back to eat.

“Oh, that’s okay! How about you, Pinkie! Oh, wait! I’m Pinkie!” she laughed, smacking her own forehead. “What about you, Derpy? Haven’t seen you in any of my parties for around six-hundred and fifty three days now!”

Ditzy looked surprised at Pinkie’s count, but quickly shook it off, giving Harvest a nervous glance. “Um, you are right, I’m sorry Pinkie, I promise you that I’ll come to the next one.”

“Great! I can’t wait to see you there!” Pinkie yelped, hugging Ditzy.

“Ha, ha, yeah… Hey, Pinkie, can I ask you a question?” she began awkwardly, while Harvest turned to look at them interested.

“You can ask me ALL of the questions, but…” Pinkie began, edging closer to Ditzy’s ear. “Don’t ask me what I’m getting Gummy for his birthday, I don’t want him to hear!” she suddenly glared towards the next room, noticing a green tail disappearing around the corner.

“Um, right, Anyway! The question!” Ditzy started, only stopping as the question lingered on her mind.

“Yeeeeees?” Pinkie continued, pushing her face over Ditzy’s.

“Do you… like John?” *smack* came the sound from Harvest facehooving at that moment, giving Ditzy a flat stare.

“Well, of course I do! We are friends! We hang out, we do fun things! Why? You don’t like him?” Pinkie asked, giving Ditzy a disappointed look.

“No!” Ditzy hissed, suddenly remembering the twins sleeping upstairs. “I mean, I do like him! I meant the question, as if do you like-like him?” *thud, thud* Ditzy turned once again, this time watching Harvest smack her head against the table continuously.

“Oh! Hmm…” Pinkie managed to stop, actually thinking about the question without an outburst. “Well, of course I do!”

“Oh…” Ditzy sighed, letting out a sigh of disappointment.

“I like-like everypony! I like-like you too, Derpy!” Ditzy visibly recoiled at the words, suddenly being grabbed by Harvest and pushed aside.

“Aaaand, thank you very much Pinkie, here are some coins and my thanks for the Sundae, it was delicious, but we gotta go. There are vegetables to be sold!” she quickly excused herself, dragging the stoic Ditzy alongside her. "I think this should answer your question, Derpy," she whispered as she dragged her friend along.

“Oh? Wait, hold on! I‘ll bag your Sundae to go!” Pinkie ran, passing the room where the Crusaders and Spike were as she headed to look for a container, just as the group continued their conversation.

“I still don’t get it,” Lemon started. “What’s the point of shouting that?” 

“It’s a tradition!” Scootaloo, Sweetie, and Apple Bloom said at the same time.

“Cousin? That doesn't really answer the question,” Babs agreed, nodding alongside Lemon.

“The point is to yell out to the world that we are getting our cutie marks! Right girls?” Apple Bloom said excited, the other two quickly joining her in a joining of hooves. “Let’s show them what we got!”

“Wait! What?” Pinkie gasped, hearing their plans, and rushing to stop them.

But it was too late.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS YAY!”

“WAAAH!” suddenly came the sound of crying foals from the second floor.

Lemon simply smiled sheepishly, the others giving the same smile in return. “I’m going to guess party is over now, isn’t it?”

…

The crusaders stood outside Sugarcube Corner, staring at Pinkie who had the twin foals sleeping on her back, snoring softly.

“Sorry about that, Pinkie, we didn‘t mean to wake them up,” Apple Bloom apologized.

“It‘s okay, you have no idea how many times it‘s happened to me! The Cakes get furious!” Pinkie said dismissively. “And I‘m sorry for cutting the party short, I guess I need to focus on these two, huh?” she said, turning to smile at the foals.

“Yeah, we understand. Thank you for letting us use your place, ma‘am!” Babs thanked her, bowing her head.

“Oh, don‘t thank me! It was my pleasure! Now, if you‘ll excuse me! I have to go… I think I learned a lesson here! I should write a letter to the Princess!” she finished as she returned inside, closing the door behind her and leaving the group staring at it.

“So, why exactly were you guys having a party here anyway?” Lemon asked suddenly, breaking the silence.

“Well, remember when we told you about the ‘demolition cutie mark’ thing?” Lemon nodded at Sweetie Belle’s question. “Yeah, the thing that got hit was our clubhouse, and trust me, it was NOT pretty.”

“Yeah, AJ must be angry,” continued Scootaloo. “So we are going back to apologize.”

“Yep! But before that, Ah’ wanted to welcome you guys to the club! Since crusading activities might not be happening for a while…” Applebloom finished sadly.

“Don’t worry cousin! It was my idea, if we all apologize we won’t get in too much trouble!” Babs joined in, the other crusaders joining with a ‘yeah!’ of their own.

“Bye Lemon, Spike! We’ll see you guys later!” Appleblom waved before running alongside her friends in the direction of Sweet Apple Acres, as Lemon stared after them with a grin.

“… Hmm…” Lemon hummed, turning to Sugarcube Corner.

“What’s the matter, Lemon? Still hungry?” Spike asked in jest.

“No, I just remembered that I was supposed to be investigating,” he explained, sighing in frustration.

“What? You are saying that you didn’t have fun?” Spike said angrily.” You are an odd one. Eh, come on! Let’s go to the library, I need to set up your new room after all!”

“I wasn't saying th- wait, new room? What makes you think I’ll be living there?” Lemon ask confused, until it hit him. “Wait... you don’t mean?”

“Of course I do! I’ve known Twilight since we were little! She is going to say yes,” Spike replied knowingly, getting Lemon to return him a huge smile.

“Woohoo!” Lemon cheered loudly. “Gah!” *Rustle, rustle, thump!* “Huh? Did you hear something Spike?” he asked at the sudden sounds.

“I think you are hearing things," Spike said.

“Probably... Let's go then, Spike!" he said, grabbing Spike by a scale and tossing him on his back.

"Woah! Watch it! The scales are off-limits, buddy!" Spike said angrily.

"Sorry... Oh, hey, Spike?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you know about Pinkie Pie?" Lemon asked.

"Pinkie Pie? Some things, I guess. Why?" he asked confused.

"Just wondering. Just wondering..." Lemon said with a grin as they marched on, back to the library.

…

“Ugh…” came a grunt from behind the bushes. “Darn kid, waking me up,” popping his head from the shrub he resided on, Recon sighed, jumping out, and with a quick spell, wiped the dirt from his coat. “And I was dreaming about Patch too…”

“RECON!” came a shout from behind the Unicorn, causing him to jump back into the shrub.

“I didn’t do anything!” Recon cried, cowering in fear.

“Seriously? That scared you?” the voice continued. Recon poked his head out, and noticed none other than Guard approaching him from the sky. “Recon, what do you think you are doing?”

“L-L-Lieutenant! Er, I was, um…” he stopped, and released a sigh. “I was sleeping instead of watching over, I’m sorry… Ouch!” he whined, as Guard placed a hit on his head, causing him to simply fall back in the now familiar shrub.

“Sometimes I wonder how you even got into the Royal Guard,” Gleaming Guard said with disbelief. “You are lucky it wasn’t the captain, or you would have been in trouble.”

“S-sorry captain,” Recon apologized again.

“Whatever, do you have anything to report from Canterlot yet?” Guard asked. 

“Huh? Oh! Would you believe me if I said I haven’t checked?” he explained. Guard’s growl was enough to get his attention. “I-I mean, er… Ahaha…” his horn lit up, and in puff of smoke, a scroll appeared. “Um, whoops!”

“Just read it.”

“R-right…” after fumbling with the seal, Recon opened the scroll, quickly delving into the contents. “It seems that they found the Gryphon that might have killed the one you fought, sir.”

“I see… Any information from him?” he inquired with interest.

“No. Apparently, the kingdom of Gryphonia found out about him and have prohibited the use of the ‘Lunar Touch’ on him, so no interference from Princess Luna, it seems. They seem to be still interrogating him normally, thought, but with no success.”

“Darn it!” Guard growled, punching the nearby tree, his hoof denting into its bark easily.

“Well, there are some good news; I mean, Princess Celestia forgave us for what we did! She recognized that the Gryphons we killed was done in self-defense, so we are good on that end!” Recon explained, hoping to calm down Guard who seemed to be losing his patience.

"Excellent, we were forgiven for murder," he sighed sarcastically. "Anything else?” Guard asked tentatively, hoping for some better news.

“Well…” Recon said stalling as he continued. “This depends on your definition of ‘good’,” he said, handing Guard the scroll for him to read.

“What do you mea— oh…” Guard said nervously, reading the part. “Oh boy, this is NOT going to fare well for the Captain when she is told.”

They turned to look at each other for a couple of seconds, realizing what would have to be done, and with lighting speed, cried out at the same time.

“Not it!”



~~~~~



Lemon and Spike finally arrived at Golden Oaks, and without knocking, Spike headed in with a greeting. “Hey Twilight, we are ba- what’s going on here?” the pair watched as ‘Delight’ shelved books, an owl flying over her with a newspaper in its talons.

“Oh, hey Spike, Lemon,” Twilight greeted them. “I’m simply letting Owlicious teach Ms. Delight here how to alphabetize the non-fiction section,” the pair looked at the shelves, finding around a dozen books placed in it.

“Um… How many shelves has she done so far?” Spike asked.

“Oh, this is still her first one, she is not one for directions!” Twilight giggled satisfied, drinking from a cup with pleasure. “This tea is delicious, would you like some, Delight?”

“Uuugh, my name is Patch!” she shouted, grabbing the newspaper from Owlicious’ talons and attempting to swipe at the bird. “And I quit! There are MUCH better ways to take care of John than this hell!” she ran to Spike and placed a hoof on his shoulder. “Little fellah, you are a trooper to suffer this much with this mare.”

Spike raised a brow at Twilight who simply shrugged, moving to help Owlicious to put them back once again.

“Well, you ponies seemed to have had fun,” came a comment from the still open front door as Guard and Recon entered the building.

“Ugh! Why doesn’t anypony ever close the door!” Twilight groaned, rushing to the still open door, and slamming it shut.

“What are you two doing here?” Patch asked, removing the glasses and undoing her mane. “I thought I told you to keep watch.”

Guard and Recon looked at each other and gulped, and after some fidgeting, took Patch to another room to relay the information, quickly returning to the lobby where Twilight stared with an annoyance.

"You know? I don't like secrecy in my home," she said with a grunt.

"Well, this is Royal Guard business too bad," she retorted before turning to her stallions. “Anyway, is that it?” Patch asked as she rubbed her head. “Or is there something worse?”

“Depends, Patch,” replied Guard, handing the scroll to her. “You might want to read the last part yourself.”

“Huh?” Patch hummed, grabbing the scroll and reading where appointed, her eyes growing as she continued. “Wait… this says that ‘we are here to stay until events are resolved,” she said with disbelief. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Recon replied with a serious look.

“Wait, what does that mean?” Twilight asked, approaching the group curiously.

“It means that we are here to stay until further notice…” Patch replied in defeat. “So, we better get cozy with each other; we might be here a while.”

Twilight’s mouth hanged open at Patch’s words.


“WHAT!?”



~~~~~


“Ugh…” came the complaints from a human in the room upstairs, the chatter making him groan under the covers. “Geez, can’t these ponies let a guy wallow in peace?” he asked, pushing the pillow over himself before letting out a sigh.

“Oh well, I should let them enjoy themselves. At least here I’m not causing trouble…”
> Nightime Rarities
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had not been an easy day for John.

He looked at the ceiling, sighing constantly with groans of frustration, sometimes kicking the air and punching his pillow in a fit of anger.

“She is going to make me leave, dammit,” he whispered to himself.

He’d spend the week since their return locked in the room, to his fortune, he’d been allowed to stay in on the excuse of ‘being traumatized over the Everfree incident’, which was something he welcomed. Unfortunately, his luck did not last.

“John!” Twilight had called, knocking forcibly at the door. “I know you had a rough time at the Everfree, but enough is enough, you need to get come out!”

As always, she’d received no response.

“And that silence of yours isn’t helping either! Look! I know you’re going through something, I have done so too, but wallowing isn’t going to help, I know this very well, so come on, John… Please?”

“Grr…” John roared silently. “She doesn’t understand…” he thought frustrated

“John, if something is bothering you, you know you can talk to me, right?” she waited a few seconds for a reply, but she received none. “John!” she roared, punching the door and surprising John. “I’m sorry ‘bro‘, but I’ve waited more than enough. Tomorrow morning, I’m having Recon force the door open whether you like it or not!” and with her small rant finished, she stomped away, grunting as she returned downstairs.

John simply stared at the door, his eyes wide. “… Crap.”

John grunted in disgust, remembering the earlier event. 

“So, any ideas, voice in my head?” he said out loud, awaiting for a response that never came. “Well then,” he spoke  soon afterwards, not receiving a single reply in return. “You know, for a voice in my head, you are certainly selective on when you want to talk… Not like the two times it happened was very selective.”

He sighed and rolled to the side with disinterest, coming to view with the clock on the table. “Oh, crap! It’s almost time!” he yelped. He jumped off the bed, and grabbing a pair of binoculars from the floor, headed for the window, opening the curtain slightly to have a view of the outside. “Come on… where are you, Fruit Butt,” he asked, aiming the binoculars to the house right across it.

For the past week, he’d spend his time doing nothing but watching Ponyville from the room, simply observing the Ponyville-ians go about their daily lives.

However, one of them had picked his interest.

Living right across his room was a mare, but unlike the others, she always left her house at the same time. To his surprise, she always left when most of the town had finished their work in the early evening 

He had a few theories about it… One of them he was about to attempt to prove.

“Come on…” John pleaded, watching the door intently. He didn’t have to wait long, as the lights inside came to life. “Alright!” 

With a quick step, he reached for his blankets, tying them in a now familiar knot motion he’d practiced during the day, and after a few minutes, he had a makeshift rope on his hands, which he soon tied up to a branch that substituted as a coat hanger in the room.

“Never been so glad that Twilight lives in a tree,” he commented, and after making sure the rope was tied tightly enough, he dug into his backpack where he retrieved a small bag and a notebook which he quickly put into his pocket, followed by him tying the small bag to his pants. “Okay, good,” having made sure everything was ready, he returned to the window, where he donned the binoculars once more, searching for a certain different target.

“Come on, please let it be him… Yes!” John sighed happily, noticing as the Unicorn guarding the outside slept soundly on the leg of the treehouse, snoring softly by the way his muzzle moved. “And now…” he turned towards the house, keeping his sight on the door. “I wait.”.

“John?”

“Woah!” John yelped, the binoculars nearly falling off his hands, he placed a hand over his mouth, and waited.

“It’s me, Spike,” said the voice from the other side. “I came to bring you some dinner. I’m sure you are hungry by now!” he heard the sound of a plate being put down, and then, silence. “Hope you feel better! Night” and just like that, he heard the sound of his footsteps running downstairs.

“That dragon,” John sighed with a smile. “Never thought I’d befriend one, I must admit,” with the thought out, he donned the binoculars once more and looked out into the street, noticing just in time as the door opened. “Yes…”

A mare left the house; unlike the previous times, her pinkish mane was curled, she wore a serving outfit that John recognized easily, having seen it before. She retrieved a key from her pocket and locked the door to her place before leaving in a brisk trot.

“Shit!” John cursed. Reaching for the blanket rope, he opened the window, and quickly tossed it down. He sighed relieved as he noticed the rope reaching all the way to the ground. Satisfied, he jumped out, grabbing the blanket on his way down.

However, he had not taken all into account.

“Ffffffuck!” he grunted, biting his lip as he slid down, his hands rubbing rapidly against the blanket, which soon began burning his palms. He reached the ground in mere seconds, but the pain had been enough to drive the human to a silent cursing session. “Son of a grrr!” he attempted his best to keep quiet, as the guard Recon snored right besides him without much a care in the world.

“Okay… I’m okay now…” he gasped with gritted teeth, looking towards the direction of the mare as she turned a corner. “Better hurry up.”

It didn‘t take him long for him to catch up to ‘Fruit Butt‘. She remained unaware of the human following, and continued her walk uninterrupted, the mass of buildings on Ponyville quickly thinning as they reached the outskirts of town. “Just as I thought…” John said happily, soon noticing a building coming up in the distance, a far-off sign with a glass painted on it hanging by the door.

“About time you got here, Punch!” came a shout from a pony by the door of the place. “You were supposed to be here ages ago!”

“Oh, shut your trap, you are gonna get drunk, time is irrelevant once you do,” she sneered to the stallion, reaching the building, opening the door, and entering the place with the other ponies eagerly following suit.

“So she doesn‘t only work in a tavern—she OWNS one!” John said knowingly, hiding behind a tree a fair ways from the place. After a few minutes, more ponies began swamping the place, some coming in carriages which parked right outside. 

“So… do I go in? Or not?” he wondered out loud. “I mean, I don’t drink, but I think I really need one right about now… But what if I get too drunk! I’ll spill all of my secrets!”  he continued his dilemma for ten more minutes, until finally deciding.

“Fuck this, I’m going in.”

With a new found resolve to get drunk, he made a beeline to the door, the sound of a piano quickly catching his ear as he approached it. Choosing to not stop to avoid getting cold feet, he pushed the wooden door open. Unfortunately, he pushed it much harder than he had expected.

*Slam!*

The looks of dozens of ponies suddenly fell on him, the piano playing stopping abruptly, glasses freezing in midair whether by magic or hoof as they all gave John the blankest of stares.

“Um…” he began awkwardly. “Hi?”

Silence was their response.

“Well, about time you came in!” came the voice from the counter across him. He looked up, and found none other than the mare he followed herself. “Come on, take a seat!”

Hesitantly, John moved slowly towards the bar, the eyes staying on him, never leaving him. With a gulp, he took seat on the stool, trying to keep his attention on the mare instead of the attention upon him.

“What are you morons looking at? Get back to your drinks! Or do you want to be kicked out for attempting to scare my new customer?” the mare threatened, and the pony eyes quickly returned to their own business, the piano resuming its playing as it nothing had happened.

“Um, thank you…” John thanked her embarrassed.

“No need, all you gotta do is follow the rules of behaving, and we will be friends! I was actually worried you wouldn‘t show,” she explained.

“Wait… you knew I was coming?”

“Well, it’s not hard to guess when you are staring at me from your window every day,” she replied amused.

“Oh, you saw… Wait, how do you know I’m here to drink?” John asked surprised.

“Buddy, from my experience, the look you were giving me was from either you wanting to let some steam off with booze, or, well, you were after my flank, and let me tell you, I’m reasonably sure you are not after some pony booty… are you?” she asked intrigued.

“What? No! I’m not into ponies like that. I‘m not that far gone yet.” he admitted embarrassed, managing to hear the chuckles of some of the ponies behind him.

“I’m just pulling your leg, buddy, I’m just glad that the famous human finally showed up at my tavern! But where are my manners! Name is Berry, Berry Punch. Pleasure to meet ya,” she greeted, reaching up with her hoof.

“Oh, name is John Pennick,” he picked up his hand and bumped his fist into her hoof, bringing the mare to smile.

“Now that we are buddies, what do you say to a drink? The first one is on the house!” she invited him, taking out a glass from under the counter. “So, what will it be?”

“You know? I’m not even sure...” John admitted. “I mean, I don’t’ really drink, and like, is this what I’ve come down to? No offense!” he quickly apologized, turning to the ponies in the tavern who were already on the task of staring at him.

“Oh, come on, some of you know that’s true,“ Berry shouted at the ponies drinking. “Don‘t be like that, we all drink to forget sometimes!” she turned back to John, pointing at herself as an example.

“Well, you DO work at a place, so I can see you getting drunk often,” the place was suddenly filled with laughter, the piano stopping its tune as the pony playing began laughing as well.

“Shut up!” Punch shouted instantly, getting the laughter back to its muffled whispers. She let out a frustrated sigh and turned to John. “Kid, do you want me to hate you from the get-go?” she groaned.

“What did I say?” he asked confused.

“I suppose you don’t know, but I once overdid it with the drinking: let’s just say that I’m no longer welcome in Manehatten! My Mum wasn’t too happy about it, that's for sure,” she explained.

“Oh, sorry…” John apologized. “I didn’t know.”

“Eh, water under the bridge, or, in this case, booze under the bridge! But in any case, it’s all in the past, although it doesn’t help that it keeps being brought up—it was ONE time!”

“Uh huh…” John grinned amusedly. “I see.”

“Wait, why am I talking about MY problems! You are the one who needs to drown his problems!” she reached under the counter once again and brought out a bottle which she quickly popped open, letting a small stream of orange colored liquid fall into the glass. “So, what brings you here?” she asked, pushing the glass to him.

“Well…”

“Rhetorical question, we both know why you are here,” she said with a smile

“Right…” he looked at the glass for a couple of seconds before finally sighing. “Fuck it, you only live once, right?” he reached for it, and chugged down the drink in one fell swoop. “I... whoa... this is delicious! And it does NOT taste like piss!” he said excitedly, savoring the flavor of apples in his mouth, a very light bitter taste combined in the mix.

“Thanks?“ Punch laughed awkwardly. “I figured I should start you with something on the light side since you don‘t drink, glad you liked it, so here you go,” she refilled the glass and passed it to him. “Now, care to tell me why you sneaked out of the library?”

John froze as he picked up the glass, sighing as he put it back down. “Geez, am I that open of a book?”

“No. I’ve simply seen things. I‘m sure that I‘ve said this enough times,” she explained.

“Well, I don’t really want to talk about it, but you did give me free drinks,” he said smiling, drinking from the glass rapidly. “I guess I owe you something at least, but don’t expect much.”

“Eh, I never get the full thing anyway,” she reached under the counter and brought out the bottle again, pushing it towards John. “Besides, I should get quite a few costumers if they learn that I had the human drinking here; the business totally makes up for this,” she explained with a grin.

“Smart,” John said, grabbing the bottle and chugging down some of it. “Ah… god that’s good,” he set the bottle down, and looked at Berry directly in her eyes.

“Yes?” she asked interested.

“Bottom line is that I’m useless. Weak. I have no point in my life, and there is nothing that I can do to protect those I care… Basically, my life is in shambles,” he summarized, taking another gulp of the drink, feeling suddenly off-balance.

“I may not know much about those other things, but you are certainly terrible at holding your cider at least,” Berry laughed. “Seems you are going through some terrible stuff, so… I take it some pony insult helped lower that self-esteem, huh?”

John looked up, shaking his head. “Nothing gets past you, huh?” he grabbed the bottle again and took another drink before talking again. “Yes, a pony destroyed my self-esteem, big deal!”

“Now, now, don’t be angry, I’ve just been around the block,” she explained, looking amused. “It’s alright, just drink up, forget your problems; the night is young, so we can talk all you want, bud,” she patted John’s back once more before moving away from him to deal with other customers.

“Thanks…” he groaned, planting his face on the counter. “Uuugh…” 

...

For the next few hours, John spend his time with the occasional drinking and talking about his experiences with Berry, with the other ponies joining in as they listened to more and more of his experiences in Equestria.

“And then, the gryphon tried to punch me, but I dodged! Because I am awesome like that!” he said, drinking more of the delicious cider.

“And then? What happened?” asked a mare, looking at him expectantly.

“Well, the coward used the filly in the room to try to protect himself, so I had to give up,” booing commenced at his words, showing the disapproval over the dirty tactic. “But, that’s when the Royal Guard came in and kicked her-I mean, HIS ass!” he continued, cheering filling the room loudly as the drunken ponies celebrated with him.

“Humph!” John managed to hear from within the crowd.

Disturbed by the sound, he made his way through the ponies to find what physically looked like a mare, wrapped in a body cloak and drinking a strange looking yellow drink.

“What? Not enjoying my stories?” John asked, but the mare remained silent, not bothering to reply. “Pfft, suit yourself, bitch,” he grunted annoyed, returning to the ponies.

“So, did you say you were living with Twilight?” one of the ponies asked curiously. “Lucky you, that one is a cute mare, a little bitchy lately, admittedly,” he said with a crooked grin.

“Cute? Well, I guess she is. I mean, she looks adorable when she sleeps and all, and she is not THAT bad,” John said awkwardly in reply.

“Adorable?” another pony asked. “She is hot!  I mean, have you seen her flank?”

“Um, yeah, okay, I get it buddy, no need to explain, ha, ha…” John continued annoyed, taking another drink from his bottle, trying to keep his thoughts.

“Yep! I go to the library once in a while and I make her look for a book, lately she reaches for the books without magic, and let me tell  you! You get a nice view of her b-”

“Okay! No! Please, don’t do that, that’s very disrespectful,” John groaned angrily, putting the bottle down roughly.

“Huh? What’s with you? She your mare friend or something?” the pony asked. “You just live with her, don’t you?”

“Yes, but, I mean…” John started awkwardly.

“See? No excuse, I can say all I want! She has a nice b-”

“Now, now, calm down everypony, no need to get into fighting, you know my policy,” Berry called from behind.

“Just stop, I don’t take kindly to that stuff!” John continued, now scowling at the pony.

“Or what?” the pony asked, flaring his wings out and looking at John from top to bottom. “What are you gonna do about it?” he scoffed at John, and turned to leave, with a few parting words. “That’s what I thought.”

“Hey, buddy,” John called.

“What?” as soon as he had turned, a fist hit him straight on the face, sending him flying to the nearest table, breaking it as he landed on top with a nasty crunch

“Okay, no!” came Berry’s voice from behind, she began pushing John, and in a flash, he was out the front door on the ground.

“Ouch…” John complained, having landed on his face.

“Sorry kid, I know you were angry, but these are the rules here, and I'll have no favoritism. buuuuut I like you, so come back in a week” she waved goodbye, and returned inside.

“Ugh…” John complained. “Yeah, terrible night,” he whined, his face remaining flat on the ground.

“That was very dumb,” came a voice from behind him.

“Great! Came to beat me up or something?“ he asked, turning over to meet the voice, and a bag suddenly fell on his stomach. “Ouch! Hey, is this my bag of bits?” he asked, opening the bag and checking. “Wait, where did you find this?” he asked, recognizing the mare from the bar.

“An old pony in the bar gave it to me, you dropped it in your 'violent fit of rage',” she said with a stifled laugh.

“Geez, thank you,” he thanked her with sarcasm, tossing a coin. “Here, have a tip for the help.”

The coin stopped in midair, surrounded by a blue aura of magic, the coin spun in the air for a few seconds, and with a quick toss, the coin returned to John, smacking straight into his forehead.

“Ouch!” he cried out, holding the newly grown bump on his forehead.

“I don’t take kindly to sarcasm, or being called a ’bitch’ for that matter, especially from you,” she said, her voice suddenly changing to one John recognized.

“Geez, sorry, I mean, I didn’t… wait, that voice…” as he said that, the mare removed her hood, revealing the familiar face of Rarity. “O-oh…”

“Greetings, John,” she stood there for a couple of seconds and sighed. “Follow me,” she said, walking away from him and putting the hood on once again.

“Wait, what were you doing here?” John asked confused. “You were following me!?”

“I was not. I will explain, but you have to follow me first, John. Come,” she said simply, and continued marching away from the tavern.

“Well, no anger this time, so why not?” John figured, deciding to do as she had said and following right behind her.

…

It had been half an hour of walking, thankfully, it was still dark enough that John had been able to avoid being spotted. Unlike Rarity herself who simply strolled by without a care, more than likely thanks to the cloak she wore.

“Are we there yet?” John whispered loud enough for her to hear.

“Yes, actually,” she said, stopping in front of a door. “We are.”

With her magic, she unlocked the door, and with a gentle push, she opened it, moving aside for John to go in first.

“Well, come on in,” she greeted.

John gave her an incredulous look and smiled. “Ladies first.”

Rarity said nothing and turned her head to the door. “Well done,” she giggled, walking inside without another word, soon followed by John who closed it on his way in. “Follow me,” she called, taking off the cloak.

“I would, but, I can’t really see much…” John said barely able to see in the dark room.

“Oh, my mistake,” Rarity's horn lighted up, and the room became instantly enveloped by light, momentarily blinding John.

“Jesus!” John groaned, lowering his raised hands to take a good look of the place; he found himself staring at an enormous open space, mannequins stood to the side, racks upon racks of clothes remained in the middle of the room, with a spilled cup of tea laying on the floor. “Nice place.”

“Thank you, but this is simply the boutique; the main part of my home begins in the next room,” she opened a door near her and went inside, John following right in and now finding himself in a more homely looking area. Rarity took seat in a luxurious looking red couch, while she pointed John to a seat right across her.

“Thanks,” he got himself comfortably, and looked around the room, noticing all the subtle things placed in practically every corner. “Your place is…  rather gaudy,” he commented.

“It is NOT gaudy—it’s  simply classy. I do my best to keep it that way, thank you very much,” she finished indignantly, getting on her hooves “Excuse me a second, I’ll be right back, I’ll make some tea for us,” she explained leaving John on his own.

His eyes wondered all over the place for the following minutes, he soon noticed a certain wall which hosted an arrangement of framed pictures. Recognizing Twilight on one of them, he walked towards it and grabbed it, noticing the rest of the girls in it as they all laid on a grassy field.

“No Spike? Ouch,” John thought.

“That picture was taken almost two years ago,” Rarity’s sudden voice surprised John, nearly causing him to drop the frame.

“O-oh! Sorry!” he apologized, hanging the frame back on the wall.

“It’s quite alright. Anyway, that picture was taken right after we defeated Nightmare Moon. I suppose Twilight told you about that, right?”

“Right,” John replied, returning to his seat and turning to Rarity. Without much to talk about, he asked the question that had been bugging him. “Look, I don’t mean to be rude, but what am I doing here?” 

Rarity turned her face to the side, and releasing a wistful sigh, she closed her eyes, then turned to John again with a scowl. “Why do you think you are here?”

“Um, well, all I can think of is that you want to apologize to me for what happened a week ago, maybe that?” he replied, spitting the words out with controlled anger.

“Then you might be severely disappointed, because that’s certainly not the idea,” Rarity replied, the scowl still on her face.

“Then we have nothing to talk about,” John replied bitterly, getting on his feet, as he did the sound of hissing suddenly whistled loudly “Woah, what the…”

“That’s the water I heated for us. You wouldn’t ‘t want to leave when I made you tea, would you?” Rarity asked, giving John an innocent look.

“... I suppose not,” he replied hesitantly sitting down as Rarity once again left for the kitchen. “What is she planning?” he thought, attempting to search for the answer in his own mind. He searched the room again, hoping that something in the walls, the floors, or even the ceiling would yield some answers on the Unicorn’s behavior.

“Here we gooo~” Rarity sing-sang, arriving from the kitchen with two cups floating next to her, she set one on the table next to John, and she quickly began sipping from her own, releasing a sigh of relief at the taste. “Aaah, nothing makes you feel better than a nice, good, cup of t-”

*Thud! Crash!* “Rarity!” John growled, his fist remaining on the table, shaking slightly.

“Well then,” Rarity said simply, setting down her cup and a dustpan and broom appearing to sweep the mess. “Don’t we have an attitude problem?”

John simply continued glaring at her.

“Ahem, well, just wanted to feel comfortable before we, well, talked,” she explained, grabbing her cup again.

With a quick step, John got on his feet, and grabbed the cup from Rarity’s grasp, the blue magic dissipating into thin air, to Rarity’s surprise.

“Did... you just interrupt my flow of magic?” she asked confused.

“You first,” he replied, putting the cup on his lips and drinking from it. “Huh… Delicious.”

“Thank you,” Rarity deadpanned. “Fine. Remember your earlier question?”

“Yes, as well as your answer,” John quickly reminded her.

“Yes, well, I said I wasn’t going to apologize to you… at least not yet,” she finished with effort.

“But you didn‘t… Whatever, what is that supposed to mean?” he questioned.

“What you did at the tavern, for Twilight… That just showed me how I misjudged you.  What I'm about to say may sound odd, but bear with me; you see, I want to know more about you, that way, I can understand your plight and so I can apologize to you,” she explained with some effort.

“Wait, so you want to know more about me, so you can apologize to m— that’s dumb! You are bein— I mean, seriously!?” he shrieked exasperated, jumping off the couch and moving to the nearby window, staring at the now rising sun outside.

“I am not!” Rarity sighed. She jumped off her own couch and walked towards John. “Because my words were still valid! Is that not the reason you were attempting to get drunk in the first place? I’m very sure that me simply criticizing you did that to you,” she retorted.

“I, well,” John tried to discuss, but was unable to. “Wait, what do you mean ‘attempting’? I DID get drunk!” 

“You can’t get drunk from cider that hasn’t been fermented, John,” she replied with an eye roll.

“Wait… That wasn’t alcoholic?” John said in a low voice. “I was duped!”

“Don’t change the subject!” Rarity continued.  “All I want is to apologize, to know why you are here, maybe learn why things happened, and… so we can actually be friends,” she finished, looking exhausted. She began falling back, the couch suddenly moving to catch her as she fell back.

“… Seriously?” John asked incredulously, despite the serious moment, letting out a chuckle.

“Leave me alone, this was exhausting to do,” she moaned without restraint.

“Fine! You want to know? Here!” he reached for the notebook on his back pocket and tossed it to Rarity, who easily caught with her magic.

“What is this?” she asked curious, flipping the notebook over and reading the title on the front. “Memories? I… don’t understand,” she looked at John, shaking her head slowly, her mind trying her best to process it.

“Just read the first page,” John demanded, sitting back down as Rarity opened the notebook. “Out loud, please,” she looked up to him for a second, then turned her head to the side where a pair of red reading glasses appeared.

“I was going to,” she said simply, clearing her throat as she began:


“Hello, me, well, obviously me, I mean, that’s pretty obvious since this is for me, or rather, you…
Anyway…

If you are reading this, it means that you probably forgot what this notebook was for, well, I’ll tell you right now, John; this book is a thing you made to kinda ‘store’ your memories.
Why?
Because as a certain pink pony princess told you, you are forgetting things from the world you came from, that’s why.

“This book will contain all that you have managed to remember, with the help of Spike, you wrote it down into sections, which will allow you easy access to your memories. 
Cool, right?”


“Wait, Spike? Does this mean Twilight didn’t help in the slightest?” she asked, stopping suddenly.

“There is a reason for that that you don’t have to know, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t bother her with it, alright?” he explained dryly.

“Very well… I shall continue then.”


“In any case, yellow highlighted stuff is minor.
All the way to the back is miscellaneous crap..
The red taped stuff is for important stuff that only with your permission, others will read.

That’s about it! Happy (or unhappy) reading!”


Rarity stared from the page, to John over and over, trying her best to understand what she had just read. “W-what? Memory loss? I—I’m confused. Is this what’s been happening to you? Is this… I need more tea,” a pitcher and a new cup floated from the kitchen, serving tea for Rarity to drink.

“You are freaking out? How do you think I feel then?” John asked.

“Yes, you are right. I’m sorry John," she sighed. "In all my life, I never thought that such a thing would be real… I would have called you a liar if you hadn’t shown me this notebook, but nopony does something like this without a  purpose,” she continued, pointing at the notebook. “Wait, can I check the yellow sections?” she asked, looking at John pleadingly.

“Um, sure,” he accepted reluctantly, as Rarity eagerly dove into a random part. 

“Wait, this says that Princess Celestia knows a way back to your world?” she looked up at John who shook his head.

“That was supposed to be in red, fuck!” he cursed. “Please, just keep it a secret, not even Spike knows of that section,” he pleaded.

“And I will cross my heart and hope to fly, and will stick a cupcake in my eye,” she replied, doing the motions."But we will have to discuss this at some point."

“Thanks, and fine,” John sighed

“Anyway, this other part says that you have lost memory of your family too… Is that why you don’t want to go back?” Rarity said out loud, putting a hoof over her mouth as  she noticed John looking dejectedly to the side. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry,” she floated the notebook towards John, which he quickly caught without a second thought and returned to his pockets.

“It’s alright,” he sighed. “I hope you understand more now.”

“Why, of course!” she jumped from her couch and approached John, placing a hoof over his leg. “John… I am very sorry over all the things I’ve said; can you forgive me?” she pleaded, looking at him with a frown.

“Of course,” he replied, putting his hand over her hoof, the months lasting awkwardness suddenly melting away as if it never happened. Yet, the feelings of distraught continued. “Yeah…”

“What’s the matter?” she asked, noticing a final sigh leaving him. “Is there a problem?”

“Problem?” he took a moment of think about it. It wasn’t long before he had figure it out. “I guess that, even if you forgave me, it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still a freeloader, and I couldn‘t protect a door if I tried,” he began, increasingly louder as he continued. “You yourself said that earlier, remember?”

Rarity, turned her head to the side, raising a brow at John.

“What?” he asked defensively.

“So?”

“So… What?”

“What if you are those things I said?” she asked with a serious face.

“Are you serious?” he asked with disbelief. 

“Yes. Because you may be those things NOW, but what exactly is keeping you from changing them? Unlike your memory problem, this seems to be something that can be easily fixed with both time and dedication!” she exclaimed, raising her hoof dramatically.

“Um, yeah, okay!” John began, raising his arms in the air. “Sure, I’ll just GO get a job! I mean, who knows if I might get one after that incident when I was taking care of Diamond Tiara! Leaving her alone after I promised to take care of her. Her father is rich! He might make it so I can‘t get a job anywhere, or something!” John explained irritated.

“Well, while Mr. Rich isn’t necessarily that kind of pony, you might be right in that it is a thing that can happen,” she agreed, nodding to John.

“Thank you!”

“How would you like a job here at Carousel Boutique, then?” Rarity asked with a serious face.

“I, what?” John did a double-take, rubbing his eyes and looking at Rarity multiple times before understanding. “Are you serious?”

“Why not? I’ve always wanted a sort of butler figure to clean up for me, not to mention I could use you to practice for outfits for two legged creatures. It would be certainly interesting,” she explained grinning. “Unless, well, the job isn’t to your liking.”

“I… No! I’ll take it, yes!” he agreed instantly, copying her smile. “Thank you, Rarity.”

“That’s MISS Rarity to you!” she said in a commanding voice.

“Don’t push it,” John replied dryly. 

"Very well," she laughed silently.

“Well, you certainly got rid of ONE of those problems, and I don’t mean to be ungrateful and all, but that one is still up there," John said, remembering.

Rarity closed her eyes, humming to herself as she attempted to come up with ideas. “Well… I might just have a solution to your conundrum,” she said with a devilish grin.

“W-what? Really?” John asked hopeful

“Indeed… I‘ll explain on the way, for now, we must return you to Golden Oaks; Twilight must be worried sick for y- I mean…” she suddenly stopped, passing a hoof over her mane once again.

“Wait, so you WERE following me!” John exclaimed in triumph. “You lied!”

“I did no such thing!” Rarity replied indignantly. “You see, Twilight found out you were gone, and she, well, didn‘t take it well, and she came here first to pick me up rather forcibly. You probably saw that cup on the floor when we came in,” she explained.

“That explains that little mess, but I'm still not getting the full picture,” he growled to Rarity who raised her hoof to stop him.

“And I decided to NOT look for you, instead opting to go drink before returning for Twilight with the fruitless results of my search,” she finished without much a hint of shame on her face.

“O-oh,” John mumbled. “So you finding me there was…”

“Purely coincidental, yes. I stayed to observe you once I recognized you; as they say, killing two birds with one stone,” she quoted, nodding in agreement with it. 

“Wow… Such friend you are,” John groaned.

“Well, a certain rope made of blankets hanging from your window certainly helped ease the need to help her look for you,” she relayed rather easily.

“Oh,” John simply exclaimed, not needing to delve into the fact further. “Speaking of, you never told me. You went out drinking? You of all ponies?” John asked.

“John, even I enjoy a drink every now and then,” Rarity turned to him grinning before heading towards the front door. “Now come, you wouldn’t want a lady to go out on her own at this time, would you?” 

"I suppose not," John grinned. 

“Very good! We must leave post-haste, we already wasted enough time as it is!” she hurried, magicking away the tea items. “You need to apologize to Twilight after all!”

“Apologize? Come on, it’s Twilight! She shouldn’t be THAT angry,” John said confidently as they strolled out the door. “She’ll receive me with open arms… Legs… Whatever.”

…

~~~~~


“Y-you… Dumb!” Twilight shouted as John sat on a chair, his head hanging low as she paced around him with an angry scowl.

“Twilight, I went out for a drink, you didn’t have to worry, you know?” John attempted to explain, holding his hands to the edge of his seat.

“You left through the window!” Twilight deadpanned. “And you don’t drink!”

“Er, well…”

“Twilight, Ah’ don’t mean to be all defensive, but don’t you think he did this because he didn’t want to talk to you?” came Applejack’s voice from behind where the rest of the girls stood next to each other—other than Rainbow Dash who had at that point fallen asleep on the floor— all with puffy red eyes, showing signs of tiredness. Even Pinkie Pie’s usual stride didn’t show as her mane remained deflated through the whole thing.

“I agree,” Rarity continued. “If anything, he is guilty of making you wake us up so late at night,” she pointed out with a yawn at the end.

“If anything, you should blame that guard who let him escape in the first place,” came Rainbow Dash’s voice, who had suddenly woken up by the raised voices. She extended her wings carefully, avoiding to mess with the bandages around them. “Hey guys, what I miss?” she asked, getting glares from all including Fluttershy herself. “Geez, sorry I asked.”

“That’s not the point, girls, don’t you remember? He was attacked by Gryphon. Twice!” Twilight countered, which brought the three mares to lower their ears in understanding. “And Recon? Trust me, he is being punished by Patch if his earlier cries weren’t enough proof…” she shivered slightly, remembering the Unicorn’s voice.

“Twilight,” John began calmly, putting his hands over Twilight’s withers. “I know you are worried, but I’m not a kid, foal, or whatever;  I can take care of myself. I mean, it’s Ponyville, right?” he attempted to reason.

Twilight moved away from him, the scowl remaining unchanged on her face. “John, you were attacked by a Gryphon IN Ponyviile,” she began. “I know we’ve said that you can take care of yourself, but that just won’t work in our current state, not to mention you can’t defend yourself against whatever is coming for you!” she finished looking defeated. 

“Defend... you are right, Twilight,” John agreed, running a hand through his hair. “Yes, even the guards might miss something.”

“Not when we are getting ten of Princess Luna’s own Lunar Guards tonight,” came Patch’s voice from a corner who had simply watched up until that point. “No more midnight runs for you, you hear?” she said with a commanding tone.

“So does that mean I can’t go out?” John asked.

“I wish you wouldn’t, at least not alone,” Twilight relayed hopeful.

“Sigh… Well, I guess that I have to do that after all, eh, Rarity?” he said, turning his head towards the mare who simply nodded.

“Do what you must,” she replied simply.

“Right,” he got on his feet, and walked towards Rainbow Dash, getting looks of confusion from all

“What? Is there something on my face?” Dash asked, watching as John kneeled in front of her.

“Slobber, yeah,” John replied playfully, causing Rainbow Dash, to quickly clean it off. “But that’s not why I’m talking to you.”

“Um... then why? Are you going to declare your love for me?” she said, chuckling loudly, making John roll his eyes.

“No, but, I have a request,” he continued.

“Um, sure?” she agreed confused.

“John, what are you doing?” Twilight asked.

“Don't worry, Twilight,” Rarity said comfortingly. “Let him do what he must.”

“Alright…” she hesitantly agreed, watching John and Rainbow.

“Rainbow, I heard that you were awesome, and well, that you are a black belt in karate,” he explains.

“I am both those things, but were are you going with this?” Rainbow asked carefully.

“I was wondering if you could take me on as your student.  Please?” he asked, and at that moment, most of the ponies mouths including Rainbow’s opened wide.

Followed by the obvious question from everypony else.

“WHAT!?”



**********



Meanwhile, in a far part of Equestria…

A mare trudged through the desert, breathing heavily as she regretted being on her current trip. But she dared not give up, as her prize awaited her at the end, and she was close. Too close to give up.

“Soon…” she said weakly, only tiring herself out more. “Soon you will pay, Twilight Sparkle,” she said, as she noticed a city coming to view. “Yes... YES,” she laughed maniacally, her resolve now completely recovered. Her journey was almost complete.
> On Our Own.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Careful… careful… Keep the magic going steady… carefully!”

“Yes, I am being careful, darling!”

“P-please, don’t drop them! Oh my goodness, watch out!”

“I know, Fluttershy, no need to worry dear! Please!”

“Be careful not to overdo it, Rarity!”

Rarity groaned as she felt the pressure from both mares standing by her side. “I don’t mean to be rude to either of you, but why are you making me feel bad for paint balls!” she shouted, lowering the airborne blobs of paint to the ground, careful to avoid getting any on Fluttershy’s fence.

“It’s part of the exercise,” John said, joining their conversation. “It helps to show what the risks are,” he took a sip from a drink in his hand and walked over to the stationary balls. “Look,“ he said, demonstrating by throwing one of them into the air, allowing it to fall unceremoniously and pop in to a mess right next to Fluttershy. “Whoops! Sorry!”

“Aah…” Fluttershy whimpered, staring intently at the paint smeared on the floor before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and passed out.

“Huh, maybe I shouldn’t have used the red paint as an example,” John noted. Rarity and Twilight wasted no time to turn to give him a venomous stare, causing him to back away slowly. “Point taken, I’ll be quiet!”

…

“Sorry, I-I was probably getting too worried, wasn’t I?” Fluttershy sighed after being woken up and apologized to.

“It’s okay, Fluttershy, it wasn’t your fault. You know, if you don‘t want to we can do something else, we just want to make sure you are better. If this isn‘t helping just say the word!”  Twilight suggested, softly stroking her mane to ease her nerves.

“No, it’s okay. I am much better, thank you,” she replied shyly. “A month indoors was long enough; the animals needed me,” she said with a smile, nuzzling a bunny who approached her. “Honestly, I just couldn’t stay away from my friends.”

“After what you witnessed back in the forest, you are very brave,” Rarity praised. “But I’m glad you are back! Just staying inside is bad for you—you need the outdoors! Breathe some fresh air!”

“That‘s the spirit, sis! So you are ready, right?” came a shout from their right, causing the four of them to turn to find Sweetie Belle and the rest of the Crusaders standing right next to them.

“How long have you been there?” John asked confused.

“Around a minute,” replied Lemon.

“Woah, you guys ninjas or something?” John joked.

“No… But that can be our next venture!” Apple Bloom said happily.

"Please don't give them ideas, John," Rarity sighed.

“Guys! There is no time for crusading! My sister is getting ready!” Sweetie interrupted excitedly.

“Oh Sweetie, of course! … uh, ready for what?” Rarity asked confused.

“Camping!” the four kids shouted loudly, making the older four flinch in response..

“Oh my… that is certainly much louder than usual,” Fluttershy said, raising her ears that had pressed against her head.

“Sure is! It helps that Lemon has a girl’s voice!” Scootaloo joked, poking Lemon who stood besides her.

“I do not!” Lemon responded with a cracking voice, embarrassed, he covered his own mouth as the other fillies laughed. “Shut up!”

“Ahem,” Rarity cleared her throat, getting their attention. “Let’s rewind a bit, please; what do you mean by ‘camping’, Sweetie?” she asked, returning to the topic.

“What? Don’t you remember?”

“O—Of course I do! But, a little reminder wouldn’t hurt,” she replied, looking to the side with a noticeable blush on her cheeks.

Sweetie rolled her eyes, catching her obvious lie. “You promised you would come to the Winsome Falls camping trip! And the trip is in an hour!” Sweetie Belle shouted. 

Rarity gulped. “Oh no, I’m so sorry, Sweetie Belle! It must have slipped my mind! I’ve just been so caught up in practicing with Twilight for the entertainment for the Saddle Arabia delegates. Not to mention I’m head of the planning committee for their reception… I mean, you can’t go on your own and, oh my… Can’t the trip be postponed?”

“No!” Scootaloo replied instead.

“And why not, Scootaloo?” Rarity asked confused.

“What Scootaloo means is that AJ moved the day already,” Lemon cut in. “Ms. Dash wanted to celebrate being out of her cast, and Ms. Applejack moved the trip a few weeks as a result!”

“Yep!” Apple Bloom agreed. “It helps that we have those nice bat ponies helping around the farm!” she added cheerfully.

Sweetie stomped forwards, moving in front of Apple Bloom. “Besides, can’t Twilight just take over? She can use magic too!” she pouted.

Both Twilight and Rarity frowned at her question, mumbling to each other in search for an answer.

“Well, you see, Sweetie,” Twilight began. “I…:”

“Twilight is feeling a bit sick!” John jumped in the middle of the pair of unicorns, placing his arms around them. “And Rarity, being the friend she is, decided to give her a hoof.”

“Indeed…” Rarity groaned, pushing John’s arm away with her magic. “No touching.”

“Oh, come on, it’s just my hand!” John laughed, proceeding to poke Rarity‘s mane repeatedly. 

“Stop that, or else,” Rarity warned

“Bleh,” John replied, sticking out his tongue mockingly. 

“Y-you…“ Rarity’s eye twitched, not giving John much confidence. And before anyone could react a ball of paint landed on him, covering every visible inch of his body in purple.

“Aaah!” John barely managed to shout as the paint dripped over his face. “Come on!”

“Well, look, now you and Twilight could be fraternal twins,” Rarity joked.

“Bite me…”

“So, no trip then…” Sweetie pouted, her ears, as well as the others flattening in disappointment.

“Well…” Twilight began. “I know I don’t have any authority to do this, but how about I come with, Sweetie?” she suggested.

“Really!?” Sweetie asked excited.

“Twilight!” Rarity gasped, turning away from the still complaining John. “Are you sure of this? And what about me? I can’t do this without you!”

“I’m sure. I may be, er, ‘magically sick‘, but I‘m not an invalid,” she laughed. “And honestly Rarity, give yourself more credit; you’ve gotten better! I know you can train on your own for a day or two,” Twilight replied proudly, placing a hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “At least we know you mastered levitating paint, isn’t that right, John?”

“Shut up…” John groaned.

“I believe you,“ Rarity replied nervously. “Thank you, Twilight. For more than one thing, I must admit,“ Rarity said before turning to Sweetie. “Would this arrangement be acceptable, Sweetie?”

“Sure! Well, I guess. It just stinks you won’t be able to come,” Sweetie said sadly, rushing to hug Rarity.

“It’s alright, I'm sure we can camp out by the boutique when you return! It would be our own camping trip—and not to mention a less dirt-filled experience—would that do?” Rarity bargained.

“Deal!” Sweetie accepted, happily nuzzling Rarity.

“Then I suppose I better go prepare,” Twilight said with finality. “John, can you please take care of Spike while I’m gone?

“You… Ugh… Got it… I think some fell in my mouth bleh,“ John whined, spitting to the side.

“Thank you. I’m going to take a quick trip to the library to tell him. Oh! And I’m sure that this goes without saying, but go back before dark!” Twilight warned him.

“Yeah, okay mom,” he groaned. 

“Good. Well, Fluttershy, seems we won’t be practicing on your animals today,” Twilight said regrettably.

“Oh, yeah, a shame…” Fluttershy said in a low voice.

“I’ll see you girls in a few days, then,” Twilight said, waving Fluttershy goodbye. "And tell Pinkie before she thinks I went missing!" she shouted as she ran off.

“Yes, have fun!” Fluttershy replied, waving back.

“I should be going too,” Rarity added as well. “Have to make sure Sweetie Belle has all of the essentials! And after that I need to go fix City Hall! The place is a mess.” 

:”Oh, that’s fine! Goodbye!” Fluttershy waved once again, watching as the group left, leaving her only with a dripping John by her side “What about you, John?” she asked.

“Me? I’m doing fine, I’m just wondering why NO ONE said anything about Rarity’s little stunt!” he growled.

“S—Sorry!” Fluttershy quickly apologized, flinching at John’s tone.

“It‘s not your fault,” John quickly jumped in, noticing her eyes tremble in panic. “Look, I‘m just curious is all!” he lied.

“Well, Rarity is a pony who takes her image very seriously… I mean, there was a time a bird dropped a stick on her mane; I didn’t know birds could cry like that…” she said nervously.

“Point taken,” John admitted.

They remained quiet for a long while, standing in place in the same spot without attempting to say anything to each other, finally, finding it uncomfortable enough, Fluttershy spoke up. “What will you do now?” 

“Well, in all honesty, I don‘t really have anything to do. Diamond Tiara is out on vacation with her parents, and Rarity is busy with decorations, so no work from her either,” he groaned. “I do need a shower right now, though,” he sighed, dramatically looking up to the sky.

“You can take one in my home, oh! And then we can have some tea!” Fluttershy suggested..

“Tea?” John asked, turning to look at Fluttershy’s cottage. “Huh… I’ve never been inside,” he thought curious “Depends. Do I get the shower first?”

Fluttershy simply tilted her head, raising a brow seemingly confused.

“Joking.”

“Yes, of course! Well, it’s wonderful! It’ll be simply delightful! I‘ll run you the bath!” she cheered silently, trotting to her home with John following right behind.


~~~~~


Twilight arrived home gasping heavily in need of oxygen.

“Running… Stinks… I need to start exercising again,” she realized as she opened the door and headed inside, finding a strange sight in front of her; Spike laying back on top of the Unicorn Recon, who seemed in the process of reading a book placed upon Twilight’s reading stand.

“So, what you are saying is that you are connected to Her Majesty just by the message flame alone? That’s pretty cool! I can do something like that as well.” Recon said excitedly. 

“Yeah, I am pretty cool…” Spike replied half-listening, humming to himself in the praise the Unicorn was giving him.

“Ahem!” Twilight cleared her throat, making Recon close his book in a rush, his sudden movement causing Spike to fall off.

“Hey, what’s the big ide—Twilight!” Spike yelped, finally noticing her. “You are early today…”

“What are you two doing?” she asked curious. “And what’s this?” she wondered, looking at the book on the table. “How to impress a mare in three easy s— Seriously?”

“It’s not what it looks like!” Recon attempted to explain. "It's for a friend!"

“Nah, totally what it looks like,” Spike laughed, receiving a glare from Recon in return.

“Not that I don’t appreciate ponies who enjoy reading—even if the material isn’t the most reputable—shouldn’t you be out patrolling?” she asked.

“Well, I’m supposed to make rounds around here for like fifteen minutes every hour on the dot, but I was thirsty, so I came in for a glass of water. I saw the books and I just… I don’t even know how long I’ve been here,” he noted with a gulp.

“One hour, seven minutes, thirty-three seconds,”  the hard edged voice of Captain Patch announced, coming in through the front door. “But who is keeping count?”

“Captain!” Recon gulped. “Hi!”

“Save it! Just get back to work! I’ll deal with you later,” she ordered, and with a flash of blue light, Recon was gone. “I swear, we only keep that stallion because of his magic,” she sighed.

“How did you know he was here?” Spike asked.

“I saw him come in before I went to check on your boss and her student; wasn’t too hard to guess from that,” she explained. “So, are you ready to go, Sparkle?”

“Wait, what? What’s going on? Where are you guys going?” Spike asked.

“I am going on a camping trip, and Ms. Patch here wasn’t invited. She also wasn‘t supposed to be spying on us,” Twilight explained through gritted teeth. 

“Please. It‘s my job, and you know it,” Patch explained with a dismissive tone.

“What? I wanna go,” Spike groaned.

“Sorry, it was kind of a last minute decision. What if I bring you a treat?” Twilight bargained, her mind placed in conflict avoidance.

“Ruby?” Spike asked.

“Ruby.”

“Deal!”

“Good. Now,” Twilight said, turning to Patch. “Time to go. Without you.”

“Oh, please,” she sneered.

“Besides, you have to stay here and keep watch on John,” Twilight continued, ignoring her tone.

“He is with Fluttershy, she can keep him safe, and I already told Guard to keep an eye out for him just in case. Those two are actually reliable,” she explained, reaching for a saddlebag to the side of the door. “And you said that having spare saddlebags with all bare necessities would be a waste of space,” she mocked.

“Isn‘t it your job to take care of John?” Twilight asked annoyed.

“My tasks involve not only protecting him, but you, Sparkle,” she explained. “Besides. I haven’t been on a camping trip since I was a filly, and I’ll get to meet the infamous CMC to boot,” she patted Twilight’s back and pointed to the door. “Come on lady, time waits for nopony.”

“… You are doing this to spite me, aren’t you?”

“Sparkle, I am the Captain of the Royal Guard! I am not just some vague young pony,” Patch laughed. “Come on, let‘s move out,” she said, heading outside.

“She is doing this to spite you, isn’t she?” Spike asked, giving Twilight a glance.

“Definitively,” Twilight sighed. “But I really have to go, so you are in charge until I come back tomorrow. Take care, and be careful,” she finished, hugging the dragon, and grabbing one of the saddlebags set aside before miserably following after Patch.

Spike leisurely headed for the door, calling after her. “Oh, come on, Twilight! It’s just a couple of days—what can go wrong?”


~~~~~


“Ponyville. A sorry excuse of a town, a backwater living space with absolutely nothing of value in it, and yet, here I am, searching for one of its lowest inhabitants.”

“Um, ma’am? Can I help you?” asked a confused Time Turner, staring at the talkative cloaked pony standing in the middle of the road. “You’ve been standing there for a while now, are you feeling okay?”

“Silence!” the mare shouted, removing the cloak that covered her.

“Y-you!” Time Turner gasped.

She pushed her white mane aside, revealing a momentary red glow from her eyes, as well as an odd necklace placed around her neck. “Ah, one of my fans remembers The Great, and Powerful Trixie!” she shouted, awaiting for an applause. Instead, she received angry looks from all ponies around. “Pst, tough crowd.”

“What do you want, you hack?” Turner asked annoyed, realizing whom he spoke with.

“Excuse me, what did you just call me?” Trixie asked,  approaching Turner who suddenly froze in place. Unable to move a step, he turned to notice a red glow surrounding his entire body.

“W-what? Why can’t I move? What’s going on?” he asked as he panicked, his worry growing as Trixie stepped closer. 

“Nopony, and I mean NOPONY, calls Trixie a hack. Understand, you sad excuse of a stallion?” she growled as Turner’s body floated upwards.

“Yes! I get it! Please, let me go!” he cried out, as other ponies around them began backing up, realizing what was happening.

“Oh, Trixie will… when you answer her question,” she explained, lowering Turner closer to the ground.

“Y-yes! Anything!” he agreed, nodding his head rapidly before suddenly being turned upside down, his face planted in front of Trixies.

“Where can I find Twilight Sparkle?”


~~~~~


John sat on a couch, his hand occupying a tea cup which he occasionally drank from, comfortably wearing a fluffy white robe, patiently waiting for Fluttershy who stood outside, hanging his wet clothes. He sighed, looking through the window at his drying pants, remembering his panic over possibly having gotten paint on his notebook.

“Geez… if I hadn’t decided to not bring it, I would have literally killed Rarity… Maybe I should make a copy of it just in case,” John thought out loud.

“Sorry for the delay!” Fluttershy called from the door. “Your clothes are clean, so hopefully the sun can dry them quickly,” she explained as she sat down on the couch besides his. “Are you enjoying your tea?”

“Yes, I am,” John replied, looking at the drink in his cup. “So… nice place you have here,” he began, awkwardly starting a conversation.

“Oh, thank you!” she replied, serving herself a cup of her own.

“Yeah, though it does smell a bit weird, though…” he said in a low voice.

“Hmm?” Fluttershy replied.

“I said this is a nice robe! How did you get it?” John said instead. “I get the feeling she would cry if I were to say her house smells like… well, literal crap.”

“I made it when you were in the shower…” she answered, turning her gaze from him.

John nearly spit out his tea as he turned to gaze at Fluttershy with wonder. “Get out of here! Seriously? So fast?” he asked in wonder.

“You were in there over an hour, actually,” she explained.

“Needed to make sure paint was off," he quickly explained. "Still, how?”

“Well, that robe was actually made of three of my own… I did some things, and it was done! It’s a little rough since I based it off your clothes, but it does the job... Right?”

John held a breath. “Oh, it totally does,” he laughed. “I’m surprised, it fits nicely and everything. How did you do it?”

“When you are friends with Rarity, you pick up some things… A—Anyway! I’d forgotten you were taking self-defense classes with Rainbow Dash, how is that going? If you don’t mind the question,” she asked, changing the topic entirely.

“Um, I well…” John attempted to respond, his mind stuck at the jarring change of topics as it suddenly went back to the first few days with Rainbow Dash. “God, I almost forgot about that… Well, let’s just say that Rainbow Dash needs to remember to start with the basics rather than with advanced moves is all I’m saying,” he said, attempting to avoid a throughout explanation.

“It couldn’t have been that bad, could it?” she asked.

“She almost broke my arm! And that was when she wasn’t allowed to use too much force because of her wing. I’m pretty sure that’s why she didn‘t heal as fast as she should have, so, I cancelled the practices until then. Honestly, I fear for my life at this point,” he explained. “A fully healed Dash is waiting for me after that trip of hers…”

“She is just trying to make you do your best, is all,” Fluttershy defended her friend.

“Fluttershy. Are you ma-, er, maaan! This is good tea, may I have some more?” he cut off, giving Fluttershy a fake smile.

“Oh, of course! Would you mind waiting a bit, though, I need to make more,” she replied, grabbing the cup from his hand.

“Take ALL the time you need,” he responded, watching as she headed to the next room, and sighing in relief once she was gone. “Almost said things I would have regretted; maaaybe I shouldn’t make coming over a thing.”

“Woah, Angel, don’t!” John managed to hear Fluttershy cry out, accompanied by the sound of falling utensils.

“Fluttershy?” he called, confused over the new name. "You okay there?"

*knock, knock*

“I’m okay! Can you get the door, pleas— oh dear, don’t touch that! I‘ll make you lunch after tea is done!”

“Sure…” John replied slowly, getting on his feet and sighing as he stared at the floor. “Great. Wooden flooring with bare feet… I should have brought more than two pairs of shoes,” he sighed, recalling the one pair that had somehow disintegrated in the Crystal Empire. “Sombra, you owe me a pair of shoes your jerk, oh wait, you can‘t give them to me! You are dead!” he sighed, shivering over the memory of the day. “Ugh, why am I remembering that now?”

With some struggle, he reached the door and opened it, finding a familiar pony in front of him.

“Package for Ms. Flutter—John!?” 

“Well, well, hey there stranger,” John said with a smile, greeting the mail mare Ditzy standing in front of him.

“What are you wear-” she cut herself off, shaking her head. “I mean, is Fluttershy home?”

“She is"—he looked over to the kitchen, hearing the stirring of numerous metal objects—“occupied. I’ll sign for whatever she gets, though. Is that fine?”

“S-sure…” Ditzy replied, getting a clipboard from her saddle and inattentively giving it to John.

“So, how have you been? Haven’t seen you in a while,” John said as he signed.

“G-good… Sign here too, please!” Ditzy continued awkwardly, just as the sound of pants reached her ears, and a tired looking Fluttershy appeared.

“I’m here! I’m so sorry for the delay!” she apologized, breathing heavily, and pushing back her tangled mane.

“Ah…” Ditzy mumbled, her left eye twitching. “Aaaaaaaaa-…”

…

“Hey Harvest, I’m home!” Ditzy said, tossing her mailbag to the side before mimicking it and tossing herself on the couch.

“I heard that! Ditzy, get your flank off that couch, I just fixed it.”

“But it’s coooomfy!” she complained, rolling around on the couch in an attempt to spite her friend. “Oh!” she stopped, something returning to her mind. “Hey, Harvest?”

“Whatever you want to ask, it better be right beside me, and NOT from the living room on that couch,” she replied, receiving a groan from Ditzy in response.

“Fine,” Ditzy agreed, moving to the kitchen.

“Alright, what’s on your mind?” Harvest asked as she carefully stirred the contents of the pot, as to avoid to dirty the clean apron she was wearing.

“Well, remember when you told me not to pursue him, while he wasn’t ready?” she asked tentatively.

“Ditzy…” Harvest said with disapproval in her voice.

“I know! But look, I mean, I keep seeing him working at this one place with a certain mare,” she explained.

“What’s wrong with that? You should be happy. At least we are sure he isn’t just a bum, right?” Harvest replied with a laugh.

“Golden!” Ditzy whined.

“I’m kidding! Geez! Look, just keep in mind he is only working,” she reasoned, not bothering to turn to meet her friend. “I wouldn’t worry too much.”

“I guess…”

“Who is he working with anyways?” she asked curiously.

“Well, he is working with Ms. Rarity at Caro—” *clank* Ditzy stopped as Harvest dropped the spoon that had until that moment been in her hoof. “Um, Golden?”

“Ditzy…” Harvest stated, turning to meet her with a wide-eyed stare.

“W-What?”

“You have to tell him how you feel, or Rarity will take him from you!” she said loudly, holding Ditzy’s shoulders with panic.

“W-what!? But you just said—”

“Forget what I said! This is different! I mean, this is Rarity we are talking about! Just look at her! She could grab anypony she wanted in a flash!”

“Aren’t you exaggerating a bit?” Ditzy replied, wary of what the response might be.

“Ditzy! Just imagine it!" Harvest whispered softly, clearing her throat. "What if for some reason you are to deliver a package to the place, and the one who opens the door is not Rarity, but the human! As you ask yourself what’s going on, you see something odd! He is wearing a robe, covering his hairless body, add then you ask; where is Ms. Rarity? At which point, he replies with something like 'she is currently occupied', and before you know it…”

“What?” Ditzy asked, biting her hooves as she trembled.

“She would appear out of nowhere! But you would notice! She will look tired, and her mane will be a mess! Why?"

"W—Why?"

"Because just before your arrival, they had taken part in dirty, unadulterated lovem-”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-”

“Post office to mail mare! Respond!” John called, snapping his fingers in front of Ditzy.

“Um, what? What just happened?” Ditzy asked, looking around in panic, temporarily confused of her surroundings.

“Oh dear, are you alright? You just stood there, simply, well, just mumbling,” Fluttershy explained, looking at Ditzy with worry.

“Well, um,” Ditzy began, attempting to explain. “I remembered some bad memory! Like, really bad! And it got to me! We all have those moments, right? Ahaha…” she explained, getting odd looks from John.

“Would you like to come in? You seem a little on edge. I just made some tea, maybe it will help you relax,” Fluttershy suggested, putting a wing over Ditzy and ushering her inside. “Can you grab her stuff and close the door for me, John?”

“Um, sure,” he replied, doing as he was told. “She sure can take charge when it counts huh?” he noted as he moved to close the door, but was suddenly moved aside as the door opened wide, pushing him to the ground. “Ah, what the hell!?”

“John!” called the unannounced pony standing by the entrance, closing the door behind him and locking it. “Thank Her Majesty you are still here!” the unmistakable figure of Guard said, looking at the three inside.

“Guard? What the hell are you doing here?” John asked annoyed, holding his aching shoulder. “Fuck!”

“John, language!” Fluttershy reprimanded him.

“Well excuuuuse me, but that really hurt!” he snarled in return.

“We don’t have time for this!” Guard interrupted. “We have a problem.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Ditzy, who seemed to have gathered herself.

“Spit it out, then!” John nearly shouted, losing his patience. “Geez, what got up your ass?”

Guard seemed to take his words and nodded. He brushed his pink mane aside and sighed. “I’ll get to the point; there is an unicorn by the name of Trixie, she arrived in Ponyville around forty-five minutes ago, and she is wreaking havoc in town.”

“Trixie!?” both Fluttershy and Ditzy said out loud.

“Yes. Being inhabitants of Ponyville you would know of her,” Guard noted. “She used to be an entertainer of sorts a few years ago; she came to Ponyville where she had her last act before losing credibility due to the Ursa Minor incident,” he explained to John.

“I remember,” John said in understanding. “Twilight told me of that, but that was her? It’s kind of sad.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked.

“I mean, from what Twi told me, she was doing this show of hers for free. She was a show-off, sure, but everyone else wasn’t making a better point by attempting to outdo her, right?”

The three ponies stared at him in silence, Fluttershy holding a specially thoughtful look on her own.

“In any case,” Guard continued as if uninterrupted. “She did some odd jobs, the last of which was her attempting work on ‘Igneous and Quartz Rock Farm’ for a couple of weeks before quitting.”

“She was lucky she lasted that long!” came a very high pitched voice from a flower pot to the side, it stirred for a few seconds before none other than Pinkie Pie slowly rose from its depths. “Hi guys!”

The others looked at her with wide eyes, waving her hi right back.

“Er, right…” Guard said momentarily taken aback by her sudden appearance. “To get to the point, she went missing a couple months ago until her return today to attempt to. well, from what she said, look for Twilight Sparkle. 

“Well, she isn‘t here, so what exactly is the problem?” John asked confused.

“The problem is that when we tried to detain her for questioning, she caught Recon.”

“You mean the lazy guy who couldn’t guard me?” John half-laughed. “Why am I not surprised?”

“And,” Guard continued with a hoof raised. “She caught each of the Lunar Guards stationed here with her magic. After seeing that, I knew I had no chance and escaped, well, not before hurting myself on my attempt,” he explained, attempting to open one of his folded wings.

“Oh my, are you okay?” Fluttershy quickly asked, reaching him with a small first-aid kit.

“I’ll live for sure, but I’m not flying anywhere for a while,” he explained.

“Where is Trixie now?” Ditzy asked as Fluttershy placed bandages over Guard’s damaged wing.

“If I heard her words correctly, she should be heading to Town Hall, possibly to gather attention to get Ms. Sparkle out in the open,” Guard guessed. “Ah, that feels better. Thank you, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy and the rest remained silent as they took into account the information that Guard had relayed to them. Pinkie Pie herself looked just as worried as the rest who didn’t say a single word, unable to understand what it would mean.

Ditzy shook her head, having since recovered from her early shock. “I still don’t understand. All she could do was some cheap tricks before!” she remembered. “How did she really capture three bat ponies!?”

“I don‘t have the answer to that, but that‘s the situation,“ Guard admitted. “What I have to do now is to gather John and the rest of the Elements for protection; we know that three of them are currently on a trip with the Captain, so they will be safe—for the moment, at least. We only need to find Ms. Rarity.”

Pinkie stared at Guard with a look of disapproval, fuming silently. “That’s not fair! Twilight didn’t do anything for Trixie to be so mean over!” she complained. “Trixie has no proof of any wrongdoing! Don’t worry guys, I’ll be her lawyer!” she shouted, donning a blue suit out of nowhere.

“Guys?” John began from the side, looking nervous. “Guard, you said Trixie is going to Town Hall, right?”

“Why? Is something wrong, John?” Ditzy wondered.

“Rarity is there right now,” he said, receiving collective gasps from the rest.

Guard sighed, shaking his head. “Alright. We are leaving.”

“L—L—Leave!?” Fluttershy exclaimed in a panic. “We can’t! What about the animals? Trixie will hurt them!”

“She won’t,” Guard said matter-of-factly. “She is after Ms. Sparkle, and we need to go somewhere else before she finds us here. We don’t know what she might do to her friends in her attempts to find her.”

“And where are we going?” John asked.

“The only place with the only other being capable of sending a message to Her Majesty. Let’s go.”




~~~~~




“No, this can’t be! It doesn’t fit!” Rarity mumbled to herself as she placed a ribbon over a door, she alternated between numerous of them as she made her decision. Behind her, Mayor Mare watched over her work, whimpering slightly with each change—something that Rarity herself could hear quite well.

“Aaa…” the Mayor mumbled as Rarity placed an especially big red ribbon over a bigger white ribbon over the main front doors.

“Mayor!” Rarity acknowledged her with an exaggerated tone. “I have everything under control! Please, just make sure that preparations on everything else are spot on, and I give you my  word that this will be my best work by  far. Please?” she pleaded, hoping the Mayor would catch the hint.

“I suppose I am being a little imposing,  but it’s just that this is the first time we will have such important international figures in our town! Not to mention Her Majesty will be here as well!” the Mayor said nervously, gulping along every fourth word.

“And as someone who has met the Princess and one who is acquainted with decorating—not to mention  a member of the ‘Interior Decorators Society‘—I assure you that I will not disappoint, but I do need some space if you wouldn’t mind,” Rarity said as tactfully as she could muster.

“I… Yes, you are right, Rarity,” Mayor Mare cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “Very well. It’s not helping that you are doing this for free and I’m just bothering you, so I will make my leave. Thank you."

“It is no problem, I understand your concerns! You can count on me!” Rarity said, waving the Mayor goodbye until she’d left and closed the door on her way out. “Oh, thank Celestia, I finally have some peace!"

Rarity let out a confident smile, her horn lighting up, and the numerous items on the floor wriggled slightly before rapidly floating upwards. They remained still for a few moments before being moved in a more organized fashion and being set in neat files.

“Now, I suppose it’s time to put Twilight’s magic training to good use! Let‘s see how long I can keep this up!” as she said this in a pompous tone, her horn released streams of magic, and the decorations in the air moved swiftly around, being placed in specific spots on the walls momentarily before quickly being taken off and replaced by a different one. Rarity continued this with a never wavering smile, until finally, she satisfactorily stared at her finished piece of work, panting heavily. “Oh dear…  I may have overdone it a li—aaah!” she cried out, falling to her side. “I take it back: I definitively overdid it.”

Suddenly, the leftover decorations fell to the ground, suddenly free of their magic grip.

“… Well, thankfully I wasn’t levitating animals this time,” she laughed.

“Everypony, can I get your attention, please?” came the voice of Mayor Mare outside the Hall, rousing Rarity from her semi-unconscious state.

“I wonder what’s happening?” she asked herself, shakily getting on her hooves and stretching. “Note to self: bring couch next time… The floor is far too dirty to pass out on it.”

“Excellent!” came the sound of another voice, stopping Rarity on her tracks.

“Wait, that wasn’t the Mayor… In fact, that voice sounded horrendously familiar,” she headed to the nearest window and peeked over, her eyes widening is shock when noticing the pony on the other side.

“Thank you, Mayor, Trixie will take it from here,” Trixie walked back and forth, watching the gathering crowd with intent in her eyes. and finally speaking when she had deemed it big enough. “Trixie will make this easy for you all: where are you hiding Twilight Sparkle!"

“Don’t say anything!” the voice of  Spike said.

“You be quiet! In fact, you three can get out of my sight for the time being,” Trixie groaned, her horn glowing red. The sudden event afterwards made Rarity fall back in surprise, as a red tinted bubble busted through the doors to her side before slamming shut. 

“That was rather sudden…” Rarity said slowly, breathing heavily at the sudden scare. Her eyes widened as her panic turned to confusion. “Spike?” she whispered, approaching the bubble slowly. “Is that you?”

“Don’t get close!” the unicorn besides Spike warned. “It automatically traps anything that tries to get into contact!” he looked at her for a couple of seconds before registering the pony in front of him. “Is that you, Ms. Rarity? It’s me, Recon!”

“Recon?" she wondered.  "Oh! Of course, one of those ponies. What’s going on?” she asked confused. “What’s Trixie doing here?”

“One of ‘those‘? I don’t think I like your ton-”

“Basically,” Spike interrupted. “Trixie seems to want revenge on Twi, and she captured me when she made her way to the library and I tried to relay a message to the Princess,” he said with a frown.

“What about him?" she asked, pointing to the brown stallion in the fetal position. "Isn’t that Time Turner? The poor dear is trembling! What happened to him?” 

“No idea, but he seems to be a little out of it at the moment,” Recon explained.

“We need to get you out!” she exclaimed, her horn shining as she prepared a spell.

“No! You have to escape, or el-”

“Be quiet in there!” Trixie’s shout reached them, the bubble suddenly splitting into three separate bubbles and sending them to different spots on the ceiling. “That should do it.”

“Ms, please, run!” Recon hissed once again.

Rarity eyed the back door, Recon’s idea becoming more appealing to her as the seconds passed. In her mind it was a better idea to get the rest and pool together while Twilight returned, as she was the one with a plan for the case at hoof. She always had a plan.

“I’ll ask again. Where. Is. She!?” Trixie growled outside, bringing Rarity back to the situation.

“I don’t know!” a pony replied with a sniff, whimpering between each word.

“Sad!” Trixie’s  words were soon followed by silence, before suddenly, the sound of an explosion reached Rarity‘s ears, making her jump on the spot,and she trembled, unbelieving of what might have happened.

“She wouldn’t…” the thought ran through her head. “She is a jerk, but she would neve—"

“My cabbages!”

“Oh, thank goodness,” she sighed. “But…“ she mumbled, biting her lip, eyeing the window intently.

“Ms. Rarity!” hissed Recon again, giving her a glare. “Pleeease!”

“I—I‘m sorry, I cannot hear you, you are simply too far away!” Rarity lied with a sigh, running towards the window again and watching the event continue outside.

“Now, I will ask again. Where. Is. Twilight. Sparkle!?” Trixie shouted, her voice making the ponies shrink in fear.

“B-but we already told you that we don’t know,” one beige colored mare replied timidly.

“Well, isn’t that unfortunate,” Trixie said in mock pity. “It seems that she will have to do this the hard way,” her horn lit up, a small stream of magic began charging up and grew as the seconds passed. With a grunt, she tossed her head down, and then upwards, ‘throwing’ the ball of magic into the air.

Rarity ran upstairs, watching the magic go higher and higher through windows, until finally, it reached a high enough point and exploded, surrounding the far edges of Ponyville with a mantle of glowing magic. As it reached the border of the town, it suddenly changed colors, before a sudden loud ‘thud‘ echoed in the distance.

“She created a barrier around Ponyville…” Rarity quickly realized. She ran downstairs, and stared back outside, watching as the ponies gazed up at the barrier now over them with horrified looks.

“Rarity? What’s happening?” Spike asked, watching as Rarity seemed to shake in place. “Rarit—”

“I will NOT let this stand!” Rarity growled, stomping her hoof. “I am going to show that mare a lesson!”

“No!” Recon shouted, growing increasingly scared by the second. "What would the captain do…” he mumbled to himself. “Ah! Miss! Don’t do it! Think of your friends! What if something happened to you!? Who will make really fancy clothes for them!”

Rarity looked back at Recon with a flat stare, shaking her head once before moving to the door. He turned to meet Spike who also gave him a similar shake. 

“Geez, I suck at this,” Recon groaned in defeat.

“Well, I t-thought it was kinda funny…” Time Turner commented from the side.

“Why, thank you! Glad someone can at least appreciate it,” he replied sincerely.

“Not helping my confidence here!“ Rarity whispered bitterly, picking up the exchange of words from the pair as she took a deep breath before putting both hooves on the closed doors, and pulling them open.


~~~~~


“Um, Guard?” John called the pony in front of him, who remained ever vigilant as him as the rest of the group hid. “I don’t know if you noticed, but there is this blue thing over us, and it reminds me of a certain something.”

“I know,” Guard replied. “But let’s focus on our current objective first.”

“You mean the one we completed just five minutes ago?” John replied, pointing at the library only a few steps away. “Why can’t we go in again? Come on! I am wearing a robe on the street!”

“We don’t know if Trixie left any sort of traps. We must be cautious,” he whispered angrily, keeping his eyes on the library without even bothering to blink.

“It’s empty!” Ditzy said from the side, scaring the group out of the bush they resided on.

Guard stared, shaking his head. “Ma’am, do not go off without my permission! You could have been hurt!” he nearly shouted, managing to keep his voice low enough. “But thanks, I appreciate that, Ms…”

“Derpy! But no time for pleasantries!” she replied.

“Agreed. I’ll check the building just in case, so stay here until I give you the go-ahead,” he explained.

“Oh, I’ll come with!” Pinkie said excitedly, rushing inside.

“Oh for the love of…” Guard sighed. “Fluttershy, would you please come with me and watch for Pinkie so she doesn’t get into any trouble?”

“O—Of course!” Fluttershy agreed.

“Ms. Derpy, stay here and watch John,” he ordered quickly before walking into the house with Fluttershy following right behind, leaving both John and Ditzy on their own.

“So… 'Derpy'?” John asked.

“Yes. It’s… complicated. Can you call me that in public from now on, please?” Ditzy replied, keeping her eyes ahead.

“Why? I’ve been calling you Dit—”

“John. Please, I don't want to argue,” she replied, giving him a serious look. “Just call me Derpy.”

“… Fine, Derpy,” he said forcibly. “…Can you at least tell me what was the deal with you when we you delivered the mail earlier?”

“This conversation is over!” she replied with a harsh tone, causing the pair to remain silent as they waited for the others.

“Alright, the place seems to be free of anything magical as far as I can tell…” Guard said upon his return.  “I never thought I’d say this, but I wish Recon were here to check,” he added miserably. “Well, let’s go inside.”

With Guard’s permission, John continued ahead with him as Ditzy stayed behind.

“… I‘m such an idiot!” she whispered to herself, face hoofing.  “Why did I do that!?” she sighed, miserably following the other two. 

John’s eyes widened in shock as they entered the tree house. “What the hell happened here!?” he shouted, noticing arrays of books on the floor with dozens of pages sprawled about, Fluttershy already hard at work fixing everything in the background.

Pinkie Pie suddenly popped out of a pile, looking around surprised. “It’s like a storm passed by!”

“A blue storm to be exact,” Ditzy corrected.

“Wait, what about Spike?” John asked nervously.

Guard turned to him and sighed. “Sorry. He wasn’t here. I can only conclude that he either escaped, or was captured by her,” he replied disappointed. “This also means we don’t have a way to send a message out, not that it matters with the barrier around us.”

“So basically, we are in deep shit,” John groaned.

“So it would seem.”

John shook his head, heading to the pile of books in the middle of the foyer.

“What are you doing, John?” Ditzy asked.

“You guys said that this Trixie was just a show-off, right?” John asked in return instead. “She wasn’t so powerful that she could create stuff like this,” he began, motioning towards the shield outside.

“Yes, she couldn’t beat the Ursa Minor, much less create a shield this big,” Fluttershy pointed out, receiving stares from the others. “A—Am I wrong?”

“You aren’t, I think,” John replied, grabbing a handful of books from the floor. “Don’t quote me on this, but I believe she must be using something to increase her power, and I have the feeling we may find something in these books. And Guard, do you remember if she had something on her? Surely you saw something,” he asked, turning to the stallion.

“Well, now that you mention it, I believe she was wearing some sort of necklace, I guess," Guard groaned. "Sorry I was having such a pleasant time while I was running for my life that I caught that,” he finished sarcastically.

John nodded. “That’s helpful enough. Come on,” he said, turning to the rest. “Gather all books about magical artifacts you can find—we are solving this mess ourselves.”


~~~~~


The doors burst wide open as Rarity revealed herself to the ponies outside, they all quickly turned to the sound of the noise, Trixie herself included. A smile adorned her face, and quickly evaporated when she noticed the pony.

“Huh…” Trixie mumbled, giving Rarity an amused stare.

“Whatever do you mean by ‘huh’?” Rarity replied, annoyed.

“Trixie was hoping that the one behind the doors was Twilight Sparkle,” she replied with a sigh.

“W—What? You knew somepony was inside?” Rarity exclaimed surprised.

“Trixie is neither deaf, or stupid; I could hear from outside. Don‘t get me started on the ponies that turned to face you numerous times whenever you turned to peek,” she explained, rolling her eyes.

"Um actually, I heard you too, Rarity,” Mayor Mare said from the side.

“Mayor, you are not helping,” Rarity muttered, pushing forward without turning to face her. “Forget about that. What do you think you are doing to these poor ponies?” she shouted.

“Well, such disappointment,” Trixie continued, ignoring her question. “Here I thought I would be going against that pesky Sparkle, but instead, she sends the second rate Unicorn.”

“EXCUSE ME!?” Rarity shouted, her mane splitting in spots. “I am NOT a second rate Unicorn! I am as much a Unicorn as Twilight is!”

Trixie revealed a tiny smirk, walking towards Rarity while keeping a pompous stare on her face, which she then pushed against Rarity‘s, receiving a glare in return. 

"Heh," Trixie chuckled amused. “Would you care to put your bits where your mouth is?”

Rarity flinched, looking momentarily confused. “I’m sorry, what?”

“You heard me! Would you care to prove your worth against the Great, and Powerful Trixie?” Trixie shouted with pride, smiling as she looked towards the sky.

“I…” Rarity mumbled looking conflicted. She turned to the ponies behind Trixie, noticing the confusion and panic they showed, they each gave her a pleading look, and her mind was made up. “I accept your challenge, Trixie! I can be both a lady, and a worthy adversary!

Trixie’s smile suddenly turned into a frown, looking disappointed. “Well, here I thought you wouldn’t agree,” she moved towards the stairs from the Town Hall, her horn beginning to glow red.

“What? But you are the one who challenged me!” Rarity said, growing impatient with her attitude.

“Yes, but Trixie was simply kidding, for you see, Rarity,” Trixie started. “You are waaay out of your league.”

“What do y—”

“Woah!” A pony behind Rarity shouted, she turned to face them, only to find an unlikely sight; ponies began being raised from the ground, in turn, dozens more began taking off, floating higher and higher, shouting and wailing in terror.

“What is going o—” Rarity attempted to ask, turning to meet Trixie only to find the blue showpony also floating, her horn shining brighter as the magic took hold. “But levitating so many ponies like this requires an immense amount of magic!” she stated terrified. “How…?”

“Oh, Trixie is just getting started,” Trixie replied coyly as the red light shined brighter.

Multiple cries of terror could be heard from the distance, as dozens of ponies began floating. Rarity managed to distinguish looks of confusion on their faces as they continued their ascent, unknowing of what was taking place.

“What do you think of Trixie now, amateur?” Trixie stated, while Rarity stared with wide eyes, trembling.


~~~~~


“Wheee! I’m flying!” Pinkie shouted joyfully.

“I am too, but I don’t wanna!” Ditzy shouted, kicking her legs and flattering her wings wildly in an attempt to gain balance in her body.

“What’s going on!?” John shouted. “I don’t wanna float!” 

“Everyone, stay calm! This must be Trixie using her magic!” Guard guessed, attempting to calm down the others as he attempted to steady himself.

“Oh no! S—She is stronger than we thought!” Fluttershy stated as she aimlessly rolled in the air, just as confused as the others.

"Ouch!" John growled frustrated as a book hit the side of his head. “Dammit, let me down!” -Down…- “I just wanna get do—whoa!” John yelped, suddenly falling back down, grunting as he fell on a pile of books. “Oh god, that hurt…” he coughed, slowly getting on his feet. “Well, at least that’s over.”

“No it’s not!” the others shouted, getting his attention. 

“What? But how?” John asked.

“How are we supposed to know!?” Ditzy screeched, attempting to hold on a bookcase.

“What is... huh?” John turned towards the window nearby. and noticing a red light in the distance, he advanced carefully, his eyes keeping track of the numerous ponies floating around much like the others inside were. He placed his hand on the glass, shaking his head in disbelief.

“Just how powerful is she…?”


~~~~~


“Do you understand now?” Trixie monologued, staring down at Rarity. “You do not have an iota of a chance against me!” she finished, her eyes glowing momentarily red as the magic stopped, slowly lowering herself and the other ponies to the ground.

“I… I…” Rarity barely managed to say, shaking her head in disbelief.

“Now, Trixie is feeling merciful today. You will be allowed to decline my challenge, but if you accept it and lose, you will be banished from Ponyville. Forever!”

“… What if I refuse to do battle with you?” Rarity asked with doubt.

“You won’t be banished, but only if you plead for forgiveness, that is,” she stated, walking closely to Rarity who slowly backed away from her. “So, what will it be?”

“I… I need to stay here for Sweetie Belle! I just...” and with those words, and feeling shame beyond anything she’d felt before, Rarity lowered her head and bowed. “I apologize for the challenge. Please, forgive me.”

Trixie seemed surprised for a second before smiling again. “Very well, as promised, you are not to be banished. Trixie keeps her promises.”

Rarity remained silent, only sighing in relief.

“However, Trixie never said anything about no punishment, did she?” she said, giving Rarity a malicious grin.

“W—What? No! What are you going to do?” Rarity asked, growing more terrified by the seconds, slowly backing away, wanting to  run, but her legs giving in each step she took.

“Oh, nothing but make you fit the image of the coward filly that you ARE!” she shouted, tossing a beam of magic towards Rarity.

“Nooo!” Rarity shouted, unprepared for what was to come, and as the magic hit her, everything went dark.


~~~~~


“What was that?” John blurted out, looking up from the book in his hands.

“What was what?” asked Ditzy and Pinkie who sat to his left.

“I…” John mumbled confused. 

“Maybe Guard is back from searching Rarity?” Ditzy wondered, looking out the window.

“No…” came the barely audible shout of Fluttershy from the next room over. “He isn’t back yet.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy! We’ll keep on looking then!” Pinkie replied, leaning on John’s crossed legs to get herself on a comfortable position.

“Right,” John agreed, grabbing the book in front of him. “Let’s keep looking then.”

The three read through towers of books, having found out that Twilight owned far more books on artifacts that they had expected. After some time, John yawned, growing tired of searching. He looked up and noticed the time passed. “Wish Celestia were here; where is her all-seeing power when you need it?” he thought, turning to the window and watching the sun being slowly set by Celestia in the distance. “This is SO not going my way,” he huffed, growing impatient. “Who would have thought that there were so many artifacts shaped like necklaces. Go figure.”

“—hat!” 

John’s ear picked up the hushed voice of Ditzy who seemed to be talking to Pinkie at that point. Curious, he tried to listen in on their conversation.

“Pinkie… This…Seriously?” he managed to barely hear from Ditzy who was farther away.

“But I am! I am searching, see?” Pinkie replied, holding a book near John’s face.

“Yeah…. I…”

“Oh! I see! You need to be cheered up! Don’t worry! Aunt Pinkie has you covered! … By the way why are we whispering?”

“I am older than you!” Ditzy replied with obvious anger, at which point, John decided to cut in.

“Derpy, maybe you would like to go help Fluttershy with the mess in the foyer?” he suggested, giving Ditzy a disapproving frown.

“What? But I didn’t do anything, Pinkie was just being so cheery, a—”

“Derpy,” John stopped her. “I insist.”

“I… Alright,” Ditzy sighed in defeat, heading out, but not before turning one last time to sadly look at John before closing the door and leaving the pair on their own.

“What happened, Pinkie?” John quickly asked.

“I have noooo idea!” Pinkie replied, shrugging, grabbing the book again. “But she did seem a bit stressed!”

“How do you mean?” he asked intrigued.

“She was fuming for a bit! I think she wanted to lay down with you like I was! I would have let her rest on you if she had asked!” she pointed out with a frown.

“Huh, that doesn’t sound like something she would do from the time I’ve known her,” John admitted. “I guess you learn something new everyday, huh?”

“Yep! But it was weird! It‘s almost as if she were jealous!” Pinkie added before returning to her book, which she began reading facedown.

“Jealous, huh?” John laughed. “Why would she be jeaaaaaaa…” he stopped, a memory returning to him. A memory of a conversation with Ditzy since forgotten.

“How exactly do you see mares? Do you see us as just ponies?” from then on, the memory after returned, in which Ditzy had grown angry of Pinkie’s irresponsible activity with the mirror pool while he desperately tried to help, it was an attitude he hadn’t seen on her before.

A guess invaded his mind by that point.

“Oh my god…” he thought in sudden shock. “Could it be? Would she? Dammit, I did NOT need to have this shit in my mind right now! I hope that's not the case.”

“He is back!” called Fluttershy. “Oh, by that I mean Mr. Guard is back…”

“R—Right!” John replied relieved, swiftly getting on his feet, causing Pinkie to fall back and hit her head on the wooden floor.

“Ouch!” Pinkie cried out. “I was using that!” she whined, rubbing her head with a sniffle.

“Ha, ha…” John laughed for a second before clearing his throat. ”S-sorry! Come on, Guard is back!” he waited for Pinkie to get up, and left together to meet with him.

“What is that?” John managed to hear Ditzy ask Guard who John noticed was holding something small in his legs.

“Um, Guard? I motion that question. What is that?” John asked as well, noticing the white fur. “Is that a kid?” he asked in a panicked state, running to check on the foal only to find Fluttershy already standing next to them.

“Um, yes, she is…” Guard replied awkwardly. “And well, you actually know who this is.”

“We do?” everyone else replied looking confused.

Fluttershy turned the filly over, revealing a familiar looking purple mane, she was clearly unconscious as her slow breathing showed, with patches of fur by her eyes were darkened in an odd mess of make-up. But by that point, no one else was focused on her features, instead looking at each other with mouths agape, unable to say anything.

“I guess it’ll be me who says it, huh?” Guard sighed. “Yes, I believe that this young filly is actually Ms. Rarity. I found her by the Town Hall, weeping as if having a bad dream on her own… I honestly don’t know what to say about this situation, but it’s more than likely sure that Trixie did this to her.”

“Oh my goodness. Rarity, no!” Fluttershy cried out, holding the small pony in her hooves. “Why would Trixie do this to her?”

“John, how goes the search for the amulet? Any luck?” Guard asked in a rush.

“I… No,” John managed to reply, barely able to get his eyes off Rarity. “There are more than I thought. To have a better chance, we would have to find out what it looks like an—”

“I-It’s a necklace shaped like an equine…” 

The others turned to the voice, looking at the small Rarity who stared at them with wide eyes, barely standing on her legs in an awkward attempt to remain still.

“Rarity, you are okay!?” Fluttershy cried out happily, once again hugging the small-sized Rarity.

“Y—Yes, dear, I am,” she squeaked, attempting to get out of Fluttershy’s grasp. 

“But what happened? Why are you, well, a little pony?” John asked.

“Because I…” Rarity began, frowning, her cheeks burning red in her anger. “I forfeited a magic duel with Trixie… I had to, otherwise I would risk leaving Sweetie Belle on her own.”

“It’s okay! I would have given up too!” Pinkie exclaimed, hugging Rarity. “Besides, you are so cuteee now!”

“Aha… Yes, great,” Rarity laughed sarcastically.

“Wait, you were saying something about the necklace earlier, right?” Ditzy asked, returning to the original conversation.

“Yes! It was a dark color… I believe material was onyx, perhaps,” Rarity continued in a high pitched voice. “There was a red gemstone in the middle, and it had what I believe is an alicorn as part of the decoration.”

“Alicorn…” John mumbled, snapping his fingers as he realized it. “The Alicorn Amulet.”

“Oooh, what’s that?” Pinkie inquired curious.

“Hold on,” John returned to the other room, grabbing a book, and bringing it along for the rest to see. “I found this earlier,” he began, pointing at a picture in the book. “It has the ability to increase the wearer’s power immensely, but it also corrupts them the more it is used, unfortunately,” he explained, looking at Guard. “Rarity, were her eyes glowing red? That‘s a big sign of the pony wearing it.”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, they were, actually!” she squeaked, blushing in embarrassment. “I suppose that’s how she turned me into… this.”

“So that’s why she is being meaner than usual!” Pinkie reasoned.

“How do we get it off?” Guard asked quickly. “That’s the most important part!”

“Well…” John gulped. “We can’t. It can only be taken off by the one wearing it.”

“So you are saying that despite our efforts, we are still in deep shit, huh?”

“Pretty much,:” John sighed wistfully. “Well, and we know that she is powerful enough to make everyone levitate without even looking at them, who knows what she’ll do when she is fully corrupted!”

“Wait, you all were affected too?” Rarity asked, gathering curious looks from the others. “That happened when Trixie attempted to show off her powers to me.”

“Yes! “ Ditzy shouted in agreement. “Well… It didn’t work on John afterwards, he just sort of fell after a bit while we stayed in the air,” she added.

“Wait, he did?” Rarity asked curiously, and suddenly, something clicked in her mind. “Wait, of course!” she yelped excited. “John! There was a reason that happe—” she stopped her talking, her mouth having been covered by John.

“John, what is Ms. Rarity trying to say,” Guard asked, looking at John suspiciously, accompanied by the rest of the ponies.

“It's… It’s nothing you should care about, it’s, um, classified!” he replied, struggling to choose his words.

“John,” Rarity mumbled through his hand. “That magic negating ability of yours could be what we need right now,” she whispered.

He grabbed Rarity and turned his back to the others, putting Rarity between his hands. “Rarity, you know I can’t tell anyone!” he hissed, giving her a worried look.

“John,” she continued, looking into his eyes. “We don’t know what could happen if Trixie’s corruption grows out of control! I don’t want to say this, but you seem to be our only choice here.”

“Me? But, I’m just some dumb human! I can’t face something that presumably can use Alicorn magic!”

“I must agree with John,” Guard spoke from behind.

“Oh, thank you, Guard!” John said gratefully, turning to meet him.

“Well, that is if there isn’t any other way. I say we hear what she has planned for you, not often I see you struggle,” Guard noted with a grin.

“… You seriously choose now to go back to being an ass?” John sighed frustrated.

“Hey, I did tell you I would use any chance to get you back, didn’t I?” he replied. “But most importantly, this might be our only option, outside, well, attempting to find the captain on their trip in the big forest, wait until tomorrow for them, or even attempting the three day walk or a one day fly, but as you can see,” he said, showing his injured wing. “That last one is not happening.”

“Great! This sucks! That sucks! Everything sucks!” John groaned, punching a nearby wall. “Ouch…” he whined, shaking his hand in an attempt to ease the pain.

“John,” Rarity said with a flat tone. “I know it’s a secret, but this is an emergency.”

John turned to the others, watching him with pleading eyes, awaiting what he was about to explain. He clicked his tongue and took a deep breath, attempting to gather his words.

“First, you all have to promise that what I say, will never be spoken of in any shape or form outside this room. Understand?” John said firmly.

“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Ditzy, Pinkie and Fluttershy said in a chorus of voices, doing the motions now familiar to John.

“I don’t get it,” Guard said confused.

“This will make it so much better for me,” John smiled mischievously, and after forcing Guard to make the same promise, he nodded satisfied. “Alright, about as good as it will get. Now, Pinkie and Fluttershy already know of the event, you know, with Twilight and the flames, right?” he began, explaining the first moment he’d noticed it with Twilight and continuing from there, giving an explanation of the ability as simply as he could.

“Oh, my…” Fluttershy commented once he had finished. 

“Seriously?” Ditzy said with a dubious look, her eyes barely managing to stay in place to stare.

“That’s soooo cool!” Pinkie said excitedly, appearing behind John. “Show me, pleeeeease?”

“Um, about that,” he began awkwardly. “I don’t really know how it works…”

“What?” Guard asked incredulously. “You seemed to grasp it nicely when we were still floating earlier!” he growled frustrated.

“Well, I’m sorry! It just came to me! I don’t know how to work it! I guess I can do it in really stressful situations, but I can’t be sure!” John shouted in defense. “See? This is why I didn’t want to bring it up.”

“Now, now, John just needs a push in the right direction,” Rarity said confidently. “You just need to have the right mindset!”

“And how do you figure that can happen?” John asked. “Because I’ve tried that already.”

“How about Zecora!” Pinkie shouted, standing in the middle. “I once saw her stand on one hoof with her eyes closed going ‘hmmmmmmm’ for a really, really, REALLY long time!”

“Pinkie dear, I don’t mean to be rude, but you aren’t really known to be patient; how did you stay focused on her for so long?” Rarity asked curiously.

“I thought she was preparing to do a flip… I was VERY disappointed when she didn’t do one!” she fumed. 

Rarity looked out the window thoughtfully, eyeing the forest barely visible in the distance. “In any case, Pinkie said what I was thinking already. Zecora might be a great help.”

“But Zecora lives in the Everfree forest,”  Fluttershy noted, looking at the others. “That’s outside the shield, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is. We would need to find a way to get John out there,” Guard added. “And I do not have any, unfortunately.

“Oh, don't worry about that, Guard! I have an idea…” Rarity said while she smiled with confidence, maliciously rubbing her hooves together.


~~~~~


“This better be important!” 

Trixie groaned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She sped through the dark streets of Ponyville, heading to the outskirts of town. “If Trixie had known ponies would try to escape at the dead of night, I would have removed the stupid shield trigger!” she continued complaining until finally seeing something in the distance, something that brought numerous questions to her mind that only continued once she stopped next to it.

*thud*

“Hmm…”

*thud*

“What do you think you are doing, Pegasus!?” she shouted, eyeing the gray pony who continuously attempted to go through the shield without much success, her head hitting it each and every time as if she had never noticed it. A cart was tied to her body, carrying numerous bags of what Trixie guessed to be mail, but the mail was unimportant to Trixie, as was the pony. “But Trixie is still curious…”

“I’m trying to go through!” the pony replied with a weird tone, turning to meet Trixie who nearly recoiled at the sight of the mare’s eyes staring at two completely opposite directions. 

“Dear Celestia, what is wrong with you!” Trixie asked horrified.

The mare simply stared for a moment, giving Trixie a stupid smile, blinking each eye separately. “I’m trying to get the mail out! But something is on my way!” she replied, turning to fruitlessly attempt to go through once again. 

“Obviously,” Trixie replied uninterested.

“Obviously is yes!” the mail mare answered. “But I can’t go through…” she continued sadly.

“Ugh…” Trixie groaned, opening a small path on the shield. “Enough. Trixie needs her beauty sleep.”

“Oh, goodnight!” the grey mare said, waving to Trixie momentarily before lowering her hoof and just standing still.

“What…?” Trixie asked, looking stupefied.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…The path is open, imbecile,” Trixie whispered under her breath, holding her head as if in pain.

“Oh! Yay! Thank you so much, sir!” the mare said happily, trotting happily through the hole.

“Why I…” Trixie fumed, watching the mare head straight for the Everfree forest without much a care in the world. “Well then, Trixie guesses the mare will be no more. Idiot,” she snorted, turning her back to the issue, the idea of sleep being the most appealing thing to her for the moment.

…

“Idiot,” Ditzy snorted as she watched Trixie leave through her peripherals, and she continued briskly pacing towards a hidden part of the forest before fully stopping. “Alright guys, coast is clear!”

The bags rustled loudly, and with a pop, one of them opened, releasing a flow of streamers. “Whee!” Pinkie was the first, cheering as she jumped out of the bag without any trouble. “Wow! That was good, Derpy!”

“Yep,” John commented, getting out of a rather cramped bag of his own. “I can’t believe that actually worked! That was am—” he stopped himself, holding his words back. “Er, well done.”

“I second that,” Guard replied, tossing his bag aside. “Although I have to admit it was quite difficult to ignore the insults she threw at you.”

“It’s okay,” Ditzy said dismissively. “It worked to our advantage, right? And it isn’t the first time I’ve been treated that way,” she whispered under her breath.

John turned his attention towards the forest, gulping at the menacing sight in front of him, the memories of his previous rendezvous a month before returning in full force. “But are we sure this will work with my so-called ability, Rarity? Seems like a stretch…”

“Of course it will!” Rarity replied, getting out of another bag alongside Fluttershy. “And even if it doesn’t, Zecora is well versed on ancient artifacts, not to mention that she is a very wise zebra!”

“A… zebra?” John asked slowly, raising a brow.

“You’ll see,” Rarity assured, tapping his leg as she walked on ahead.

“Enough dillydallying,” Guard said from the side. “We have to be careful from now on—I’m sure most of you know I don’t have to explain why.”



~~~~~


The group made their way through the forest, Fluttershy and Guard keeping watch on the front while the rest followed, cautiously watching every which way for signs of danger, growing uneasy at any sign of rustling in the trees and bushes.

“Geez, I didn’t know this place was so s—scary,” Ditzy whimpered, hiding behind her wings.

“You have no *huff* idea, dear,” Rarity huffed noisily as she tried to keep up with the rest.

John watched Rarity silently, noticing how often she tripped on her hooves, having to run to manage the pace of her taller friends. “Come here, you,” he sighed, picking the still small Rarity in his arms, allowing her to rest there.

“You li—what do you think you are doing!?” Rarity yelped, attempting to jump off.

“Being nice and forgiving you for the paint thing earlier today, so how about you just let me carry you and you rest those little legs of yours, alright?” he ordered, causing Rarity to shiver at the order.

“O—Oh, alright," she said surprised. "Your attitude aside, I must say that you are acting like quite the gentlecolt... what a surprise,” she noted, turning her gaze to the front as John rolled his eyes.

“So, Fluttershy,” John called, ignoring Rarity. “I’m surprised you are so calm, what with this place being full of scary creatures and all.”

“Scary!?” Fluttershy asked pained, giving John a disapproving look. “Many creatures here are so cute! I would never be scared of them, besides, some of them are my friends.”

“Huh…” John nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”

“We are here,” Guard called loudly, making the rest turn to what John guessed to be a hut in the distance, various masks and decorations hanged around it, giving it a very tribal aesthetic. “Let’s check if she is home.”

The group marched ahead, leaving John staring at it skeptically.

“Hmm…”

“What’s wrong?” Pinkie popped into his field of view, causing him to fall backwards on the mud to Pinkie’s regret. “Sorry!” she apologized, helping him on his feet.

“It’s fine, I’m just wondering if this Zecora will really help us, you know? I’m not sure if this will work to begin with,” he admitted sadly.

“Don’t worry! Zecora is an awesomerific pony! She knows a lot of things like Twilight does!” she looked side to side, approaching John and whispering. “But she is a little weeeird!” 

“Huh,” John mumbled as Pinkie skipped ahead. “The pot calling the kettle black.”

Guard knocked on the door, just as John caught up with the group. “Don’t stay too far, this place is dangerous. We were lucky to not find any resistance.”

“What he said is indeed correct, it is something all should expect,” came a deep, yet feminine voice which caught John by surprise as he stared at the pony.

“Huh, what’s with the rhyme,” he commented loudly, getting a smack from Rarity. “Ouch!”

“John! Be respectful!” she groaned, glaring disapprovingly.

“Geez, sorry!”

“Quite a group here to convene, coming along with a strange being in between,” Zecora noted raising a brow. “But it’s far too late to be outside, so a reason to be here must be implied.”

“Yes, ma’am, it is, and it’s quite big one,” Guard explained.

Zecora looked thoughtful for a second, nodding in understanding. “Let us speak more of this inside.”

...

“… And that’s our situation, which is why we need your help so badly, Ms. Zecora,” Guard finished, taking a sip from a cup in his grasp, cringing at the now cold drink, realizing he had spend a while telling his story.

Zecora nodded, her eyes remaining closed as she sat on a stump. She opened them very suddenly, causing the group to flinch. “I understand your plight, and this does not look bright.”

“So, will you help us then?” Ditzy asked, staring with pleading eyes.

Zecora eyed the group for several seconds before shaking her head. “My apologies if this sounds bad, for I do not mean to make anypony sad, but this group cannot be of use, not when it cannot let loose,” she explained, sitting down on her stool once again, taking a sip from her drink.

“What?” Guard  yelped. “What is that supposed to mean!?”

“Patiently listen to my rhyme, this will be solved in due time, surely faster than you might expect, there is no need to deject,” she explained, setting her cup down. “For now I suggest you all calm down, you have had a terrible time in your town.”

“I…” John tried to argue before quickly being stopped by Guard. “What are you doing?”

“We can argue later, maybe we should take her word and relax; we can rest for now and think of something just in case,” Guard explained.

“… Fine,” John agreed reluctantly, returning to the group. 

They talked to each other about the events of the day, attempting to get their minds off the issue, only to end up silent whenever Ponyville was brought up, their worry over their fellow ponies weighting in their hearts.

“Sorry to interrupt our wonderful conversation, but I will be back,” Rarity suddenly said, getting on her hooves and walking away from the group with a low head.

“Oh dear, she must really be worried,” Fluttershy stated sadly.

“Maybe,” John said suspiciously, watching as Rarity marched towards the lone zebra.

“Zecora?” Rarity called quietly once she was close enough. “I was wondering if, well, you happen to have a solution to my little problem, ahem, no pun intended, of course,” Rarity explained embarrassed.

Closing her eyes momentarily, Zecora gave Rarity an intense look. “I’m afraid that my answer is quite tragic, as I’m not very learned in such dark magic, but I am here in your time of need, so that this Trixie may not succeed, and if her destiny lies in defeat, rest assured you will once again be complete,” she explained, giving Rarity a comforting pat.

“What? But you sa—” Rarity began, but stopped herself, taking a deep breath. “I understand,” she sighed disappointed. She turned to check on the others who were still distracted on their talking before exiting the hut through the back door while Zecora watched silently.

“What is she…” John thought silently, walking towards Zecora. “So, Zecora? Where is she going?” 

Zecora simply pointed to the door. “Perhaps you’d like to tag along, maybe before this goes on too long, but be careful on what has to be done, we wouldn’t want to finish before it has begun,” she explained, walking away towards the others, leaving John confused.

“Um, sure,” he replied, heading out after Rarity while trying to understand Zecora’s words. “I swear, that Zebra is crazy."

“’sigh’ Dreadful…” John managed to hear Rarity’s voice as soon as he opened the door, noticing her sitting on a stump nearby. 

“Rarity?” he called worriedly.

“Oh! John!” she cried out, rubbing her eyes quickly. “What are you doing out here?”

“That‘s my line. Is something the matter?” he asked, walking towards the stump and sitting down next to her.

“Well, Ponyville is under the rule of a pony who tried to stop an Ursa with a rope, and I am pint sized; otherwise, I‘m doing just peachy,” she groaned sarcastically. 

“Sorry.”

She shook her head. “Pardon me, I’m just a bit on edge.”

“It’s cool,” John waved it off casually while looking up, noticing an opening of trees over them, the moon and stars of the night sky overhead. “I’m not doing so good either to be honest, I don’t even know how Zecora will help me, if she even does. Ugh, I wish Twilight were here…”

“Yes,” Rarity replied. “I agree.”

“It’s just that…” John said.

“The truth is…” Rarity sighed.

“She always has a plan…” both said at the same time, turning to each other surprised.

“Heh,” Rarity laughed, quickly joined by John. “I was thinking about that earlier, actually. You know, before I was transformed into... this."

“Something else is bothering you, thought, isn’t it?” John asked concerned. “You are usually very overdramatic whenever you say these things,” he continued, chuckling at the look Rarity gave him.

“I…” she tried to respond, but stopped in her tracks.

“Rarity, I didn‘t mean th—”

“Oh, don’t you apologize now! You ruffian!”

“Look, I wasn’t trying to a—”

“Fine! I feel useless. There, I said it!” she interrupted, pushing her hooves over her face. “Just look at me! What can I do to help? All I had was the magic Twilight taught me to master, and what happens?” she asked, expecting something from John. “I am turned into a filly! Twilight would be very disappointed…” she finished in a whisper, turning her face to the side in shame.

“Huh…” John mumbled, staring at Rarity’s small frame. “You’ll need to excuse me for this, but what are you? Stupid?”

Rarity gave him a horrified look in return. “Wow, John. I take it back, you are the complete opposite of a gentle colt!” she roared outraged. “What is your problem!?”

“Now, now, let me finish,” John laughed, not helping his attempts to calm her down. “Tell me,  who was the mare who helped me get over my dumb issues just a month ago?”

“H—Huh?” Rarity said at a loss of words, blinking rapidly.

“And just today, whose idea was to use Dit— Derpy! Yes, her! To, you know? Get us through?”

“I suppose that was me, but we couldn’t have done it without her improvisation!” Rarity retorted.

“And finally!" he continued, ignoring her comment. "Who helped us find out that Trixie was wearing the Alicorn amulet?” he finished, waiting for Rarity to say something.

“But...”

“And before you say something, you did this while engaged with Trixie, which something that not even Guard did,” he continued, guessing Rarity’s next point.

“…”

“I take it you have nothing to say then, huh? I get the feeling you’ve been too caught up on the transformation, haven’t you?” John noted.

“… Maybe I was far too, *ahem* caught up on it, but can you really blame me?” she asked embarrassed. “But… hank you. Really.”

“No problem,” John laughed, ruffling Rarity’s mane to her horror. “Aaand now we are even!” 

She looked up, her face a frozen mascara of terror. “Did you just…?”

“Yep! Even Stevens, I say!” he laughed.

“I… I will destroy you!” Rarity growled, jumping on John with raised hooves much like a predator would with claws extended.

“Aaah! Wait, ouch! But we are even!” John yelped in pain as Rarity tossed him to the floor. As he landed on his back, he noticed Zecora and the others staring silently behind them.

“Um… I warned him about the mane thing,” Fluttershy whispered.

Zecora walked to the pair, stopping close enough for both to notice, making them quit their struggle and turn to her.

“Zecora?” both of them said slowly, looking at each other with similar looks of shame. “Sorry/Apologies!” John and Rarity subsequently apologized

Zecora shook her head with a smile. “One of the problems has been attacked at its core, and our main conflict in the group is no more, now we can focus on what can be done, so that this battle may be won.” 

“Wait, what?” John asks confused.

“Duuh, John!” Pinkie jumped in. “She means that an issue has been solved! And now she is ready to try to help you!”

Zecora nodded. “There was tension in this herd, and more can still be heard, while more issues will be handled soon, that will not happen under tonight's moon, as for now we all must rest, and this suggestion will not be pressed,” she finished before turning towards her hut and heading inside. 

“Did that Zebra just order us to go to sleep?” Guard asked with a lowered brow.

“Well, it is kind of late,” Ditzy noted, yawning heavily. “Maybe we should take her advice.”

“Fine!” Rarity groaned. “I’ll deal with you tomorrow,” she threatened John, walking indignantly back into the hut.

“I’ll be looking forward to tomorrow for sure,” John thought sarcastically, managing a small smile. Maybe things could turn out well.


~~~~~




Meanwhile, hours before, on the edges of the forest…



“Where is Rainbow Dash!? Why isn’t she here!?” came the concerned voice of Scootaloo, who looked around frantically for the eponymous mare.

“She went ahead to scout, she said she wanted to use her wings a bit before grounding herself again for us, Ah’ guess,” Applejack explained as she tied a knot in her bags. 

“Aww…” Scootaloo whined audibly.

“You’ll get to see her soon enough, but are y’all ready? We need to move before it gets late,: she explained, eyeing the group.

“Yes!” the four crusaders replied excitedly. 

“How about you two?” AJ asked, looking at the other two. “Twilight? You sure you are up for this?”

“AJ, I told you that I’m just fine; I am fully prepared for this journey!” she stated with a content grin.

“Pfft, I doubt it,” Patch intervened from the side.

“Patch!” AJ yelled. “Look, Ah’ know that you are one of them fancy Royal Guard ponies, but there ain’t no need for the attitude!” she reprimanded Patch.

“Psh, I’m just being honest. This pony couldn’t handle herself out there without her magic,” Patch continued, starting the walk. “Now come on, I thought we had to go.”

“Grr…” Twilight growled, receiving a comforting pat from AJ. “She is insufferable!”

“Will you be okay, sugarcube?” AJ asked concerned. “Ah’ can make her go if you want,—Ah' can be real persuasive.”

“I’ll be fine, I can handle her. We should go,” Twilight replied quickly, starting the walk with AJ following, and the group entered the forest, ready for their trip.
> Side Chapter - Rough Camping
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sun shone brightly over the forest as no intrusive cloud was in sight, a welcoming scene for the seven ponies who walked under the foliage. It was a sight to behold.

It was a sight that was being thoroughly ignored by four of them.

“Are we there yet?” one of them asked eagerly.

“No,” replied Applejack dryly. 

“How about now?”

“No.”

“Is that Rainbow Dash!?”

“Scootaloo, that’s just the water falling that’s causing that effect,” Twilight explained, pointing at the waterfall Scootaloo had excitedly referred to..

“Waterfall!? Does that mean we are at rainbow falls now?” Applebloom asked, jumping in front of AJ.

“Whoa, nelly,” AJ sighed, pushing her hat over her face in an attempt to hide her frustrated features. “No, AB, we are not at Rainbow Falls yet; besides, we are going to ‘Winsome Falls” she corrected. “And we aren’t there yet!”

“Er, Applejack?”

“What is it n—” she began loudly, catching herself once she noticed Twilight on the receiving end. “Er, sorry Twi, Ah’ didn’t mean to do that,” she quickly apologized.

“It’s okay. I was just wondering if you’d be fine with me watching them, it seems that having the four here is stressing you out,” Twilight suggested eagerly.

“Yeah… they are being a bit more riled up than they usually are,” AJ smiled, nodding in appreciation. “Know what? Ah’ think Ah’ll take you up on that offer! All we gotta do is follow this path anyway,” she said, pointing to the road ahead. “Thanks Twi!”

“No problem!” Twilight replied as AJ moved to the back of the group. “Alright. Girls? Don‘t get too far!”

“I’m not a girl!” Lemon yelped with an offended tone. 

“Sorry, force of habit,” she apologized.

“Besides, I would've noticed that when I went to the bathroom!”

“Eww!” the other three fillies gawked.

“Could’ve done without that,” Twilight deadpanned silently. “Please Lemon, don’t share that with us, alright?”

“You got it, miss Twilight!” he replied, awkwardly saluting.

“Miss Twilight?” 

“Huh?” Twilight turned, noticing Sweetie Belle by her side. “Sweetie? Is something the matter?”

“Yeah, I have a question…” she began, looking down at the ground awkwardly.

“Now, now, Sweetie, there is no need to be bashful. Go ahead and ask whatever you want!” Twilight said supportively.

“Well, when you put it that way… will we be there soon?” she asked with a big smile on her face.

Twilight only stared with a blank look. “This is going to be a looong walk, isn’t it?”

“Having trouble there already, Miss Twilight?” the mocking voice of Patch sounded behind her, much to her chagrin.

“I’m busy here, can’t you see I’m watching the kids?” Twilight began annoyed.

“Well, you are obviously doing a fantastic job, aren’t you?” Patch replied, pointing at Lemon, who just in that instant, was about to grab a berry from a bush nearby.

“Huh? Oh no! Lemon!” Twilight ran towards him, smacking a berry from his hoof. “Thank goodness… Lemon! Don’t eat those!” she began. “You don’t know what they are!”

Lemon arched a brow confused, rubbing his pained limb. “What do you mean? These berries aren’t poisonous, miss,” he said, grabbing another and shoving it into his mouth. “We read about it, remember?” he finished before starting the walk once again.

Twilight stared at the berries closely, quickly realizing that what Lemon said had been true. “I… I…” Twilight mumbled, sharply turning towards Patch, staring daggers as soon as she came into her view. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you!?” she growled.

Patch turned to the angered Twilight with an emotionless face. “Whatever do you mean? All I did was simply praise you.” 

“I-I… Grrr!” Twilight growled in response, smacking her face in frustration while Patch walked ahead.

“Er, Twi?”

“What!?” she answered angrily before noticing the hatted pony and composing herself. “Oh, AJ! I‘m so sor—”

“No need for apologies, Ah’ve been there,” she replied. 

They stared each  at each other silently, blinking rapidly before suddenly bursting into laughter.

“I guess you have,” Twilight said, wiping the tears from her eyes. 

“How about we just let them do their thing?” AJ suggested. “Seems Lemon learned well from you, so it should be fine. I'm sure they can deal without our constant butting in.”

“Alright,” Twilight replied with an exhausted look. 

“Come on, we got a ways to go,” AJ finished before walking ahead.

“Yeah…” Twilight sighed before following, looking at Patch who waited for the pair to catch up. “I get the feeling this walk is the least of my worries anyway…”


~~~~~


They reached a clearing just a few hours later, where a small pile of rocks stood in the middle, showing signs of previous use. AJ walked towards it, dropping her saddlebags and taking a breath of relief. “Alright fellas, before anypony bothers to ask—we have arrived at our first camp.”

“Woohoo!” Scootaloo jumped in front of AJ, excitedly. “Where is Rainbow Dash, then?”

“Oh, don’t you worry, she’s probably getting ready to show—” *Fwoosh* a sudden gust of wind passed by the pair, nearly blowing AJ’s hat off her head. “… Off,“ she finished in a deadpan tone. “Well, she sure can be timely when it comes to that.”

Looking up, the group noticed the multicolored mane of Rainbow Dash as she performed numerous tricks, finishing up by leaping high into the sky before diving full speed and stopping before crashing into the ground, raising a cloud of dust that made the rest cough.

“Can’t you cool it with the tricks, Dash?” AJ complained, coughing between words.

“That. Was. Awesome!” Scootaloo cheered loudly, lifting off slightly before suddenly falling flat on her face.

“Eh,” Rainbow shrugged. “It was okay, I guess.”

“What do you mean okay?” AJ asked. “You seemed just about as flashy and showy as ever.”

“Oh AJ, it just goes to show how much you know about flying,” Rainbow noted, patting AJ’s shoulder, much to her irritation. “Didn’t you see how slow and clumsy I was flying? Ugh, my stupid wings are still all stiff after not having had any use of them for months.”

“It certainly took longer than usual for them to heal,” Twilight noted, walking to the pair. “Hey, Rainbow Dash.”

“I blame John for that one,” Rainbow stated. “Anyway, what are you doing here, Twi? I thought Rarity was coming with us.”

“My sister had to take care of some business, so she stayed behind,” Sweetie Belle explained. 

“That explains that. Heh, she’d probably do something ridiculous like pack a cart full of things and slow you guys down anyway,“ Rainbow laughed.

Sweetie Belle blushed. “Y—Yeah, that would be just ridiculous…” she said with a nervous laugh.

“So, what is military pony doing here, too?” Dash asked, forgetting about Rarity and pointing at Patch who stood nearby, staring at the group.

“Ms. Dash. Good to see you are no longer invalid,” Patch said with a curt nod. “You don’t have to worry, I’m just here to keep an eye on Princess Twilight, is all.”

“Princess? You just can’t help but toss a backhoofed comment, can you?” Twilight groaned. 

“Eh, whatever,” Rainbow shrugged. 

“Alright girls,” AJ interrupted.

“And boy!” Lemon intervened.

“Sorry Lemon, force of habit,” she apologized.

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before,” he harrumphed, walking back to the fillies with his nose up high.

“Right,” AJ mumbled, clearing her throat. “Anyway, we should set up the tents; it’s going to get dark pretty soon.”

After some small talk, the ponies finally set out to construct their tents, quickly putting them together with a trained hoof around the small camp.

“Oh-oh…”

All with the exception of Twilight.

“Oh no!” Twilight cried out, face hoofing annoyed. “I forgot…”

“What’s wrong, Miss Twilight?” Sweetie Belle asked as she stood by her side, waiting for her to start.

“I forgot to bring my camping guide!”

“Um ‘camping guide’?” Sweetie asked with a raised brow.

“Well, yes! I’ve never set up a tent! What if I get it wrong!? I knew I should have scheduled that book for last week!” she panicked before she looked at Sweetie hopeful. “Hey, Sweetie?”

“Sorry, this is my first time actually camping,” she replied, knowing the question before it was asked. 

Twilight sighed annoyed, turning to the rest who were already ways into the task. “It‘s alright Sweetie, I‘ll deal with it.”

“You know? I could just ask somepony to help,” Sweetie suggested.

“Did I hear somepony say help?” Patch asked, walking over to the pair.

“No!” Twilight hissed, stopping Patch in her path. “I can do this! I don’t need your help,” she growled.

“Alright,” Patch shrugged, unfazed. “But remember; that’s why I’m here,” she explained, walking back to her spot near the trees.

“Duly noted,” Twilight whispered softly, turning to the mess of items  “Don’t worry, I can do this, Sweetie Belle. I don’t need her,” she continued whispering to herself, her eyes twitching slightly.

“O-kay…” Sweetie replied off-put, slowly backing away from the crazed looking Twilight. “Woah!” she yelped, stopping as she bumped into something. “Huh?” she turned her head, noticing Lemon standing behind her.

“Oh! Sorry Sweetie,” he apologized. “I was trying to go talk to miss Twilight, but I lost track of what I was doing when I looked to the trees, they looked weird and just… Sorry, I’m trailing off .”

“Trust me, you don’t want to talk to Miss Twilight right now,” Sweetie warned.

He gave her a confused look. “What do you m—” he stopped mid-question, noticing Twilight angrily tossing various parts sloppily together. “Oh.”

“Yeah…” she trailed off. “You know? Maybe I should stop her before she goes too crazy.”

“Good idea!” Lemon agreed. “I’ll wait here… watching the trees…” he trailed off.

Sweetie rolled her eyes and walked back towards the angered Twilight, spacing herself just in case of an outburst. “Miss Twilight?”

“Sweetie!” she responded in a chalkboard scratching voice as a piece of metal fell. “No need for that ‘Miss’ business! Ugh! Just call me—ouch!” she roared as a piece flew to her face, smacking her roughly.

“Well, my big sister said to be respectful since you’ll be taking care of me, but alright, er, ‘Ouch‘” she said with some effort. 

Twilight didn’t reply, once again caught up in her handiwork.

“You know? You could ask somepony to help you learn how to build one, Ouch,” Sweetie tentatively suggested.

Twilight turned to her with a flat look, sighing and face hoofing in frustration. “I cannot believe I didn’t think of that. Thank you Sweetie,” she said with relief, patting the young pony before walking away, but stopping a mere seconds later and turning back. “And Sweetie?”

“Yeah?”

“Please, just call me Twilight. And none of this 'miss' business, alright?”

Sweetie giggled amused. “Okay! That would’ve gotten old fast anyway,” she whispered to herself as Twilight had already walked away towards the pair of Apples who were already halfway done with their own tent.

“Hey girls,” she greeted the pair.

“Oh, hey Twi, you already done?” Applejack asked with a surprised look. “We sorta got caught up on our own thing to even realize it!”

“I wish,” Twilight groaned, looking to the massacre of camping equipment left on the floor. “I’m actually here on something related to that…”

“Want me to help you build it?” Applejack guessed.

“No, I actually want to learn how to do it myself. By hoof, if you would!” she said hopeful.

“That will literally be no problem,” AJ laughed, pointing at her bare forehead. “But we are already halfway done…” she mumbled, looking at Twilight who pouted at her sadly. “… But Ah’ suppose we could start over just to show you,” she turned to Applebloom. “Sis?”

“Fine,” Applebloom sighed, putting a hoof inside the tent and easily pulling a piece of metal, which caused the tent’s remains to wobble before tumbling down completely. “There you go.”

Applejack nodded satisfied. “Alright, watch carefully, Twi.”

For the following minutes, AJ went through the steps of building the tent, all while Twilight eagerly took notes as they went along. After the task was finished, Twilight confidently walked back to her spot to finish her own tent.

“What!?”

Only to find it already up.

“Hey Princess,” Patch greeted as she stepped on the last nail. “Your tent is up.”

“Patch! I told you I didn’t need your help!” Twilight growled frustrated..

“Yeah, you didn’t. But Sweetie Belle certainly seemed like she did,” she explained, pointing at the young unicorn who sheepishly hid behind her own tail. “But don’t be mad at her, I insisted.”

“Grr…” 

“Twilight?” Applejack called behind her.

“What!?” she replied angrily, not caring who was on the receiving end. “Ugh…” she complained, having being cut off by a sudden headache. 

“There is no need to make an issue of nothing. Let it go,” Applejack said with a frown, not noticing Twilight‘s discomfort. “We are here to have fun with the foals,” she explained, pointing towards Sweetie, Applebloom, and Lemon who stood to the side, staring at the scene nervously.  

Twilight’s gaze softened as AJ’s words sank in. “I’m sorry, y—you are right…” she turned to Patch who stared silently, and with effort, extended her hoof. “Thank you, I appreciate your help.”

Patch stared at the hoof and nodded. “It is what I’m here for. You aren’t really up for anything without magic.”

“Well, I’ll manage,” she replied with gritted teeth.

“Maybe next time you’ll come prepared.”

“Grr,” Twilight growled, lowering her shaking hoof.

“Woah, what’s with the tension in here?” came the voice of Rainbow Dash from the side, with Scootaloo right besides her who carried numerous pieces of wood.

“Dash, your tent is right next to Twilights,” Applejack said in monotone. “How did you miss that?”

“Well, I wasn‘t here!“ Dash shouted back. “We finished our tent ages ago! So we went to get some wood!” she explained, pointing at Scootaloo who carried the whole bulk of it. “We were being responsible!”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo concurred before tumbling down by the weight of the wood on her back.

“Okay…” Applejack took a deep breath. “Maybe we should all just calm down, alright? We are out camping! Let’s have a good time!”

Her words seemed to have an effect, as the atmosphere soon seemed to become friendlier, and the group (sans Patch) gathered around a newly lit fire and told stories, sang songs, and had a good time until the sky became dark, and the moon came out in the distance.

At which point Dash cut in with a yawn. “I think we should head to bed now, guys.”

“What? Can’t last the night?” Applejack asked with a smug grin.

“I thought we said that was between us,” retorted Dash with a frown.

“Oookay!” Twilight cut in. “Maybe we should go to bed, girls!” she finished with gritted teeth, blushing with a disapproving stare.

“Oh!” AJ and Dash reacted, looking at each other with similar looks, eyeing the fillies whose faces were already scrunched deep in thought.

“What did Dash mean by finishing the job, AJ?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.

“Did you guys do some job together?” Scootaloo asked right after.

“Bed! Now!” the two older mares barked in unison, taking the fillies who only grew more curious as they were forcibly dragged back into their tents.

In the meantime, the rest of the group stayed outside, engulfed in an awkward silent that seemed unbreakable.

‘Well, at least the night has been nice,’ Twilight thought to herself with a nervous smile.

“Um, Ms. Twilight?” Lemon finally spoke up, causing Twilight to tense up, fully expecting a follow-up question. 

“Y—Yes?” she asked cautiously. 

“I was going to ask you this earlier but… who am I supposed to sleep with?” 

“Oh…? Oh! Yes, of course!” she gasped in relief.  “I didn’t realize we didn’t bring a fifth tent,” she said in realization.

“He can sleep with us!” Sweetie suggested excitedly. 

“Yeah, I was thinking that…” Twilight trailed on, looking between the two, visions of her staying awake late into the night, the sounds of giggling children being the only ‘soothing’ sounds around her. “Well, don’t see a pro—”

“He can crash in my tent,” Patch spoke up suddenly. “I’ve set up my own, but I’m not really going to use it.”

Lemon showed a bright grin, happily bouncing in place. “Oh boy! But wait, why are you not using it?” he asked, giving her a guilty stare. “I don‘t want to use your own tent…”.

“I’m staying up to watch after you all, kid,” Patch ruffled his mane, giving him a sincere smile. “Don’t worry.”

“But won’t you be tired?” he asked curious. 

“Nah, captain Patch doesn’t need sleep,” she assured him. “Come on, get in there.”

Lemon looked over from the tent to the still Patch, and with a shrug, nodded. “Okay, I’ll take it!” he made his way towards it, but stopped suddenly, turning sharply around back towards Patch, and hugging her leg for a few seconds, much to her surprise. “Thank you! And good night!” he said before running into the tent.

Twilight only stared at the events with big eyes. “Wow…”

“Nice kid,” Patch simply said with a small smile, right before cracking her neck. “Now, how about you two get to bed? I‘ll take care of you,” she ordered, her voice turning cold and uncaring as she turned her back to them.

“Woah…” Sweetie stated in surprise. “It’s like she is two ponies!” she whispered to Twilight.

“Yeah…” Twilight agreed mindlessly, staring at Patch with intrigue. 'What is her story?' she thought to herself. “Come on Sweetie, we should rest. We have a long day tomorrow,” she suggested, and the pair, headed into the tent, looking forward to a peaceful sleep.




~~~~~



The sunlight caught Twilight’s eyes, forcing her to close them for the first time in hours, her hooves wriggling in place as her mind ran numerous theories she had gone through multiple times before.

“And here I was, worried about the kids keeping me up,” she mumbled to herself, visibly annoyed of Celestia's light peeking through the tent. “No offense, Princess,” she giggled, smiling as she readied herself for the walk to come.

…

“I take it we aren’t there yet,” Rainbow sighed, floating over the other walking ponies, holding a bored look as they slowly trudged up a hill.

“Dash, Ah’ know you want to go nuts, but do you really have to whine nonstop?” AJ groaned.

“I’m not whining! I’m complaining!” Rainbow explained indignantly

“That doesn’t make it any less annoying,” AJ replied, starting an argument between the pair.

“Those two sure like arguing,” Lemon noted to Sweetie Belle right besides him.

“It’s kind of their thing,” she laughed in response.

“My mom always said that that’s how ponies show they care for each other!” he said, nodding in agreement to his own statement.

“That sounds weird, no offense!” Sweetie said quickly, noticing her mistake.

“… It’s fine,” he replied reluctantly.

“Actually, this is the first time I’ve heard of her! You haven‘t really talked about your parents much, huh?” Sweetie asked, suddenly curious.

Lemon froze, his mind running amok. “Um… did you know Miss Twilight is a great teacher!”

“What does that have to do with your parents?” Sweetie asked confused. “Did your parents know Twilight?”

“No…Yes! I mean, I was just thinking that I learned tons of stuff from her during Twilight time, is all!” he replied nervously.

“Are you still calling it that?” Twilight called from the front, shaking her head amusedly. 

“What’s ‘Twilight time’?” Sweetie asked, lost on the conversation.

“That’s what I call it whenever Miss Twilight teaches me stuff!” Lemon explained. “I say it’s fitting!”

“It makes it sound like it’s something special,” Twilight said embarrassed. 

“What?” Rainbow asked, intruding in their conversation. “You are like, the smartest unicorn on the planet! Of course it’s something special! Heck! It should’ve been called ‘Twilight’s Egghead Time’!”

Twilight stared flatly, giving Dash a disapproving look. “Shouldn’t you be whining about how slow we are going?”

“Complaining,” she corrected. “And I’m going to take any fun I can get out of this,” she said smugly.

“Aww, I wish I could be part of Twilight’s Egghead Time,” Sweetie said sadly. “I wanna learn magic too…”

“Bahahahaha!” Rainbow laughed, her wings stopping their flapping and making her fall to the ground, where she simply continued rolling and laughing . “It… Aha… Really sounds great!”

“I take it back, I think I like Twilight time better,” Twilight sighed in defeat. “And I would gladly let you join…” she trailed off, biting her lip. “When I’m not sick anymore, that is.”

“Oh! Oh! Can I join too?” Apple Bloom asked, popping up in between the group.

“Oh, oh! I want in too!” Scootaloo said, appearing alongside her. “… Why is Rainbow on the floor?”

“If y’all are done horsing around, we can get a move on, we gotta make it to our second stopping point soon,” AJ said from the front.

“Now that’s something my wings like to hear!” Rainbow said excitedly.

“Don’t you mean your ears?” Twilight asked.

“Nope,” Rainbow replied straight to the point.

“I think I’ll have to agree with Ms. Applejack,” Patch cut in. "I don’t want to be away from Ponyville too long.”

“Why? What’s the big deal?” Scootaloo shrugged.

Patch shook her head. “Kid, if you read the amount of reports of happenings in Ponyville I do in Canterlot, you wouldn’t be asking that right now.”

“Wait a minute... we won’t actually reach the falls tonight?” Rainbow asked as she realized AJ's words. “That blows!”

“Quit yer’ hollering!” Applejack reprimanded her “We’ll be able to make it by sunrise if we wake up bright and early tomorrow! But that’s only if we make it our stopping point before dark and get some good early sleep, alright?”

“I’m looking forward to it!” Twilight said with a giddy expression. “I want to put what I learned from Applejack into practice. Gotta apply it to make sure learning was achieved!


~~~~~


“Oh,” Twilight mumbled to herself, watching the cave hole they stopped in, then turning to Applejack, blinking slowly. “Applejack?”

“What is it, sugarcube?” 

“We are sleeping inside, aren’t we?”

“That’s the idea, yes,” she replied, walking in, followed by the rest.

“… Sigh… I never thought anything I learned would feel like a waste, but I guess there is a first time for everything,” Twilight whimpered, making her way into the cave right behind the rest. She surveyed the surroundings, frowning as she noticed the structure was sound, lacking any real deficiencies to aid her case. 

“Eenope!” AJ replied once Twilight had asked her about it. “Parents apparently used this whenever we went out to camp, and outside the occasional leaking in places, it’s a solid cave for sure!”

“What about wild animals? Doesn’t a bear live here?” she tried to argue.

“No, ma‘am! Besides, Fluttershy gave me this just in case!” AJ said, bringing out a small bag from her saddle. 

“A repellant, huh?” Patch said knowingly, staring at the small wrapped package.

Rainbow approached it, rolling her eyes at it. “Pfft, we don’t need it! I can take care of whatever animal that tries to mess with us!”

“Yeah! You show them, Dash!” Scootaloo said excitedly, popping up next to her, making Dash jump in surprise.

“Ah’ get the feeling that’s exactly what she was trying to prevent,” AJ dully guessed.

Finding spots around the cave, the ponies unpacked their bags, finishing just as the sun began setting in the distance. With a yawn Twilight laid back on her bag and closed her eyes, her previous lack of sleep quickly catching up to her.

“Alright, we should get a fire going,” she heard AJ suggest. “Rainbow?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll get the wood,” Dash quickly replied.

“Oh1 I’ll go too!” Scootaloo offered.

“It’s okay Scoots, I can go on my o—”

“Pleeeease!” she interrupted, begging for it.

”… Um, how about you go ahead and do it on your own? I’m sure you can handle it,” Dash suggested.

“You got it! I won‘t disappoint you!” Scootaloo accepted, the sound of her hoof steps echoing as she ran out of the cave.

“Interesting…” Twilight mumbled, opening her eyes and getting on her hooves despite her tired body’s complaints 

“Quick nap,” Patch noted from the side as she laid down on a blanket of her own.

“I don’t sleep much,” Twilight replied. “You sure look comfortable yourself.”

“I’m only a pony,” Patch sighed wistfully. “I may be tough, but I'm not a monster. If I could go on forever without rest, I certainly would.”

“At least we have that in common,” Twilight mumbled, turning away and walking to the exit.

“And where are you going?” Patch asked.

“I’m helping Scootaloo. What? Is that too dangerous for me?” Twilight said with a sneer.

Patch stared back emotionlessly. “Just don’t go too far, alright?”

“Alright, mom,” Twilight sighed, quickly walking away from her. “Geez, is this what I have John deal with?” she asked  herself, taking into a quick run out, and catching up to Scootaloo who stood not too far, gathering branches into a small pile.

“Oh, hey Twilight!” Scootaloo greeted as she noticed her. “Did Rainbow send you to help? It’s okay, I don’t need it!” she said confidently.

“It’s all good, I want to help,” Twilight said, heading for a small bundle of sticks nearby.

“N—No! It’s okay,” Scootaloo said again, running between her and the sticks. “I insist!”

Twilight smiled warmly, arching her head down towards a stick by her side. “Come now Scootaloo, we can finish faster if we work toge—”

“I said no!” Scootaloo yelped, making Twilight jump back surprised.

“Hmm…” Twilight hummed. “Scootaloo, is there something you want to talk about?”

“Of course not!” she replied nervously, turning her back to Twilight.

“You won’t get very far by just doing Dash favors, you know?” Twilight pointed out, casually walking towards her.

Scootaloo sharply turned, nervously staring at her. “You don’t know that!” she yelped.

“I've noticed that Rainbow Dash is starting to feel a bit uncomfortable,” Twilight replied with aloof, walking in front of Scootaloo. “You don’t want that, do you?”

“I wasn’t trying to…” Scootaloo whined, kicking the floor lightly, her snout twisted in a pout.

“Maybe you should just try telling her what you want,” Twilight suggested, lifting Scootaloo’s face, whose eyes glimmered slightly as she held back tears.

“But… what if she says no?”

Twilight smiled warmly, giving the filly a comforting look. “Better than pushing her away or never knowing for sure, right? Besides, I have confidence you’ll succeed.”

“You really think so?”

“Well…” Twilight began, grabbing the bundle of sticks and placing them on her own back. “Maybe you can get some brownie points by helping sick ol’ Twilight carry the wood, don’t you think?”

Scootaloo smiled weakly, nodding rapidly. “Yeah!” she rushed towards Twilight, quickly grabbing the wood and running inside the cave with her following right behind.

“You go, Scootaloo,” Twilight said happily.

“Interesting words,” a voice suddenly said, stopping Twilight in her tracks. “You sounded knowledgeable.”

“Well, it’s easy to sound knowledgeable when you’ve crossed that bridge yourself,” Twilight replied, watching as Patch came out from behind a nearby bush. “At least Scootaloo doesn’t have to tumble like I did,” she finished vaguely, passing the captain without even a glance.

“Well, SHE didn't let you fumble too far,” Patch said just as vaguely, trotting back inside and leaving Twilight on her own.

“… Yeah, she didn't,” she said with a grin, turning around and watching as the sun fully set behind the mountains before heading back inside.


~~~~~


Peaceful snores echoed in the cave as the group slept peacefully.

“Ugh…”

Only the complaints of the orange filly who was ignored by the tired ponies as she headed out of the cave without anyone noticing. All except for Patch, who watched attentively as she left the cave.

“What is she doing?” Patch growled, running after her. “Oh boy…” With a sigh, she  watched as Scootaloo rode off on her scooter, quickly disappearing into the foliage. “Crap,” she snarled, starting into a run in the hopes of quickly catching up with the filly. 

Adjusting her eyes as best as she could, she galloped through the dark forest as the moon—much to her dismay—hid behind a cloud that had been left behind by the weather team. “Of course! Enough time without Ms. Dash, and the team turns laz—woah!” she yelped, her thoughts interrupted as she began sliding down an unseen steep slope. 

“Grr…”  she growled, attempting to dig her hooves on the dirt to stop herself. “Crap!” she yelped, unable to do so, her eyes widening as she caught a sight of a river coming up. “Dammit!” she fell back, desperately reaching for something to latch onto, but failing to get a grip on anything, and quickly reaching the edge. “Noo!” she yelped, instinctively closing her eyes as she leapt off into the abyss. 

…

“Huh?” she mumbled as she noticed the lack of wind whistling by her ears, cautiously opening her eyes to find what had happened. “Of course…”

She found herself rocking side to side, one of her front legs stuck in a tree root coming out of the rock face she hanged by, the river roaring ferociously under her as if awaiting with open jaws for her to fall into it.

“… Stupid, stupid, stupid,” she sighed, softly hitting her head with her free hoof. “But no time, I need to g—” she said as she reached for the ledge, but stopping as dirt around the root began creaking, forcing her to pull her hoof back. “… Or maybe I could just hang here... that’s just fantastic.”

She looked up where the moon still hanged high on the night sky. “Even as a captain, I can’t get out of my own problems! Grr… Useless!”

“Captain? Is that you?”

“Huh?” Patch mumbled, attempting her best to find the source of the voice, but looking at nothing more than the rock in front of her. “Who is there!?”

“Captain? Is that actually you down there?” the voice called again, sounding closer. “It’s me, Twilight!”

“Of all ponies!“ Patch thought frustrated. “Careful Sparkle! Don’t get too close! I’m barely hanging by a thread here, and I think the ground is ready to give in!” she warned.

“Oh-oh, w have another problem!” another voice joined Twilight‘s. “You can handle this, right?”

“What? But I ne—” Twilight began, but stopped abruptly. “Great!”

“What’s happening up there!?” Patch shouted.

“Don’t worry! I got this!” Twilight replied.

“Of course you do…” Patch groaned, doing her best to ignore Twilight’s murmurs. 

“If only I had my magic!” Twilight whispered loud enough for Patch to hear.

“Well, you don’t!” she shouted back, hoping to get her attention. “Don’t do anything stupid!”

“Ouch!” she yelped suddenly.

“Sparkle? You okay up there?”

“D—Don’t worry, I have an idea!” she shouted, the sound of her hoof steps growing fainter as she dove back into the forest.

“Oh, great, magic-less pony has a plan! This should be goo—aah!” Patch yelped as she noticed the dirt starting to give in. “Um, Sparkle? You might want to hurry up!” she shouted nervously, but no answer came.

…

Minutes passed, and Patch grew desperate as she watched the rock begin to rumble quietly, dirt and small rocks predicting her fate if she didn't act soon. “Great, I’m going to die here! Of all the stupid ways to go…” she sighed, looking down in resignation. “Sorry, Fluttershy…”

“I’m here, Captain!” Twilight shouted from the top, and just as suddenly, the end of a rope fell by Patch. “Quickly! Grab it!”

Patch stared at it awestruck, slowly reaching out for it and pulling it. “It’s solid…”

“What are you waiting for? Hurry up!” Twilight shouted again, getting her out of her stupor.

“I’m going!” hearing as the dirt began to give once more, she bit the rope, expertly tying it around her free hoof with only her snout. “Okay! I got it!” feeling confident once more, she pulled on her other hoof, breaking free of the root. “Quickly now…” using the rock in front of her to push, she jumped to the side, watching as the strength of her push managed the job of fully breaking the rock face, and she watched silently as its remains fell down towards the river under her.  

“… Well, glad that wasn’t me.”



~~~~~



Minutes later, they were safely away from the ledge, far enough for Patch to breathe in relief, happily taking mouthfuls of air.

“Are you okay?” Twilight finally asked, staring worriedly at her rapid breathing.

“Y—Yes, I’m okay. Thank you,” she replied shakily, looking at the rope attentively. “I see you came prepared.”

“Yeah…” Twilight replied. “Good thing that it was packed by a certain shit.”

“Heh,” Patch chuckled, shaking her head amusedly. “Language, Twilight. Did the human teach you how to curse?”

“Very funny,“ Twilight laughed sarcastically. “But I can curse more if you want. I’ve learned a lot from him both good and bad, sadly,” she giggled. “But I won‘t, I owe you."

“What do you owe me for?” Patch asked puzzled..

“For actually referring to me by my first name.”

Patch’s eyes widened, looking at Twilight surprised. She then cleared her throat, and shaking her head, she suddenly asked. “... Anyway, what took you so long? I thought you came prepared with the rope.” 

“Sorry, I got sidetracked by Scootaloo, she fell in the river, an—”

“What? Then why are you here!? Why didn’t you go rescue her instead!?” Patch shouted angrily. “She could be...”

“Patch,“ Twilight smiled softly as she answered. “She is with Rainbow Dash. She saved her. They flew into the forest together a couple of minutes ago."

“… Fine,” Patch replied satisfied, getting back on her hooves, stretching them in an effort to remove the stiffness. “Let's just go back, the others must be worried about you, and I‘ve had enough of the forest for the night.”

“Sure,” Twilight agreed. “But maybe this experience will make you hate me slightly less, right?” she laughed, walking ahead.

“Wait,” Patch called. “Look, Spa— I mean. Twilight?” 

Twilight turned around, looking at Patch with curious eyes. “Yes?”

“I... don’t hate you,” she said simply, before storming ahead of Twilight. “Come on, we should get going.”

“Of course, Patch!” Twilight said happily, following right behind.


~~~~~



Meanwhile, hours before, back in the Everfree...


“A beautiful morning for me to see, but an easy one it will not be.”

Zecora watched through a small opening in the woods as the sun rose. She looked back at her hut, where her guests slept. Nodding, she headed back, ready for the day she had planned for the human inside.
> We'll Make it Through.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I don’t mean to be a bother here, but will you hurry up, John!”

“I’m trying Rarity! Um, I think?” John replied, looking down. “Nope, nothing!”

“Oh-oh!” Rarity yelped suddenly. "I don't think I can hold it anymore!"

John looked at her in horror, knowing full well what Rarity‘s words entailed. “Crap, not aga—” *splash* as he expected, he fell into the small pool of water under him, tripping as his feet hit the bottom of the small pond. “Gah!” he coughed as his head was submerged underwater.

Zecora simply watched from the side as John emerged. “It takes time so don’t dismay, this ability you will soon be able to display.”

John groaned, leaving the pond. “Yeah, but how long? If I can even do this at all…” he sighed, removing his soaked shirt and tossing it aside.

“Come now, John, stuff like this takes time! Take it from me, just keep practicing,” Rarity’s small frame squeaked from the side. “I want to say that, but my magic isn’t exactly at its peak right now due to circumstances," she said, clearing her throat. "Point is, I don’t think I can hold you again over the water at the moment.”

“Right,“ John sighed. “Although I still don’t understand why we need you for it.”

Zecora shook her head. “Your ability involves magic, no other unicorns here is a bit tragic,” she pointed out. “If you manage to remove her shield, this new ability you will wield.”

“And from what you told us, it has only worked in moments of stress, correct?” Rarity continued. “And this is as much danger as what we are willing to put you through.”

“Which is why you put me on a pond, yeah, yeah; I get it,” John groaned, falling back on the ground. “Aaaand rocks just poked into my back… ouuuch,” he complained, letting his head fall to the side. 

“In any case, this is only as a last measure, all will be fine once we get to the Princess,” Rarity explained. “Besides, it can’t hurt to try to learn this, right?” she finished, yawning.

“I suppose,” John shrugged. “Ready for another round, then?”

“Actually… I’m going to go check on the others,” Rarity pushed the question aside. “I know Pinkie Pie is a grown mare, but I‘m not sure if leaving her alone is a good idea,” she laughed nervously.

“It’s okay Rarity, I can see you are tired, go ahead and rest,” John suggested. “Zecora?“ he called, turning to the zebra who nodded in agreement.

“W—Well, I mean… Thank you, I won‘t be long,“ she said with a thankful smile, making her way back to Zecora’s hut, passing Ditzy, who stopped a few feet from the group.

“Hey guys! How goes the, um, training?” she asked eagerly.

“Ask again later,” John sighed, closing his hand to rip out blades of grass from the ground and tossing them aside, the soft breeze instantly pushing them towards his face, bringing out a groan for his self-inflicted inconvenience. 

Ditzy approached him with a disappointed look, standing right behind him. “Sorry… So what’s the plan now?”

John shrugged. “We are taking a LONG break.”

“Resting is something that is needed, but don’t let your mission be impeded,” Zecora said sternly from the side.

“Yeah, I know. I just…” he trailed off, avoiding to look at any of them. “I don’t know, I just feel like I won’t be able to do it, is all. We are placing bets with chips that aren't even mine... if that makes sense."

Zecora stared at the pair intently for a few seconds and nodded, she didn’t say another word and left through the trail back to her hut, leaving behind a confused pair.

“Huh, that was weird,” John noted, laying his head back down and looking at the foliage over him, the small rays of light passing through quickly stopping his appreciation and making him turn his head away. 

“Hey, John?” Ditzy called to him, laying down next to him. “Is this a bad time to have a talk?”

“A talk?” John asked, growing anxious. He gulped at the remembrance of his would-be discovery in the library just the day prior, but nodded nonetheless. “No, not at all, sure!”

Ditzy smiled gratefully. “Thanks… and to get to the point, I want to apologize.”

He looked at her puzzled, but chose to humor her. “What for?”

“For how I treated you, of course!” she whimpered, having to be reminded of it. “Yesterday when I got angry over my name, and of course when I got angry with Pinkie. I wasn’t in the best of moods.”

John shook his head amused, ruffling the mare’s mane. “It’s okay, I wasn’t angry.  And trust me, none of us are; we are just nervous what with Guard keeping a watch over Ponyville, Zecora and Rarity helping me and my lost cause, and Pinkie Pie, well, being Pinkie Pie."

“And Fluttershy,” Ditzy added. “I wonder if she’ll make it to Canterlot quickly…”

“Right!“ he berated himself mentally for forgetting. “Yes! Everyone agreed that she could, no need to worry,” John noted, recalling the idea that had come from Rarity, practically guilt-tripping the yellow mare into going to Canterlot and contacting the princess, much to her dismay. “Glad that she said yes in the end, although I’m surprised you weren’t the one to go, I mean, Fluttershy flies, but you ARE a delivery mare, so you must know how to fly fast, right?”

Ditzy’s look darkened, and she grimaced, poking the ground with her hoof. “John, don’t you remember? My eyes?”

“What about them?” he asked confused, but he was instantly reminded as he stared into her pained eyes which looked into different directions. “Oh, right! I’m sorry! I forgot about that! Gah, I feel terrible!”

"Eyes not good on long trips," Ditzy giggled amused. “It’s okay, don’t feel bad. I’m actually glad. That just means that you don’t see me differently like, well, others do.”

“Of course not!” he replied taken aback. “ I’d never! I mean, you are my first… well, my first pony friend, outside Twilight, that is.”

“Friend… we ARE friends!” she said in understanding. “Whatever happens, right?” she said sheepishly.

“Yeah… Yeah!” he laughed awkwardly.

“That’s good to know,” she sighed happily. “That‘s one thing less to worry about…” 

“Oh!” John mumbled, feeling the tone change. “Right…”

“Sorry!” she quickly apologized. “You must be worried too! I forgot that we’re having bigger problems with your training and all.”

“No, it‘s no—” he began, wary on what he would say next. However... “Know what? Screw it! I'm worried. I don't know if what I'm doing will make a difference, or if Twilight and all of you will get out of this unscathed, and just..." he finished with a shout, turning around and laying his face down on the ground. “So many things that can go wrong..."

“John…” Ditzy said worried, unable to come up with something to say to console him, looking side to side in an attempt to find an answer. “W—Well, I think we‘ll be fine… You can do it!” she said supportively. 

“You are just saying that,” John groaned still facedown. “I mean, what can I really do with a power that only seems to activate when it wants to!? Unlike you all, I’m useless! I’m so st— ouch!” he complained, sitting up and holding the spot where Ditzy had just let her hoof fall on his head. “W—What was that for?”

“Something I learned from Golden?”

“… What?”

She shook her head. “Point is, you can’t give up! And even if that’s not the solution, I know we can find something! I just, um, know…” she finished with a sheepish smile.

“Ditzy, wow..” John quickly shook his head realizing, what he’d said. “Sorry! Slipped out!”

“It’s fine, you can call me Ditzy when we are alone,“ a still blushing Ditzy said with a dismissive hoof, placing it on John’s head and patting it. “So you like to do this a lot, is this helping you feel better?”

John stifled a laugh, nodding slowly. “Know what? As a matter of fact, it is.”

They looked at each other for a few seconds and burst into a laugh, the nervous mood dissipating as if nothing troubling had happened.

“Thank you Ditzy, that actually helped,” John said grateful.

“You too! I didn’t think I could cheer up anypony, much less you!” she giggled surprised. “I’m just glad you feel better.”

“Y—Yeah,” John mumbled, turning his head to the side, hiding a blush that suddenly appeared on his face. “Whoa, you really do care about me, huh?” he asked, keeping his face away as he said it.

“Huh? What!? I mean, yes, we are friends, and…“ Ditzy mumbled, unable to form a sentence.. “Well, w—we've been talking for a while, I should leave you to it!” she said in a dismissive tone. “Just remember, we can do this!” Ditzy encouraged him, opening her wings, ready to take off.

John turned again and stared at the nervous Pegasus, fidgeting in place as she readied to leave. “So she DOES have a thing for me,” he thought surprised. “So that’s why you asked that.”

“Huh?” she called, managing to hear his voice.

“I said I want to ask you something,” he lied easily.

“Oh? What?” she asked interested, already forgetting her embarrassment.

“Remember back when you asked me about my thoughts on mares? How I saw them?” he asked, easily recalling the event.

“Um? Um… Oh!” she suddenly remembered. “I may vaguely recall such a thing,” she said neutrally, facing away form him.

John chuckled at the reaction. “Well, I was actually thinking about that, and I was like, maybe I should get to seeing somepony like that, not necessarily a full relationship, but starting off slow, you know? If we get out of this, of course.”

"Y—Yeah?" Ditzy stared with glassy eyes, holding a goofy smile, only to shake her head quickly, realizing her own reaction. “But why are you telling me this?” she asked blankly.

“I don’t know,” John shrugged. “Just something that came to mind, our current situation and all, and you being a mare who will listen. What do you think?”

“Oh! Um, er, well, I say that’s good! We should totally g— I mean, I’ll help you, er… Gotta go!” she finished, nearly tripping as she took off in a rush, leaving behind a cloud of smoke and a coughing, gagging John.

“Oh boy… what did I get myself into?” John laughed, blushing slightly. “Huh?” he turned around, hearing the sound of hoofsteps until Zecora and Rarity appeared.

“We have returned!" Did you have a good break, John?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, I actually did,” John said satisfied. “Come on, let’s get back to it!”


~~~~~


“Grrr! Come on!” Recon growled, pushing his horn against the smooth surface in front of him. “Come ooon, do it!”

“You’ve been at it for the past twenty minutes, give it up! Trixie isn‘t even here, so even she doesn‘t think we can escape,” Spike said from the magic bubble to his side, sighing with annoyance. “At least let me take a nap while we are captured!”

Recon turned to him with annoyance of his own. “Spike, sleeping is all you’ve been doing.”

He shrugged. “Because that’s all we CAN do now! We tried getting out of here, there isn’t a way!” he shook his head, turning his back to Recon. “All we can do is hope for the others to come through—they always do.”

“Giving up so easily isn't an option,” Recon argued. “But I guess you are right, bursting the bubble doesn’t seem to be an option. Unless...” he smiled suddenly. 

“What?” Spike asked, looking intently. “Do you have a plan?”

“Maybe…” he replied, shining his horn and putting it on the surface of the bubble. Taking a deep breath, he pushed through, his horn easily sliding through. “I—I think it’s working!” he said excitedly, pushing the rest of his head out.

“Whoa, but how?” Spike said with disbelief. “I thought the shield absorbed magic!”

“It does, but what if all I did was cut through the magic rather than try to dispel it,” Recon replied, licking his lips as he managed to pull a leg out.

Spike scratched his head confused. “Yeah, cool, I’m just glad it’s working!”

“Um, Mr. Recon?“ Time Turner called from the bubble next to Spike‘s. “You might wanna be careful.”

“Shh! I think I almost got it!“

Spike watched intently, noticing what Time Turner spoke of “No, really. You might wanna listen to Mr. Turner and watch out,” Spike concurred.

“Spike, I’m perfectly fin—” Recon stopped mid-sentence, managing to finally slip out, not realizing how high up he was and falling down, landing flat on the floor five feet under him. “Ouuch…” he whined as he got on his hooves. “Oh Celestia, that hurt…” he complained.

“Told you…” Spike whispered from the top.

“Quiet, you!” Recon groaned, nursing his pained body while looking around and noticing a railing. Sneakily, he headed towards it, looking down to the first floor of the town hall for signs of others, but finding none. “That’s weird…”

“What’s weird?” Spike asked.

“There really is nopony here,” he went around the railing to verify, quietly keeping track of the area, but found none of the ponies he’d seen the day before. “Yeah, none…”

“Maybe they left when Trixie left?” Turner suggested. 

“Can we focus on something else first?” Spike called, tapping the bubble he was in. “Forgetting about us?”

“Hmm…:” Recon looked at the bubble for a few seconds, rubbing his chin. “Actually Spike, I think it might be better if you stayed.”

“What!? Why?” Spike yelped indignantly. “What reason would you have for that!”

“Because if Trixie came by and didn’t hear us talking, she would get suspicious, the bubbles muffle sound enough, but I think she would find it odd if she didn‘t at least hear you, maybe she won‘t notice the empty bubble” Recon explained. “In fact, I’m going to need you two to keep talking occasionally. I could use your help, Mr. Turner,” he said, turning to the stallion.

“Me? But what am I supposed to talk about?” he whimpered.

“Um, I don’t know…” Recon shrugged. “I mean, you work for the mayor, right?”

“Yes?” he replied confused. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Well, you can always talk about things that have happened in Ponyville, I’m sure you have seen lots of interesting tidbits, right?” Recon guessed.

Time Turner shook his head, scoffing at the question. “Are you kidding!? The amount of things that have transpired in our little town the past few years is just inconceivable! Don’t even get me started on Nightmare Moon! She was ju-”

“Huh,” Recon mumbled, scratching his head as Turner began rambling on. “Well, that worked better than expected,” he looked back at Spike, nodding. “Spike, you keep him going.”

“What!?” Spike screeched. “You are going to leave me with him?”

Recon raised his leg, saluting Spike. “Your sacrifice will not be forgotten,” he recited before running downstairs and heading out of the Hall, the muffled, yet still audible groans of Spike reaching his ears. "He'll get over it."

Carefully, he sneaked out of the building, and to his surprise, he found no one guarding the entrance, met instead with a barren looking Ponyville as far as the eye could see.

“This is strange,” he muttered to himself, looking around for signs of any ponies. “Where is everyone?” he trudged on slowly, keeping his eyes open for any signs of life, but other than the occasional bird, no other living creature was in sight. “What the hay is going on?”

“… Around…”

“Huh?” he focused on his ears, picking up the random voice. “I think that came from the town square,” he surmised, his legs already taking him there. To his fortune, he began listening to the murmurs of numerous voices the more he walked, and just minutes later, reached the last house leading into the open area that kept Ponyvilles water fountain. “What is going on?“ he quickly noticed the fountain surrounded by numerous ponies with timid eyes, looking up at a blue pony standing on a small podium.

“Now, Trixie will ask once again,” the mare said, staring down at the crowd. “Where are they!?” she growled, getting uncertain looks in return.

“But…  You didn’t say who they were…” one of the ponies replied, gulping at his own remark. Trixie’s retort was a growl that brought the pony down to a whimpering mess.

“As Trixie said, the ponies that she is looking for are those pesky friends of Twilight Sparkle! I know that the ones called Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy are still here,” she explained, looking over the ponies, but being unable to recognize them.  “Now, find them for Trixie! Or else,” she finished threateningly, turning to leave.

“Who do you think you are?”

Trixie stopped on her tracks, slowly turning around. “Who said that?” she asked in a whisper, noticing the ponies making a circle around a yellow mare.

“Golden Harvest is the name, you wash up!” the mare barked in response, scowling at Trixie.

Recon watched from the distance, barely able to hear, but being able to notice the new pony. “What is that one doing!?” he hissed in a low voice. 

Trixie smirked, looking at the pony with amusement. “You are either stupid, or an idiot. Trixie didn’t think anypony would talk back to her like that.”

“Maybe if you shut up for a moment, you would hear it,” Golden retaliated with a laugh, getting a few chuckles from the ponies around her.

Trixie glared at the crowd, forcing them back into silence. “Cute, we have a fighter in our midst,” she said as calmly as she could muster, only her eyes showing her irritation. “You sure have some high hopes for yourself, don’t you?” she said, showing a small smile.

“Against some hussie like you? Easily,” Golden replied without fear.

“My, my, somepony’s head is in the clouds, maybe I should match those expectations,” she said softly, her horn and eyes glowing a faint red.

Golden stared confused. “What are you trying to sa- Woah!” she yelped, suddenly lifted off the ground “Gah! Let me down!” she demanded, struggling to get out of Trixie’s magic grip.

“Oh, trust me… I will,” Trixie said with a sinister stare, pulling her head back, and tossing it forward, in turn, tossing Golden Harvest who had only realized what was happening and began screaming.

"I called it!” jumping into action, Recon ran to the direction Harvest flew. “Come on, brain, don’t fail me now!“ he growled, his horn glowing faintly while never blinking as he watched her fly. “Come on!” just then, he began to notice Harvest begin to fall back down. “Now!”

In a flash of light, he disappeared, reappearing almost instantly on another part of Ponyville. He looked up, noticing Harvest right over him. He did not waste a single second and jumped, placing his legs as far forward as he could and catching her.

“Too fast!” Recon yelped, and his horn glowed again, making the pair teleport, suddenly reappearing in an upward slope over the ground and flying upwards for a few instances before swiftly falling back to the ground with pained grunts. 

“Ouch…” Golden complained, looking around confused. “I—I’m alive?” she put her hoof down, feeling something soft under her. “What the…?

“Can you get off me, please?” Recon’s muffled voice pleaded.

“I’m sorry!” she apologized, quickly moving off him. “Are you okay?”

“Ugh, it’s okay, I’ll be fine,” Recon replied, getting on his feet. “The better is question is if you are okay,“ he said, giving the mare a throughout look. “That was pretty dumb of you.”

“Don’t say that!” she reprimanded him, taking a deep breath. “Still, thank you, you saved my life,” she said out loud, shaking her head. “What was I thinking?”

“You weren’t,” he replied.

“Shut up,” she groaned. “I was getting sick of her, I couldn’t help it.”

“Not gonna ask, we don’t have time anyway,” he shrugged. “We have to go.”

“What? But what about the others?” she asked, looking back towards the town square.  

“They’ll be fine,” he shrugged. “After your little stunt, I think they’ll be too terrified to attempt something like that,” he explained. 

“How do you know that?” she asked confused.

“Simple,” he said, giving her a dark look. “You were used as an example.”

Harvest stared back with a horrified expression, staying silent at the implications of his words. “So, she did try to…”

“Let‘s go,” Recon said, putting a comforting hoof on her back. “Maybe you can tell me a bit about what happened, I may be able to figure out what’s going on.”


~~~~~


“Fourteen hundred hours, and no new developments,” Guard thought as he watched over the quietness of Ponyville which remained eerily silent as the shield muffled sound, only managing to hear the occasional shout that usually brought him to growl in exasperation. “And I can’t do anything about it… I really hope Fluttershy reaches Canterlot soon.”

“Argh, I wish I had brought my binoculars,” he complained out loud "Unless…” using the trees as cover, he inched closer to the shield, carefully avoiding to let on his approach. “And of course, I see nothing,” he whispered, noticing the lack of activity. “Of course, that’s actually more worrying,” he groaned.

A few minutes of staring later, he noticed a pair of ponies suddenly appear, they walked by the edge, simply observing it. “Wait, is that… it is!” he realized, running towards the pair. “Recon!” he called.

“Who is saying that?” Recon looked towards the bubble, noticing the pony whom he soon recognized. “Whoa, sir!” he said, saluting instantly at the sight of Gleaming Guard approaching the bubble from outside.

“Sir?” Harvest asked confused, noticing the pony. “Oh, he is your superior,” she mumbled to herself.

“Don’t touch the shield!” Guard warned quickly. “It tells Trixie when it has been tampered with!”

“Oh… Well, there goes my plan to open it then,” Recon groaned. “Wait, then how did you get out there, sir?” 

“Seems that we need to catch up,” Guard pointed out. “It happened after you got caught…”

For the new few minutes, they exchanged events that had occurred since their last meeting; Recon’s was short-lived, but Guard managed to keep it going for minutes longer as he finished it up with their current whereabouts. 

“So, Derpy is out there?” Golden asked with relief.

“Yes, ma’am, she was a great help in getting us out of here, that’s for sure,” he replied with a smile that didn’t stay long. “But if what Trixie did to you is anything to go by, it appears that what John said about corruption is true, and it’s only getting worse.”

“What do we do, then?” Recon asked. “I’m not exactly a match for her.”

“Well,” Guard said, pacing side to side as he let the thoughts settle, eyeing Harvest as he spoke. “We have a plan, but it’s not exactly fully fleshed out yet.”

“What do you mean? Is the plan bad?” Recon shook his head with doubt. “Please tell me we have a failsafe,” he pleaded.

“That's the failsafe. We send Ms. Fluttershy to Canterlot, and seeing how she is the only one capable of getting there fast, we figured it would be her,” he explained. “In the meantime, I’m keeping watch, but it doesn’t seem like there are any ponies keeping guard here.”

Recon nodded. “No need, pretty much the whole town is gathered around with Trixie. She is keeping a close eye on them, looking for the others for some reason,” he explained.

"He probably wants them as hostages to bait Ms. Twilight," Guard sighed, taking a pensive stance as the gears turned in his head. “Can you keep an eye on the others? Maybe keep Trixie from attempting anything like she did with Harvest?”

“Against my better judgment, yes, I can try,” Recon guessed. “But let’s just say that I don’t think I can pull another little stunt like before,” he explained, looking at Harvest. “The well is nearly empty.”

“Just try it. And if you can’t manage it, improvise, that ‘stunt’ pretty much showed you are good at it,” Guard half-laughed, looking around nervously. “I gotta go, just be careful. The both of you, okay?"

“Wait!” Recon called. “What are you going to do, then?”

Guard turned slightly, showing his grimace. “Gotta go check on what could potentially be both plans B and C,” he explained, before running off into the Everfree once again, his business concluded, easily making it back to Zecora’s hut, where everyone sat just outside.

“Hiiiii, Guard!” Pinkie greeted him the moment she noticed him, bouncing excitedly. “Did it go well? Did you have fun? Did you make any new friends?”

“Long story short to all; no, I didn’t,” he sighed, slumping down on a log. “It appears that Trixie is deteriorating faster than we thought, we need to act now,” he said with urgency. “How are you doing with the training, John?”

“Huh?” John replied lamely, taken out of his thoughts. “Well, let’s just say that it isn’t exactly going as planned,” he said vaguely, fidgeting nervously in place.

“Well, he actually almost broke my magic earlier, if I‘m correct,” Rarity quickly jumped in. “Although we are not sure how he did it.”

“Is that actually true?” Guard asked, turning his attention to the uncomfortably quiet Zecora, who simply sipped from her tea cup without a trace of worry.

“His ability is one I knew not before, it’s not something that I have found in tales of yore, this one display was seen with emotion, might be enough to set things in motion,” she replied with closed eyes, taking a whiff from her drink.

“Well, we might need to act now, maybe stall for time until Fluttershy manages to reach Canterlot,” Guard suggested.

“And I agree,” John jumped in. “But maybe using this half-assed ability of mine isn’t the answer, what if… what if we’ve been going on about this all wrong?”

“What do you mean, John?” Ditzy quickly asked, staring with a confused look. "It was only an option."

Zecora stared at John, nodding interested. “Seems that there is something that you know, maybe with us you can share that glow.”

“Alright,” he sighed, ruffling his own hair. “But trust me, you aren't going to like this.”


~~~~~


“I hope Ditzy is really doing fine,” Harvest said nervously, staring back and forth between Recon and the shield they had left behind.

“It’ll be fine,” Recon assured her. “She is better off with Zecora than here, really.”

“I guess you are right,” she admitted with a sigh. “But why are we staring at Trixie from here, though?” she reasonably asked, watching from afar as Trixie spoke with a few ponies as she towered over them by standing on a gold podium.

“What!?” Trixie screeched immediately in response, her voice easily reaching the hidden pair. “What do you mean you can’t find them!?” she growled.

“W—We are sorry! We just can’t seem to locate them anywhere…” a trembling mare replied, stepping forward from the group she was with to inform her, silently chastising her decision to do so.

“Trixie understands,” Trixie replied, taking a deep breath. “It was something that was expected.”

“T—Thank you!” the mare said with a thankful smile, turning to the ponies behind her. “S—See? I told you it would be fine!”

“Yes… and clearly, you aren’t fit to be on a Princesses‘ sight,” Trixie whispered, her voice echoing as her eyes harshly glowed a bright red. 

“A princess…?” the mare mumbled confused, but was unable to think of it any further as she was suddenly levitated by a red glow, her thoughts turning into a panicked curses. “Whoa! Wait! You can‘t be…! Oh no! Please!” she pleaded with an horrified expression as she watched Trixie’s horn glow.

“Oh boy, this looks familiar!” Recon nearly said out loud as he watched the helpless mare.

“Ms. Trixie, please…” the mare begged once again, looking down at the other ponies with pleading eyes, desperately hoping for help that she already knew would not come.

“Miss?” Trixie asked, grinning malevolently. “You are to refer to me as Princess Trixie,” she said, tossing her head back in a familiar motion.

“No, Tri— I mean, princess, please!!” the mare shrieked, breathing heavily and wriggling in place as she attempted her best to break free, unable to do anything, she panicked to the point of passing out in Trixie's grasp.

“Now, begone,” Trixie ordered, ready to toss the pony.

“Stop!” Recon shouted, already well on his way, tossing a burst of magical energy that hit Trixie’s face, forcing her to stop her grip and dropping the mare to the floor. “Take her!” he quickly ordered to the stunned ponies, who without uttering a word, grabbed their friend and ran off.

“W—What?” Trixie mumbled, wobbling side to side in a drunken motion. “What’s going on…?” she asked, seeing Recon right in front of her. “Wait, what? You! What’s going on!? How did you escape my prison!”

“Magic!” he replied easily, taking on a fighting stance. “What do you think you are doing? You almost killed a pony!” he shouted with disgust.

“Hmph! Trixie does not know what you speak of!” she harrumphed with feign innocence. “But you seem willing to go back to your cage, don’t you?” she continued, giving forth a smug grin. “Perhaps if you helped Trixie find certain ponies, maybe I'll rethink that thought.”

“No,” Recon hissed in response, glaring at Trixie without a hint of fear in his face.

Trixie frowned, shaking her head in disappointment. “Shame. Seems that Trixie has no choice then,” she said, her eyes glowing once again.

“I don’t think so!” Recon said, jumping to the side in an attempt to avoid the magic that he knew would come. “That isn’t going to work with me!” 

Trixie didn’t reply, opting for continuing her assault on him. With some effort, she followed his moves, managing to catch him off guard, but failing to capture him as he slipped out of her sight, much to her annoyance. “You little,” she growled, her horn glowing brighter.

“Huh?” Recon was unable to react, as a shield suddenly closed in on him, completely stopping him on his tracks. “Oh no…”

“Got ya,” Trixie said triumphally, any creases of annoyance having dissipated from her face in one fell swoop. “It is time for you punishment, don‘t you think?” she asked, her voice suddenly booming throughout the town.

“What…?” Recon watched as Trixie’s horn lit up again, the smile appearing once more “What’s happening to you? This isn’t the Trixie I’ve heard of.”

“I have no idea what you mean by that,” she said with disinterest. “But what I do know is that your time is now cut short.”

“W—What are you planning to do with me?” he asked with a gulp.

“Stop you from existing,” she said simply, taking in a deep breath and letting her magic flow.

“What the…” Recon was barely unable to react, the bubble he was in suddenly becoming slightly smaller. “Crap!” with a flash of his horn, he created a shield of his own around himself, stopping Trixie’s murderous magic, but only to realize that his own was quickly being overpowered by Trixie’s more potent spell.

“This is how your life ends,” she said simply. “Maybe you’ll think better on a next life.”

“N—No!” he gasped, feeling his own spell starting to fade. “I’m sorry, Patch. Guess this is it for me…”

“And now, Trixie bids you a farew— Huh?” she gasped, letting the magic stop, and dropping Recon to the ground. 

“Wait, what happened?” Recon gasped, looking up towards Trixie.

“Who…” she asked, bemusedly looking around. “Who is trying to go through my shield!” she growled, suddenly trotting away from the confused Recon.

:”I… I…” Recon sighed with a grin on his face. “T—That oughta teach you…” he trailed on proudly, unable to finish his quip and quickly passing out.


~~~~~


With a quick step, Trixie headed to the outskirts of town, passing by some of the other ponies who in her wake, went the opposite direction, leaving her completely alone by the time she reached her destination.

“What?” she mumbled, as she curiously stared at the hairless creature standing at the other side of her shield, quickly followed by annoyance as she took notice of the ponies accompanying it. “So that’s why Trixie couldn’t find you,” she sighed in annoyance, noticing the familiar faces of Rarity, as well as the mail pony whom she had let go the day before. “And now Trixie understands how you escaped,” she deadpanned.

“Afternoon, Trixie,” Rarity greeted her calmly.

“Well, well, Trixie is surprised you didn’t just run away. Why exactly are you back here? You do realize I have the power to finish you in an instant, right?” Trixie asked smugly, lighting up her horn to make her point anything but subtle.

“Yes, I do,” Rarity replied, seemingly unfazed by the threat. “And trust me, I wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t a good reason, right?” she finished, turning to John who nodded in agreement.

“Hmm… What exactly are you?” Trixie asked John, her curiosity piqued once again. “Trixie has never seen something like you before.”

John simply stared back, mulling over the words he had practiced on the way there. “I’ll tell you what you want, but only if we can talk.”

“Talk?” Trixie said surprised. “Trixie is surprised you can actually communicate,” she narrowed her eyes, staring suspiciously. “And why would Trixie let you get in here to talk? What if this is a trap?”

“Trust me Trixie, I don‘t want to do this, but he insisted,” Rarity replied in his stead. “Look, both John and I go in, he can talk to you, and there is no problem; besides, you have the alicorn amulet to help you just in case,” she said knowingly, catching Trixie off-guard.

“Oh, so you know?” Trixie inquired. “But yes, I suppose you are correct,” she nodded, momentarily mulling over the words. “Very well! Trixie will accept your request, if only because she is far too curious about the creature with you,” with a glow of her horn, a small opening appeared on the shield. “Now come! Before Trixie changes her mind!”

John and Rarity shared a look, and taking a deep breath, they headed back into Ponyville, the shield closing in the moment they stepped inside, leaving the rest of the ponies able to only watch from outside.

“Good luck!” Pinkie bid quickly before realizing the shield had already closed off. “Oh no! I missed my cue!” she cried out. “What if they didn’t hear me!”

“We heard you,” John and Rarity said at once, before turning their attention to the crazed unicorn in front of them.

“So, before Trixie is bored by your questions, you will answer her own,” she quickly spoke, taking reign of the conversation. “What exactly are you?”

John nodded. “Fair enough,” he slowly sat down on the ground, getting comfortable as he set his story straight. “Well, you see, it happe—”

“Up,” Trixie quickly ordered. “Do not sit down.”

“Huh?”

“Trixie is not going to waste her time on a long story, so just give me the details, and make it snappy,” she explained. “Or I don’t listen to anything else you have to say.”

“Oh…” John gulped, turning to Rarity who could only stare back anxiously. 

“Just do it,” she advised, motioning him to go with her hoof.

“Alright… I’m a human. Came from beyond the Everfree, and I do not recall my past at all, as I was only found a few weeks ago with only the knowledge of my species and name,” he lied, quickly abridging the story he had practiced on his way there. “Does that satisfy you?”

Trixie listened to his words intently, gauging their validity as her eyes remained closed. “Trixie finds your story to be hugely lacking, but it will have to do,” with a glow of her horn, a small throne appeared out of thin air right behind her. Taking advantage of the only seat, she got herself comfortable on it before she focused her attention on John. “Very well, you may appeal to Princess Trixie, now.”

“Princess?”  John mumbled to himself. “Never mind. Anyway, I’ll get to the point—will you please let this town leave in peace?”

Trixie simply blinked in response, letting out a yawn. “Really? Is that really all you wanted to ask of me?”

“Well… yes,” John replied awkwardly. “I just feel like these ponies don’t deserve what they are getting, I mean, I know that the Ursa Minor attack must have affected you, bu—”

“Wait a minute, that’s what you think this is about?” Trixie asked, holding back a laughter. "Is that what Sparkle told you?"

“Is it not?” Rarity asked. “That’s the only interaction you’ve had with this town! And you were looking for us! I’m sorry Trixie, but I’m confused on your motives.”

“My motives?“ Trixie chuckled, jumping off her seat with a single leap. “Oh, I won’t lie, I was going to ponynap you, and my main objective was to get revenge on this town and that stupid Twilight Sparkle,” she said the name with venom in her voice. “Well, at least at first.”

“At first?” John quoted. “What is that supposed to mean? What exactly are you planning?”

Trixie let out a booming laugh, sending tremors through John’s body. “Simply said, Trixie now has an amazing power; one that rivals those so-called rulers of Equestria! In fact, I think that I might be able to become one of them if a position ever opens. Who knows?” she finished vaguely, showing a malevolent grin.

“Trixie!” Rarity shouted. “You cannot be saying what I think you are sayi— ulp!” she suddenly gasped, her sentence cut short.

“Rarity?” John asked, quickly noticing her reaching for her neck, scratching at it as if something were around it. “No!” he shouted, realizing what was happening. “Trixie! Let her go!”

Trixie kept a calm look, ignoring John and raising Rarity from the ground,  struggling in place, desperately looking for air that her lungs were unable to get, tearing up as she failed to do so. The others outside quickly noticed it, and began banging against Trixie’s magical barrier, unable to make a single dent on it.

“Trixie! Stop! Please!” John begged, unable to come up with something to say. -Let her go…-

Trixie simply stared with her glowing red eyes, content with what she witnessed. “No. Trixie only wanted to get these ponies out of the way, and I think this little filly will make a perfect example, so you can all learn your place for my new empire.”

“No… No!” John yelped, instinctively attempting to pull her away from the danger, easily dragging her aside, where to his surprise, she suddenly gasped, taking hungry mouthfuls of air.

“J—John?” she managed to say as she took a breath. “Y—You did it…” she said weakly, falling to the ground in her exhausted stage.

“That doesn‘t matter,” John waved the topic aside, picking her up in his arms, staring at her worriedly. “Are you okay?”

Rarity smiled weakly, barely able to keep her eyes open. “I am now… all things considered.”

“What!? How?” Trixie asked in disbelief. “That’s impossible! Nothing can beat the Great and Powerful Princess Trixie’s magic!” in her anger, she turned to John, scowling furiously at him. “You… How did you do that!?”

John stared back, realizing what was happening. “I think she knows I did it,” he whispered to Rarity.

“Do you think you can control that ability now?” she asked in a rasped breath. 

“I don’t know, I guess it just sort of came to me, and…”

-give yourself up-

“Huh?” John looked around, looking for the source of the voice. “Rarity? Did you say that just n—h,” he stopped, realizing Rarity had just passed out on his arms. “Then who?” he looked around confused, wondering what was that he had heard.

“Stop ignoring me!” Trixie roared, her mane beginning to waver as she charged her magic. “Now answer me! How did you do that!?”

“Give myself up…” John repeated. “Voice? Is that actually you?”  he thought, hoping for a response, but received none. “Damn it! What did you mean by that!? Stop talking only when you want!”

“Enough!” Trixie shouted with finality. “That’s it! If you don’t answer me now, I will destroy this town and all of its inhabitants!”

“What?” John quickly replied, watching with fear as Trixie floated menacingly over him. “No, wait!” he said quickly, softly putting Rarity on the ground. “Please, I’ll explain!”

She narrowed her eyes, nodding the go ahead. “And no hiding anything, or else Trixie might not be so lenient.”

“I know this is going to be hard to believe, but the truth is that I can ‘cancel’ magic so to say, I guess I can disrupt it, but even I don’t know the full details about it,” he explained as best as he could.

“Let’s say I believe you, what is going to stop me from leveling this town anyway?” she stated menacingly.

“Huh? That wasn’t part of the deal!” he shouted.

“You have three seconds.” she warned, charging her horn.

“What!?”

“Two…”

“No! Um, how about I give myself up to you, alongside my ability,” he offered quickly 

“Huh?” Trixie hummed surprised. “Give your ability to me, huh?“ her anger instantaneously vanished, her mouth now twisted into a grin. “Well, well, a smart choice, human… I will not destroy this town. Now, come to me.”

“Right,” he replied awkwardly, slowly inching towards her, stealing a look at the still unconscious Rarity as he passed her.

“With you by her side, Trixie will be invincible! I do not require this stupid town anymore!” she looked toward the ponies still trying to enter the town. “Now, get a good look on those fools, because you will never see them again!”

“John!” DItzy‘s muffled voice reached him as she watched with anguish. “Don’t do this!”

“I have to,” he replied sadly, turning to face Trixie.

“Trixie doesn’t know how nor care why, but that magic cancelling ability of yours will come in handy,” she shook excitedly, realizing the potential. “Just imagine! The princesses will not be able to match us! We will be unstoppable!” she finished, busting into a maniacal laughter that made all present shake.

“Magic cancelling…” John whispered, looking at the amulet on Trixie’s neck, trembling as she laughed.. “I wonder…” without bothering to ask, he reached for the amulet around the unknowing Trixie’s neck, and with a slight tug, pulled it off her neck. “Huh?”

“Huh?” Trixie echoed in astonishment as John raised the necklace over her. “W—What!?”

“Um…” he mumbled surprised, suddenly feeling it tugging in his hand, noticing a trail of blue magic enveloping the amulet. “Woah!”

“Give that back!” Trixie shrieked, desperately trying to take it from him. “Give it!” noticing her magic wasn’t doing the trick, she abruptly let go of it, and leaped towards John, pushing him to the ground, at which moment he felt a sharp pain as his head forcibly hit the hard surface, making his ears buzz and everything around him lose focus.

“Ah! Get off me!” he yelped in panic, pushing her off with his legs and tossing her aside. “You are not getting this!” he said with resolve.

“Mine!” she only roared, her nostrils fuming in fury as she charged with horn forward. 

“Ah!” John yelped, looking around wildly. “W—Where do I put this… wait!” he looked at the blurry amulet for an instant, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe I’m doing this!” he stated, right before putting it on, locking it quickly with a soft ‘click‘ before the amulet remained still around his neck. “There!”

Trixie watched in horror, coming to a full stop. “No, take that off!” she demanded, using her magic to tug at the amulet, but to no avail. “Ah! Why can’t I take it off!?”

John smiled weakly. “Because only the one who puts it on can remove it,” he explained, remembering the book he had read. “Face it, you lost Trixie!”

“Not if Trixie rips your neck!” she stated with gritted teeth.

“Or, here is a suggestion… Don‘t?” John gulped, just as Trixie stomped her hooves on the ground, readying herself to gallop once again. “That might have been the wrong thing to say!” he yelped. He tried his best to take into a run, but only fell backwards in his dazed shape. “Dammit!”

Trixie smiled triumphant. “That necklace is mi—Whoa! Oof!” John watched confused as she suddenly tripped, falling face first to the ground. “What the…?” she looked up, noticing her tail enveloped in a trail of magic.

“I don’t think so…” came a voice from behind her, noticing none other than Recon, who barely managed to stay on his hooves as he spoke, sweating profusely as he kept his spell.

“You? Ha! It won’t last, what were you trying to accomplish by doing this when you are already so weak?” Trixie laughed mockingly.

Recon chuckled. “Accomplish? Me? Nah, just setting up a combo.”

“What do you…” as she asked, Trixie felt a tap on her shoulder. “Huh?”

“Remember me?” asked the unmistakable form of Golden Harvest.

Trixie stared blankly, realizing who the pony was. “You… You are that carrot po-”

John would never forget what happened in the next few moments: with a forehoof extended forward, Harvest hit Trixie square in the face, not only cutting her short, but making her body spin in place once before dropping to the ground unconscious with a soft thud.

“Ouch, yeah, you don’t pull the ’carrot’ card,” John whistled, shaking his head as Harvest helped him on his feet. “Thank you, you saved my life.”

Harvest shrugged. “It was OUR pleasure,” she noted, pointing at the trembling Recon. 

“Y—Yeah,” John mumbled, suddenly out of breath.

“Are you okay? You don’t look so hot,” Harvest asked, her voice suddenly sounding far away to John.

“Y—Yeah, I’m fi—” he was suddenly cut short, as he noticed everything around him go dark, and he felt no more.

…..

...

.

-Wake up…-

“Ugh…”

-It’s time to wake up…-

“No…”

-Wake up!-

“Aaaaaaaouch…” John woke with a start, crying in pain. He reached for his head, feeling some sort of texture that he quickly recognized. “Bandages? But what? How?"

-Are you done thinking of the situation to yourself, or will you actually acknowledge me?-

“Ah!” John jumped in place, looking around for the source of the random voice. “Who is that?”

-How hurtful. You sleep-mumbled to me already, I know you can hear me!- the voice continued, sounding hurt. -Come on! I've saved your butt before! You know who I am!-

“We are finally talking, and I’m not in danger…" John said surprised. "And I swear, if it turns out this is all in my head and I'm dying, I’ll be pissed!”

-No, you aren’t,- the Voice assured him. -Trust me, I would know if you were, although even I’m not sure how we are talking, but this is indeed happening.-

“I see…” John hummed thoughtfully. “I have so many questions to ask you!”

-Er, perhaps later; you seem to have a visitor popping by your window.-

“Huh?” John turned his head towards the window, his eyes coming across a familiar face trying to hide, but to no avail. “Well, well,” getting on his feet, he headed towards the window, carefully opening it, and finding a small pony resting over the tree’s foliage. “Hello, Ditzy.”

She looked up carefully, waving weakly. “H—Hey John… just checking on you? Heh-heh..."

“Come on in,” he invited her, casually heading back to the bed as he felt another tinge of pain. “I’m not really fit to be up right now,” he admitted.

“Oh, sorry…” she apologized as she carefully headed inside, closing the window on the way in. “Was this a bad time?”

“It’s fine,” John laughed silently, avoiding himself a headache. “Besides, it feels nostalgic in a way to see you popping in through my window like this, right?” he said, recalling his arrival in Ponyville just months before. “And you aren’t as timid as before, so that’s a bonus.”

“Oh, yeah!” Ditzy recalled, a smile appearing as she recalled the event. “Um,” but one that turned into a frown when the details came back to her. “I don’t remember it being pretty…”

“Never said it was,” John chortled in amusement. “I still feel the pain of that day,” he squinted in reminder. “Speaking of pain, care to fill me into what happened? Where are the others? Is Rarity okay? What happened to me?”

Ditzy looked thoughtful for a second before gasping in realization. “Oh, right, you’ve been asleep since then!” she looked out the window momentarily before turning back to John. “Everypony is fine. Rarity returned to normal, the town is free, and well, according to Twilight, you had a concussion, but you seem much better already!”

“Twilight is here?” John panicked, looking out the window once more. “How long have I been out? The trip is supposed to be like two days!”

Ditzy quickly shook her head. “No-no! Twilight and the others were picked up by carriage and brought here a few hours ago! It’s still the same day,” she pointed out.

“Oh, good,” he breathed in relief. “I can only imagine, but how did she react after hearing the story of what happened?"

“How do you think?” 

“Not good?”

“Bingo!”

“Heh-heh,” he laughed momentarily, before suddenly remembering. “And, well… what about Trixie?”

Ditzy frowned, clearly bothered by the name. “I don’t know, and I don’t really care. She nearly killed Harvest, and she deserves everything that’ll come to her!” she growled, snorting angrily.

John watched her angry outburst with a sad look. “Ditzy, you know she was wearing the amulet, right?” as he said the words, he reached towards his neck, finally feeling the amulet on his neck. “Oh yeah, I’m still wearing it, actually…”

“Do you feel any different?” Ditzy asked, ignoring his former question. “Maybe you should take it off, just in case.”

“You probably have a point there,” he guessed.

-Don’t be like that, you look divine with it on!- the Voice suddenly commented.

“Great, a comedian with bad timing living in my head, just what I needed,” John thought annoyed.

Giggling, the Voice replied. -Come now, one of us has to be.-

“Yeah, I’m taking it off,” he said conclusively, reaching for the lock.

-Sad, it’s obvious you lov-” the Voice was suddenly cut off, to John’s surprise.

“Huh?” John mumbled confused. “Hellooo? You okay? You got cut off there.”

“John?” asked Ditzy curiously. “You alright there?”

“Yeah, just give me a sec,” he said, locking the amulet once more.

-gain! Come now! Please, hear me!- the Voice suddenly said loudly in his head, causing John momentary pain.

“Argh!” John cried out. “Voice it’s okay, I’m alright! I get the feeling I know how I can hear you now.”

“John?” Ditzy asked once again. “Are you sure you are alright?”

“No, I mean yes!” he said to appease her worries. “I’ll be fine, it’s just my injury.”

“Why did you put the amulet on again, then?” she wondered, not missing the obvious motion.

“I’ll probably do this later, yeah…” he said awkwardly, clearing his throat. “Anyway, we have something else to talk about!”

“Uh-huh,” Ditzy hummed suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. “Maybe I should go get Twil-”

“Would you like to go out with me?” he said in a quick train of thought, catching Ditzy off-guard, and forcing a blush on her face. “By which I mean on a date!” he pushed on, driving the point home, making Ditzy’s blush more pronounced as she was unable to come up with a proper response.

“I, er, um, duh…” she tried her best, but failed to make a coherent anything, as her brain struggled to catch up to what was happening.

“Um, Ditzy?” he asked, getting suddenly worried. “Are you ok—”

“Yes! I! Would!” she shouted, nearly tossing John off his bed in surprise.

The door to the room suddenly burst open, making the pair jump. “John! Huh? What is g- Ditzy!?” Twilight shouted, noticing the mare.

“Aaah!” Ditzy yelped once more before falling back on the floor, already unconscious. 

Meanwhile, just outside the library, Patch listened with amusement to the panicked calls of the pair. “Geez, he just woke up and already started making noise.”

“Captain?” Recon called from the side, looking lost. “Was there something you needed of me?”

“Oh, right. Sorry,” she replied, clearing her throat and reaching into her saddlebags, taking out a scroll. “Recon, I need you to send a letter. Top priority.”

“Oh,” he looked at it surprised, noticing the familiar sun emblem seal. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is this for? Is something wrong?”

Patch shrugged. “Don’t know, we’ll probably see soon enough,” she said vaguely, sighing. “So, is Trixie being transferred?”

“Already on the way to Canterlot, Captain,” Recon nodded. 

“Good, that takes care of all loose ends then,” she said satisfied. “Although, I’ll probably have to be on the lookout due to current events.”

Recon hummed thoughtfully. “Hmm… Is that really it? I don’t know, t feel like I’m forgetting something.”


~~~~~


Meanwhile, just a few houses from there, Spike sighed, trying his best to ignore the snores from the neighbor pony as he slept on the magic bubble next to him.

“This is not my day.”
> Buried Patch.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Another morning, another attempt.” John said to himself, annoyingly getting out of the comfort of his bed. He looked outside, noticing the sun barely rising, signaling the start of the day for most ponies. “Well, I’m not just any pony. For that matter, I’m not a pony,” he thought amused.

-Hey! I thought I was the funny one here!- the Voice in his head complained as John headed into the bathroom.

“Good morning to you too, guess you are ready for the daily routine?” he asked, ignoring the attitude.

-… I remember when you were fun.-

“And I remember when I didn't know you had an attitude, life isn't perfect,” he huffed getting into the small tub, opening the faucet, and getting no reply. “Come now, you started it.”

-Hmph! Is that really the way to treat a lady?- the Voice asked indignantly, feigning a loud harrumph.

“My head, my rules,” John said, awkwardly removing his shirt as the amulet he wore trampled his efforts. “Gah! Stupid thing!”

-Please don’t take it off,- the Voice pleaded, hearing his complaints.

“Or I won't be able to hear you, I know,” he said as he looked at the amulet curiously, momentarily wondering about its history, but soon losing interest as he got into the tub. “So, how about we get this over it while I shower?”

-… Fine,-  the Voice begrudgingly accepted.

“So, what’s your name?”

-You still call me voice, so I have no idea.-

“Where do you come from?”

-Beats me.-

“What do you remember first doing when you were conscious?”

-Me somehow popping into your head at the Crystal Empire, then occasionally getting to you and calling you a loser. At least from that one time,- Voice shrugged.

“What’s your gender?”

-I’m thinking I’m male now…-

“Voice…” John groaned.

-Kidding! Geez, you sure are grumpy in the mornings!-

This interrogation continued until John returned to the room, fully dressed and groaning in annoyance as he threw himself on the bed. “And as usual, other than your attitude and your gender, we learned nothing new!”

-John, it’s been two weeks. Can’t we cool it down with the daily questions? I’m sure if I remember something I’ll tell you!- she said frustrated. -For that matter, I’m still not sure why you haven’t told Twilight about me!-

“You know I can’t do that,” he sighed, looking out the window, noticing the already bustling ponies going about their business. “I convinced Twi to let me keep the amulet since it doesn’t affect me, but I don’t know how long that’ll last, and if Celestia couldn’t feel your presence back when I asked, Twilight won’t either. I shouldn‘t need to say this, but I’ll look insane.”

-Alright, relax!- the Voice said in resignation. -But can you call me something OTHER than Voice? It makes me feel like, um, not someone-

“Didn’t realize that was a thing that bothered you, sorry,” he apologized. “It’s just that ‘Voice’ became a thing,” he explained as he sat back down on the bed, eyeing a nearby table with half a sandwich waiting for him. “But tell me, do you have anything in mind?” he asked, walking to the table and eagerly taking a bite out of it. 

A few seconds of silence later, the Voice spoke up. -Not really… I was hoping you would have something for me, maybe.-

“I suppose I can try,” he shrugged, shoving down the rest of it. “Don’t worry, I’ll see what I can come up with. Thankfully, I’m free from RD’s attempts at killing me today,” he said, shivering at the thought. “So it’s all smooth sailing for today!” *knock knock* “… Or maybe not.”

“Hey, John!” came the unmistakable voice of Spike at the other side.

-Don’t worry, go for it. I can wait,- the Voice replied, going fully silent as John headed to open the door.

“Morning Spi—” he greeted him, but stoppedhimself short when he caught sight of Twilight right next to him. “Spike and Twilight then… something wrong?”

“No,” Twilight spoke first, clearing her throat. “I was going to have Spike tell you, but I think I’ll just do it myself. Spike?”

The dragon rolled his eyes, walking away. “Yeah, sure. It’s not like I was already up here or anything,” he grumbled downstairs.

Waiting until Spike‘s complaints were no longer audible, he spoke up. “So, what’s up?”

“I wanted to inform you that Princess Celestia summoned me to Canterlot. I’ll be gone until tonight,” she explained, pointing at the satchel she wore.

“You said ‘I’, um, I mean ‘you‘, er… did you say alone?” John grumbled in resignation. “Leaving us behind, I see.”

“Sadly, not my orders,” she noted with a sigh. “Just wanted to tell you not to do something dumb, and maybe…” she trailed on, looking at the amulet dangling on John’s chest.

“Twilight, the amulet is fine,” he continued, reaching for his neck and grabbing the necklace. “But if you can take it off, you can take it!”

“Nice try, but I already read the book saying it can only be taken off by the user an—” she paused, understanding dawning on her. “Alright, alright, I see your point. You are off the hook for today, if only because I have to go and the guards are waiting for me outside,” she raised her legs, waiting for John to kneel down to hug him. “Just don’t do anything dumb,” she whispered into his ear.

“You already said that, Twi,” he chuckled, rolling his eyes. “I’m not deaf.”

“Yes, but as you already know, I like to leave an impression,” she retorted with a grin. “Anyway, wanna see me out?” 

“Sure,” John shrugged, heading downstairs behind her and out of the library. “You gonna be gone long? I don’t know if I can keep the library open without you.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Don’t you worry, I’ll be back by tonight; besides, Spike knows what to do. Right, Spike?”

“Wait, what?” Spike shouted from inside.

“Take care, you two,” Twilight said dismissively as John and Spike watched her get into the Pegasus-powered carriage and fly off towards Canterlot, leaving the pair waving her goodbye until she disappeared in the distance.

“So, now what?” asked Spike.

“I don’t know,” John shrugged, turning his head to look back inside. “Hey, where is Patch anyway? Haven‘t heard her shout in like an hour. It's a new record!"

“Miss Patch went out to do her usual patrolling,” Spike replied as he walked back inside and into the kitchen.

“Oh. How about little Lemon?”

“Maybe he went to hang out with Pinkie,” he shrugged, grabbing a bowl with popcorn nearby and heading upstairs. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be catching up on my comic book reading!”

“What about the library?“

“Oh, right,” Spike realized. "Let me fix that," he grabbed a scroll from a nearby table, and after some quick scribbling, he walked to the door and placed a note that read 'closed for the day' before slamming the door shut. "Problem solved!" 

“That works,” John laughed, and waiting for Spike to disappear into the second floor, he spoke again. “Welp, ready to come up with names for you, Voice?” John whispered, grabbing parchment and quill from Twilight’s podium.

-I thought you would never ask!-  Voice replied excitedly.

Plan in mind, John flopped down on a couch and began. “So, how does ‘Voice Mail’ sound?”


~~~~~


“Hourly update, nothing out of the ordinary. Continuing patrol,” Patch sighed out loud, rubbing the sleep from her tired eyes, forcing them wide open as she observed the area with a careful motion. “Yep, nothing," she received strange looks from passerby ponies as she walked, carefully searching for signs of strange behavior in each one of them, but to her relief, she had yet to see any such show. “I suppose it’s better this way…”

“Captain? Who are you talking to?”

“Aaah!” Patch yelped, quickly turning around with raised hooves, jumping on the pony who had spoken and pushing him to the ground. “Huh?”

“P-Patch, it’s me!” Recon shrieked, looking at her terrified.

“Hmm…” Patch hummed thoughtfully. “Yeah, it is.”

Recon winced as Patch remained on him with a humorless look. “M—ma‘am!”

“Alright, alright, settle down,” she chuckled, helping him back on his hooves. “That goes to everypony watching. Carry on, nothing to see here!” she ordered to the gathering crowd, dragging Recon into a more secluded area. “Now, what is it, Recon? You were supposed to be watching over the West part of town.”

“My apologies, Captain!” he said while saluting. “It‘s just…”

“Yes? Have something on your mind?” she asked interested. “You have permission to speak freely.”

“Thank you!” he said, clearing his throat. “You see, well…”

“Yes?”

“Um, it’s just that…”

“Go on…”

“Er…”

“In Her Majesty’s name, you are a soldier!” she huffed annoyed. “Out with it!”

“Ah! I think you need to stop being such a tight flank!” he said in  a panicked tone, catching himself and Patch off guard. “I mean…”

“What?” Patch growled, slowly inching closer to him with a scowl on her face. “You have five seconds to rephrase that.”

Recon gulped. “W—what I meant is that you have been overworking yourself! You really need to rest, you haven’t taken any time off since the Trixie incident!”

‘Hmph!” she scoffed, turning away. “What do you mean? I am perfectly fine!”

“Are you?” Recon walked around to look at her. “I know you are great and all, and I know I’m not the best soldier, but even I can notice that this is getting to you.”

“You are exaggerating,” she scoffed, turning away once more.

“You are making reports to yourself!”

“Recon.”

“And I watched you for a few minutes, you’ve been walking in circles!”

“Recon…”

“And look at you! You look terri—”

“Recon! I get it!” she shouted to his face. “And you no longer have permission to speak freely. Ever.”

“Er, sorry, I got carried away,” he said sheepishly. “My apologies, ma’am!”

“Whatever! I got your point!” she huffed, frustratingly holding a hoof over her forehead. “I suppose I will take the break if it will get you to shut up!”

“Just looking out for you, ma’am! I worry about you!” he squeaked embarrassingly. “Um, I mean, ahaha…”

“Aren‘t you the gentlecolt?” she laughed heartily. “And I’ll appreciate it more since you are taking over my patrols for the day, right?” she asked, placing a hoof on his head.

“Y—y—yes!” he replied quickly, before realizing what he said. “Wait, what?”

“You are a true underling,” she replied with a grin. “Good luck!” she waved him goodbye, leaving him momentarily lost as to what had just happened.

"... Is this what love is?” he asked himself, miserably watching as the captain walked away. “I think unrequited love is more fitting,” he sighed, returning to his patrolling with a heavy heart.

…

“Why did I accept to do this again?” Patch sighed mere seconds into her aimless walking. She unconsciously looked around as if she were still patrolling, a thing that she quickly caught on to, much to her frustration. “Dang it, I need to get out of here!“ 

She directed herself along a small line of trees in the distance, following the welcoming sight of green which soon outnumbered the multicolored mash of buildings that was Ponyville, leaving behind the constant chatter of voices in favor of the more subtle noises of animals going about their days.

“Oh?” Patch mumbled, stopping as an immense field of flowers came into her view. “What a sight,” she commented, looking at the many rows of flowers gently moved by the soft breeze with a smile. “Hmm… I think these are roses?"

“Tulips, actually.”

“Ah!” Patch jumped, turning quickly to the sound of the voice. “Who is it this ti—… me?”

“Oh, I‘m sorry! H—hello,” greeted her a startled Fluttershy. “My, what a surprise! Is there something I can help you with? Did you come to visit, maybe?” she asked eagerly.

“To visit…” Patch turned her head, noticing Fluttershy’s cottage a dozen feet or so from her. “… you? Huh,” she looked at Fluttershy again, biting her lip awkwardly. “Ma‘am, look, don’t take it too badly, but I was just aimlessly walking around, I didn’t mean to impose, an—” as she attempted to leave, Fluttershy put her legs around her in an awkward hug.

“Please don’t go!” she pleaded, quickly getting off her. “Can you stay? Please? I can make some tea, and we can talk! Unless you are busy,” she finished sadly. “I can understand if you are…”

“Miss, I,” Patch began, but cut herself short with a sigh, shaking her head. “… Maybe I can stay for a little bit, for old time's sake,” she said with a tired voice.

Several minutes later, Patch sat in one of Fluttershy’s couches, quietly waiting as the aforementioned pony returned with a tray carrying two glasses and a pitcher.

“Here you go!” Fluttershy said, serving Patch a glass before sitting down on the couch right next to hers while Patch took a sip of her cup.

“This is some cold tea,” Patch noted, shaking the glass slightly and looking at the ice cubes inside.. 

“Is it bad? Oh, I must have messed it up!”

“No, it’s not that,” Patch waved her hoof dismissively. “I just imagined it would be warm is all.”

“Well, I thought you might like it cold since it’s warm outside, is all…” Fluttershy explained awkwardly. “A—anyway, I wanted to talk about you a little bit…” 

“So, Element of Harmony, huh?” Patch interrupted with an impressed tone while looking all over Fluttershy‘s home. “I owe you a very late congratulations,” she said cheerily.  

Fluttershy shrunk in her seat, looking around nervously. “Um, w—well, it really was nothing; it just sort of happened; it could’ve been anypony, but I’m still glad I could help regardless of the circumstances.”

“Of course!” Patch said in agreement. “You‘ve grown and become a strong pony, Fluttershy.”

“And you became captain,” Fluttershy pointed out in return, her eyes locked on Patch’s flank. “That reminds me… how is Flower?”

"Flower?" Patch‘s eyes narrowed at the question, noticing Fluttershy’s stare and lowering her tail over her flank. “Ahem, well, Flower is doing fine,” she replied, hiding her face behind the glass of tea.

Fluttershy blinked, noticing the reaction. “We went to school back in the day, and as you know, she was a really sweet pony. I’ve been wondering what happened to her.”

“I wouldn’t know,“ Patch shrugged, turning to gaze to the field of flowers swaying outside. “Maybe that Flower became a huge jerk.”

"Why would you say that?” Fluttershy frowned.

“Sorry,” Patch sighed in apology. She rubbed her temple, feeling an ache rise up by the minutes. “Force of habit.”

“Well, I’m sure she still is the same pony I met years ago!” Fluttershy said defensively. “Somepony who did such a thing for me back then couldn't be the jerk you are referring to…”


~~~~~


“P-please, I‘m sorry! I didn’t mean to anger you…” the shy pony apologized, looking around for help of any kind, but quickly realizing that nopony would help in such a concealed part of Canterlot. “Oh no!” she cried out, finding herself in a dead-end, turning to meet the mares who had been pursuing her.

“Don’t even bother, Fluttercry,” one of them said while grinning mockingly, lighting up her horn.

“Yeah, nopony can hear you so far into this garden,” another one continued, pointing to the overgrown hedges around them.

“Not that they would care about a Pegasus, would they?” the last one finished, raising her head up high and laughing with exaggerated vigor alongside the others. “You think you are better than us, Fluttershy? Is that it?”

“P—please, I didn't mean to…” Fluttershy cried out as she backed up, bumping in one of the edges. She shrank back on the spot, hiding behind her mane to what she knew was coming.

“What’s going on here?”

The four ponies looked up, noticing the new pony pop up from one of the roads, wearing a simple dress and a gardening hat, she carefully approached them with a reproachful look.

“And who are you supposed to be?” one of the ponies asked.

“I… I’m the pony on charge of this garden!” she shouted awkwardly, marching towards them. “And trust me, fighting of any kind is not allowed when I’m involved!” 

“Heh, and what will you do? Punish us?” another mare asked, looking her over thoroughly. “You can’t use magic, you aren’t even a Pegasus. What could you possibly do? Besides, this pony here needs to learn a lesson!”

The strange pony looked at herself and shook her head. “Yeah? Well, I may not have magic, but I do know Princess Celestia! And whatever you have against that Pegasus, Her Majesty will not accept this kind of behavior in her personal garden!”

The three ponies looked at each other and nodded, turning to Fluttershy one last time. “Whatever, we have better things to do anyway,” one of them huffed, walking away with the other two in tow.

All while Fluttershy remained hidden behind her hooves, wondering if they had truly left.

“Miss?”

She slowly lowered her guard, looking up and noticing a hoof hovering right above her. “Huh?”

“Are you okay?” the strange pony asked, keeping a smile as she waited for her to respond.

“W—who are you?” Fluttershy asked timidly, warily keeping an eye on the stranger’s hoof.

“I’m Flower, but can this wait until you are up? My leg is getting tired,” Flower complained, looking at her shaking limb.

“Sorry!” Fluttershy apologized, reaching for Flower’s hoof and getting back on her own. 

“Phew!” Flower sighed in relief, moving her leg. “I t hink I almost got a cramp there!”

Fluttershy looked around, taking notice of the large garden. “Thank you so much, Miss gardener. For helping me, I mean…”

Flower looked at Fluttershy with a sheepish grin, scratching the back of her head. “Gardener is a strong word to use on me, ‘botany student’ at Canterlot’s Advanced Studies school might be more fitting, hah-hah…”

“Are you saying that you lied to those ponies?” Fluttershy asked with a shocked expression.

“Gosh, I was just trying to help Miss…” Flower replied dejectedly.

“T-t-thank you!” Fluttershy replied, quickly hugging the confused Flower. “I’m sorry! I’m Fluttershy: I’m also taking courses here, and it’s a pleasure to meet you!” 

“Nice to meet you too…!” Flower muttered surprised by the contact, awkwardly returning the hug. “But maybe we should get out of here, lest they come back once they realize I lied.”

Taking the advice, the pair rushed out of the hedge maze, exiting near a small coffee shop where they decided to sit down to rest.

“Are you alright?” Flower asked, watching Fluttershy drag her hooves on the ground.

“I-I’m alright, yeah,” she lied, slumping down on one of the shop’s seats.

Flower shook her head amused. “That‘s a relief.”

“Can I help you?” a newly arrived waiter asked, giving the pair a bored look. “Are you gonna order something?” 

Fluttershy and Flower looked at each other and shook their heads at the same time.

“Well, either you order, or you leave,” the pony said, pointing to the street with her hoof.

“Okay, okay! I’ll have some coffee, and my friend will have some water!” Flower replied in a panic while the pony noted down the order and bowed before heading into the shop to get their order. “Geez, that was rude…”

“You didn’t have to do that, Miss Flower,” Fluttershy wheezed with a tired voice.

“Just Flower, please. And, I mean, you look so tired, it was all I could think to say,” Flower attempted to explain, just as the server returned with the two glasses. “So, can you tell me what happened?” she asked, pushing the glass of water towards Fluttershy.

“Thank you,” Fluttershy said thankfully, grabbing the glass and gulping down the whole thing in one go, exhaling satisfied. “W-well, I was trying to look at the dog one of them owned, oh, it was the most adorable thing! It had the cutest ears! And the most heartwarming bark I’ve heard, an-”

“Don’t mean to sound rude, but what does that have to do with it” Patch interrupted curious.

“Oh! I’m sorry! You see, I get carried away, I just love animals so much!”

“I noticed,” Flower noted amused. “But I still don‘t understand what‘s wrong with what you did.”

“Well, I saw their dog…”

“Uh-huh?”

“And I noticed it was in pain!”

“Oh dear! And?”

“I might have grabbed it out of her owner’s grasp without asking for permission…”

“Huh,” Flower hummed, piecing the events from there, aided by Fluttershy looking down miserably. “Well, they shouldn’t have tried to get you like they did, that went from rude to just bad!”

“You really think so?” she asked warily, looking around as if she were being observed. “I mean, they probably hate me now...”

“They looked down on us for not being unicorns,” Flower said with a serious tone.

“They did,” Fluttershy sighed, fidgeting in place.

“But it’s over now, right?“ Flower said with a smile, placing her hoof over Fluttershy‘s. “Still,  maybe next time you can try asking before taking other ponies‘ pets, alright?”

“Y-yeah…” she whimpered, looking down in shame.

“Oh!” Flower exclaimed, noticing the change of mood. “But tell me! Was the pup okay? And on a scale of  one to ten, how cute was it?”

Fluttershy instantly looked up with a beaming smile. “It was, thankfully! And oh my goodness, it was a breed I had never seen before!”

From that day forward, the pair became fast friends. Taking every opportunity they could between classes, they met up for coffee in the same shop, talking about the various events of their days. The routine continued for months, until a certain day, Flower brought up a question to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy, why are you doing this?”

“Sorry?” Fluttershy asked confused, putting down her cup and focusing on Flower. “What do you mean?”

“I'm not being obvious. I mean to say, why are you studying to become a vet? What compelled you to do it?” Flower explained.

“Oh, so that‘s what you meant?” Fluttershy realized, smiling as she recalled the event in her head. “Well, it happened when I was in flight camp back in Cloudsdale, a certain pony I met back then was involved in a race to defend me from some bullies.”

“Was it because of your flying?” Flower guessed, taking Fluttershy’s clear discomfort as confirmation. “Sorry, go on?”

“Well, I was the flag pony, and the moment they began, I was instantly thrown off Cloudsdale,” she raised a hoof as Flower nearly jumped out of her seat in disbelief. “That wasn’t even the strangest part! I was saved by butterflies!”

“Whoa, really?” Flower asked amazed. “How?”

“I really don’t know,” Fluttershy shook her head. “And after that, I saw a strange rainbow in the sky which made the animals scared, and for some reason, I felt compelled to calm them down. And it worked!” she brought the cup of coffee to her lips, savoring the bitter flavor and sighing contently. “Just then, I realized I wanted to help animals, so I decided to learn how to take care of them, which is why I’m studying what I require to do it.”

“That’s amazing,” Flower sighed happily. “So, did you get your cutie mark that day too?”

“Uh-huh!” Fluttershy replied, looking over at the three butterflies on her flank. 

“It’s good that you getting your cutie mark was that great, mine wasn’t particularly amazing,” Flower lamented, frowning at the bed of flowers represented on her own flank. "I used to help my family with a flower shop they own, and then, well, flowers on my sides!”

“Oh my, I mean, I’m sure not everypony has to have some big event happen to then to realize what they are good at,” Fluttershy explained with a frown of her own. “I actually wish I hadn’t been in danger for me to realize what I did.”

"I see..." 

Flower pondered the words overnight, and a day after, she came back with another question.

“Do you think cutie marks can be wrong?”

“Huh?” Fluttershy asked surprised. “Wrong? In what way?”

“As in wrong on what our talents are, you know?” she attempted to explain, but Fluttershy’s arching brow said enough of her understanding. “I mean, as in maybe you aren’t good, or maybe you just aren’t interested in what your cutie mark means.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Fluttershy said perturbed at the idea. “I don’t mean to be rude by asking, but is that how you feel?”

Flower shook her head, donning a cheerful look. “It’s nothing, I-I was just curious about it, you know?”

“Are you sure? You looked very serious,” she walked over by Flower, awkwardly attempting to hug the pony.

“Positive,” Flower replied, gladly accepting the comfort. “So, my class starts in a half-hour; wanna come with?”

“I would love to,” Fluttershy eagerly accepted.

They headed off along the beaten path, leaving behind the many Canterlot shops and businesses and passing by the castle, which never failed to catch their eye whenever they passed by.

“What  kind of creatures do you think the Princess must have inside,” Fluttershy wondered out loud, looking at the castle with wonderment in her eyes, envious of the ponies who were able to interact with them. “Maybe someday I’ll be able to access the Princess’ own personal garden!”

“Y-yeah,” Flower muttered, her eyes staring into the multitude of ponies entering and leaving the castle.

“Flower?”

“Huh? I’m sorry! I-I got distracted, er… L-let’s go, I’ll be late!” she said loudly, running off without explanation and leaving Fluttershy on her own.


~~~~~


Patch remained silent, taking in Fluttershy’s words. She looked outside, noticing the sun setting in the distance, showing a good amount of time had since passed.

“Wait,” she said, looking at Fluttershy. “So is that it?”

“Uh-huh, that’s all,” she replied calmly.

“Interesting way to end the story, don’t you think?” Patch noted.

“That was the day Flower began acting strangely, but I never learned why,” Fluttershy explained. “We continued meeting up like usual, but when I finished my courses, I moved to Ponyville. I told her she should visit after she had finished her own, but she never did… Wonder why she never did."

Patch nodded. “I see..."

Smiling, Fluttershy got off her seat, placing a comforting hoof on Patch’s. “You know, you really remind me of her.”

Patch chuckled amused. “Do I, now?”

“You‘ve been understanding,” Fluttershy continued, laying her head on Patch’s hoof. “The time you’ve spend here you’ve been nothing but kind to me.”

“Fluttershy,” Patch tried to cut in, passing a hoof over her mane as she tried to come up with something to say. “Stop this pretending. It’s just…”

“No, Patch, I know,” Flutterhsy raised her head and stared into her eyes. 

“Fluttershy, please.”

“The Flower Patch I know is still there.”

“Enough, Fluttershy!” Patch lashed out, pushing her off.

Fluttershy looked up, shocked at Patch’s reaction. “F-Flower?”

“The name is Rough Patch, and don’t you forget it!” she growled, taking a deep breath after realizing she had been holding it in. “Good day, ma’am. I-I’ll see myself out,” she dismissed herself, opting to not look back and slamming the door shut.

Left alone, Flutershy got back on her hooves and grabbed the glass that Patch had dropped in the commotion, taking a deep breath as she thought about what had transpired. “What happened to you, Flower? What happened after I left?”


~~~~~


-John, I don’t mean to be rude, but your name ideas stink.-

“Hmph!” John huffed, crossing out the last name on the scroll and tossing it on a pile of other used ones. “Whatever, you are just jealous you didn’t think of them first!”

-How about Crystal Mind? I like the ‘crystal’ part and I’m in your head, so it fits,- she suggested.

“Or how about Loud Mouth? You sure like to be way too loud about what you think of my names!” he growled, sitting back down with his arms crossed, silently fuming. “Hours wasted!”

-I’m sorry, John. I didn’t mean to be rude, I know you are trying to help.-

John shook his head, laying down on the couch. “I'm just kidding, if you are being called something, it should be a name you like… Although Crystal Mind isn’t exactly catchy.”

“What about Crystal Thought?”

“Ah!” John bolted upright, watching Patch enter the library. “Patch! How long have you been there?”

“Just got here when I heard you talking to yourself and I gave you that. Use it as you will,” she shrugged, heading for the stairs. 

“I’m surprised, I thought you were out on duty or something,” John wondered.

Patch stopped in her way up, turning to John. “Well, even somepony like me needs a rest every once in a while, and… I just need to sleep off today, is all. Have a good evening,” she excused herself, leaving John on his own.

“Weird, what’s with her?” John asked out loud before shrugging it off instantly. “I guess it’s none of my business. So how about we get ba—”

“Good evening.”

“Gah!” John cried out, caught off-guard once again, noticing Twilight entering the library. “Twilight! You scared me!"

She didn’t reply right away, keeping her sight on the ground for a few seconds before saying anything. “Huh? I’m sorry, what was that?”

“Er, I said you scare me,” John mumbled confused, noticing her somber look. “You look strange. You alright?”

“Alright? Alright… Alright! Yes! I’m alright, it’s just… my head is a bit fuzzy since I was working with the Princess all day! I-I need a rest!” she said quickly, going towards John and hugging him tightly. “Goodnight, John!” she yelled before running upstairs.

“Night…” John trailed on his own, blinking in his confusion. “What is with everyone today!”

-I don’t know, but right now I’m thinking of using Patch’s suggestion…- Voice said, recalling Patch’s name idea. -I like the sound of it.-

“And there go all of my scrolls,” John complained, tossing the remaining scrolls into the trash. “I would burn them, but I fear this library would burn down along with them.”

-So you like it then?- she asked.

“I want to say no, but I would be lying,“ John complained mockingly. 

-It‘s that a yes?-

“Well, it’s been a long day. How about we hit the hay early tonight, Crystal Thought?” he said loudly.

The newly named Crystal Thought laughed excitedly before responding. -That’s a thought for sure!-

John groaned all the way upstairs.
> Slice of Lives
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Lemon, what are we doing?” Apple Bloom asked as she pushed the branch that had been poking her for the past ten minutes. “This is really uncomfortable!”

“Shh,” he hushed her, dropping the binoculars. “I'm trying to focus on Pinkieus Piecus!”

Scootaloo scratched her head, trying to understand what she had just heard. “Pin the what now?”

“I think that's supposed to be a scientific name for Pinkie Pie,” Sweetie explained. “But that doesn't really sound like an actual thing. Where did you hear that, Lemon?”

Lemon shrugged. “I was reading some of Twilight's notes, and I found one hidden deep between two huge books! So, I used them!” he explained, returning to his focus of Pinkie Pie who simply went about her day, casually stopping to stop to talk to pretty much anypony in her line of sight.

“But I don't get it,” Sweetie began. “WHY are we following her? You told us we would be able to get our cutie marks as researchers, but what exactly are we researching to begin with?”

Lemon dropped the binoculars again, and reaching into his saddlebags, took out a small pile of papers which he placed near them. “Here, I guess if you guys are helping, you can read this.”

Apple Bloom grabbed the papers and read the top. “Magical Earth Pony – Research Notes?” she scratched her head and looked at Lemon again. “Ah' don't get it.”

“Well, the term used to be 'Uniearth Pony' but Twilight said it sounded made up, so I went straight to the point!” Lemon explained.

“Um, I think what Apple Bloom means is what this has to do with Pinkie,” Scootaloo guessed.

Lemon sighed, diving into the bushes again and rejoining the group. “In short, I think Pinkie Pie has actual Unicorn magic in her! She seems to be able to do strange things! I even heard that they could bring back the dead!" he said with an ominious look. "But everypony seems to think it's just her being her. But I'm not buying that!” he exclaimed, giving the group a fierce look.

Scootaloo nodded. “Ooh! That's why you made us Pinkie Promise to not tell anypony else about this!”

“Yep, yep!” Lemon nodded approvingly, grabbing the notes and putting them back into his bag. “Finding out if she goes through some sort of magic surge would be the proof I need to know it's her! And now,” he began, grabbing the binoculars and observing again. “I need to get back to it.”

…

“Why is everything so white all of a sudden?”

*Ahem!*

“Ah!” Lemon jumped back at the suddenness of the sound, looking up, and noticing Gleaming Guard staring right at him. “H-hi!”

“Lemon, what are you doing?” he asked in a demanding tone, looking over to notice the fillies right behind him.

“M-Mr. Guard! I...” Lemon tried to explain, trying to look over him and seeing Pinkie Pie nowhere to be seen. “Aww...”

“Kid, you haven't answered my question yet,” Guard noted, looking even more suspicious.

“I-I… I was studying Ponyville's daily life, is all!” he blurted out on the spot. “I, yes! I was trying to see how ponies here acted in comparison to other places, and, yeah...”

Guard stared suspiciously for a few seconds, but shrugged afterward. “Maybe you should try doing something else, lest, ponies will find you suspicious,” he looked over to the fillies who only stared silently. “And that goes to you three as well.”

“Yes, sir!” they all responded in a collective sigh of relief.

“In any case, I'm surprised you are out here, isn't it Twilight time right about now?” Guard wondered.

“Twilight Time? Oh, yeah,” Lemon noted. “Well, the thing is, Miss Twilight doesn't seem to be feeling well, so she is resting in her room. She told me that she would be better soon and to not worry, though!” Lemon explained quickly.

“Sounds better than the captain, at least,” a voice sounded out of nowhere, making the ponies turn in conjunction, and noticing Recon waving. “Hey, guys!”

“Recon! I thought you were supposed to watch over the Forbidden Forest area!” Guard barked in reprimand.

Recon quickly saluted. “My apologies, sir, but Captain Patch said she would be taking care of that area and ordered me to the west, which is where I was heading right now!”

“She is taking over that area again today, huh?” Guard hummed to himself. “In any case, is something wrong with Patch? You sure seem to believe so."

“I'm not sure,” Recon shrugged. “I suppose she seems kinda distant lately.”

“Oh...” Lemon mumbled to himself. “Ms. Patch is feeling bad?”

As they continued their conversation, the crusaders silently spoke to each other.

“Wonder what's going on,” Scootaloo wondered curiously.

“Ah' don't know, but it sounds like that guard lady is feeling weird,” Apple Boom continued.

Sweetie Belle simply sighed. “I just wonder what happened to Twilight. I hope she is okay."


~~~~~


“Oh… I'm awake,” Twilight mumbled to herself, looking at the ceiling, letting out a wistful sigh. “Well, at least that's good,” shambling off her bed, she headed into her bathroom, the memories of her visit to Canterlot days before returning to the front of her thoughts.


“Not that it has left my thoughts to begin with.”



…



*huff* *huff* Twilight wheezed, running through the halls of the castle as if her life depended on it, reaching the Princess' study in record time. “P-Princess, I'm here!” she called out loudly as she opened the door, but was surprised to see not Celestia, but Luna, sitting where her mentor usually stood.

“Afternoon, Twilight,” she greeted her in a manner that momentarily confused Twilight.

“Your speech has improved considerably, Princess!”

Luna nodded. “Yes, I've been practicing the current age vocabulary. I say I've been doing a magnificent job of it.”

“Yes, but… What is it you are doing here? Where is Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked, looking around, the chance of her hiding a priority in her head.

Luna jumped off the podium, landing near Twilight. “Do not worry, she will be here in a bit, she didn't expect you to come as quickly as you did,” she sighed.

Noticing the way she finished her explanation, Twilight decided to ask. “Princess Luna? What's wrong?” 

Luna looked at Twilight without a hint of emotion in her face. “We are about to find out.”

“Huh?”

Before Twilight was able to ask what she meant, a flash of light enveloped the room, with Celestia appearing right between the pair. “Luna! I'm back! Now, le- Twilight!” she jumped back, noticing her student. “W-what are you doing here?”

“Huh?” she mumbled confused. “What do you mean, Princess? You were the one who summoned me here, weren't you?”

“What? I didn't… Luna!” she stated with a firm tone. “Was this your doing?”

She remained in place, nodding. “It was. I feel this shouldn't be kept from her, don't you think?”

“Kept from me? What?” Twilight asked, growing increasingly frustrated. “What's going on?”

Luna nodded. “Well, sister? What were the results?”

Unable to take the cryptic talk, Twilight finally spoke up. “Enough! I'm sorry, but what's going on here!?”

Celestia returned a saddened look, taking a deep breath before talking again. “Twilight, I...”

“Hey, Twilight!” 

“Ah!” Twilight yelped, dropping her brush. “Gosh… Coming, Spike!” she replied, recognizing the voice, and quickly running to her covers, tossing them over herself before answering the door. “Y-yeah?”

“Oh, I see you are still feeling sick,” Spike noted with a grimace. “I figured the medicine would work.”

Twilight shook her head. “Spike, it's okay, I'm starting to feel better. I just need to rest, is all.”

Spike smiled. “That's great! We've all been worried sick about you… er, ignore the pun.”

“I already did,” Twilight giggled. “Speaking of, where is everypony? It's been surprisingly quiet this morning.”

“Well, you know what the guards are doing, but as for Lemon, he is hanging out with the crusaders. He said he wanted to use the time to get his own 'research' done,” Spike explained with quoting claws.

“I'm glad he isn't angry that we aren't having our usual session,” she sighed relieved. “What about John?”

“Well, if I remember right, he said he'd be out with Derpy,” Spike replied with a devilish grin. “Of course, that means he must have finally asked her out on a date.”

“Of course,” Twilight smiled. “Thank you, Spike, you really are the best assistant.”

“Eeyup!” he replied, sticking out his chest. “You should rest! I’ll deal with chores with Owlicious, alright?”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you, Spike, you are such a great help,” she thanked him, reaching out and hugging him.

“No problem! Rest well!” Spike returned the hug before running downstairs, leaving Twilight to return to the quietness of her room.

“Well, I'm glad they aren't too worried about me yet,” she sighed, walking to the window where she watched the bustling town continuing its business without any cares in the world. 


~~~~~


As it were, John and Ditzy weren't far from there, walking together.

Silently.

Without sharing nothing more than the occasional glance with Ditzy staring at John's new clothes, which despite being simple, stood out even by pony standards. At the same time, John stared at Ditzy, catching the noticeably brushed body hair and mane, as well as a simple collar around her neck. It had been enough to catch each others attention.

“Um, Derpy?” John was the first to break the ice, making Ditzy jump in surprise.

“Y-yes, John?” she replied timidly.

“Would you want something to eat? Rarity recommended me a place, if you don't mind going to it, I mean,” he explained awkwardly.

To which Ditzy easily replied with a resounding. “Yes! I'd love to!”

Feeling more relaxed with a goal in mind, the pair stopped in a fancy looking restaurant, getting strangle looks from the other customers there, but nothing that caught their attention, having grown accustomed to the stares.

Being still early in the day, the pair was quickly sat, and left to their devises.

“So… nice day, isn't it, Derpy?” John asked to the pony sitting on the seat right across him.

“Y-yeah, it is,” she barely replied, seemingly unable to say anything more than that.

They continued this for the following thirty minutes, only responding to the occasional reminder of their server, who in the interim, whispered to the other servers who had been watching the repetitive exchange.

“So, how long have they been at it, Belt?” one of them asked.

Belt, who happened to be their server, quickly answered. “Well, it's been a good while now, and all they have been doing is talk about the weather nonstop."

“Ouch,” the pony replied. “Hey, wanna bet it's their first date?”

“Psst, as if!” Belt replied, barely punching the other pony's leg. “Even a blind pony could see that! You aren't getting money from me THAT easily,” he laughed, walking back into the kitchen.

“Oh, come on!” the other pony complained, following Belt back inside, leaving John and Ditzy who had managed to hear glimpses of the conversation.

“Er, maybe we should talk about something else,” John offered, giving Ditzy a sidelong glance.

“Y-yeah.” Ditzy agreed, clearing her throat.

Taking it as confirmation, John quickly jumped to ask. “Okay, so I might appear a bit blunt with the question, but, why me? As if dating me and what not.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ditzy, seemingly puzzled. “It's because you are a nice person… did I forget to tell you that?”

“Not too sure, but either way, other than that, what else? I mean, what if I turn out to be the biggest sloth ever?”

Taken aback, Ditzy replied. “Are you...?”

“Well, no, but what if I was? I mean, I know I was the one who asked you out b- why are you smiling?”

As John said the words, Ditzy had burst out into small giggles. Noticing John's somber look, she quickly stopped. “I'm sorry! I'm not making fun of you! It's just that I was actually worried about that as well!”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah,” she replied with a warm smile, placing her hoof over John's hand. Something that the pair noticed, quickly pulling away in embarrassment.

-Oh, just KISS already!- Crystal's voice cut through John's thoughts.

“Hey, quiet you! You promised to stay out of today's date!” he thought angrily.

“John?” Ditzy called confused. “You okay there?”

“Um, sorry,” he quickly apologized, looking out the window, grinning as a thought entered his mind. “Let's go, I wanna go somewhere.”

“Oh? Aren't you hungry?” 

“Too nervous to," he admitted. "But I'll stay if you are.”

Ditzy shook her head quickly. “I'm nervous too!” she laughed. “W-where do you want to go?”

“Just follow me,” he laughed, grabbing Ditzy's hoof and pulling her out with him, leaving behind a staring group of ponies.

One of which included Belt, who stared with shock. “Oh, come on! Not even a small tip?” he whined as he picked up the glasses and watched the pair disappear behind a corner.


~~~~~


“Ms. Patch? Are you here?” Lemon called out as he walked near the edge of the forest, keeping himself far enough to avoid any dangers that may be lurking behind, yet, keeping close watch in case Patch were inside. Not an easy task even with the trees turning red and dropping leaves by the seconds.

Minutes of walking later, he caught sight of Fluttershy's cottage in the distance and knew he had gone too far. “Aww… Did I come here for nothing?” just as he uttered the words, he noticed a familiar figure popping out from the forest, which quickly receded after mere seconds. “Could that be…?”

Wasting no time, he went into a run, forgetting his own caution and jumping head first into the forest. He ran to the place where he'd seen the shape, and looked around wildly, but to no avail.

“Dang it,” he sighed. “Maybe I should just wait for her to get home...”

Having already decided to give up for the day, he turned around, only to be met by the face of a familiar creature of the Everfree.

“Timberwolf…” he whispered, gulping in fear, and instantly sweating. “N-nice timberwolf...” he said, slowly walking back. Just to accidentally land on a branch. “Oh-oh...”

He watched with horror as the timberwolf leaped into the air, legs extended and already set on him. “Aaah!” he shouted, tossing himself on the ground, his legs over his head as he waited for the worst to come.

But instead, he was met with a loud crunching noise, and quickly raising his head, he watched Rough Patch in the middle of a midair tackle before zooming past him, and tossing the timberwolf into a nearby tree, shattering it into pieces.

“Ms. Patch!” Lemon shouted relieved.

“Come on!” she shouted back, grabbing him and expertly tossing him onto her back as she ran out of the forest and into the safety of the main road.

Quickly jumping off, Lemon wrapped Patch in a hug. “Thank you so much, you saved me!”

“Huh…?” she replied, briefly confused by the show of affection. “L-Lemon! What were you doing there? You could've been hurt!” she quickly reprimanded him.

“Oh, right,” Lemon mumbled, taking a step away. “I'm sorry! I was looking for you, and I saw you peeking from the forest, so I thought that I would talk to you...”

“Talk to me? What's so important that you have to talk to me when I'm working?” she asked in disbelief.

“Well, I was worried about you.”

“Worried?”

“Yeah, I heard from Mr. Recon that you had been acting strange for the past couple of days, so I wanted to make sure you were okay!” he explained.

Patch seemed at a loss for words. “Did you now…? Well, you don't have to, I'm Captain Patch, I'm always okay!”

“No, you are not.”

“Excuse me?”

“I mean, I know you are always this tough pony, but even tough ponies have feelings, right?” Lemon smiled, approaching her again and placing a hoof on her. “Mom always said that keeping your feelings bottled up is bad.”

Patch couldn't help but smile. “Your mom sounds like a wise pony,” she said, wrapping Lemon in a hug of her own. “Thank you, Lemon, I'll keep that in mind.”

…

Minutes of continuous hugging later, Lemon finally spoke. “Miss Patch? You can let go of me now.”

“Oh, sorry kiddo!” she said, clearing her throat and ruffling his hair. “You know, I think I can let Recon take over watch while you and I go eat. How does my treat sound?”

“I like food!” Lemon yelped excitedly.

“Me too. Let's go, then,” she said, urging Lemon ahead, taking the time to steal a quick glance back towards Fluttershy's cottage before catching up with him.


~~~~~


“J-John, I don't mean to be a bother, but why do I have to cover my eyes again?” Ditzy asked nervously, taking each step as if it were the last.

“That's because I said so,” John replied very simply.

“O-okay… but don't let go, please; I don't want to bump into something,” she said nervously, suddenly feeling John's hand moving away from her. “You just did what I told you not to do...”

“That's because we are already here.”

“Oh,” the moment she opened her eyes, confused thoughts began running amok. “Why am I staring at a tree?”

“Er, wrong tree,” John corrected her. “Behind you.”

Quickly turning around, she soon noticed what John spoke of. “Oh…” slowly, she walked towards the tree, looking over to the distance where Canterlot Castle stood tall. “I know it's only been a few months, but it sure feels like forever since I've last been here.”

“Tell me about it,” John sighed in return, pushing his back against the familiar tree, and slowly sliding into a sitting position. “Shit has hit the fan.”

“Excuse me…?” Ditzy asked taken by surprise by the phrase.

“Oh! It just means that things got bad a few times in the past couple of weeks… I'm kinda happy that nothing bad has happened yet, if even for a few days.”

“You make it sound as if things happen all the time,” she shrugged.

“They kinda do…” John shot back. “And wanna know what the funny thing is?”

“You are out on a date with me?” Ditzy asked teasingly.

“The funny thing is that I'm getting used to it,” he answered, letting his head fall back and lightly tap the tree. “I've had to face a crazed unicorn, deal with an attempted terrorist attack, go through copies of a pink colored pony, dealt with ANOTHER crazed unicorn, and on the lowest end of that scale is making Twilight blow up the lab on my first day in Canterlot!”

“How did you do that?” Ditzy asked amazed.

He quickly waved his hand. “Long story, but you know, of all of these events, there is one that I find good despite the consequences of it.”

“What is that?”

“Getting my leg broken by a careless pony,” he said with a huge smile, turning to look at a blushing Ditzy.

“G-geez, don't remind me,” she sighed, letting herself fall on the grass with a satisfied hum. “You know, I like this place and all, but I don't get why you brought me here.”

“Well, I figured that if we were going to date, bringing you to this place would show you that I'm willing to try,” he explained. “Does that make sense?”

She gave him a piercing stare, and replied. “No."

“Oh...” John groaned in disappointment.

“But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the sentiment,” she laughed, resting her head on his legs.

Silently, they looked at each other, each of them expecting something other than awkward stares to follow.

-Do it!- Crystal shouted expectantly. 

“Um, Ditzy?” John began.

“Yes?”

“Can we hold off on the kissing part? I'm not sure I'm quite ready to kiss a pony. No offense.”

Ditzy seemed surprised, but smiled. “No problem… I was actually thinking something very similar.”

Silenced once more, they stared at each other, and burst into laughter.

All the while, inside John's mind, the voice of Crystal Thought murmured to herself. -What a copout!-


~~~~~


Meanwhile, back in Golden Oaks, a sleeping Twilight tossed and turned, murmuring out loud in her slumber.

“What are you hiding from me… tell me, Princess… just do it.”


…


“Twilight, I... It's about the dark magic in you, the one preventing you from using your own,” Celestia began.

“Yes, I know about it. You told me as much months ago,” Twilight replied, recalling what Celestia had explained to her before. “I even kept the purpose of these meetings secret from John at your behest.”

Celestia quickly shook her head. “Twilight, the dark magic inside you is spreading through your body. It's the reason why side-effects such as headaches have begun manifesting in you.”

“Headaches? What? How do yo–”

“Captain Patch has kept me informed on your condition,” she quickly replied. “And before you say anything, she did so under my orders, and lying about your condition in your medical appointments wouldn't help us do anything to help.”

Twilight groaned. “I suppose I didn't want to worry anypony… but what does that have to do with anything?”

“Very well, I'll get to the point,” Celestia sighed again, her eyes trembling as the smallest details of tears began streaming down. “My dear student, it seems that the dark magic has begun spreading in your body.”

“O-oh,” Twilight mumbled, taken by surprise by the news. “Is that what you found out from your reports? Can it be stopped?”

Calmly Celestia replied. “Twilight, the damage that the dark magic is doing to your body is more than anything we expected—It's killing you.”

Twilight fell as if the world had stopped, standing in place with disbelief. Slowly, she shook her head, her grasp of words failing her miserably.

“Y-you are kidding, right?” she whispered, taking deep breaths to calm herself. “I can't seriously be...”

Celestia only shook her head. “I'm so, so sorry...”

“No...” Twilight whispered, before turning around and shouting. “No!” then running off, ignoring Celestia who called after her.

Twilight continued running, ignoring any pony who attempted to stop her for any reason. She continued her trot until she reached the garden, heading for the maze that she knew from her filly days, instinctively taking turns without even bothering to check.

She soon reached the end of the maze, stopping in her tracks and looking around, breathing heavily as she tried to find an exit, but giving up once she noticed there was none.

“No...” she whispered, dropping to the ground and sobbing to herself. “This can't be happening, it just can't… I just…”

“Twilight, you can't die.”

“Princess?” Twilight murmured, turning to meet her teacher, but finding herself face to face with nothing more than darkness. “What the...”

With a thunderous roar, a voice came from the darkness. 

“You are already dead.”

“Aaah!” Twilight woke with a short lived yelp, having covered her snout to avoid anyone from hearing. To her luck, it seemed no one had heard, and she breathed a sigh of relief. “What was that?” quickly jumping off the bed, she ran into the bathroom, pouring herself a glass of water which she nervously drank as she looked at herself in the mirror.

“I-it's okay, it was just a dream… of a memory... I-I'm gonna have to tell them about it, aren't I?” she sighed, growling to herself as the implications of what she would have to do sank. “I'm so sorry, everyone...”

As she left the restroom, she stopped halfway to her bed, sensing a familiar feeling in herself which she quickly caught on to.

“Wait a minute… am I...” slowly, she noticed the cup she had used float in front of her, enveloped in a familiar purple aura. 

Taken by surprise, she let go of the magic, watching as the cup fell, and slowly rolled away, leaving Twilight to ponder about what had happened.


“I have my magic back...”

> All's Well That End—
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Crash*

“Whoa, what?” John mumbled, waking up at the sudden noise. “What the heck was that?” he looked out the window, and noticed the still raised moon in the sky. It didn't seem like Luna would bring it down any time soon.

-I heard it too,- Crystal answered him. -Are you gonna check it out?-

“That's not even up to debate, of course I am,” he whispered, donning his pants and heading out of the room.

“John?” a low voice called to him, and he turned to notice Spike and Lemon silently staring at him.

“You guys heard it too, I take it,” John guessed, receiving nods that confirmed his suspicions. “Alright, stay close; we are gonna find out what's happening.”

Slowly, the three made their way downstairs, cringing as their individual steps did the smallest of creaks on the wooden steps.

-Aren't these stairs carved from the tree's wood? Why the heck are they creaking?- Crystal asked validly, but was ignored as the trio remained silent, slowly making their way through the foyer. Suddenly, they noticed a light peering from the kitchen's slightly opened door.

“Okay guys, stay behind me,” John warned, carefully approaching the door, and with a gulp, pushing it open. “Put your hooves up where I can see...” he shouted before suddenly stopping, blinking in confusion at what he saw. “S-see them?”

“What's wrong?” Lemon asked, peering from behind him, noticing what he meant. Spike followed suit and stared with the same level of awe. “Wait...”

“Twilight?” John said out loud, watching as Twilight stood in the middle of the kitchen. Of course, the strangest thing about it all was the numerous objects floating about, being helped along by a subtle purple glow.

Suddenly, Twilight teleported near them, making them jump in surprise. “I'm sorry, did I wake you? I just couldn't sleep!” she replied excitedly, before suddenly, teleporting back to the spot she had been and continuing her task.

“Twilight! You have your magic back!” Spike said excitedly. 

“Indeed I do, Spike, and I'm making good use of it!”

John scoffed, raising a brow as he stared at the room. “Doing what, exactly?”

Twilight harrumphed. “Well, if you must know, I am organizing everything in a way that can be found, reached, and appropriately used whenever possible.”

Lemon jumped into the kitchen, looking around excitedly. “Whoa, does this mean Twilight Time is back on again?”

“You bet your little flank it is!” Twilight grinned as she finished up, standing proudly. “I'll even get back to projects I thought weren't possible! All of my research can get back on track!”

John was taken by surprise by Twilight's phrasing, but he soon forgot it as a yawn forced its way out. “Twilight, I'm glad that you have your magic back, and I'm sure I'll be very excited when I'm not passing out where I stand, but can we go back to bed? We can probably get Pinkie to throw you a party in the morning.”

As John said the word, the kitchen's window burst open, letting in numerous balloons as well as a purple cake that landed perfectly on the table.

Staring at the decorations knowingly, John sighed. “Pinkie Pie… how?”

“How am I? I'm great!” the familiar voice of Pinkie replied before her head popped in from the window, wearing a night cap. “Do you like it?” she asked innocently.

“Well, I...”

“Twilight! Congratulations on getting your magic back!” she shouted, pushing herself in, and hugging the smiling unicorn. “I'm sooo happy for you!”

“Thank you Pinkie, I'm happy too!” Twilight replied.

John rubbed his face while shaking his head. “Guys, maybe we shoul-

“Ooh! Cake! I like cake! May I have some, Pinkie?” Lemon asked.

Feeling the adult in him call out, John spoke. “Lemon, you shouldn't ea-”

“Of course! That's why it's here!” Pinkie replied.

Unable to say something to stop him, John ate his words and sighed in defeat. “I'm going to have to give up, aren't I, Crystal?”

-Uh huh,- Crystal replied, barely listening -I'm sorry, what was that?-

“Crystal? You okay?” John asked confused. “Something the matter?”

She remained silent for a few seconds before replying. -I think you are not getting any sleep.-

“Yep,” he mumbled relieved, with a small smile already on his face. “Well, I don't think I'm getting any sleep any time soon, so I might as well join the insanity!”


~~~~~


“Wow, that actually sounds crazy!” Ditzy said surprised, hovering besides John as he finished his tale.

“I meant to be exaggerating then, but go freaking figure I really wasn't!” he replied with a yawn, barely able to keep his focus as he explained. “I cleaned off cake from places where cake was never meant to be!”

“But that happened hours ago! I thought you'd be sleeping at this point,” Ditzy realized, looking up above and towards the sun that remained indifferent to their issues.

Grunting, he continued. “Yeah, well, I kinda Pinkie promised—obviously, you know—that we would be throwing her a bigger party over at Sugarcube Corner later today, and I was off to invite everypony… that's still the plan, but I got derailed by finding you—speaking of, shouldn't you be working?” he wondered.

“Oh! I am!” she yelped, unfolding her wings in a panic. “S-sorry to cut your time! I wish I could help, but I need to deliver these packages!” she said in panic, pointing at her bags.

“I jest,” John laughed amused. “But I really don't want you to get in trouble, so how about you help by telling any of the girls you are delivering to, if any?”

“Great idea!” Ditzy said, bursting in excitement at the prospect of helping out, taking out a sheet, and quickly, looking it over. “I'm going to Fluttershys, oh, and Rainbow Dashs too! So I'll tell them!”

“Thank you,” John said in relief. “To be honest, I was considering throwing rocks at Dash's home since she lives on a cloud. I'm pretty sure the result of that wouldn't end up pretty.”

Ditzy giggled, and shook her head. “Don't you worry, I will tell Dash and Fluttershy about the party at Sugarcube! I'll even avoid throwing rocks in the process!”

Laughing, John shook her mane. “And that's why you are the best mailmare.”

“I, um...” with a blush on her cheeks, she said nothing more and flew off. 

“And you better come too, you hear?” he shouted after her, getting a meekly wave in return before she sped off.

-You know, you really should've gone for the kiss there.- Crystal commented.

Audibly groaning, he replied. “You did this yesterday too, what's your deal with the kiss thing?”

-I don't know,- Crystal sighed. -I just get the feeling you two will be good together, is all.-

“Well, isn't that adorable.”

John turned around at the sound of the new voice, noticing Rarity standing a few feet away with a playful smile. She carried a pair of saddlebags which she focused on fixing as she walked towards him. “Rarity? How long…?”

“Long enough,” she answered with a still lingering grin. “At least long enough to hear the great news!”

“And long enough so I don't have to make two trips, talk about saving time!” John said relieved.

“Right, well…” Rarity rolled her eyes and walked ahead of him. “In any case, let us go, then!”

John stood in place, confused, so he set out to correct that. “Us? Where do you think WE are going?”

“Applejacks, of course!” she replied with a wry tone. “I need to go see her anyway, and seeing how you are heading there too, I figure you can accompany me, is all.”

“Oh, well, then I guess we can go then,” John shrugged, joining her. “But you are not my boss out here!”

“Naturally,” Rarity giggled, turning her attention to the road in front. “By the way, where is Twilight?”

“She is at home. She said she wanted to get some magic stuff done,” he explained. "Guess it's her way to rest after the second party."

“Second party?”

“Pinkie Pie. Don't ask,” he quickly replied.

“Of course,” she laughed. “Hmm… and John?”

“Yeah?”

“You really need to sleep more, you look dreadful!”

Silence was the only thing John could hope to respond with.


~~~~~


“Hmm, maybe if I move this here...”

Twilight murmured to herself, keeping an eye on not just one book, but two other that floated next to the one on her podium. She rhythmically switched between each as she flipped the pages with her magic.

From a distance, Lemon and Spike watched her, awestruck at the amount of work she seemed to be doing.

“Is Ms. Twilight usually this diligent with magic?” Lemon wondered, barely dodging a book that floated by him.

Spike shook his head. “No, I mean, yes, she was diligent, but she never used this much magic to do like ten things at the same time. She always said that using up her magic that way was more of a waste! Not to mention she told me to NOT send the Princess a letter about this until she said it was okay to! At least she let me send Cadence one.”

Lemon scratched his head, keeping his eyes on Twilight who continued without any sign of stopping. “Oh, I know how you can get her out of it!" he said suddenly, tapping his stomach. "I bet she is a bit hungry, you should take her something to eat!”

Spike's face lit up at idea. “That's a good plan! She needs the break anyway.”

Heading into the kitchen, Spike was quick to gather the ingredients and prepare a sandwich. He wasted no time taking back to Twilight, who still bore through the books, taking notes with reckless abandon. 

“Hmm… Twilight,” he called in a low voice, getting no response. “Twilight?” he called louder.

Twilight remained on her task as if she hadn't been interrupted.

Growing annoyed, Spike took a deep breath, and shouted. “Twilight!”

The response was instantaneous. “What!?” she shouted back, glaring angrily at Spike. “What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?”

Spike stood in place, calming himself down after Twilight's loud response. “W-well, I made you some food, Twilight… I was hoping you could stop, a-and...”

Twilight closed all three books at once, and turned to Spike. “I don't know if you can see, but I am catching up on work that I fell behind on for months! So you'll have to excuse me if I'm not in the mood to eat!” she finished, grabbing the plate with her magic, and tossing it to the wall where it easily shattered, to Spike's horror. “Now, go!”

“T-Twilight…” Spike whispered, running out of the room past Lemon, who had watched the entire scene unfold.

“Miss Twilight,” he whispered in disbelief. “What is going on with you?”


~~~~~


Sweet Apple Acres came up in the distance as the familiar fence popped into view, followed by the sight of the reddening trees, signaling the start of a colder weather, which John observed as he and Rarity walked, trying to entertain himself.

“You know, you don't have to be quiet, John,” Rarity noticed, complaining in turn. 

“Oh, sorry,” he quickly apologized. “I'm not really sure what to talk about, really.”

Rarity closed her eyes, taking a breath of air. “Well, maybe you can tell me how you and Ditzy are doing, for one.”

“Us!?” he gulped, until suddenly realizing something else. “Wait a minute, did you just say 'Ditzy'?”

“That is her name, is it not?”

John stopped walking while Rarity continued ahead. “How did you know?”

Rarity stopped as well, turning to John and replying. “I have no idea what her deal is, but the secret is safe with me.”

“Rarity...” John whispered. “Wait a m-”

“Heya, John! Hey Ms. Rarity!” John was cut off, as the filly Applebloom suddenly popped up, jumping on him. “What are y'all doing here?”

-Apparently being run over by little fillies, that's what,- Crystal giggled.

After successfully pushing Applebloom off him, the three arrived at the main building where they noticed the family cleaning up the table, a task that Applebloom was soon forced to join in, while Applejack took it to herself to greet the pair.

“Well, Ah'll be, if it isn't John!” Applejack said surprised. “Haven't seen you 'round these parts for a good while, bud.”

“Yeah, well, I've been busy, and I figured you were too,” he shrugged.

“You figured right,” AJ laughed, turning her attention to Rarity. “And you are even a bigger stranger, aren't ya'?”

“I've been quite busy as well,” Rarity laughed, waving her hoof. “The holidays are fast approaching, and I've been receiving more orders than usual. I even have a Canterlot backlog!”

“Well, it's nice that we've been having our moments, but Ah' figure that pleasantries ain't the reason you two are here, is it?” AJ guessed, raising a brow.

“Yeah…” John was quick to admit. “Sorry about that.”

AJ raised her leg, and playfully punched John's arm. “Oh, come now, we are all busy, besides there is no need to be feeling sad when an excuse to meet comes up, is it?”

John winced as he answered. “Can I be sad over the pain I am in?”

Ignoring the pained John and continuing her newfound eye rolling hobby, Rarity interjected. “In any case, I'm here to deliver the sweater you told me to knit for Granny Smith. I would usually give it to her myself, but I'm not sure she would take kindly to asking her if I got her measures correctly after what you told me.”

“Ha! And you would be right again,” AJ chuckled, grabbing the sweater that Rarity levitated to her. “Don't y'all worry, Ah'm sure it'll fit nicely. Thank you, Rarity.”

“It's no problem, you know I'm always willing to help,” she replied. “And don't worry about pay, this didn't really take me long to do anyway,” she added.

“Aw, shucks, Ah' owe you one, Rare,” Applejack laughed. “But before I go give her this, is there something you wanted to tell me, John?”

“Huh?” John mumbled, as if taken out of a trance. “Oh, sorry, I was just so fixated on how friendly you two are, is all. Even after all this time I can't get used to it.”

Rarity scoffed. “Well, we ARE all friends, darling.”

“Right…” he laughed nervously. “So, big news! Twilight got her magic back, and we are throwing her a party at Sugarcube Corner!”

AJ smiled in an instant before letting out a loud 'yeehaw. "Well, I'll be! This is great! When is the get together?”

“An hour, but...”

“Ah'll be sure to finish by then!” she said quickly, running back to the house in a rush, and after a few seconds, running out and passing by them. “See ya'll later!” she said quickly, before running off to another part of the farm.

“Well, shall we go back?” Rarity asked.

“Yeah, I think our work is done,” he replied.

John took a deep breath, taking a gander of the farm as they walked back. “You know, it was nice to come over here and see AJ. I actually think I'm awake now,” he said, slowly rubbing his still pained arm.

Rarity nodded. “I'm quite glad you are, John.”

Mulling for a moment, he turned over to her and asked. “Hey, Rarity?”

“Yes, John?”

“I just realized that I could have had you deliver the news for me… you knew this, didn't you?”

Still smiling, she nodded. “I did, John, yes.”

Careful to avoid her mane, he tried an awkward attempt at a hug. “Thanks for not doing that.”

Rarity giggled, and together, they continued their way back to Ponyville.

Reaching the edge of town, John spoke up. “Hey Rarity, you can head straight to Sugarcube Corner, I need to go get Twilight off the books for the 'surprise' party.”

“I see. In that case, I'll go help Pinkie with whatever she needs to do, although I'm sure she is already done with it all by this point.”

“You sure about that?” John asked, teasingly poking her side. “I thought you had a lot of work to do?”

“John, please,” Rarity scoffed, indignant to what he implied. “I may take my work very seriously, but I put my friends above all else!”

“Don't worry, I know,” he grinned, waving her goodbye, and making a beeline towards Golden Oaks. 

-For someone who only slept three hours you seem surprisingly awake,- Crystal noted.

“Hey, I did state I would be happy when I was fully awake, which I now happen to be!” John shot back. “I'm just happy that after all the crap we've gone through recently, we can have a moment of relief.”

-Yeah, I wonder…-

“What is that supposed to mean?” 

-I don't know, just I feeling I have. I'm probably just being overly dramatic.-

“I can only hope so,” he thought, just as he noticed the library come up in the distance, being surprised as he noticed three figures standing outside. “What's going on here?”

“Afternoon, John,” replied Patch, who turned her attention from Lemon and Spike, who she seemed to have been speaking with. John paid special attention to Spike, who seemed sad for some reason.

“What's going on? Why are you guys out here?”

Turning back to the pair, she said. “Kids, can you take a walk for a bit? I need to talk to John for a bit.”

John watched them nod, and walk away, talking to each other in low voices before turning his attention to Patch, looking more on-edge than usual.

“What happened, Patch?” John asked in a calm tone, doing his best to hide his dread.

“I'll be concise,” Patch prefaced before going through with her explanation, which ultimately, left John more confused than worried.

“Wait, are we talking about the same Twilight? You know, the one who believes in friendship and is usually nice?” he asked mockingly.

“Don't shoot the messenger, John,” she sighed, shifting uncomfortably in place. “I only came here to send my report about Twilight, and turns out I only got here to see the two waiting outside.”

“I'll go talk to her,” John quickly offered, reaching for the handle.

“John,” Patch intervened, putting her hoof on the handle. “From the sounds of it, it seems that she is pretty volatile, so don't say anything that might upset her while I go get Recon to send the report. I'm sure she'll know what's wrong with her,” she suggested, right before running off, and leaving him staring at the door.

-Tact is the answer here, bud,- Crystal added as John opened the door and headed inside, quickly finding Twilight in the middle of book rearranging, squinting her eyes as she tried to focus.

“Hey, Twilight?” he called in a low voice.

She jumped in place, quickly turning around and seeing John, and smiled when she noticed him. “Oh, hey John! Sorry about that, you caught me taking a break!”

Watching how the unattended books continued the task, John raised a brow. “Right… break. So, you are shelving books, then?”

“It's rather therapeutic, you should try it sometime,” she noted, turning her attention back to it with a content sigh.

“I'll keep that in mind, but that's not what I'm here for,” he shot, straight to the point. “Twilight, what was your deal with treating Spike that way?”

-That was the complete opposite of what I just said!- Crystal growled annoyed.

“I see he told you,” letting the books idle midair, she turned her attention to him, her soft smile now gone. “John, please, Spike was interrupting my studies! I needed to get him out of my way.”

“By treating him like a pest? Come on!” he countered. “That's not how you do things, and I'm not just lecturing you, that is just not how you of all ponies do things!”

Twilight walked to John, giving him an amused grin. “John, I had my magic taken away, and now I get the chance to finally use it after so long. Is that such a bad thing?”

“Er,” John trembled, gulping at the look she gave him.

-Remember that bad feeling I seemed to have earlier? It's here again,- Crystal whispered.

Taking a deep breath, he continued. “T-Twilight, I think we should head off to your party at Pinkie's place. Remember? The one where all of our friends are going to be attending?”

She grabbed her chin as if thinking over the idea, but quickly replied. “Nah, I don't think so. I don't have time for that,” she scoffed, turning back to her task. “In any case, there are other parties.”

At this point, John was at a loss of words. “Twilight! What the hell are you saying? We had a plan!” he said, barely holding his voice. “You can spare a few hours away from your silly magic.

“What?” Twilight growled, turning her head and glaring at him. “You said 'silly magic'? What would YOU know about magic? You have no idea, that's what!”

“I, what!?” John shouted, unable to hold back. “I'm sorry, did I go into a bizarro Ponyville? Because you sound like a total prick right now!”

-John! Stop!- Crystal reminded him, but John simply ignored it.

Twilight harrumphed, turning away from him. “It doesn't matter, you know nothing about magic, and I do. It's as simple as that!”

He shook his head, and in a low voice he said. "What is wrong with you?"

She barely turned her head as she replied. "I guess I found out that there are more important things to worry about, huh?"

“I see, fine, I'll just leave then! I'll just...” he trailed off, a memory popping into his mind, one that he hadn't thought of for months. “I'll just go back home!” he threatened.

Twilight's smugness was understandably replaced by a confused one. “W-what?”

Sensing the hesitation in her voice, he continued. “Yeah, remember when you first lost your magic? Celestia told me that I had to choice to go back, but I stayed. For you.”

Twilight just stared blankly "B-but I thought you couldn't."

"You thought wrong."

She said nothing more, her face showing her deep in thought.

“I think you know what happens next,” he snorted, heading upstairs, and heading into the closet, where he picked up the backpack he had first arrived with.

-John, what are you doing? You are not really planning on leaving Equestria, are you?- Crystal asked in a panic.

“Don't worry, I won't. I just… need to get out of here,” he explained, grabbing a change of clothes and packing it in. "I'm not really gonna leave here anyway."

-Is it a good idea to leave at all? It looked like you really gave Twilight the wrong idea there,- Crystal noted.

John shook his head, tossing the backpack aside. “Yeah, you might be right. I should go talk to her.”

-Good! If anything, maybe this'll stop make her realize that pushing your friends away like that isn't a smart idea,- Crystal noted.

“Hey, Twilight!” he called, running back downstairs. “I wanna apo- what the?” he stopped short, watching Twilight take deep breaths, keeping her eyes closed. What really caught his attention was the strange black smoke emanating from her. 

“John...” she whispered, opening her eyes, which glowed in a strange green color.

Panic rising in him, he ran to her aid. “Twilight!” 

He stopped at Twilight suddenly smiled, and said. "Not anymore..."


~~~~~


“Oh boy, I can't wait for this party to get started!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed excitedly, jumping in place.

Rarity, who sat with Fluttershy nearby, chuckled. “Now, now, I'm sure you can let all that excitement out when John and Twilight are here.”

Out of nowhere, a loud explosion reached their ears, causing Pinkie to nearly trip as the ground shook.

“W-what was that?” Fluttershy whimpered, looking at the others before they all ran out, noticing an already gathering crowd of ponies gazing up at an already dissipating cloud of smoke.

“Fluttershy, could you be a dear?” Rarity asked, pointing to the sky.

“Oh! Right!” she replied timidly, unfolding her wings, and taking off straight up. It didn't take her long to notice where the smoke hailed from, and she gasped. “Oh my goodness! No!” she yelped horrified, and flew back down.

Meanwhile, from the source of the smoke, ponies gathered to look at what remained from Golden Oaks library.
> Mini Chapter - Crystal Couple
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Do you think we'll be there soon enough?"

"We haven't even left yet."

"I know, but I can't help but to obnoxiously ask are we there yet?"

"Seriously, Shining?"

“No... sorry Cadence, I guess I'm just anxious. Haven't seen Twilight in a while,” Shining Armor sighed, fidgeting in place. He looked over to the castle's entrance constantly, checking for any signs of… anything at all.

“You know it's protocol,” she explained. “Besides, Twilight isn't going anywhere, and the guards will be here soon enough,” Cadence laughed, nuzzling his neck. “In any case, we can use the off-time to bond, don't you think?”

Shining rolled his eyes and grinned. “Cadence, we bond practically every night.”

Rolling her eyes in return, Cadence, gave him a light shove. “Captains shouldn't be acting this unprofessional, you know?”

“Prince,” Shining corrected. “Princes have a bit of that luxury in their own kingdom, right?”

“The point 'prince' is that we don't really travel. We've been here for months now, and we could use this as a relieve trip, so just enjoy it,” she finished, bopping his nose lightly.

Shining reached for his snout, wiping the feeling left by Cadence's hoof away. “Alright, I'll give you that… we really could do with less ponies constantly worrying besides us."

“Your Majesty!”

“Speaking of…” Shining groaned, looking to the side to a pair of crystal ponies approaching them.

“Your Majesty!” one of them bowed to Cadence. “Forgive our tardiness, but we have news!”

“The train will be here soon,” Shining whispered to Cadence.

“The train will be here soon,” the pony informed them.

“Who knew? Those are great news indeed,” Shining said with an air of importance, all while Cadence tried her best to hold back a laugh. “Well, let us go, then.”

They promptly left the safety of the castle and out into the chilly morning outside, with the sight of barely anypony walking around, Shining and Cadence smiled in delight.

“Good idea to leave early, Shining,” Cadence praised him. “We only got the letter from Spike a few hours ago.”

“Well, when you have to help Princess Celestia deal with her subjects, it's much better to deal with the fewest amount of them… it helps that I really want to go there already,” he admitted.

Giggling, Cadence nodded. “Honesty is a good trait for a ruler to have. You are on the path to become a fair Prince… and continue being an honest husband to boot.”

They looked at each other in silence before bursting into laughter, arriving at the newly built road that was a direct path to the train station. Cadence admired the handiwork with a smile, the time she had spend in the crystal empire coming to mind.

She had yet to become accustomed to her new position, though she felt she had grown to understand it better beyond what she had been taught, since the act of ruling hadn't come advertised with the 'protect the kingdom' package in her lesson. And as a rule to it, she always asked herself the same thing each morning.

“Why am I doing this again?”

“Because it's your destiny.” was the nebulous answer from Celestia that came to mind, and one she had questioned since. But destiny's track record made it a difficult thing to argue.

She was a fickle one… and so was destiny for that matter.

At least destiny didn't have a problem with having somepony substitute for two days while they were gone.

They arrived at the train station twenty minutes later, where the royal pair admired the renovated station. Shining didn't make it a long lasting experience, since they soon headed inside and took their seats.

“Hmm,” Shining suddenly hummed. “Oh-oh...” 

Cadence tilted her head curiously, watching Shining rummaging through his bags. “What's the matter, dear?”

“I… may have forgotten something,” he groaned, pushing his bag aside after having looked numerous times. “Argh! Figures that the one time it's on me, I forget things.”

“What did you forget?” Cadence asked intrigued. “You haven't really explained this mysterious object."

Shining sighed. “Well, it was a gift for Twily. Something she might like."

“You should go get it,” Cadence suggested. “I'm sure we can wait a bit.”

“Yeah, I figure I should,” Shining said, resigning himself. “I'll be right ba-”

“Here you go, Prince Shining!” a pony suddenly said, making Shining jump in surprise and fall on his flank, breathing heavily as he stared at the unknown crystal pony, who in his mouth, held a book.

“Hey, that's my book!" Shining gasped, getting on his hooves and . “Where did you…”

“Your Majesty!” came the shouts from the guards who stumbled into the train, spears aimed at the pony who inevitably trembled in fear at the sight of them. 

Ignoring his surprise, he quickly said. "Stop! He, um, this pony is simply bringing me something I forgot,” he said quickly, trying to appease the doubting guards, who didn't appear to budge at all.

Sighing, Cadence said. “I'll handle this.”

Just seconds later, the situation had been dealt with and the pony was on his way out. All the while, Shining stood in place, watching the situation be solved.

"New History of the Crystal Empire," he said out loud, looking at the book as he begrudgingly went back to his seat, groaning annoyed.

Cadence stared confused, watching him shove the book into his saddlebags. “You know, you don't have to be mad just because you dropped the book on the way. You got it back, didn't you?”

“It's not that,” he replied, turning away from his closed bag. “I have to come clean, Cadence, since I'm not sure if I'm really a match for this.”

“Match for what?”

“Me being a ruler,” he replied. “I know I joke a lot about this, but whenever things like this happen… you saw how it was going there with that pony,” he growled, barely able to hide his frustration. “On a captain day, I would be the one detaining that pony. But now? I don't even know how to react to this. I'm not prepared like you.”

Cadence blinked quickly, watching her husband who said nothing else, a distraught look marking his frustration. His eyes moved side to side, trying their best to avoid direct contact with her own, but despite his best attempts, she saw his hesitance.

Hesitance that seemed to mirror her own.

“Shining, I may have been a princess before all this, but that doesn't mean I'm the all-knowing ruler that Celestia is,” Cadence explained, joining him on his seat, and resting her head on his shoulder. “You should have told me you felt that way.”

Shining chuckled, shaking his head. “How does 'captain too afraid to step-up to responsibility' sound? I mean, trust me, I thought it would all be the same, but it turns out that I had become something that I, as a pony, was never prepared for.”

Reaching up for his ear, Cadence whispered. “Do you want me to tell you a secret?”

“Secret?” he whispered back.

“You are never truly prepared,” she began, getting a look of surprise from Shining. Noticing his silence, she continued. “You just have to make sure that what you say or do is the correct thing… and to be honest, even with all that I learned, it hasn't been a walk in the park for me.”

“Really?” Shining asked relieved. “How do you deal with it?”

Raising her leg, Cadence brought her hoof close to her chest as she took a deep breath, and arched it forwards as she released it. “Just need to learn to be patient, is all. I'm sure you'll get used to this soon enough.”

“Thank you, really,” he smiled, nuzzling up with her.

“Princess Cadence!” a pony interrupted their moment as he entered the room.

Quickly pushing him off (much to Shining's chagrin) she replied. “Yes, w-what's the matter?”

“We are about ready to head to Ponyville,” the pony quickly replied.

“Oh, thank you!” she said with a curt nod. “Anything else to report?”

The guard reached for his notes, looking for a few seconds before replying. “Not much, other than the fact that we'll be receiving an escort from Canterlot… it appears Captain Patch is currently in Ponyville.”

“Patch? You mean THE Patch!?” Shining quickly replied, now jumping over Cadence instead. “W-what is she doing in Ponyville?”

The guard pony raised a brow as he perused the papers. “Um, well, it appears that we didn't receive any information on that, I'm afraid.”

“I see…” Shining sighed. “Thank you, that will be all.”

“Well, you sure got used to it fast,” Cadence groaned, fixing her tiara which had been pushed off by Shining. “And did I hear right? Is this THE Patch who was your friend back in your guard days?” she asked curiously.

Shining nodded. “Yeah, she was,” he admitted, just as the train began suddenly moving.

“Well, that's great! You'll be able to catch up with your friend in just a few hours,” Cadence said happily, reaching into her bags, and taking out a book she had prepared for the trip.


Shining sighed, looking out the window with wistful eyes and thinking. “Yeah… focus on WAS.” 

> A Shade in the Light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Twilight!” John woke with a start, breathing heavily, looking around and finding himself in a familiar setting. “Wait… this place looks familiar,” struggling, he stumbled on his feet, looking around as he did and finally recognizing the room.

-This is Pinkie Pie's room,- Crystal commented, catching John by surprise.

“Crystal? What's going on? Why am I here?” John quickly asked, holding his suddenly aching head. “A-and Twilight! What happened?”

-Last thing I remember was a barrage of magical energy… I reacted and prevented us from being swallowed by it,- she explained. -But the impact must have tossed us and knocked you out, because I can't recall anything else.-

“Twilight wasn't close to us… oh no!” he rushed through the door, running in bounds, his feet stretching as far as he could to aid in his speed. He ran down the stairs and stopped when his sight was filled with familiar pony faces.

“John!” many of them exclaimed with excitement, some of them with relief, and a pair nearly in tears, nearly rushing him down as they huddled around him, unleashing a barrage of questions that he could barely make up in the multitude of voices.

“Enough!” Applejack and Guard's voices echoed together, making the group of ponies back away embarrassed.

“John,” Rough Patch's voice called him calmly, walking up to him. “How are you feeling?”

He took a deep breath, lazily looking over himself for anything that would be broken, but finding nothing. “I-I'm okay, I had a bit of a headache, but that's passing.”

“Good. Now, I'll get to the point; what in Celestia's name happened back there?” she asked, giving him a glare. “Golden Oaks has been reduced to smithereens, and nopony knows why.”

“Hey! Don't be so forceful, you jerk!” Ditzy spoke up.

Quickly, John raised his palm, making Ditzy reluctantly back up before he turned to Patch again. “There was a magical explosion, and I was pushed away, hitting my head in something before passing out. I'm not quite sure what happened,” he looked over to where Spike sat, seeing him curled up by the wall, his face hidden from sight. 

Patch continued staring, her face remaining as neutral as it had been before, until finally, she asked: “What happened with you and Twilight? I want all of it.”

His answer was reluctant as he spoke. “… If I have to,” he relayed the events as he remembered them, Crystal aided in spots he didn't quite recall, and he was able to finish it up relatively soon, turning silent once he was done.

“I understand…” Patch answered, nodding thoughtfully. She looked over to the group who whispered to each other with similar looks on their faces.

“Patch?” John called out, and he gulped as the question left his thoughts. “W-where is Twilight?”

“Recon wrote up a report,” Guard spoke up, pulling out a notepad. “He states that multiple witnesses saw a pony shaped figure standing in the wreckage, but it apparently teleported away before anypony could identify them,” he explained, his eyes never leaving the page he stared at. “That being said, we all suspect it was Ms. Twilight.”

John shook his head slowly, increasingly more confused. “If that was Twilight, then… where did she go?”


~~~~~


“Ah!” Celestia yelped, looking up from the scroll in front of her, and into the emptiness of the throne room. “What was that?” she wondered out loud, a feeling of dread having suddenly overcome her. 

“No!” a voice shouted faintly, but loudly enough that Celestia was able to hear.

“What was th-” 

Her thoughts were then cut short, the sound of multiple horrified voices reaching her ears. She was momentarily stunned by the cries, but before she was able to react, they came to a stop, leaving behind only an eerie silence. 

She wasted no time and teleported right outside the room. “Guards!” she called out to no avail. “What is going on?” she thought as she walked down the hall, her senses in full alert and expecting something—anything—to attack at any moment.

'Whatever it is I'm going against, I mustn't let my guard down.'

Her mind played with the thought of calling Luna, only to be reminded of her trip to Manehattan. She regretted having let her go, but she had agreed that she would be allowed to deal with matters of Equestria on her own, and so, she relented. Her thoughts were pushed aside when she was welcomed by the sight of a pony running through the hallway, and Celestia was quickly relieved as she identified the features of a worried Twilight Sparkle, who briefly smiled before coming to a full stop, taking gulps of air to catch her wind..

“Princess!” she called out with a look of relief. “I'm sorry, but we need your help! There was, I just...”

“Twilight, gather your thoughts. What is going on?” Celestia asked, remaining calm while her student seemed to have a difficult time uttering a word.

Taking her mentor's advice, Twilight nodded and thought of her words as she spoke. “The guards! T-they are hurt! I don't know what happened to them…”

“What has happened to the guards?” Celestia asked, remaining composed as Twilight continued explaining.

“I-I don't know! They were unconscious, and I didn't know what to do, so I decided to come get you! If only… 

“No,” Celestia uttered, interrupting Twilight before taking a leap back and away from her. “Who are you?” she demanded to know, staring fiercely at the pony, her horn glowing, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

Twilight stared blankly, shaking her head in apparent confusion. “P-Princess? What's wrong? You know it's Twilight!”

Celestia's gaze hardened, and a beam of magic shot out of her horn, hitting the carpet near Twilight’s hoof. “The real Twilight Sparkle wouldn't have left those guards unattended. Now, reveal yourself impostor!”

Twilight said nothing, slowly backing up, before suddenly starting into a run. Celestia wasted no time, unfurling her wings and taking flight, ready to act against the pony who had just then turned into the first room in her sight, slamming the door shut behind them.

“I've got you now!” Celestia thought, pushing her way into the room, recognizing her study inside. She walked a few feet inside before a thought had just occurred to her. “Wait a second... I locked this door!” she had reacted too late, the door slamming shut right behind her, watching as a wave of magic surrounded the room, causing an incredibly loud locking sound. “This spell… I know it.”

“It was one of many spells found in the Canterlot Archives, is it not?” came the unwelcome reply from 'Twilight' who trickled with sweat, still keeping an uncharacteristic smile that Celestia had never seen her student with before. “Maybe next time you shouldn't make it so easy to get into your castle, don't you think?”

Furious, Celestia aimed her horn again. “I won't ask again—who are you!?” despite herself, she was angered. Not only for having being caught, but her mind wondered to the fate of the real Twilight and the guards that were likely injured… she would need to attend to them as soon as she could muster.

Still smiling, 'Twilight' replied. “Well, I would be lying if I said I was Twilight… but I would also be telling you the truth, my dear princess,” she exclaimed, turning sideways to reveal her flank.

“What are you… wait!” the gears in Celestia's mind worked fast, looking at Twilight's now darkened cutie mark, and it suddenly clicked. “Of course. Never thought I'd see you again, Sombra.”

“Ah, good guess! But you are only half-right,” 'Twilight' replied, looking over her hoof. “Sombra is what I was known as before, but the pony by that name is no longer alive, you could say I am but a 'shade' of that corrupting this body… wait, yes, Shade. I say that's a perfect new name for my new form, don't you think?”

Celestia said nothing, disappearing in a flurry of sparks and reappearing in front of 'Shade' who fell back on the floor, taken aback by the sudden appearance. “The magic you are using to control Twilight is weak, not to mention the body you are using isn't powerful enough to defeat me. Now; either you leave my student's body, or I will be forced to take drastic measures!” 

“S-so you know how to cast me out, don't you?” Shade noted, barely able to speak. “C-curse you, Celestia…” she growled, staring at her briefly before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, opening them again to a calm look that Celestia was quick to recognize. “P-Princess? What's going on? What am I doing here?”

Celestia smiled, recognizing her student instantly. “I will explain later, maybe you should put this magic shield down, I'm certain you are able to now,” shesaid confidently.

“I… right! I have my magic again!” Twilight laughed, slowly lowering the shield around them. “And we are in your study? Is this Canterlot? I thought I was in Ponyville talking to John! And I think I was going somewhere, a-and… o-oh dear.”

“What's the matter, Twilight?” Celestia asked, noticing the sweat still tricking from her face.

“I-I don't know why, but I'm feeling really tired for some reason,” she explained, barely able to stand on her hooves. “I feel… I feel…”

“Wait a minute…” Celestia gasped, looking around the room to the now broken shield, pieces of it still intact on the floor. "Twilight, what are you doing?” she attempted to take into the air, only to find out she was unable to move, her hooves having somehow gotten stuck to the floor. “How!? This magic…”

“I imagine you would recognize it, princess!” Twilight said, donning Shade's menacing look once again. “You didn't think I would give up that easily, did you?”

Celestia continued struggling, doing her best to move. “B-but how? I sensed your presence disappearing!”

Shade laughed, circling around Celestia, her horn slowly glowing brighter by the second. “Oh Celestia, if you hadn't been worrying about your Twilight, you would have noticed that I've been casting this spell using only this body's magic… I may not have full control, but that doesn't mean her magic reserves are out of the equation.”

“Then when you ran up to me…” Celestia mumbled quietly. “The reason you were so agitated was this, wasn't it!?”

“Yes. A spell that my Sombra counterpart studied long before, and one that will give me strength that he was never able to achieve!” Shade explained as she walked up to the podium in the room, giving Celestia a hungry look. “And your magic will provide just what I need.”

A glowing circle shrank around Celestia, enveloping her fully in a show of bright lights. She watched in horror as Shade laughed. She called out Twilight's name in the hopes to reach who she was inside.

But it was all in vain.

The light became unbearably bright, and a beam of magic shot up from where Celestia stood, piercing the ceiling and going through the castle's roof, going higher and higher, then finally, losing momentum and speeding back down to where Shade stood.

Shade then closed her eyes, and as the magic enveloped her, she smugly said. “Thanks for the help, 'teacher'.”
> Trains for Thoughts
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“We need to go, now!” John shouted, spouting words that were now meaningless in his head, having repeated them enough to parch his throat as seemingly shown by his occasional coughing.

“John, calm down!” Ditzy shouted, grabbing his arm and pulling carefully. “The train won’t be here for another twenty minutes! No need to tire yourself beforehand,” she explained, looking over him with a worried gaze.

He sighed, looking at the tracks longingly. “I know, but…”

“John!” Rarity spoke up sternly, arriving just then. “Ms. Doo is correct! You need to calm yourself! You aren’t doing any good by stressing out! The train will arrive soon enough, and we will find out what happened to Twilight by asking Her Majesty… unless you’ve received a response from her already, Spike.”

The as of yet unnoticed dragon then jumped off Rarity, looking deflated as he attempted to cough. “No… nothing. The Princess hasn’t replied to my letters!”

“Oh, Spike…” Rarity tried to reach for a hug, but Spike simply walked away, sitting down far from the group. “The poor dear must be very worried…”

“Rarity?” Ditzy spoke up, looking at her curiously. “Did you just call me ‘Doo’?”

“The train is here!” John spoke up suddenly, eagerly standing near the platform only to be dragged back by a terrified Ditzy who was quick to berate him for his careless approach.

“I see we made it just in time,” came the voice of Patch, carrying Lemon on her back as he fixed his hat, the rest of the ponies following right behind.

Rarity didn’t miss the young pony, nor the chance to speak up. “I don’t want to talk where I’m not needed, but do you think it’s a good idea to bring little Lemon along?”

Patch sighed, quick to give an answer. “It’s not, but since he was there to see everything, I feel he is safer coming with us… not to mention he would have probably sneaked in, given the chance.”

Jumping off Patch with bags in tow, Lemon replied. “It’s true! I totally would! I just can’t let Twilight be… whatever it is she is in possible danger of!”

“Just remember to keep close, alright?” Patch warned.

“Hey!” Spike shouted, jumping into the conversation. “Did you guys get any response from the Princess?”

Recon looked over to Spike and shook his head. “None have gone through, but I’ve just send one over to Princess Luna. Though that might take longer to get to her since she is currently not even in Canterlot.”

The mood seemed to have darkened, silent, wistful stares being shared among the present.

“Don’t worry, everypony!” all except for Pinkie Pie who shouted, popping into the conversation herself. “Dashie is already on her way to Canterlot! I’m sure she’ll get everything done by asking the Princess before we get there! She is probably super busy with something!” she turned to Fluttershy and Applejack who stood behind her just as quiet as the rest. “R-right, girls?”

“Darn tootin’!” AJ replied with clear discomfort, while Fluttershy simply nodded, giving Pinkie a weak, reassuring smile.

“I’m sure she will, but the lack of response still worries me…” Patch said, looking over to the group. “We need to go now, we have to make sure nothing happened to the Princess.”

“Did something happen to Celestia?”

Everyone quickly turned to seek the questioner, stopping to the sight of Princess Cadence, meeting her stern gaze as she walked to meet the group who could only stare back in silence while the question hanged in the air.

“What are you guys doing!?” came the voice of John already inside the train, looking out annoyed. “We are supposed to be go-” he shut himself when he noticed the pink pony right outside. “P-Princess!”

Cadence stared neutrally, turning to Patch whom still remained silent, at least until she was pushed forward, forced to speak up. “P-Princess Cadence! It’s, um… a bit of a story.”

Just then, John left the train, meeting a still Shining who looked over the group before he turned to ask him. “John, where is Twilight right now?”

John took a deep breath, thinking on how to respond. “I-I’m sure Patch will explain everything on the way to Canterlot.”


…..


“… and that is the reason why the elements and my team are all traveling to Canterlot. We are hoping Princess Celestia may have some answer for us,” Patch then finished explaining while the others stood back and watched, silently looking at Cadence’s changing expression as she took the news. “As for the other stragglers…” she noted, looking over at Lemon and Ditzy who simply moved away from her stare, hopelessly expecting to remain unnoticed.

“I see, it's alright…” Cadence whispered, doing her best to hold her emotions in check. “W-well, I suppose celebrations for Twilight will have to wait, huh?” she laughed, doing her best to gather her thoughts as she looked out the window, watching the scenery that passed them by as the train sped through.

“We will do our best to find her if need be,” Patch tried to assure her. “We just have to wait for Rainbow Dash to return with some news from her majesty even before we arrive.”

“You don’t have to worry about anything, honey!” Shining spoke up, letting Cadence’s head rest on his chest. “Twily is a capable pony, and Patch here is an excellent member of the guard, and she is always on top of things. Isn’t that right, Captain?”

Patch said nothing, glowering at Shining for a second before turning away. “I’m going to go keep watch. We wouldn’t want to find any unwanted stragglers, would we?” she said through gritted teeth, walking to the closest door and leaving the car.

The other ponies who watched the scene unfold stared at each other curiously, rising questions in their minds.

“What the hay was that?” AJ turned to ask Rarity. “If Ah’ didn’t know any better, Ah’ would say that sounded rather spiteful for no reason, don’t you think?”

“That was indeed strange…” Rarity agreed, noticing Fluttershy suddenly get up. “Fluttershy? Where are you going?”

Fluttershy smiled and replied. “I’m going to go talk with the captain. I’m sure she must have a lot in her mind,” she explained before going through the same door after her.

“Applejack?” Rarity spoke again. “I’m not a betting pony myself, mostly because of how irresponsible that would be!” she added needlessly. “In any case, Fluttershy seems rather calm when it comes to the captain, don’t you think?”

Mulling over the question, AJ shook her head. “Maybe, but if Fluttershy herself hasn’t told us anything, Ah’ don’t think we should be meddling with things like that right now.”

“You are probably right,” Rarity answered, looking towards the door with a frown. “I just wonder if Twilight is doing alright…”

“She totally is!” Pinkie said, giving Rarity an annoyed glare. “I thought we already went through this you forgetful pants, you! Wait, you aren’t wearing any…”

“Pinkie Pie is right,” AJ agreed with a chuckle. “Come on, Twi has been through worse things than her home exploding… though that’s already a sad thing. Ah’ can’t believe we lost Golden Oaks,” she looked over to Spike, who seemed occupied talking with Lemon and Ditzy away from the group.

Applejack’s stare met Rarity’s, whose eyes seemed to focus on Spike. “He must feel so guilty… especially after Twilight yelled at him. He must be blaming himself after all of this.”

“Damn it,” John suddenly spoke, getting on his feet after having remained quiet throughout the ponies’ conversation. “Sorry, I... excuse me,” he whispered, walking off and leaving towards the opposite cart.

“John…” Pinkie mumbled, getting up to go after him. “Where are you go-” she stopped short of her trip, interrupted by Rarity’s hoof. “Huh?”

“Pinkie,” Rarity said simply, pointing to Ditzy, who seemed to have had the same thought, staring back at Pinkie mid-trot. “I believe Derpy is best suited for this situation, don’t you think?” she turned to Ditzy and nodded, giving her the go ahead, which she wasted no time to take, flying to the door.

“Oh,” Pinkie exclaimed, unceremoniously plummeting back down. “Oooooh…”

AJ snorted, watching as Ditzy hurried out and after him. “We still don’t know anything, so Ah’ hope he can get his act together,” she noted, looking to the many others there. “Ah’ hope everypony can.”


~~~~~


Silently, John paced back and forth in the empty car, stealing glances out the window, expecting to see Canterlot to be there, but only growing increasingly more frustrated as the place seemed to stay just as far as the last time he had checked, mocking him

“Damn it!” he groaned. “This is all my fault!”

-You know that isn’t true, John,- Crystal answered.

“Fuck!” John yelped surprised. “For a minute, I forgot you were here.”

-What are you doing, John?-

“Oh, stop it. Can’t a guy be self-deprecating without you jumping on my ass?”

-Try to joke all you want, but you need to understand that this wasn’t truly your fault,- Crystal replied matter-of-factly, unaffected by his response. -Sarcasm won’t change that.-

“… How do you know that?” John replied with a soft voice. “You were there. You saw what happened.”

-Even if that’s the case, there was no way you could know,- Crystal sighed.

“Crystal, you felt there was something weird going on, and even Patch told me to not do anything dumb! I had tons of warning! If that isn’t reason enough to blame myself, I don’t know what is!” he shouted back, punching the car’s door. “Gah!”

Crystal sighed. -If that’s what you think, perhaps I should let her handle this, then.-

John tilted his head confused. “Her?”

“John?”

“Huh?” quickly turning around, John watched as Ditzy carefully entered the room, meeting him with a puzzled look.” D-Ditzy!”

“Were you talking to someone? I heard your voice,” she asked, cautiously looking around, almost as if expecting someone to jump out and surprise them.

“It was me! I-I was just thinking about where Twilight could be out loud, is all…” he lied, feeling his heart sink as the thought of Twilight filled his mind once again.

“That’s why I’m here,” Ditzy explained, slowly cutting the distance between them. “You just up and left so suddenly. I wanted to check up on you. I just don’t want you to go and start blaming yourself over this,” she said, softly stroking John’s hand.

“You too, huh?” John chuckled dryly. “Ditzy, no matter who says it, it doesn’t change the fact that what I told her made her react the way she did and just… disappear off to god-knows-where,” shooting a glance towards Ditzy, he sighed. “I fucked up.”

“But, I mean, there was no way you would know that, right?” Ditzy asked, giving him a comforting smile.

“Patch,” John began, barely holding his anger back. “When Patch told me about Twilight acting weird, she told me not to say anything stupid to her— so I went said something fucking stupid!” he shouted to the air, avoiding yelling at Ditzy directly.

“Goodness, I mean,” Ditzy tried to speak, struggling to come up with the words. “I mean, it’s not like you tried to be mean or anything, right?” as if remembering something, she clopped her hooves together. “That’s right! Ms. Patch told Twilight was talking very rudely, so it’s not that weird to think you would say something in the heat of the moment!”

“I told her that I knew of a way go back to my own world,” he replied, turning to Ditzy with a vacant look. “Because for whatever reason, my stupid brain decided that the best course of action would be to go and tell someone that cares about me, that I would go up and leave her because she was mean to me! What the hell was I thinking!?”

“John, stop,” without warning, Ditzy grabbed John’s shoulders. “I know you are a good person. I know you didn’t truly meant what you said, alright?”

“Ditzy, that’s not the point!” he shouted, forcibly pulling Ditzy off himself, making her tumble down. “Just because I can be nice sometimes doesn’t change the fact that I did what did. I was a jerk! An ass! Every terrible word in the dictionary!”

“John… I…” Ditzy looked away, trailing on as if trying to come up with something to say, then suddenly, stood up, turning to John with a fierce glare. “You know what? You are right.”

“Excuse me?” John asked, eyeing her confused. “What do you mean?”

“It was probably your fault Twilight reacted the way she did,” Ditzy continued without pause.

John reeled back, taken aback by Ditzy’s candid response. “I-I see,” he replied, managing a sad smile towards her. “I, um, am glad you understand!” he lied.

“I jus- oh, gosh, I’m just no good at this,” Ditzy sighed, losing the edge in her voice. “What I meant to say is that you might be right—maybe it was you that made Twilight act up.”

“Right,” John sighed, looking away dejectedly. "Right..."

“But!” Ditzy quickly interjected, pulling her face against his. “Listen to me: if there really is a chance that this is your fault, I don’t think spending your time moping will change that. You have to get over yourself if you want to apologize to her! Feeling sorry for yourself is just gonna make you feel worse.”

“Ditzy…” John whispered, barely managing to hold a straight face.

“Oh, I went too far, didn’t I? Oh no! John, I’m so so-” she was cut short, as John suddenly placed a hand over Ditzy’s snout in a gentle hold. “Wah?”

“No, you are right,” John half-laughed, standing back up. 

"Are you sure?" Ditzy asked cautiously. "I just don't want to make you feel worse for it."

“Don’t worry, I think I’ll be fine, now," he answered, letting out a shuddering sigh. "Thanks for saying what needed to be said,” he continued, ruffling Ditzy’s mane.

“Yes, but are you REALLY sure?” Ditzy continued, looking side-to-side in a panic fit. “I mean, what if I overdid it? What if I-”

“Ditzy,” John interrupted again, chuckling amused. “This worked because it was YOU who said it. You said what I needed to hear in this situation; you did the right thing,” he kneeled, staring into her eyes,, carefully holding her face.

“I-I um, ah,” Ditzy replied, barely able to hide her crimson face at John’s touch. “T-that’s what special someponies are for, r-right?”

“Then pardon the corniness, but I guess the title fits you, then,” John laughed, wrapping his hands around the embarrassed pony. “Because really, you are something special.”

Ditzy simply smiled, letting her returning embrace do all the talking for her, silently enjoying the moment.





“Hello?” Fluttershy called out, slowly pushing the cart’s door open. Looking around the room, she searched for Captain Patch amid the dozen or so seats, somehow expecting to see her slouching in one of them. “Oh, of course she isn’t here,” she whimpered, realizing she was nowhere to be seen.

“What is it, Fluttershy?”

“Eep!” Fluttershy shrieked, shooting towards the ceiling, breathing heavily as she stared down at the floor, noticing Patch sitting near the door she had come through. “O-oh…”

Taking a few minutes to recover from the shock, Fluttershy finally came down, giving Patch an awkward smile, hoping to see one in return, but getting nothing from the aloof captain.

“Once again: can I help you, Miss Fluttershy?” Patch sighed, not even bothering with a sidelong glance.

Fluttershy flinched, feeling the cold reception in the Captain’s words. One to not give up, she edged closer to Patch, gulping as she said. “A-actually, I’m here to help you, Patch.”

“I don’t need help,” Patch replied quickly, shooting Fluttershy a glare. “I’m just here to keep an eye out on any potential intruders; you never know if we’ll get some flying guests like we did last we rode.”

“Really?” Fluttershy asked surprised. “It’s just that I got really worried. It felt like you were trying to avoid Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, is all.”

“How about you just mind your own fuc—” Patch was quick to bite her tongue, letting out a frustrated sigh instead. “Look, Fluttershy, I appreciate that you care about me, but I really don’t wanna talk about that now, okay?”

“I’m sorry…” Fluttershy apologized, putting her head down. “I just wanted to let you know that I still care about you, Flowe- eep!” she quickly covered her snout, stopping herself from spouting something akin to indecent.

“Just… why?” Patch suddenly asked.

“Why what?” Fluttershy asked back, turning her head confused.

“What do you mean ‘what’!?” Patch shot back, slamming her hoof on the wall. “Once again, here you are, trying to check-up on the pony who doesn’t want your help! Why do you do it? Why do you want to deal with my crap so bad!?”

Fluttershy quickly approached Patch, standing no more than a few inches from her, a smile slowly creeping into her face. “Because whatever name you call yourself, whatever pony you think you are, and whatever way you think you want to treat me; I consider you my friend, and I just want you to know that I still care about you.”

Patch suddenly stood up, closing the already short distance until they were face-to-face, staring into each other’s eyes. The scowl she held for Fluttershy was short-lived, however, now replaced by a sad smile. “I give up,”

Fluttershy blinked rapidly, giving Patch a puzzled look. “G-give up? What do you mean?”

“I mean, that you are probably going to keep pestering me no matter what, so I’m giving up. I don’t think I can help myself and just hide anything from you,” Patch said, rolling her eyes annoyed. “Besides”—she smiled, placing a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder—“I like to think I’m okay with having at least somepony I can talk to without any worries.”

Without warning, Fluttershy jumped with open hooves, wrapping Patch in a teary-eyed hug. “You have no idea how happy that makes me, P-Patch!”

“Hey, now! Don’t get too sentimental on me,” Patch laughed, carefully pushing her off. “You came to check up on me, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Fluttershy replied, quickly wiping any lingering tears. “B-but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I don’t want to force the issue if it’s something that is really bothering you.”

“I appreciate that,” Patch sighed, returning to her seat. “You asked about Cadence and Shining though, right?”

“Y=yeah… sorry about that. I was just assuming, and that’s not very nice of me,” Fluttershy quickly apologized.

“Geez, well, you were half-right,” looking out the window, Patch gazed towards Canterlot. Closing her eyes, she thought of the days before. The months. The years. How long had it been since then? “Do you remember back then? When I asked you if you ever felt that your cutie mark was wrong?”

“I remember,” Fluttershy answered, taking a seat next to her. “Was I right to think you didn’t like botany?”

“Half-right, once again,” Patch said with an awkward laugh. “I actually dropped out as soon as you graduated. I gotta say, though, you are on a half-roll with these guesses.”

“So… was that the reason you became a member of the guard?” Fluttershy asked, looking at Patch anxiously.

“If only that was the full story,” Patch snorted, amused. "Sadly, there is more to it than just me hating botany."

“Oh, really?” Fluttershy stated, taken aback. “No, I’m sorry, I really don’t want to bring up old memories. We are on a mission to find Twilight.”

“You are right. We are,” Patch laughed. “But…”

Fluttershy’s ears perked up, noticing the hesitation in Patch’s voice. “Y-yeah?”

“I appreciate that you are willing to listen to me, really. I promise I’ll tell you all about it once this is all over, alright?” placing a comforting hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder, Patch smiled. “No more hiding secrets from me—it’s a promise.”

Fluttershy returned the smile, barely managing to hide her tears. “Hm-hmm!”

“Alright, alright, I said no tears, already,” Patch laughed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work.”

“Okay!” Fluttershy nodded, opening the door back to their cart. “Oh, and be careful, okay?”

“Will do,” Patch said, smiling as Fluttershy left the cart, leaving her own her once more. “Right…”

Letting out a long sigh, Patch slumped back on her seat. She looked back outside, watching the Forbidden Forest pass by; the seemingly infinite amount of trees setting her into a relaxed lull.

“Too little, too late,” she sighed, jumping back on her hooves, and continuing her silent patrol





“Flower, wake up!”

“Aah!” Flower Patch shot up with a start, hitting her head on the bunk above—something that seemed to happen more often than not.”O-ouch…”

“If you have time to complain, you have time to get up!” a ragged pony growled, glaring daggers at Flower’s pained form.

“I-I’m sorry Tough Spot, sir, ma’am!” Flower quickly apologized, just to unceremoniously fall face=first to the floor. “Oooooouch…”

“Just get the hell up, training begins in ten!” Tough groaned, walking away while mouthing-off silently to herself. “For Faust’s sake, why are you even here! I swear!”

Yet another day passed by in a blur, and as usual, at the end of it all, Patch collapsed back on her bed, groaning at her complaining body. “A-another day down…”

“Oof, you don’t look so good, Flower,” a unicorn told her, peeking down from the bunk over her. “Still can’t deal with the pain, huh?”

“Don’t start, Desert Storm,” Flower groaned, miserably attempting to toss her pillow at the pony, managing to simply make it land back on her face. “Faust, dang it. I suck.”

“At least you still have your self-esteem,” Desert laughed, bouncing on Flower’s bed with a single leap. “Wanna talk about it?”

“I’d rather just suffer quietly, thanks,” Flower cried out, returning to her pained moans.

“K,” ignoring her request completely, Desert laid down, slowly reaching out with her hoof and poking Flower’s side, getting annoyed cries in return.

“I meant on my own!” Flower roared, kicking Desert’s hoof away. “Geez, Desert, what’s your deal?”

“Me?” innocently, Desert rolled side-to-side. “I mean, what even is YOUR deal?”

Flower raised a brow. “What are you on about?”

Abruptly, Desert Storm sat up, giving Flower a glare. “You’ve been here for five weeks now, and you are the only pony who doesn’t seem to care about camp, like, you aren’t trying at all.”

“Excuse me?” Flower chuckled confused, nervously watching Desert’s eyes stare into her soul. “What do you mean? I’ve been trying!”

"Hmm..." Desert hummed with a narrowed look. "It looks like you are trying, and you even seem to think you are trying,” she explained, grimacing. “The thing is, you don’t look like somepony who wants to improve at all! In fact, it’s almost like you are just trying to get through the day! Like you are just doing the bare minimum.”

“H-huh?” Flower seemed surprised by the statement, blinking rapidly. “I mean, I still try to get things done, but isn’t just trying to get through the day what we are supposed to do? What we are all doing?”

“What?” Desert growled instantly, baring her teeth in anger. Her horn shined brightly for an instant, but it subsided as she took a deep breath. “Tell me, Patch, is this what this place means to you? Just something to brute-force your way through?”

“What? No!” Flower tried to explain. “That’s not why!”

“Then why!? Do you have a reason to be here? Or is this just a mockery to you?” she asked in-between breaths. “Tell me you just aren’t here because you felt like you could. Maybe felt like you should be here because you could."

“I, um, but…” failed words was all Flower could accomplish, choosing to look away, avoiding the judging eyes in front of her.

“Whatever,” Desrt snorted, jumping off the bed. “I don’t know if you were just bored of whatever you were doing before, or just wanted to bumble your way to a guard spot, but whatever the reason, you won’t last as one with that wishy-washy attitude—think about that.”

Stunned, Flower watched as Desert jumped back on her bunk. She could hear the voices of the other recruits whispering to one another as lights went out, but as Patch silently laid back down, the words of Tough Spot echoed in the back of her head.


For Faust’s sake, why are you even here?






The train finally came to a stop at the station, where the group was welcomed by one of the guards, who quickly greeted the party. They were quickly lead towards the castle, where signs of a fight were quickly caught by the group.

“What happened here?” Shining Armor asked, looking around, noticing the multitude of hurt ponies. “Why are all of you hurt?”

“My apologies, Prince Shining,” the guard answered between rasped breaths. “I was ordered to say nothing of the matter. Princess Celestia said she would be able to fill you on the details soon enough,” he explained.

-I sense dark magic,- Crystal Thought suddenly pointed out for John..

“So dark magic happened here, huh?” John suddenly parroted the comment, getting everypony to turn towards him confused. “Um… I can feel it because of my shield magic?” he lied, trying to avoid explaining Crystal’s words.

“He is right,” Cadence mercifully continued for him. “In fact, this feels eerily familiar. I can only hope that feeling is wrong.”

“A-anyway, will the Princess be able to help us with Twilight? We really need to find her,” John said, trying to change the subject appropriately.

The guard remained silent for a moment before answering. “Her Majesty will answer your questions soon enough.”

John gulped. “That gives me a bad feeling…”

“Wait a minute,” Gleaming Guard spoke, annoyingly staring at the guard. “This isn’t the way to the throne room. Where are we going?”

“Her Majesty is currently… resting,” the guard answered, looking around awkwardly. “Look, I’m really sorry for being so vague right now, but you’ll understand when we reach her room, trust me.”

“Right,” John sighed. Questions regarding Celestia’s well-being popped into his mind, though most of it was quickly overpowered by the thought of Twilight alone. “No, focus! Once you find out how Celestia is, you will find out more about Twiilight.”

Just a few minutes later, they came to a stop near a plain-looking door. They shot the guard wary looks, but were ignored as he simply moved aside, nodding silently.

"Soo..." John hummed, shooting the guard a dirty look. "Is th-"

“Hello everypony, thanks for coming,” a strangers voice interrupted, greeting them from inside the room, and before they had time to mull over it, the doors opened, inviting them in.

-Guess that answers that,- Crystal chuckled.

“Whatever. Who the hell even wa-” John’s question was cut short, coming to a stop as he and the rest of the ponies laid eyes on the bed.

A pink-maned unicorn smiled back at them, giving the group a knowing nod. “Yes, I’m Princess Celestia—it appears we all have a ton to discuss.”